Crime and deviance

 Deviance is behaviour that violates standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. Deviance can also
include crime and refer to political, religious, and physical impute. It is violation of cultural norms and undesirable.
 Deviance varies from time, society, individuals and groups with power and status and states what is acceptable vs
deviant.
 Some deviant acts are not harmful, yet some conforming acts can be considered deviant. All criminal actions are
deviant but not all are criminal.
 Likewise, to norms, there are sanctions regarding deviance
 Positive sanctions for conformity= rewards
 Negative sanctions for deviance=punishments
 Crime are activities that break the law and are exposed to official punishment.

Deviance and social stigma Deviance and technology

A deviant identity is not changed with ease if gained. Technology can re-shape social interaction and norms associated
Stigma refers to the devaluing labels society assigns to particular Anonymity can result in civil behaviour
social groups. Regulations are put in place on the internet to curb pornography or
People can be stigmatised to behaviours they are not associated to hate speech
anymore. Technology can be used defiantly for pirating
Prestige symbols are praised, and stigma symbols are degraded.
Stigmatisation can happen for a non-guilty crime

Deviance Crime Delinquency

Violation of group norms that is / not Deviation from formal social norms are Acts that are criminal or antisocial committed
formalised into law supervised by the state. by young people

Victimless crime White collar and Professional crime Organised crime Transnational crime
technology-based
crime
Willingly exchange of adults Illegal acts committed Crime done in day to Group work regulating Crime occurring among
of desired but illegal goods in business activities day occupation, taking relations among multiple borders.
and services by affluent people up skills and criminal schemes
Prostitution, drug abuse and Income tax invasion techniques enjoying a Prostitution,
corruption Stock manipulation certain extent of smuggling, selling
Bribery status among other illegal drugs and
Embezzlement criminals hijacking
Cyber crime
Identity theft

Crime statistics

Help identify trends in crime

Property crimes receives excess attention

Include crime reported to law enforcement agencies

Victimisation surveys – victims that has understood what has happened to them and able to disclose such information

Measuring crime:

 Witnesses or victims to report

 Police need to record in their records
 Official statistics do not pay much attention to much crimes
 Victimisation surveys reveal 60% to 70% more crime than official statistics
 Affected by divide between police and majority of the public
 Affected by changes in definitions of crime
 What police crime statistics say What police crime statistics do not say
How crime levels change over time Crimes the public does not report to police
How crime rates compare in different areas Causes of crime
Nature of certain crimes Performance of police

Functionalists perspective

This perspective looks for the source of deviance within society instead of the individual.

Functionalists argue deviance is necessary to society and can perform positive functions on social systems.

Functionalists stress on the NB of shared norms and values as a foundation of social order and thus deviance is a threat to the
social order and society, and this should be checked by social order mechanisms.

Deviance can also be positive when it contributes to the wellbeing of society.

Durkheim views on deviance

 Inevitable
Normal
Present in all types of society
Higher in industrialised countries
Not all members of society can adhere to sentiments
Individuals are exposed to diverse no. of situations and this makes it impossible for similarities
General standards are so high that the slightest mishap would be an offense.
 Functional
Crime becomes dysfunctional if it high or low
For social change to take place, past deviance must be the present norm.
Punishment is NB for collective sentiments at a required level of strength.
Collective sentiments= weak, crime rate will be high, and this will be dysfunctional
Collective sentiments = strong, crush originality and progress
Social functions of deviance
Boundary maintenance =continuous attempt to define and redefine boundaries of the community
Safety valve= expression of discontent
Warning device= aspect of society that is malfunctioning
Anomie=normlessness occurring during social change, disorder, and economic crisis/ revolution
 Positive functions

Merton

 Merton believes that deviance stems from culture and society

 Members share values but do not realise the shared values because of different social positions in society. This results
in deviance from those who channel incorrect unrealised shared values.
 He adapted anomie from Durkheim to explain the acceptance and rejection of the goals in society
 All societies have institutionalised methods of reaching culturally defined goals
 Accepted ways of gaining success is by- ambition, hard work, education, determination, talent, and drive
 In a balanced society, there is equal stress on cultural goals and institutionalized means. Members however are satisfied
with both.
 Societies may place more focus on success and less focus on how to achieve it
 Overemphasis on culture= anomie

