Crime & Deviance

• Crime: an illegal act punishable by law. eg: robbery, fraud or shoplifting.
• Deviance: refers to behavior that does not conform to a society's rules and norms. eg: nose-picking, standing too close to other people, or not bathing regularly.
• Goode (2008)

  Deviance can be mild or extreme, with mild deviance involving harsh words or small fines, while extreme deviance involves behaviors or beliefs that are so extreme that they generate strong reactions, eg: like claiming alien abduction.
• Legal deviance acts seen as deviant, but DON'T break the law. This behaviour is considered abnormal by most people in society e.g., shouting in the library or being covered in tattoos

  Illegal deviance deviant AND break the laws and thus is punishable by the state. e.g., murder or Shoplifting
• Social Construction: When sociologists say that something is social constructed, they mean that this has been created by society. Society has labelled this act as criminal or deviant
• Crime as relative

  Crime can change over time and vary between cultures

  eg: In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal to buy or sell alcohol at all, whereas in the UK, the legal age to buy alcohol is 18.
• Deviance as relative: whether an act is seen as deviant or not depends on the particular social setting in which it takes place.
• Becker

  No act is deviant in itself; it depends on who commits it, how others react, and how they define and label the act.

  eg: Selling drugs, is likely to be seen as deviant act if done by a drug dealer on a street corner but not if done by a pharmacist at the local chemists.
• Situational deviance: defined according to the social setting in which it takes place and the time it takes place.

  eg: Nudity is generally accepted in showers and saunas, but in supermarkets or train stations, it is considered deviant]
• Historical deviance: suggests that beliefs about what is seen as normal and as deviant can change over time.

  eg: stigma around divorce has change, people now encourage those within unhappy relationships to leave for the sake of their mental health
• Cross cultural deviance: suggests that behaviour classified as deviant can vary from one culture to another.

  eg: For example, cultures differ in their expectations regarding what is appropriate dress for men, women and children.

  AND Switzerland allows euthanasia for honorable motives, with clinics used by Swiss and international individuals, despite being strongly opposed in the UK.
• Sanctions: are reactions to behaviour that either encourages or discourages certain types of behaviour and aim to reduce the frequency of deviant acts.
• Methods of social control: refers to the methods that are used to persuade people to conform to the rules, so that there is social order in society.

  • All agents of social control use sanctions, either positive or negative, as a way of making people conform.
• Informal Social Control:

  based on unwritten rules and processes and includes when our behaviour is controlled through the approval or disapproval of those around us such as family, friends and peers.

  →If they disapprove of our behaviour, they may criticise us, ignore us or even exclude us.
• Positive sanctions are designed to encourage us to repeat certain behaviour. They reward individuals who comply with or behave according to the group's expectations by praising them. Negative sanctions are designed to influence us not to repeat behaviour which is unacceptable. They punish those who do not conform to try to change their behaviour.
• Family sanctions can encourage good behavior through praise, bedtime extensions, and privileges, while negative sanctions may involve disapproval, withholding money, and grounding children.
• Peer groups

  Peers significantly influence children and young people, as they spend a lot of time together. They want to fit in, take opinions seriously, and use informal sanctions to encourage conformity. → eg:, if they do not follow the groups norms, they could be ignored, left out and name-called whereas if they conform, they may be invited to parties and defended publicly.
• Workplace

  use sanctions to enforce rules, including positive rewards like 'employee of the month' and raises, and negative punishments like warnings and disciplinaries for non-compliance.
• Formal Social Control:

  The agencies of formal social control

  are the bodies in society that make the laws, enforce them and punish people who break them.

