Crime and Deviance

• Agenda setting (and the media in relation to crime/deviance)

  Ability to influence the importance placed on topics of the public agenda
• Agent of social control


  Individual or group that is responsible for ensuring members of society conform to socially acceptable behaviour.
• Alienation


  feeling isolated and separated from everyone else
• Anomie


  a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable; too little social regulation; normlessness
• Anti-social behaviour


  Any behaviour that is disruptive or harmful to the wellbeing or property of another person or to the functioning of a group or society.
• Attitude survey


  a survey that focuses on employees' feelings and beliefs about their jobs and the organization
• Bias


  A particular preference or point of view that is personal, rather than scientific.
• Case study


  an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
• Census


  the official count of a population
• Chivalry thesis


  The belief that the police and courts are easier on women because they are male dominated.
• Closed question


  Narrowly focused questions that require only brief answers such as yes or no
• Community service


  a sentence requiring the offender to perform a certain amount of unpaid labor in the community
• Confidentiality


  the act of holding information in confidence, not to be released to unauthorized individuals
• Conformity


  Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
• Consensus


  general agreement
• Content analysis


  a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film
• Continuity


  Older adults will usually maintain the same activities they did in their earlier years of life
• Control theory (in relation to women and crime)

  A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms.
• Corporate crime


  the illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf
• Covert observation


  observation in which the observer's presence or purpose is kept secret from those being observed
• Crime


  An act against the law
• Crime rate


  the number of crimes committed per x amount of population
• Criminal justice system


  the system of police, courts, and prisons set up to deal with people who are accused of having committed a crime
• Criminal subculture


  certain groups or subcultures in society have values and attitudes that are conducive to crime and violence
• Dark figure of crime


  Crime that is not reported to the police and that remains unknown to officials. May also not be recorded.
• Data


  Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis
• Data analysis


  The process of compiling, analysing, and interpreting the results of primary and secondary data collection.
• Data protection


  Method of ensuring that personal data is correct and is not misused either by those holding it or others who have no right to access it.
• Delinquency


  minor crime, especially that committed by young people.
• Deviance


  the recognized violation of cultural norms
• Deviancy amplification


  The process whereby the mass media can exaggerate the significance of a particular social issue.
• Deviant career


  the process in which an individual comes to accept a deviant 'self-identity', and, often, to identify with a deviant subculture.
• Discrimination


  unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members
• Economy


  the wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services.
• Established (state) church


  A religious body that is officially endorsed by the government, eg Church of England
• Ethical considerations


  Issues of research that take into account the welfare of participants
• Ethnic diversity


  a variety of people from different ethnic groups
• Ethnic group


  Group of people who share common ancestry, language, religion, customs, or combination of such characteristics
• Ethnic minority


  A member of an ethnic group (race) which is much smaller than the majority group
• Ethnicity


  Identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.