A level Sociology Crime and Deviance: Key Theories and Concepts

Table of Contents

Last Updated on September 30, 2026 by Karl Thompson

Updated September 2026

Everything on the site for crime and deviance sociology at A-level: every theory of crime, crime control, patterns of offending by class, ethnicity and gender, victims, the media, and state, green and global crime. Pick a topic below.

By Karl Thompson, who taught A-level sociology for eighteen years and examined all three AQA papers from 2010 to 2018. Another topic? Back to the homepage.

Understanding Crime and DevianceStart here: key concepts, social construction Exam practiceQuestions, answers and essay plans Functionalism and strainDurkheim, Merton, Hirschi Subcultural and underclassCohen, Cloward and Ohlin, Murray Marxism and neo-MarxismCapitalism, corporate crime, Hall Labelling theoryBecker, Cicourel RealismRight and left realism Post and late modernJock Young, edgework Crime controlSurveillance, policing, punishment Social class and crimePatterns and explanations Ethnicity and crimeStatistics, racism, Gilroy Gender and crimeChivalry, feminism, masculinities State, green and globalGlenny, Beck, state crime VictimologyWho the victims of crime are The media and crimeMoral panics, cybercrime

Crime and Deviance Module Overview

Crime and deviance is one of the two compulsory topics on AQA A-level sociology, alongside education, and is usually taught in the second year. It asks why people commit crime, why some groups appear in the statistics far more than others, and how society defines, polices and punishes deviance. The AQA specification lists four areas; here they are with the topics that cover each one.

Crime, deviance, social order and social control

Social construction of crime Functionalism and strain Subcultural theories Marxism and neo-Marxism Labelling Realism Post and late modern

The social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime

Measuring crime Social class and crime Ethnicity and crime Gender and crime

Globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes

State, green and global crime The media and crime

Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies

Crime and crime control Victimology

Paper 3 and a suggested order of study

Paper 350/80marks are for crime and deviance. The other 30 are for theory and methods.

Crime and deviance4questions to answer, worth 4, 6, 10 and 30 marks

On this page13topics, each with its own section below

Paper 3 (7192/3), Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods. Two hours, 80 marks, a third of the A-level.

Section	Marks	Question types
A: Crime and Deviance	50	4 marks (outline two) · 6 marks (outline three) · 10 marks (analyse two, from an item) · 30-mark essay (from an item)
B: Theory and Methods	30	10 marks (outline and explain two, no item) · 20-mark essay (from an item)

Theory and methods is examined mainly here on Paper 3, and again in the final section of Paper 1, so revise it once and use it twice. See the research methods and social theory pages, and the exam advice page for past papers and question technique.

A suggested order of study. Most centres teach the theories first, because everything after them applies the theories to a particular kind of crime. This page follows that order:

Start here: what counts as crime, the social construction of crime, and how crime is measured.
The theories: functionalism and strain, subcultural theories, Marxism and neo-Marxism, labelling, realism, and post and late modern theories.
Crime control: surveillance, policing and punishment.
Patterns of crime: social class, ethnicity and gender.
Crime in contemporary society: state, green and global crime; victims; and the media.

Two things students tend to underestimate. First, evaluation: describing a theory earns knowledge marks, but the marks that separate grades come from judging it, usually by setting one perspective against another. Second, the statistics: every pattern in the second half of the module depends on official figures, so know where they come from and what they leave out.

If you want the whole module in one place, there’s my Crime and Deviance revision notes bundle.

Understanding A level sociology Crime and Deviance

This section includes some introductory posts on crime and deviance for A level sociology.

Perspectives on Crime and Deviance – A Very Brief OverviewA summary grid of 21 theorists, with their key points, perspective and an evaluation. Cut it up and it doubles as a sentence sort.Read the notes → Key Concepts for A Level Sociology Crime and DevianceDefinitions of most of the key concepts you need for the crime and deviance module.Read the notes → Updated 2026The Social Construction of CrimeA timeline of acts that were once legal and are now criminal, showing how changes in the law create crime.Read the notes → Sociological Perspectives on the London RiotsUses the riots to introduce the perspectives on crime, and contrasts media explanations with the LSE’s research on the causes.Read the notes →

Crime and Deviance Exam Practice

Start with the guide to how the crime and deviance questions on Paper 3 are assessed, then work through the model answers below.