Merton highlighted 5 ways members of society could react to success goals:

Conformity innovation Ritualism Retreatism Rebellion
Conform to success goals Rejects normative People are strongly Cultural goals and Where people reject both
and normity of achieving it ways of success socialised to conform institutionalized goals and society and replaces
Accepted channels are used Turns deviant = crime to social norms means are internalised them.
to gain success Success goals rejected but unable to achieve Adopted by those who create
by large society success a new society
Low grade bureaucrats Resolve conflict by Resentful and rebellious are
Respectable but stuck abandoning goals and organised into a revolution
means
Droop out of society

Evaluation of Merton

Weaknesses Strengths
 Neglects power relationships

 Fails to take into consideration of who makes the

law and who benefits from it

Not all Americans accept success goals of society this

 Assumes there is value consensus in society includes the American dream.

 People experiencing anomie do not become deviant It is widespread in lower strata to account for their deviance
or criminals

 Working class crime is overlooked Those struggling to find wealth in legal ways find alternatives

 Under looks middle class or white-collar crime

 Does not take politically motivated criminals that Political criminals can be put under rebellion
break the law because of their commitment to their
role.

Structural and subcultural theories of deviance

Structural Subcultural
Origins of deviance and in terms of the position of individuals or Explain deviance in terms of subcultures
groups in the social structure. Certain groups develop values and norms that are different from
other people in society.
Deviance stems from individuals conforming to values and the
norms of a social group.
Not completely different from other members in society but It is
sufficiently different in society as a whole to encourage deviance.

1. Delinquent structure
2. Illegitimate opportunity subculture
3. Class based subculture
 Delinquent structure Illegitimate opportunity subculture Class based subculture
Mix of both structural and subcultural Forms of deviance Crime is product of lower- and under-
theories Neglected by Merton case culture
Development of subculture groups Pressure on middle and upper class to
referred to the position of groups or deviate with lack of legitimate a. Working class subculture
individuals in the social structure. opportunities Values passed from previous
Modifies, builds on and criticizes 3 responses to illegitimate generations and motivation for lower
Merton’s theory opportunities class to break law is present.
 Delinquency Is collective than Criminal subcultures  Toughness – masculinity
individual Learning place for organised adult crime  Smartness- outsmart others
 Merton did not account for Exposure to criminal skills and deviant  Excitement-thrill
non-utilitarian crime behaviour Common in adolescence
 Argued if delinquency is Criminal role models  Peer pressure
motivated by cultural goals or Utilitarian crime- monetary award  Need for status
mainstream culture. Conflict subcultures b. Underclass and crime
Less access to illegitimate opportunities Unemployed and unemployable
Education and dead-end jobs prevent High population, lack of unity and Demand in working class for unskilled
cultural goals to grow since failure is cohesion labour is decreasing
the result from the social position. Gang violence resulted to vent anger Rejection of conventional values and
Cultural goals however fills in the void and frustration norms
for lack of education success. Retreatist subculture Material deprivation stemming from
Inability to achieve results in rejection Subculture failed to succeed at marketisation
and avoidance of cultural goals. Thus, legitimate and illegitimate
delinquent culture is advocated as an opportunities
alternative to gain success and prestige. Failed criminals and failed gang
members
Delinquent culture includes stealing, Retreat to illegal drug culture
vandalism, and truancy.
Offers rewards with recognition and
prestige – role model to peers
Mainstream values are substituted in
return for deviant values.
Unequal success leads to pressure on
groups to deviate more.
Defiance can turn larger societies norms
upside down.

These theories are stigmatising since the under and working class is portyed as criminals while they are actually very
hardworking and honest. Real crime comes more from white collar and committed by members of upper and middle classes.
White collar crime is what is holding endless inequalities in society.

