1. Understanding Criminology Revision Lecture
24th March 2009

2. Understanding Criminology Exam
15th May pm
Mainly in the Sugden Sports Hall
(11 students elsewhere: check your own timetable)

3. We will address Relevant Topics Mock Paper Model Answers
Any Questions? Ask them as we go along

4. General Advice Mainly Term Two covered Don’t forget Term One Theory
A balance of Theory, Research and Policy
Use your Seminar Readings
Remember an exam answer is an essay
Don’t feel that you cannot use material and understanding that you have gained in other units, but avoid repetition across answers in this paper

5. Specific Topics The Media and Crime
Individual Motivations to Commit Crime
The Economics of Crime
Young People and Crime
Situational Crime Prevention
Drug use and crime
Crimes of the Powerful
Politics and society and ‘law and order’

6. The Media and Crime What crime does the media focus on?
How does this differ from more objective sources of information?
Why does the media do this?
Models of the relationship between the media producer, the media consumer and the government

7. Individual Motivations to Commit Crime
Psychological Approaches
Morality
Self-control as a “General Theory of Crime”
Individualistic v. Social Theories of Crime

8. The Economics of Crime
Links between social class, poverty, unemployment, consumption and crime
Changing Economic Picture: recession; boom and bust; Fordism -> post-Fordism
Social Exclusion and the Underclass

9. Young People and Crime
The historical picture of young people and crime
Youth Culture and the Social Construction of a Problem
The Age-Crime Curve
Patterns of Criminalisation

10. Situational Crime Prevention
Definitions of different types of CP
Why Situational CP is popular
Is it effective?
Realism v. Root Causes

11. Drug Use and Crime Patterns of Drug Use
Experimentation v. Problematic Drug Use
Drug Use-> Crime?
Crime -> Drug Use?

12. Crime of the powerful White Collar and Corporate Explanations
Differences and Similarities with ‘mainstream’ crime
Portrayal
Policing
Political priorities
Prosecution

13. Contemporary Law and Order Politics
What is new about today’s approach to crime?
Has this affected crime rates?
Has this produced a change in the public’s perceptions of crime?
How has this affected government?

14. Understanding Criminology Mock Paper
2 questions in 2 hours
Q1. What is meant by a “fully social theory of deviance”?
Q2. Does the media reflect, or cause, crime?
Q3. How can economic issues affect crime levels?
Q4. How has the understanding of young people’s criminality changed in recent years?
Q5. What is meant by ‘situational crime prevention’, and what are the merits of such an approach?
Q6. What are the aims and limitations of different ways of responding to drug use?
Q7. How accurate is the view that crime is predominantly committed by the powerless in society?
Q8. What is distinct about the current government’s approach to crime?

15. Model Answers
Read the answer you have been given, and answer the following:
Give it a mark
What was good about it?
What was not good about it?