Exam guideHow to Answer the AQA Crime and Deviance QuestionsHints on how the crime and deviance section of Paper 3 is assessed.Read the guide → Past papersAQA Sociology Past PapersWhere to find AQA sociology past papers to practise with.Find the papers → 10-markOutline and Analyse Two Ways in Which Patterns of Crime Vary by Social ClassA plan for this 10-mark question, in the social class and crime post.See the plan → Short answer and 10-markEthnicity and Crime: Exam Questions and AnswersWorked answers to the shorter question types, including the 10-mark on police racism.See the answers → 30-mark essayEvaluate the View That Differences in Crime Rates Between Ethnic Groups Are Mainly the Result of the Way the Criminal Justice System OperatesA full essay on ethnicity and the criminal justice system.Read the essay → 30-mark essayEssay: Applying the Functionalist Perspective to Crime and DevianceA full 30-mark essay, in the functionalism post.Read the essay → 30-mark essayEssay: The Marxist Theory of CrimeA full 30-mark essay, in the Marxism post.Read the essay → 6-markOutline Three Ways Surveillance Is Used to Control CrimeModel answer to a 6-mark outline question.See the answer → Essay planEvaluate Sociological Perspectives on Prison as a Form of PunishmentA plan for this 30-mark question, in the perspectives on punishment post.See the plan →

Consensus Theories of Crime and Deviance

Consensus theories start from the assumption that society rests on shared values. They are usually the first theories taught on the crime and deviance module, and every later perspective — Marxism, labelling theory, realism — is set against them.

The three consensus theories differ in the question they ask. Functionalism asks what crime does for society. Strain theory asks what society does to produce crime. Control theory asks why most people don’t offend at all.

Functionalism, Strain and Control Theory

Updated 202630-mark essayThe Functionalist Perspective on Crime and DevianceDurkheim on why crime is normal and inevitable, and the four positive functions of crime, with the suffragettes as the case study.Read the notes → Updated 2026Merton’s Strain Theory of DevianceAnomie and all five adaptations to strain, applied to white collar crime and to mass shootings in the United States.Read the notes → Updated 2026Control Theories of Crime and DevianceHirschi’s four elements of the social bond, plus Gottfredson and Hirschi, Harriet Wilson, Hagan, Pat Carlen, and Sampson and Laub.Read the notes →

Subcultural and Underclass Theories

Updated 2026Subcultural Theories of CrimeCohen on status frustration, Cloward and Ohlin’s three subcultures and Miller’s six focal concerns, and the two gaps in Merton they fill.Read the notes → Updated 2026Charles Murray’s Underclass Theory of CrimeThe most politically contested theory on the specification, and the NEETs debate. The evidence against it makes excellent evaluation material.Read the notes →

Marxist Theories of Crime and Deviance

Marxists argue that capitalism itself is criminogenic, that the law is written by and for those who own property, and that the criminal justice system polices the poor while the far more costly crimes of the powerful go largely unpunished. Marxism is usually taught straight after the consensus theories, which it is largely a reaction against.

Neo-Marxists keep the focus on capitalism but add what the traditional Marxist account leaves out: the meaning of the act to the offender, and the way society reacts to it.

Updated 202630-mark essayThe Marxist Theory of CrimeCriminogenic capitalism, selective law enforcement and corporate crime, with current figures on the scale of fraud.Read the notes → The New CriminologyTaylor, Walton and Young’s radical criminology and their fully social theory of deviance, which combines Marxism with interactionism.Read the notes → Policing the Crisis: Hall on Ethnicity and CrimeHall et al. on the 1970s moral panic about mugging as a response to a crisis of British capitalism.Read the notes →

Interactionist Theories of Crime and Deviance

Interactionist theories within crime and deviance sociology examine the social interactions that contribute to crime.

