Crime and Deviance: Criminology of Time and Place

Criminology of Time and Place

Shaw and McKay: Studied Chicago in order to figure out the areas in which crime is committed. They found that most crime occurs within zone 2, the 'zone of transition', as there is a high social turnover and the people who remain in these areas are the ones who are unable to leave, there is no sense of community within zone 2 which is why most of the crime occurs within this area.

Cloward and Ohlin: Argue that not everyone has access to join a subculture, it is a matter of location. It is easier to become involved in criminal activity in zone 2 than it is in zone 4. They argue that there are three types of subculture:

1. Criminal Subcultures - Where the balance has tipped and the criminals (social) have taken over.

2. Conflict Subcultures - Where private and social housing live together, the private keep the social under control in order to maintain balance.

3. Retreatist Subcultures - Occur within zone 4. People have everything going for them but they still fail. They fail at achieving success within society and they fail at committing crimes.

Sutherland and Cressey: 'Differential Association'. Argue that cultural transmission depends on four factors:

1. Priority - What age?

2. Duration - How long?

3. Intensity - How criminal?

4. Frequency - How often?

Morris: 'Council housing policy'. Discusses why undesirable people gather together in zone 2. He argues that local councils should distribute housing across the zones. He criticises the councils for housing them in the same areas, creating bad estates and thus resulting in cultural transmission.

Skogan: Argues that the physical deterioration of buildings is the first step towards criminal or deviant behaviour. It causes withdrawal from community, a lack of social capital and those who can move away do move away.

Baldwin and Bottom: 'Tipping'. Argue that council estates begin with a good balance of private and social housing. If the area begins to go downhill, private housing people move away, and the council move social housing people into the area. Therefore the balance in the area has tipped.

Hobbs: 'Night time economy'. Argues that due to changes in zone 1 the types of crimes have changed. More violent crimes occur due to nightclubs and alcohol. This has changed the policing that occurs in zone 1, bouncers outnumber police officers as a result of violent crimes.