Crime and Deviance

• Deviance


  Refers to the people who do not conform to the norms that are accepted by the majority of the people in a community or society
• Social control


  The process of encouraging people to conform to the dominant social norms and values of society
• Socialization


  The process of encouraging people to conform to the dominant social norms and values of society
• Social order


  A society in which all the individuals found in it have the same or similar social norms and values
• Sanctions


  The consequence of your actions, can be positive or negative
• Informal sanctions


  When someone disapproves of your actions, e.g. a sexist comment at work
• Formal sanctions


  When your actions break the law
• Crime


  An act of deviance that goes beyond breaking the norm because it actually breaks a law
• Crime is usually punished more than deviance
• An individual can be considered as deviant without being criminal
• Functionalist theories on crime & deviance


  • Look at crime and deviance resulting from structural tension and lack of moral regulation in society
  • Crime and deviance are considered to be inevitable because not all individuals conform to the norms of society
• Anomie


  The erosion of traditional norms and standards in modern society, leading to people feeling disoriented and anxious
• Durkheim's views on crime & deviance


  • Crime and deviance are social facts, inevitable and necessary in society
  • Deviance has an adaptive function, introducing new ideas and challenges that enable society to change and progress
  • Deviance promotes boundary maintenance between good and bad behaviour, clarifying social norms
• Durkheim was criticized for not stating which level of crime is the right amount for society
• Normalizing deviance


  Every society has a level of deviance that it can handle
• Merton's functionalist theory


  • Explains why deviance arises from the tension between socially endorsed values and the limited means of achieving them
  • Identified 5 possible ways people act in response to this tension: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion
• Cohen's theory


  • Deviance occurs collectively through the formation of subcultures, where working-class youth develop their own values and norms in reaction to their lack of opportunity to achieve success through approved means
• Interactionism (labeling theory)


  Focuses on the social construction of crime and deviance, where people are given labels/tags that stigmatize them as deviant
• Becker's labeling theory


  • Deviance is not a quality of a bad person but the result of someone defining someone's activity as bad
  • Labels influence how you see yourself and how others see you, factors beyond the deviant act itself determine whether someone is labeled as deviant
• Primary deviance


  Deviance that is marginalized from the person's identity, not publicly labeled
• Secondary deviance


  When an individual accepts the deviant label for themselves, leading to deviance becoming a central part of their identity and future actions
• Primary Deviance


  Deviance is marginalized from the person's identity (deviance is not part of the person's identity). This means that it has not been publicly labeled as such.
• Secondary Deviance


  An individual accepts the deviant label for him/herself, therefore it will have major consequences for the individual's view of themselves and their future actions. This is when deviance takes over one's identity and start acting in a deviant way.
• The typical age for offending is between 8 and 14 years of age. Early onset means that there is a high chance of a long criminal career. Therefore, early interventions are needed in order to prevent young people from taking the first step in criminality.
• Deviancy amplification


  A labelled person incorporates the label into his or her identity, for example when a teacher says that a student is a failure and will fail his exams, the student will eventually get fed up and does not study as he starts believing and accepting the label this is given to him, therefore he ends up failing.
• Those labeled as deviant become more resistant to change.
• Marxist view of deviance


  • Deviance is consciously chosen and often political in nature
  • Deviance is a response to the inequalities in society and the capitalist system
• Mugging


  • Street robberies with the threat of violence
  • Portrayed as young, black men, contributing to the view that immigrants were responsible for a breakdown in society
• Conflict theories believe that laws are tools used by the powerful to maintain their own privileged positions. These do not look at laws as being neutral, they see them as inequalities between the ruling class and the working class.
• Left Realism


  • Crime is a real problem and it mostly harms the working class
  • The sort of crime that worries people the most is street crime and burglary which is mainly carried out by young working-class individuals
  • Those at the greatest risk of becoming victims are the poor
  • High rates of victimization and crime in marginalized areas due to social exclusion
  • Working-class individuals form their own deviant subcultures to get revenge against society
  • Proposed 'minimal policing' where locally elected police authorities would be responsible for citizens and would have a larger say in setting priorities for their areas
• Control Theories


  Crime occurs because individuals act in a rational way. If a person sees that they are benefitting from criminal acts then they continue committing them.
• Hirschi's Social Bond Theory


  • All human beings suffer from weaknesses which make them unable to resist temptation and turn to crime but there are social bonds with other people that encourage them to exercise self-control, tie them to conformity and do not commit a crime. If these social bonds are weakened or broken, their self-control is weakened and they will turn to crime.
• Hirschi's 4 social bonds


  • Attachment
  • Commitment
  • Involvement
  • Beliefs
• Tyler's Legitimacy Theory


  People respect laws if these are related to their morals and their own perceptions if the law is legitimate or not. People may obey the law because they believe that law-making and the enforcing bodies are legitimate.
• Right Realism


  • Deviance is a problem of individuals who choose destructive, lawless behaviours and because of lack of self-control and morality
  • The most effective form of crime control is through strengthening the bond of community
  • Stricter socialization through the family and education and community pressure and a sense of responsibility are all likely to prevent crime
  • Increased law enforcement, police powers, and long prison sentences were considered as the most effective solution for crime
• The consequence of 'three strikes laws' in the USA was an increase in prison population.
• Rational Choice Theory


  People choose to commit crime because they decide that the benefits to be gained are greater than the potential costs. The opportunities are available and the risks are worth it.
• Situational Crime Prevention


  • Focuses on limiting the opportunities for crimes by increasing surveillance and target hardening
• Alarms


  • Make it harder for car thieves
• Public telephone boxes


  • Fitted with tougher coin boxes to make it harder for vandalism