Updated 2026The Labelling Theory of CrimeBecker’s master status, the self-fulfilling prophecy and Cicourel’s negotiation of justice, applied to crime and to education.Read the notes →

Realist Theories of Crime and Deviance

Realist theories of crime and deviance sociology are vital in understanding practical solutions to crime issues.

Updated 2026Right Realist CriminologyRational choice, routine activities, broken windows and Murray’s underclass, with a comparison table of right and left realism.Read the notes → Updated 2026Left Realist CriminologyRelative deprivation, marginalisation, subculture and the square of crime, and the policies left realism inspired.Read the notes → Updated 2026Evaluating Broken Windows TheoryWilson and Kelling’s 1982 theory, and why the evidence for it doesn’t hold up well.Read the notes →

Post and Late Modern Theories of Crime and Deviance

Updated 2026Post and Late Modern CriminologyHow crime changes as society becomes more consumerist, fragmented and globalised.Read the notes → Updated 2026Jock Young – Late Modernity, Exclusion and CrimeThe vertigo of late modernity and the bulimic society: included in consumer culture, excluded from the means to take part in it.Read the notes → Updated 2026Cultural Criminology – Crime as EdgeworkWhy some crime is about the thrill of risk rather than gain: Lyng’s edgework and cultural criminology.Read the notes →

Controlling and Reducing Crime – the Role of the Community, the Police and Different Forms of Punishment

This topic covers what societies do about crime: the three prevention strategies, the growth of surveillance as a means of control, and how offenders are punished once caught. The specification groups these together, and exam questions move between them freely.

Crime Prevention and Control

There are three main crime prevention strategies (situational, environmental, and social and community), and each rests on a different theory of what causes crime. Situational and environmental prevention are associated with right realism; social and community prevention with left realism.

Crime Prevention and Control StrategiesSummary notes on all three strategies: situational, environmental, and social and community crime prevention.Read the notes → Updated 2026Environmental Crime Prevention StrategiesRestoring order to neighbourhoods before disorder turns into crime, the broken windows thinking behind it, and the criticisms.Read the notes → Updated 2026Zero Tolerance Policing: Definition, Examples and EvaluationWhat zero tolerance policing is, where it has been used, and the evidence on whether it actually reduces crime.Read the notes → Updated 2026ASBOs and the Orders That Replaced ThemAnti-social behaviour orders, the arguments for and against them, and the orders that replaced them.Read the notes → The Role of the Community in Controlling and Reducing CrimeConsensus, right realist, left realist and postmodern views on the community’s part in controlling crime.Read the notes → The Role of the Police in Controlling and Reducing CrimeWhat the police do to control and reduce crime, and how far they succeed.Read the notes →

Surveillance and Crime Control

Updated 2026Foucault – Surveillance and Crime ControlSovereign and disciplinary power, the panopticon and self-surveillance, tested against live facial recognition.Read the notes → Updated 2026Synoptic Surveillance: Mathiesen’s SynopticonThe many watching the few, as a companion to the panopticon rather than a replacement for it, with Rodney King, George Floyd and sousveillance.Read the notes → Actuarial Justice and Risk ManagementStatistical surveillance: targeting people according to their risk profile, the way insurance companies do.Read the notes → Security, Surveillance and Crime Control in Digital SocietyHow digital technology has extended surveillance as a way of controlling crime.Read the notes → 6-markOutline Three Ways Surveillance Is Used to Control CrimeModel answer to a 6-mark outline question.See the answer →

Punishment

How are Criminals Punished in England and Wales?The four main types of sentence: discharges, fines, community sentences and prison.Read the notes → Updated 2026Essay planSociological Perspectives on PunishmentDurkheim, Gordon, Goffman, Foucault and Garland on what punishment is for, ending with a plan for the 30-mark essay on prison.Read the notes → Does Prison Work?The evidence on whether prison prevents crime. Spoiler alert: it generally doesn’t.Read the notes → Updated 2026What is Restorative Justice and Does it Work?Braithwaite’s reintegrative shaming and the evidence that restorative justice reduces reoffending, modestly, when it is done well.Read the notes →

Crime and Deviance, Social Class and Crime

The statistics say that most convicted offenders are working class. Whether that reflects who actually offends, or who gets caught and convicted, is the argument that runs through every perspective on this topic.

