What is Crime and Deviance?

What is Crime and Deviance?

• Crime: Deviant behaviour that violates prevailing norms or cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave normally.

• Deviance: Actions or behaviours that violate social norms across formally enacted rules, as well as informal violations of social norms.

• Social Construction: A social phenomenon which is not naturally occurring but created by the society in which it is found.

Ways Crime and Deviance are Socially Constructed:

• Historically: Criminal action and deviant behaviour change over time. What was once acceptable may become illegal/deviant, and vice versa.

  • Example: Homosexuality (deviant and illegal- acceptable).

  • Example: Taking cocaine (legal medicine - illegal narcotic).

• Contextually: behaviours that are acceptable in certain situations would not be in others.

  • Example: Wearing a bikini on the beach vs. in a town centre.

  • Example: Drinking alcohol at 8 am.

• Culturally: What is considered acceptable or rude varies depending on the culture.

  • Example: Eating with your left hand in Arab nations is considered rude.

• Age: Some behaviours are acceptable from certain age groups, and some activities are illegal for certain age groups.

  • Example: Age restrictions on certain products.

  • Example: An 8-year-old clubbing on a Friday night.

Why Do People Commit Crimes? (Non-Sociological)

Psychological Explanations:

• Maternal Deprivation:

  • Bowlby suggested that individuals deprived of a mother's love as young infants are more likely to become juvenile delinquents, leading to a criminal career.

  • Critiques:

    • Outdated: Mothers are not the only primary caregivers.

    • Not all delinquents come from broken homes.

• Personality Traits:

  • Freud's theory: Personality is a balance between the Id, Ego, and Super Ego. An imbalance favouring the Id can lead to criminal behaviour as the individual is controlled by basic desires.

  • Critiques:

    • Lack of empirical evidence.

    • Suggests criminals lack control, which doesn't explain white-collar crime.

• Mental Abnormality:

  • The idea that brain damage or mental illness can cause criminal behaviour.

  • Considerations:

    • Criminals become the victims.

    • Hard to prove in some cases.

Biological Explanations:

• Lombroso:

  • Measured facial features of criminals in Italian prisons.

  • Suggested that criminals were less evolved humans, evident in features like large foreheads, big ears, or small eyes.

  • Critiques:

    • Only looked at criminals who had been caught.

    • These features could be apparent in non-criminals as well.

• Genetics:

  • The Warrior Gene (MAOA) is present in all humans, but mutations have been linked to more aggressive behaviour, risk-taking, and impulsiveness, potentially leading to criminal behaviour.

  • Considerations:

    • We don't know enough about how this gene works to conclusively link it to criminal behaviour.

    • It could be used as an excuse for criminal behaviour.