Week 5 - Durkheim on Crime and Punishment

Emile Durkheim

Founder of Sociology (Late 19th- Early 20th Century)

• Tried to understand Functionalist view of crime and punishment

• Idea that the two play an important role in society

Believed crime was necessary for the social order and was a normal and functional part of life

Durkheim’s Study of Society

Studied social relationships with others

• Idea of society having a structure external to individuals

The structure of society links society and individuals

• Compels us or constrains us from doing things

Social Facts (Durkheim)

Parts of society that are observable and measurable

• Studied at the macro/institutional level

• Coercive, makes us do certain things because of pressure

e.x. Legal system, family values, religious system

Crime to Durkheim is a social fact

Social norms/values

A type of social fact

• Rules and expectations in society that regard how an individual is supposed to act and behave

• Come from the collective of society

• Reproduced generation after generation

Collective conscience - shared beliefs and norms that we have / a common way of understanding

Social Solidarity

The sense of belonging and community within a society, derived from shared values and norms. It holds individuals together, promoting cooperation and stability.

“Cement” that binds society

What binds societies together?

Social solidarity, shared values, cultures and beliefs - all sources of cohesiveness

Contextualizing Durkheim

Wrote during the Industrial age/revolution

• Rapid urbanization and industrialization

• Rise of individualism due to dense cities

People moving into big cities left their collective conscience of their community behind

• Loosening of traditional social ties/bonds

Also wrote when times where deterministic views were present

Penal Law

Laws surrounding punishment

• A LENS TO UNDERSTANDING SOLIDARITY IN THIS CONTEXT

Apart of the collective consciousness - binds society through identification of underlying norms

Mechanical Society (premodern)

Characterized by collective similarities

• “Geographyically mobile” - people live and die in the same town

• e.x. rural farming societies

Little division of labor - people carry similar tasks

• Simple division by age or sex

Solidarity - shown through homogeneity and close-knit communities

Mechanical Society and Law

Law tended to be centered around penal law

• Enforced via harsh, punitive punishments

The act of crime was a harm to society rather than an individual

• Offence to the collective conscience

Durkheim - Four Functions of how Crime Supports Social Solidarity

1. Boundary Setting Function

2. Group Solidarity Function

3. Adaptive Function

4. Tension-reduction function

Boundary Setting Function (Four Functions)

Response and public punishment to crime = setting boundaries and rules

Group Solidarity Function (Four Functions)

Solidarity identifies an enemy/threat

• Strengthens solidarity as a group

Adaptive Function (Four Functions)

Allows society to change it’s boundaries

• e.x. Deviant behavior being accepted as not harmful

Responding to new things = evolution of society

Tension-reduction function (Four Functions)

Crime acts as a cathartic release of tension for society

• Society’s negativity is redirected to the offender

May result in scapegoating

• Creates an imaginary offender (e.x. illegal aliens)

Punishment in a Mechanical Society

Offence is a threat to the collective conscience

• Punishment is vengeful and passionate

• The primary function is to protect the collective conscience

Punishment in a mechanical society is a:

• Group activity that reinforces social solidarity

• A ceremony

Organic Society

The society we live in now

• Increased dissimilarities within society

Result of the industrial revolution and the division of labour

Organic Society and Division of Labor

People take on specialized tasks in society

• Changes social solidarity

• Differing values

Relationship of sameness ——> Relationship of difference

Collective conscience remains, but is much weaker

• Results in anomie (breakdown of shared norms)

Organic Society and Law

Punishment plays a lesser role

• Is not hedonistic - revolves around maintenance of order and status quo

We become tolerant of things that deviate form the norm

Laws - now focused on reforming the offender and restoring original crime-free situations

Punishment in Organic Society (Religious and Human Criminality is included)

More dispassionate, measured, rational

Religious Criminality vs. Human Criminality

• Religious criminality - view of offender in a mechanical society

  • Looks at the individual as a problem

• Human Criminality - view in an organic society

  • Looks at society as the problem

Imprisonment is now a common form of punishment

• Punishment is now proportional to the offence

• Offender is treated as someone who can be reformed

  • No hedonism

Punishment still serves as a source of social solidarity

Passion and Punishment (Organic and Mechanical Societies)

Passion in punishment is still prevalent within both forms of society

• In organic ones, vengeance is hidden under the surface

Submerged mortalities

Function of vengeance within punishment in Organic society is clandestine

“Passion and emotion still lies at the heart of modern punishment”

Passion in Modern Punishment

Goals of Sentencing - emphasis on retribution

• Deterrence

• Denunciation (public deterrence)

• Rehabilitation

• Revenge

In section 718 of the Criminal Code

• Denunciation still has a public shaming aspect

Judges oftentimes state punishment is Expressly Not for Revenge

• Another judge says that there is a moralizing function to punishment

  • This FUNCTION IS THROUGH the DENUNCIATION OF BEHAVIOR

Organic Society and Anomie

Collective consciousness that upholds social solidarity is weakened

• Caused by division of labor

• Informal social control agents are weaker (e.x. family ties, religion)

• Individualism = selfishness