Updated 202610-mark planSocial Class and Crime: Statistics and ExplanationsWhat the statistics show about class and offending, and the functionalist, subcultural, Marxist, interactionist and realist explanations for them, each with evaluation. Ends with a plan for the 10-mark question and a self-test.Read the notes →

Ethnicity and Crime

Black people are around four times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, and around three times more likely to be sent to prison. Those figures are not in dispute. What sociologists disagree about is what they mean.

One set of explanations says the differences are real, and looks for the causes in relative deprivation, marginalisation or culture. The other says the differences are largely produced by the criminal justice system itself, through racist policing and the way ethnic minorities are labelled. That argument is exactly what the 30-mark essay below asks you to evaluate.

Official Statistics on Ethnicity and CrimeHow ethnic minorities are over-represented at every stage of the process, from stop and search through to the prison population, with victim surveys and self-report studies for contrast.Read the notes → Are the Police Institutionally Racist?What institutional racism means, and the evidence on racism in British policing.Read the notes → Ethnicity and Crime: The Role of Cultural FactorsExplanations that locate higher offending rates in family structure and cultural differences between ethnic groups, and the criticisms of them.Read the notes → Left Realist Explanations for Ethnic Differences in CrimeRelative deprivation, marginalisation and subculture, and the left realist argument that the higher rates are real rather than an artefact of policing.Read the notes → Updated 2026Policing the Crisis: Hall et al. on Mugging and Moral PanicThe 1970s moral panic about mugging as a response to a crisis of British capitalism, and how it made black youth the scapegoat.Read the notes → Paul Gilroy: The Myth of Black CriminalityGilroy’s argument that black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotyping, and that some crime is better understood as political resistance.Read the notes → 30-mark essayEvaluate the View That Differences in Crime Rates Between Ethnic Groups Are Mainly the Result of the Way the Criminal Justice System OperatesA full essay on the central debate in this topic.Read the essay → Short answer and 10-markEthnicity and Crime: Exam Questions and AnswersWorked answers to the shorter question types, including the 10-mark question on police racism.See the answers →

Gender and Crime

Men commit far more crime than women, and far more of the serious and violent crime. Almost every theory in this section is either trying to explain that gap or questioning whether the official statistics show it accurately.

Most of the sociology of gender and crime comes from feminists, who criticised earlier criminology for ignoring women almost entirely. The more recent work on masculinities turns the question round, and asks what it is about being a man that leads to crime.

Gender and Crime StatisticsThe differences in male and female offending and prosecution rates, and the patterns of victimisation by gender.Read the notes → Gender and Crime: Sex-Role TheoryParsons’ expressive role and gender socialisation: why traditional femininity discourages crime and traditional masculinity encourages it.Read the notes → The Chivalry ThesisOtto Pollak’s argument that the police and courts treat women more leniently, so fewer female offenders appear in the statistics, and the evidence for and against it.Read the notes → Updated 2026Adler’s Liberation Thesis: Women’s Liberation and Female CrimeFreda Adler and Rita Simon on why female crime rose as women gained freedom, the marginalisation thesis, and the recent figures that don’t fit.Read the notes → Feminist Perspectives on Crime and DevianceHeidensohn’s control theory, Pat Carlen’s class and gender deals, doing gender, and a brief look at intersectionality.Read the notes → Masculinities and Crime: James W. MesserschmidtWhy any theory of gender and crime has to deal with different types of masculinity, and why hegemonic masculinity is the one most linked to crime.Read the notes →

Globalisation, State and Green Crime

This topic covers the crimes that don’t fit neatly inside one country: trafficking and smuggling networks that cross borders, crimes committed by states themselves, and harms done to the environment. It is also where the criminal is often a government or a corporation rather than an individual, which raises the question of who gets to define these acts as crimes in the first place.

