Unit 6: Social Deviancy Crime & Social Control

Social Norms

Behavioral actions that are commonly displayed within a social group (= statistically normal behaviors) 

• Expectations (rules) of how a population is to act/behave

• Often regulated by law and/or religious doctrine 

• Culture is relative, so too is what is considered “normal” behavior

• Statical majority

Social Deviancy

behaviors that are statistically rare or actions that are considered inappropriate by cultural standards

• Any statistical break from the norm

• People not wearing double blue on Friday 

Social Contract

The implicit agreement among members of a society to limit some of their individual freedoms & liberties in exchange for equal protection under the same law = Social Justice

• (Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, et al.)

• Formal Agreement

• There has to be a give and a take

• Social justice makes sure that a society has

Laws

The agreed upon system of rules & public policy

• Established by government & social institutions

• Designed to regulate people & society

• A social norm that is put into law so that it is not broken 

• A system that makes sure society is safe 

Criminal Justice

The legal goal of being fair, equitable, and morally righteous when resolving disputes & administering punishment

• Make sure that we have purposeful laws

• How we provide punishment

Vigilante Justice

Actions by an individual or group who attempt to enforce the law but lack the legal authority to do so

• It is based upon revenge against an individual

• You can’t be the prosecutor, judge, and the jury

• Personal → Ex. Batman

Civil Law

• Settles disputes between people, organizations, government

• Defendant is sued by a Plaintiff for a wrongdoing (lawsuit)

• If the Plaintiff wins the case, they are entitled to restitution = compensation for damages

• Designed to resolve disputes with other people 

• Not a crime or law has been violated

• A legal way of resolving a dispute → Doesn’t always involve money 

• Ex. Child Custody 

Criminal Law

• Prosecutes violators of law = crime

• Defendant is prosecuted by the government (district attorney)

• If the Defendant is convicted of a crime, they are penalized by incarceration, probation, or fine

• Determining whether or not a person has violated a law 

• You are either found guilty or innocent 

Crime

• An act (or failure to act) that violates the law and is enforced by governmental penalty (fine, probation, incarceration)

  • Violation of a social norm 

Crimes of Omission

• Failure to perform an action required by criminal law

  • Failure to file an IRS tax return

  • A motorist refusing to stop and exchange insurance information after being involved in an auto accident

  • Something that you are supposed to do by law, but you don’t do

  • Not going to school | Tax evasion | Not paying child support | Not paying your bills | Not showing up to court appearance 

Misdemeanors

• Crimes of a less-serious nature

  • Typically punished by: 

    • Fines 

    • Community service 

    • Court-ordered rehabilitation

    • Incarceration of up to 1 year (local / county jails)

  • Less serious consequences for breaking a minor law

  • Still Criminal Law

  • Ex. Speeding

Felonies

• Serious criminal offenses

  • Typically punished by: 

    • Fines of higher amounts 

    • Incarceration longer than 1 year (state prisons, federal penitentiaries)

  • Ex. Kidnapping

Aggravated

• Circumstances & factors that increase the severity of the criminal action & its punishment

  • Premeditation (planning)

  • Deliberate (with malice)

  • Use of a Weapon

  • Severity of damages to person and/or property

  • Age of victim(s)

  • Increases the severity of the crime

Mitigated

• Circumstances & factors that decrease the severity of a crime and its punishment

  • Age of perpetrator (defendant)

  • Mental/intellectual competency

  • Evidence of remorsefulness

  • Criminal intent (reason for crime)

  • Lessen the severity of the crime

Inchoate Crimes

• Crimes committed in preparation for committing another, typically more serious crime

  • A crime that is done along with another crime that tends to be more severe, to make the intended crime more successful

