All

• What is crime?

  What is Deviance?

  Crime- Breaking law

  Deviance- Breaking social norms
• What are norms?

  Specific rules or socially accepted standards

  • Governs behaviour in particular situations
• What are values?

  General guidelines for how we should live

  • Tells us what is right and wrong
• Individualist culture


  Focused on success and wealth
• Collectivist culture

  Collecting money for the community
• Types of deviance

  Behaviour that is unusual and good

  • Eg. risking one’s own life to save someone else

  Behaviour that is unusual and bizarre

  • Eg. talking to trees in a park

  Behaviour that is unusual and disapproved

  • Eg. physically attacking someone for no reason
• Formal sanctions


  Imposed by official bodies such as police, schools. Punishments for written rules and laws

  • Exclusion from school
  • Fined for theft
• Informal sanctions

  Rules that are not formally written (‘unspoken’)

  • Disapproval by refusing to speak to them
• Criminal behaviour

  Defined by:

  • Actus reus (A guilty act): something done against law
  • Men’s rea (A guilty mind): intention of doing it
• Exceptions

  • Strict reliability: Wrong act on its own can be enough to convict someone even if it wasn’t attended
  • Self-defence: Assaulting someone when it is self defence is not a crime as long as the force was reasonable (Can be justified)
• Main types of offences

  • Summary offences- less serious (Eg. speeding)
  • Indictable offences- Serious offences (Eg. rape/ murder)
• Court sanctions (Formal)

  • Custodial sentences- Prison
  • Community sentences- Curfew, fine, probation, community service
  • Conditional discharges- No charge as long as no further offences for a certain time period
• Police sanctions (Formal)

  • Cautions- Warning for low-level offences (Eg. graffiti)
  • Conditional Cautions- Sticking to certain rules (Eg. rehab)
  • Penalty notices- Used for minor crimes and no conviction if penalty is paid (Eg. shoplifting)
• Criminal records

  • Exclusion from certain occupations (Eg. children)
  • Violent and sex offenders register
  • Banned from travelling to certain countries
  • Restrictions on adoption, jury, elected office
  • London- gang violence matrix
• Social construction

  Something that has been made or defined by society (not occurring naturally)
• Polygamy


  More than one wife/husband at the same time
• Legality of Polygamy

  • Legal in 58 countries (Polygyny)
  • Only legal in small Himilayan societies (Polyandry)
  • Uk law: Anyone who goes through a marriage ceremony whilst married to someone else commits bigamy (7 years in jail/ fine)
• Reasons law varies

  • Religion- Qur'an states Muslim men to have up to 4 wives

  - Mormon church (USA) still practices illegally

  • Tradition- Practiced in African societies, although has declined
• Adultery

  Sexual acts between two people when one or both are married
• Legislation of adultery

  • Criminalising adultery in Muslim-majority countries
  • Punishing: fining, stoning to death, caning
  • Not against the law in many countries (including UK)
  • India made it legal in 2018
• Reasons law of adultery varies

  Religion and position of women (women more likely to receive harsher punishments)
• Homosexuality laws

  Legal in 30 countries (Eg. Denmark, The Netherlands, UK)

  Illegal in Asia, Parts of Africa, Morocco and Afghanistan
• Why did homosexuality laws change?

  Illegal ->Legal: Human rights, protesting (1967 Sexual Offences Act)

  Illegal: Religion, traditional values

  Punishments: Castration, death penalty, stoning to death (Saudi Arabia/ Yemen)
• Drug Laws

  UK- Illegal, cocaine can be restricted to certain people

  • Depends on dealing or supplying and how much is possessed

  Portugal- Consumer of drugs is seen as a patient not a criminal

  • Drug treatment course for free

  USA- Oregon decriminalises hard drugs

  • Texas and Alabama is illegal
• Gun Laws in England and Wales

  England and Wales- gun licence to own a rifle or shotgun only

  • Most handguns have been banned since 1996 Dunblane Massacre
  • Has to be locked in a case
• Gun Laws in USA

  All states allow carrying hidden firearms

  • Some states allow open carrying (Eg. Alaska/ Colorado)
• Why Laws change- Religion


  Different rules

  Varies within religion branches

  Tied closely with government

  Religion populated countries have a lot of sway over laws being changed and created
• Why laws change- Different norms and values

  Cultures have different norms and values

  (Eg. USA- guns for personal protection

  UK- culture of fear, more damage than good)

  Different Laws
• Why laws change- Status of women

  Countries where women are seen as less than men is reflected in the laws

  (Eg. women not being able to drive/vote/go to school)
• Why laws change- Public opinion

  If public do not see law and an issue then it becomes decriminalised

  Public opinion over a crime can change legislation

  (Eg. 1960s homosexuality opinion, viewed as acceptable and law changed)
• Why laws change- Varying views on justice

  Different views on punishments such as death penalty in order for justice

  Can affect which punishments are and are not allowed

  (Eg. Stoning to death/ Death penalty)