AQA A2 Sociology Crime and Deviance

Crimes committed by companies against employers or the public.

Better methods of communication allow goods, knowledge and services to cross distances and national borders easily.

They argue that modern TNCs can practice a policy of LAW EVASION e.g. setting up factories in countries that do not have pollution controls or adequate safety legislation, rather then producing in countries with stricter standards. They may sell goods to poorer countries when the goods have been declared unsafe in the more affluent countries (a fairly common procedure with pharmaceuticals).

Crimes committed against a company by an employee.

Environmentally damaging act that are currently legal in some or all countries, but have very harmful consequences for the planet.

Crime that is organized and committed across national boundaries.

A term originally used by Sutherland for both occupational and corporate crime.

They studied theft by employees and found that in the range of industries they studied - from workers in the tourist industry to bakery delivery drivers - minor theft was regarded as a legitimate part of the job and redefined into a 'perk' (dodatek).

They found that theft by shop staff amounts to £350 million each year, which is about 25% of all retail losses.

They have pointed out that corporate crimes are rarely considered newsworthy, partly because the crimes are often too complex to summarize in an article, or are too dull or have no clear victims. Often, when such crime is reported, media coverage is less about it being a crime than a 'scandal' or 'abuse' or even an 'accident'.

There is a close relationship between large corporations and governments. At its simplest, governments rely upon large corporations for tax revenues and provide employment. Corporations rely upon governments for a sympathetic and organized environment in which they can engage in their activities. (mutual dependence)

This organisation estimates that up to 3.2 million m3 of timber sold in the UK is stolen from the Amazon rainforest and other protected habitats.

He argues there is a global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per annum. E.g. trafficking arms and nuclear materials, smuggling illegal immigrants, trafficking in women and children, sex tourism, cybercrime, green crime and terrorism.

It is worth an estimated $300-400 billion annually at street prices. Money laundering of the profits from organised crime is estimated at $1.5 trillion annually. Demand in the West is met by supply from the Third World countries where impoverished (zubożały) peasants find drug cultivation more profitable than traditional crops.

(NEO-MARXIST) He argues that globalisation has led to greater inequality. TNCs can now swith manufacturing to low-wage countries to gain higher profits, producing job insecurity, unemployment and poverty. Deregulation means governments have little control over their own economies and state spending on welfare has declined.

They see the materialistic culture promoted by the global media encouraging people to think of themselves as individual consumers, thus undermining social cohesion and encouraging crime.

His theory is useful in linking global trends in the capitalist economy to changes in patterns of crime, it doesn't explain why many poor people DON'T turn to crime.

They found that the way crime is organised is linked to globalisation. It increasingly involves individuals acting as a 'hub' around which a loose-knit network forms, often linking legitimate and illegitimate activities. (AO2) Winslow's study of bouncers shows how postmodern conditions of globalisation and de-industrialisation have created new criminal opportunities and pattern at a local level. ('glocal' system)

He examined 'McMafia' - organisations that emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. The new Russian government deregulated much of the economy, leading to huge rises in food prices and rents. However, commodity prices (e.g.oil) were kept at their old Soviet prices - way below the world market price. Thus, well-connected citizens with access to large funds could buy these up very cheaply and sell them on the world market.

(McMafia continuation) This created a new elite, referred to as 'oligarchs'. To protect themselves from increasing disorder, oligarchs turned to the new 'mafias' (often composed of ex-state security/secret servicemen from the old communist regimes). These criminal organisations were vital for the entry of the new Russian capitalist class into the world economy.

a) Traditional criminology - only studies the patterns and causes of law-breaking (if the pollution[green crime] is legal, then traditional criminology is not concerned with it. b) Green criminology - is more radical. It starts from the notion of HARM rather than the criminal law. It is a form of TRANSGRESSIVE CRIMINOLOGY. This approach is similar to the Marxist idea of 'crimes of the powerful'. TNCs and nation-states use their power to define in their own interests what counts as environmental harm.

It is criticised for accepting official definitions of environmental problems and crimes. Green criminology is criticised for making subjective value judgments about which actions ought to be regarded as wrong.

1. Nation-states and TNCs apply an anthropocentric (human-centred) view of environmental crime. 2. Green criminology takes an ecocentric view (sees humans and their environment as interdependent).

He identifies two types of green crime: 1. Primary green crimes 'result from the destruction and degradation of the earth's resources' e.g. air pollution, deforestation, species decline and water polution. 2. Secondary green crimes - involve the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters.

In 1985 the French Secret Service blew up the Greenpeace ship 'Rainbow Warrior' to prevent it protesting against French nuclear tests in the Pacific.

In this country, between 1975 and 1978, the Khmer Rouge government killed up to a fifth of the country's entire population. (AO2) Link the idea of state crimes to the Marxist notion of 'crimes of the powerful' and the ability of those with power both to commit more serious crime and to get away with it.

Cohen examines the ways in which states and their officials 'neutralise' (deny or justify) their crimes. These include denial, of victim/injury/responsibility condemning the condemners and appealing to higher loyalties. E.g. GUMG research on the coverage of workplace strikes in the 1970s and 1980s.