Aiding

• Accessory Before-the-fact and/or After-the-Fact

• Actively assisting someone to commit a crime

• Harboring a perpetrator or covering up after a crime

• This is before the crime

• You helped organize the crime

• Ex. You are an Uber driver driving around robbers

Abetting

• Encouraging criminal action without participation

  • When you help during a crime

  • Ex. Driving a getaway car

Criminal Solicitation

Offering money or compensation to someone to commit a crime

• Ex. You are hiring a Hitman

Criminal Attempt

• An active effort to commit a crime that goes beyond mere preparation but does not result in the actual commission of the crime

  • Attempt is still a crime, even if the act was stopped or failed

  • If you tried committing a crime, but it failed → it’s still a crime

Conspiracy (to Commit Crime)

An agreement between two or more people with the intent to commit a crime

• Plotting without actual criminal behavior is still a crime

• When 2 or more people plan out a crime → the crime has not happened yet

Inculpatory Evidence

• Evidence (proof) that shows guilt and/or criminal involvement

  • Testimony, documents, etc. that favors the prosecution

  • Any evidence that can show guilt/show criminal intent

  • Bad for the defendant → shows that they are guilty

Exculpatory Evidence

• Evidence (proof) that potentially exonerates criminal activity

  • Testimony, documents, etc. that favor the defendant

  • Evidence that shows innocence or plants a seed of overwhelming doubt 

Circumstantial Evidence

• Indirect evidence that requires inferences without direct proof

  • Evidence that doesn’t have any direct proof, you need to infer from it 

  • It is considered weak for both parties

Person of Interest

• Anyone who authorities believe may have important information concerning a criminal case

  • Not being charged criminally about the crime, but might be a witness or someone who might have knowledge of the crime

Suspect (Principal Target)

• Anyone who authorities believe is involved in a crime

  • Authorities think this person might have been involved in some part of the crime 

Perpetrator (Criminal Offender/ Culprit)

• The person(s) who actually committed the crime

  • The person who is responsible for the crime 

Material Witness (“Fact Witness” or “Expert Witness”

• A person who can provide evidence & testimony that is significant to the outcome (verdict) of the trial

  • Forensic witness testimony

    • An expert who deals with the crime evidence

    • More creditable 

  • Eyewitness testimony 

    • More creditable 

  • A fact witness is a person who has material about the crime

Character Witness

• A person who attests to another's moral conduct and good reputation in a court of law

• A person who has no relation to the crime but can testify to the person's character

• Someone who can vouch for them

• Used after trial during sentencing

Alibi

• A person who can testify to the whereabouts of a criminal defendant to not be at a crime scene = exculpatory evidence

  • Very Exculpatory 

  • A person who can testify that you were are were not at the scene at the crime

  • Also need proof that the person was actually there 

Accomplice (to a Crime)

• A person who knowingly, voluntarily, or intentionally gives assistance to the perpetrator at the scene of the crime

  • The person who also partakes in the crime 

Accessory (to a Crime)

• A person who knowingly and voluntarily participates in the planning of a crime (Before Fact) or its cover-up (After Fact)

  • A person who provides service either before or after the crime, but did not partake in the crime

  • The person knows about the crime and participates in it 

  • Ex. you provided the getaway car

Criminal Intent

• The state-of-mind concerning a perpetrator of a crime

  • Was the crime committed intentionally and purposefully?

  • Is that crime done with intent/malice

Criminal Motive

• The perpetrator’s reason for committing a crime

  • Typically part of the prosecutor’s basis for conviction

  • The reason for the crime 

Modus Operandi (Mode of Operating = M.O.)

• Distinctive patterns of criminal behavior

  • Types of crimes & the manner in which they were committed

  • The behavioral pattern based on the criminal 

  • So you can understand the purpose of the criminal 

  • You can use this to string the commonly of other cases and connect them to the criminal 

  • Ex. A person always/ tends to rob houses at night in the city

Violent Crimes

• Crimes in which a perpetrator uses physical force upon a victim.