  The Houses of Parliament

  The House of Commons and the House of Lords. - Their role is to legislate; make the laws that regulate our behaviour
• The police social control May reprimand (a formal verbal warning) someone who commits a minor offence for the first

  time (e.g. shoplifting)

  Patrol the streets (the presence of the police deters people from committing crime because they know they are being watched)

  • Arresting people: they are able to detain people who behave in an unacceptable fashion and break the law.
•  The judiciary (the courts) formal social control -The courts determine whether people accused of committing crimes are guilty/not guilty. They deal with alleged offenders and convict the guilty

  If found guilty, the criminal may be given a prison sentence, community service, a fine etc
• Prisons- formal social control 

  They keep convicted offenders who have received a prison sentence in custody

  • Prisons deter convicted criminals from reoffending (because prison is unpleasant, isolated from society, cut off from friends and family) AND deters members of the public from

  committing crime
• Althusser-repressive state apparatuses' ‘(Marxist)refers to formal agents of social control, including the government, police, courts, and armed forces, that dominate the working class, using violent or non-violent coercive means to enforce laws and prevent threats.
• Social Order: refers to a society which runs smoothly and has a high degree of stability
• Althusser 'ideological state apparatuses' (Marxist)which is made up of informal agents like family, religion, education, and workplace. These agents Spread ideology to create false class consciousness, reinforcing dominant class control rather than imposing order.

  State apparatuses, both repressive and ideological, Serve dual functions of violence and ideology, collaborating to benefit the ruling class, regardless of their exclusive nature.
• Durkheim- Functions of crime (2)

  Social cohesion and solidarity:

  crime or the reaction to it (punishment) brings people together, thereby building social solidarity and cohesiveness, which in turn decreases crime. - people come together to create a change, connect through shared norms and values
• Durkheim- Functions of crime (1)

  Boundary maintenance:

  when crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members in condemnation of the wrongdoer and reinforcing their commitment to the shared norms and values

  • reaffirms what is right and wrong by making an example of those who break the law through
• Durkheim- Functions of crime (3) Adaption to change

  Every change in society starts with either an act of crime or deviance. Society cannot change, adapt and evolve if there is no deviance.

  
  

  Acting as a warning device.

  Something criminal or deviant acts as a warning that something in society is not working properly. - causes those in power to make change within society; through rules and regulations
• Durkheim- Functions of crime (4)Safety valve (a means of giving harmless vent to feelings of tension and stress) Deviance and some crime is as a way for somebody to express their feelings at something - providing a relatively harmless way for someone to express their discontent
• Merton:

  Merton observed American culture. He said that this society bought into the 'American dream' of having a successful career with lots of money, material possessions and a nice family

  • American society isn't balanced, so when people struggle to live up to societies norms and values. they try and find other ways of achieving this success and thus commit crime
• Merton functionalist (1)

  Conformity - Members of society conform to the norms of the rest of society (in this case the need for material goods) and try to achieve success through the normal means (work hard at School etc.)

  
  

  Innovation - People who feel that they cannot possibly achieve through the normal route try new ways of making money, in most cases this is a life of crime
• Merton functionalist (2)

  Ritualism - People who feel they can't achieve because they have few job prospects, but also can't turn to innovation might lower their goals and aspirations. This is considered deviant because they have rejected society's norms and values by creating their own lower goals. 

  
  

  
  

  Retreatism People who cannot possibly earn Success and feel there is no way to do so might retreat from society, or 'drop out'. They resign to failure and often turn to alcohol or drugs abuse. 
• Merton functionalist (3)

  Rebellion - People who cannot succeed but do not want to just admit defeat might rebel and try to create their own society with new goals and means.
• Culturally defined means of success: achieving Success legally, working hard, getting educational qualifications

  Culturally defined goals of success; achieving economic success, having material wealth. E.g. The American dream
• William Chambliss (Marxism)

  Official statistics often portray crime as primarily a working-class issue, largely due to Selective law enforcement targeting higher classes, who are less likely to be prosecuted.

  Unfair differential law enforcement:

  • Chambliss' 1970s study of Seattle reveals that wealthy individuals, including businessmen and politicians, use their power to commit crime to increase their wealth, often using bribery and threats.
• Strain: the pressure between the goals you Strive for and the means of achieving them
• Frank Pearce:(Marxism)

  Selective law enforcement misleads the public, assuming most crimes are committed by working-class individuals, while the biggest are 'white collar and corporate crime', often overlooked or prosecuted. Such as fraud, tax evasion, corporate manslaughter
• white collar crime: a non-violent crime where the primary motive is typically financial in nature, eg: Securities fraud, money laundering
• Blue collar crime: any crime committed by an individual from a lower social class eg: drug abuse
• corporate crime: crimes committed by companies rather than individuals eg: money laundering, tax evasion, fraud