Globalisation and CrimeThe main types of global crime, why they have increased, and what they mean for British society. Covers the Marxist view of tax havens and corporate law evasion, and why global crime is so difficult to police across borders.Read the notes → Globalisation, Global Criminal Networks and CrimeMisha Glenny’s McMafia: how criminal networks in ex-communist countries such as Bulgaria became central to global crime, shipping illegal goods from the global south to meet demand in the wealthy global north.Read the notes → What is State Crime?Crimes committed by governments in breach of human rights, the different types of state crime, who its victims are, and the Nazi genocide as the clearest historical example.Read the notes → Examples of State CrimesRecent cases you can use as your own examples in an essay, rather than falling back on the same historical ones everyone else uses.Read the notes → Green Crime and Green CriminologyPrimary and secondary green crime, Ulrich Beck’s risk society, and the Marxist view that the worst environmental harms are rarely treated as crimes at all.Read the notes → Degree levelUnderstanding Atrocity CrimesCriminological perspectives on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Much more in depth than the A-level needs, and aimed at degree-level students.Read the notes → Short answerState Crime and Green Crime: Short Answer Exam QuestionsPractice questions on both topics, with answers.See the questions →

Victimology

Victimology is the part of A-level sociology crime and deviance that turns the focus from offenders to victims: who is most likely to be victimised, why, and what crime does to the people it happens to. Positivist and critical victimologists give very different answers, and that contrast is where the evaluation marks are.

VictimologyTrends in victimisation, and the difference between positivist and critical victimology.Read the notes → The Economic and Social Costs of CrimeA summary of a government report on the economic and social harms crime causes in England and Wales.Read the notes → What are the impacts of crime on victims?How crime affects individuals and their families, including secondary victimisation.Read the notes →

The Media and Crime

How the media represents crime is one of the most interesting topics in A-level sociology crime and deviance. It asks which crimes get reported, whose side the reporting takes, and whether coverage creates the fear and the deviance it claims to describe. It shares ideas with the media option, but here the focus is on crime.

How the Media Simplifies CrimeHow the news takes the side of the police and victims, favours simple stories of individual harm, and offers a narrow view of how crime should be controlled.Read the notes → Moral Panics and the MediaWhat a moral panic is, Stan Cohen’s study of the Mods and Rockers, and the main criticisms of the concept.Read the notes → Sensationalisation of Crime in the MediaHow crime fiction on UK screens makes offenders likeable and serious crime look glamorous.Read the notes → What is Cybercrime?A longer post on identity theft, online fraud, ransomware and phishing scams.Read the notes →

Posts on Specific Types of Crime

Knife crime, hate crime, coronavirus, and fraud and computer misuse

How do we explain the recent surge in knife crime? Exploring this is a useful way to evaluate right realist theories of deviance especially.

Sociological perspectives on hate crime. A very postmodern type of crime, but the other sociological perspectives can also help us understand it.
How is coronavirus affecting crime and deviance? All of a sudden, acts that used to be normal, like sitting on a park bench, were criminal. Perfect analytical feeding ground for any A-level sociology student.
Fraud and computer misuse. One of the more common types of crime: roughly one in five adults was a victim in the twelve months ending December 2020.

Crime and Deviance in Contemporary Society

Contemporary examples to use in your essays

Examiners like a contemporary focus. These posts show how you might use recent examples to illustrate key concepts in crime and deviance.

The deportation of foreign nationals: an example of a state crime? When the UK government tried to deport 42 people to Jamaica on their release from prison, despite some of them having lived in the UK since they were children.
Contemporary examples of crime and deviance in the news. Further examples from 2018 and 2019 that are relevant to A-level sociology.

Crime and Deviance Revision Bundle

A-Level Sociology Crime and Deviance Revision Bundle

12 exam practice questions, including short answer, 10-mark and essay question exemplars
32 pages of revision notes covering the entire A-level sociology crime and deviance specification
Seven colour mind maps covering the sociological perspectives on crime and deviance

Written specifically for the AQA sociology A-level specification. For better value, the A-Level Sociology Revision Mega Bundle covers the whole A-level: over 200 pages of revision notes, 60 mind maps and 50 short answer exam questions with exemplar answers.

Get the Crime and Deviance bundle See the mega bundle

Crime and Deviance mind map for A level sociology