  • Physical force is used

  • Any crimes where physical force is used to a victim

  • Does not have to include a weapon

    • Ex. Fist

Weapon

• Any instrument or device for use in attack or defense with the intent to inflict damage or harm

  • Used during an attack to cause harm

Hate Crimes

• A crime motivated exclusively by prejudice on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other grounds of discrimination

  • Violent or nonviolent crime that is motivated by the purpose of hate

  • The purpose of this crime has to do with discrimination

Homicide

• A Subcategory of violent crimes involving wrongful death 

  • Any wrongful death not natural 

First-Degree Murder

• Violent action with the intent to kill (with Aggravated factors)

  • Premeditation – planned in advance (not a crime of passion)

  • Malice – deliberate intent to kill or harm (not an accident)

  • Use of a weapon

  • Premeditated —> You purposefully planned this out

  • Malice + Premeditation

Second-Degree Murder

• Killing done with malice but without premeditation

  • The intent to kill did not exist until the moment of murder

  • Murder in commission with other crimes – arson, rape,

  • burglary

  • You are responsible for the loss of a person's life, but you did not plan to do this

  • Malice + No Premeditation

Voluntary Manslaughter (Murder in the 3rd Degree)

• Murder that occurs after the victim does something to provoke the killer that would cause a reasonable person to lose self-control = “crimes of passion”

  • You did intend to harm someone, but did not plan to kill them

  • Crimes of passion 

  • Malice

Involuntary Manslaughter (Negligent Homicide)

• Homicide with no evidence of malice or premeditation

  • Negligence = causing unintentional harm by lack of care

  • There is no premeditation or malice

  • Ex. Drunk Driving

Abduction (Kidnapping)

• Taking a person from one place to another against their will

  • If an abductee is taken across state lines, it becomes a federal

  • crime

  • You take a person from one place to another, and they don't want to go there | Taken against their will

  • Taken and moved

Unlawful Imprisonment

• Confining a person against their will and in violation of the law

  • Taking a person to a place they can not move | confinement

Criminal Harassment:

• Intentionally targeting someone with behavior that is meant to “alarm, annoy, intimidate, torment, or terrorize”

  • A person is targeted 

  • You don’t violate their personal space

Stalking

unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person

Assault

• An attempt or threat to injure another person

  • The threat / the attempt 

Battery

• The intentional touching of another person in an aggressive manner, or the intentional use of force or violence against another person (pushing, punching, kicking, etc.)

  • When they touch you

Crimes Against Property

• Category of crime in which the offender uses illegal means to obtain money, property, or some other benefit

  • Crime was done purposefully for their gain

Criminal Concealment (Attempted Theft)

• Deliberately concealing (hiding) the possession of merchandise while in the store

  • Has to be on you or in your personal bags

Petty Larceny (Petty Theft)

• Stealing merchandise with a value of less than $1,000

  • Misdemeanor

  • Value of stealing items under 1k

Grand Larceny (Grand Theft)

• Stealing merchandise with a value greater than $1,000

  • Felony

  • Value of stealing items over 1k

Extortion (Blackmail)

• The use of threats to obtain property and/or favor

  • Classified as a Property Crime as well as a Personal Crime

  • Have some juicy gossip about an individual 

Burglary (Breaking and Entering)

• Unauthorized entry into a structure/premises to steal property

  • Don’t have to be a building (yard, worksite)

  • Break into an area and take something

  • Property Crime 

Robbery

• Unlawful taking of property from a person’s immediate possession by the use of force or intimidation

  • Classified as a Property Crime as well as a Personal Crime

  • Take something from a person

  • Property + Person Crime

Vandalism

• Deliberate damage to public or private property with a value of less than $500

  • Misdemeanor

  • Minor and less than $500

Destruction of Property

• Deliberate damage to public or private property with a value over $500

  • Felony

  • Major and less than $500

Arson

• The criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property

  • Criminal motives (and aggravated circumstances) include:

    • Destruction of evidence (Statutory Crime)

    • Insurance fraud (Financial Crime)

    • Intimidation and/or revenge (Personal Crime)

