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Crime and Deviance

Formal and informal social control

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Agents of social control, the criminal justice system and types of offence, sanctions, surveillance, the four perspectives on control, and Heidensohn's control theory of women's conformity.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is the criminal justice system?

Key term

How are indictable and non-indictable offences dealt with differently?

Who and when

How are women controlled at home, according to Heidensohn?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is the difference between formal and informal social control?

    Model answer

    Formal social control is enforced by official agencies using written rules such as laws. Informal social control comes from the everyday reactions of family, friends and peers.

  2. 2

    What is an agent of social control?

    Model answer

    An agent of social control is a person or institution that pressures people to follow society's rules. Police officers, judges, parents and teachers are all agents of social control.

  3. 3

    What is the criminal justice system?

    Model answer

    The criminal justice system is the set of agencies that deal with crime and offenders. The police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts, prisons and the probation service all belong to it. The judiciary, meaning the body of judges, is independent of government.

  4. 4

    How are indictable and non-indictable offences dealt with differently?

    Model answer

    Non-indictable offences are minor crimes, such as most motoring offences, heard in magistrates' courts. Magistrates are trained volunteers rather than professional judges. Indictable offences, such as robbery, are serious crimes tried by a judge and jury in the Crown Court.

  5. 5

    What are sanctions, and how can they be formal or informal?

    Model answer

    Sanctions are rewards or punishments that encourage people to conform. A prison sentence is a formal negative sanction, while praise from parents is an informal positive sanction.

  6. 6

    What are unwritten rules?

    Model answer

    Unwritten rules are expectations of behaviour that everyone understands but nobody has written down. Facing the doors in a lift and keeping quiet in a library are unwritten rules in the UK.

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