Marxist view on deviance

 Influential people use deviance to protect their interests to suit their needs.
 The powerful is more emphasised in the criminal justice system
 Crime is a definition of conduct created by the authorised agents to gain social control in politically advocated society.
 Law making by the powerful is a way to influence others in their morality
 This advocates the reason of victimless crimes
 Criminal law is about the competition of values and interests of society
 Marxists see the one who are in power owns the means of production
 Superstructure is the relationship between the powerful and powerless. The superstructure includes the state, agencies
of social control, the law and definitions of deviance which represents qualities of the ruling class. The ruling class is
supported when the state passes laws influenced by them.
 Laws do not advocate value unison, but they reflect the ideologies of the ruling class.
 Commitment to laws are of false consciousness and can only benefit a minority

Law makers and the benefits

  Made by state
 State represents ruling class
 Majority of the rules are related to protection of private property which is emphasised in capitalism
 Laws threaten profits are rarely authorised

Breaking the law and getting caught

Crime is spread over society

Corporate crimes are common in industrial countries with anti-social and predatory acts. However, this type of crime does more
harm than street crime but, the latter is perceived more serious. Corporate crimes costs more money and lives than street
crime. Small businesses tend to be taken to court, as opposed to big corporates which is the ones that do greater harm

Differential law: suspects treated differently due to racial, social, or ethnic background

Breaking and enforcing the law

Crime is seen to be a natural outgrowth of capitalism. Thus, the capitalism system can be crimogenic mainly because it
encourages individuals to pursue self-interests first.

Reasons:

 Emphasise on wealth
 Economic self-interest instead of public duty is seen as a motivator
 Stress on private property shows that there is no interest in collective wealth.
 Competing means to gain individual achievement but with the intention to harm others.
 Competition results in aggression, hostility, and frustration, greater to those who do not get what they want.

Selective law enforcement

 The seldom prosecution of capitalism has shown that the law benefiting the society, state involving itself in public
interest and the ruling class is only a minority that this “imagination” will never end.
 Punishing members of the subject class protects the system and advocates deviance and crime.
 Individuals are defined as social failures and s responsible for their criminal acts
 Negate opposition
 To define criminals as animals serves as support to confine them in prison
 This enforcement maintains and supports ruling power as well as the ideologies

Weaknesses of Marx’s theory

 Feminists argue that no emphasis is placed on patriarchy and racism, thus class inequality has not been addressed.
 Capitalism is not always the cause of crime
 Only corporate crime is addressed

Interactionist perspective
Aspects of deviance highlighted ignored by other perspective. The concern is not with the root of deviance but the relationship
between the deviant and the ones who define them as such. There is stress on important meanings actors develop and
strengthen the interaction. Actors involved in the circumstance adjusts the meaning of deviance.

Interactionist explanations

Cultural transmission Social disorganisation Labelling

Behaviour of humans is either determined to Social relationships that are maintained No such thing as a deviant act
be proper or improper. throughout the community, affects the An act becomes deviant when something is
An individual adapts the same methodology behaviour of others. perceived in different contexts and when
with deviance, just like socialisation Increase in crime can be stemmed from others label an act as deviant.
 Cultural transmission school: learning breakdown or absence of communal The label depends on
criminal behaviour by interacting with relationships and social institutions.  Audience witnesses the deviant act
others. This also occurs with migration and  Committing the act
 Differential association: exposure to immigration from rural areas and cities  Observes the act
favourable criminal attitudes and acts, Effects of labelling
then violates rules This theory is criticised for blaming an Not neutral and portrays someone as a specific
Engagement in proper or improper activity individual without considering social kind
depends on: forces. Evaluation is performed of a labelled person
 Frequency Master status- anyone falling under this would
 Duration be labelled the same
 Those that promote acceptance of If labelled as a criminal, their role is rejected
social norms Responses are based on the label given
 Those that advocate deviant Assumption of negativity coming with the label
behaviour Self-concepts are driven by response of others
Improper behaviour stems from groups one and the label is mirrored back to the person
belongs to ad friendships they keep . who has it
This results in a self-fulfilling prophecy
The deviant label is what drives deviant actions

Labelling process
1. Individual is labelled as deviant
publicly
 Rejection from social groups, family,
and friends
 Regarded as a troublemaker
 Unemployed forced out of the
neighbourhood
2. Encourage further deviance
Crime is used to support habit
3. Treatment of deviance denies a
normal life
Crime is a survival tool
4. Join organized deviant group
Confirm and accept identity
Surrounded by a similar situation with others
5. Deviant subculture develops
Including belief in values which align with
deviant behaviour

Evaluation of labelling theory

Deviant acts are deviant regardless of the
society’s response
Fail to explain root of individuals deviant
actions
Lack of evidence that labelling results in
deviance actions
Fails to explain why some activities are against
thee law and why some are not.