“White Collar” Crimes

• Financially motivated, nonviolent crimes committed by corporate employees, businesses, and government professionals

  • Nonviolent, but not victimless

  • Just because there's no bloodshed doesn’t mean it's victimless 

  • Ex. Financial insider trading 

  • Channeling money from one account to another 

  • Done by a company 

Fraud

• Most common of all financial-related crimes

  • You take their money and don't do the job

Counterfeiting

• The illegal production of federal money and currency

  • You make illegal /fake money

Forgery

• The action of illegally producing a copy of a document, signature, banknote, or work of art

  • When you produce a fake document so that you can still gain something from it 

Uttering

• Using fraudulent documents to illegally gain money

  • Writing bad checks, using counterfeit money

Embezzlement

• Theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer

  • Ex. You charge $10 for a club, but use it to fill your wallet

Money Laundering

• The concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate businesses

Social Control

• Various methods employed by a society to regulate a population, protect law-and-order, administer justice, and punish violators of the law.

  • How a society controls and enforces their laws 

Ostracism

• Punishment for a crime by external removal from a society.

  • Exile

  • Banishment

  • Deportation

  • You are banished/expelled 

Corporal Punishment

• Punishment for crime by the deliberate infliction of physical pain for retribution, discipline, and/or reform.

  • Caning/flogging

  • Whipping

  • Torture devices

  • Ruled unconstitutional – violation of 8th Amendment

  • The use of pain to punish

Incarceration

• Punishment for a crime by removal from society via internal detention

  • Jails, prisons, correctional facilities, etc.

  • Over 2 million people are incarcerated within the United States 

  • 1 out of 5 prisoners of the world are incarcerated in the U.S.

  • American preferred method → locking people up

Juvenile Correction / Detention

• Institutions for underage offenders (10-21)

  • Incarceration for short-term sentences (days) and long-term sentences (years)

  • If a minor is convicted as an adult and sentenced to a long-term prison stint, the offender remains in JVC until age 21, then sent to adult prison for the remainder of the sentence

  • They finish the rest of their sentence at an adult after they turn 21

Jails

• Local correctional facilities (municipal, county) intended for temporary detainment

  • Sentences are almost always less than 1 year, typically less than 1 month

  • Used as holding cells as a defendant awaits trial

  • Local by county | Short term | Waiting for their day in court 

  • Being convicted of a crime that is less than 1-2 years

Prisons

• State and federal penitentiaries designed for long-term sentences of incarceration

  • State or Federal | Broken into different divisions 

Philosophical Purposes of Prisons

• Retribution – punish criminals for their actions

• Deterrence – prevention of future crimes

• Rehabilitation & Corrections

• Protection of society by the removal of criminals

  • The purpose is to correct criminals and to punish them for their actions on society

  • To prevent the crime / criminal behavior from happening again 

  • To help them correct criminals

  • To remove the threat from

Premeditation

Planned in advance (not a crime of passion)

Malice

Deliberate intent to kill or harm (not an accident)

Criminal Negligence

Causing unintentional harm by lack of care

Recidivism

• Rate of “repeat offenders”

  • Inmates who are released from prison, continue to violate laws, are rearrested, and sent back to prison

  • American Recidivism Rates

    • within 1 year of being released = 44%

    • within 3 years of being released = 68%

    • within 5 years of being released = 77%

  • People who have committed a crime serve time then get released, and then they commit any crime again. 

