What's covered
Key facts
How society responds to crime
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the age of criminal responsibility is 10.
Sanctions and punishment
Examples of formal sanctions include fines, prison sentences, detentions and being excluded from school.
What counts as crime vs deviance
All crimes count as deviant, but not all deviant acts are crimes.
Who commits crime — patterns
Official statistics show men commit much more recorded crime than women.
Why people break rules
Deviance is breaking the unwritten rules (norms) about how to behave, even if it is not illegal.
How society responds to crime
The criminal justice system is usually described as three main parts: the police, the courts, and prisons and probation, which detain and supervise offenders.
Sanctions and punishment
Examples of informal sanctions include being praised, being told off, being teased or being ignored by friends.
What counts as crime vs deviance
A crime is an act that breaks the law.
Who commits crime — patterns
Men commit about 90% of murders.
Why people break rules
Wearing pyjamas to school is deviant but is not a crime.
Sample questions
A taste of the 45 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What are the three main parts of the criminal justice system?
- •Banks, shops, and the courts
- •Laws, the army, and the council
- •Schools, parents, and the police
- ✓The police, the courts, and prisons
What is a positive sanction?
- •A law passed by the government
- •A punishment that discourages rule-breaking
- ✓A reward that encourages good behaviour
- •A rule that everyone must follow
What is the best definition of a crime?
- •A habit that is unusual but harmless
- •A rule made up by a family at home
- ✓An act that breaks the law
- •Any behaviour that annoys other people
What does it mean when sociologists talk about a crime pattern?
- •A law that decides exactly who is allowed to break the rules
- •A list of all the crimes one single person has done
- ✓A trend showing which groups are more likely to be caught offending
- •Proof that everyone in a group will definitely commit a crime
What is the difference between a crime and deviance?
- ✓A crime breaks a written law; deviance breaks unwritten norms
- •A crime breaks unwritten norms; deviance breaks written laws
- •A crime is minor; deviance is always very serious
- •A crime is never punished; deviance is always punished
In the justice system, who decides whether an accused person is guilty?
- ✓The courts
- •The newspapers
- •The police
- •The witnesses
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