Crime Rates vs. Incarceration Rates

Crime rates are down but Incarceration Rates are very high

Probation

• Court-ordered supervision with specified requirements that can be used to postpone (or replace) prison – House Arrest

  • Violating conditions of probation = prison

  • Before you go to prison 

  • An alternative from going to prison

  • Ex. House arrest

Parole

• Court-ordered supervision with specified requirements following release from prison

  • violating terms of parole = return to prison

  • When you are released from jail or prison

Restitution

Money or property that you have to give to the Plaintiff if you lose a civil case as compensation for damages

Amendment 8

• Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

  • Summary

    • Protection from detention via excessive bail or fines (money)

    • Protection from methods of criminal punishment considered to be cruel and/or unusual

    • Government punishment must be proportionate to the crime

  • Dont punish people with punishments that are cruel or unusual 

  • You don’t have to be rich to be free

Louisiana v. Resweber (1947)

• Supreme Court ruled it is not unconstitutional to re-administer a failed execution if botched on the first attempt

  • Botched Executions and the brutality of death by electrocution dissolved popular support of capital punishment

  • Resweber was sentenced to death after committing a double homicide. The day before he was supposed to be electrocuted, a storm had knocked down a power grid — this was unknown.

  • He was being electrocuted, but since there was not enough electricity, he was not dead and was nursed back to health.

  • They ruled that if an execution gets messed up the first time, you are allowed to try again.

Furman v. Georgia (1972)

• Supreme Court ruled capital punishment, in its 3 existing forms, was a violation of 8th Amendment

  • All states & federal government had to stay all pending executions on death row until a more “humane” method of execution was developed

    • Gas Chamber

    • Lethal Injection

  • Ruled that the current methods of execution violate the 8th Amendment 

  • Prisoners on death row were able not executed until a more humane / ethical method is curated 

  • So excutation during this time people could receive a death sentence but their death was postpointed 

Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

• States and Federal Governments were permitted to reinstate capital punishment if they choose to do so, but must provide the condemned with an option of a “humane” method of execution

  • 1976 – 44 states + Federal government reinstated the death penalty

  • 2025 - 27 states + Federal government currently have death penalty 

  • If states want to reinstate their death penalty they can do so now + the prisoners are allowed to chose which method

Atkins v. Virginia (2002)

• Execution of defendants who are intellectually disabled is a violation of the 8th Amendment and is declared unconstitutional

  • If a person has an intellectual disability they can not be excuted

Roper v. Simmons (2005)

• Execution of defendants who were minors during the time of the crime is unconstitutional

  • Those that were a minor during the time that a crime was commited you can not be excuted

Amendment 2

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

• Prior to the Revolutionary War, Britain tried to control the colonists by disarming citizens who formed militias

• After the Revolutionary War, the threat of foreign invasion and domestic unrest required an armed militia for protection

Amendment 2 — Prefatory Clause

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.

Amendment 2 — Operative Clause

The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

National Firearms Act (1934)

• Banned the ownership of machine guns, military weapons, and explosive ordnances (bombs, grenades, etc.)

  • 1st firearms regulation action

  • Outlawed military level weapons to be owned by society 

Gun Control Act of (1968)

• Guns can only be purchased through licensed vendors – cannot be mail ordered

  • Convicted felons could no longer possess guns

  • Resrticted firearms to be possessed by convicted felons

  • Guns can be purchased by the mail → since mail doesn’t require FBI identification  

  • How JFK was assignated - Allegedly

Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act (1993)

• Required FBI criminal background checks for legal gun sales

  • Mandated a 5-day waiting period

  • The Brady Bill → These guns were restricted → Hand gun

  • Required FBI criminal backround checks for legal guns sales

    • However local stores wounldn’t report this to the Federal only State

    • Only would report this to the federal if a convicted felon would ourchase a gun from a local store

  • Limits crimes of passion so you can reacte with rational thoughts  

  • In 1997 – SCOTUS ruled Federal background checks was a violation of the 10th Amendment (states rights)

Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994)

• Banned the sale of assault weapons

  • Banned the sale of semi automatic weapons

  • Banned large capacity ammunition feeding devices (magazines)

  • Assault Weapons = weapons designed for military purposes – typically automatic discharge

  • Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired (not renewed) in 2004

  • Banned the purchase and sell of assult weapon but not the possession of them

  • Any weapon of war is considered an assult weapon since it meant to kill people

  • This was suppose to last 20 years but has been expired since 2004