HSB4U: Deviance and Crime Notes

Deviance and Crime

Deviance

Deviance is diverging from usual or accepted standards of behavior.
In sociology, deviance contradicts social norms, especially taboos, including breaking laws, which is why crime is studied.

Examples of Deviant Behavior:

Smoking
Eating fast food
Speeding
Giving a stranger a compliment
Donating part of a liver for transplant
Lying to a family member
Mothers holding full-time jobs
Skipping class
Cheating on a test
Committing a crime
Getting a tattoo

What People Deviate From

Values and Beliefs
Norms (Folkway, Mores, Taboos)
Laws
Sanctions

Values and Beliefs

Standards people in a group generally agree on as good or ideal.
Beliefs or general guidelines about right and wrong, reflecting what most people in a culture prefer.
Values change over time.
Political, social, and economic changes may influence societal values.
- Example: Gender inequality.
Values influence behavior and how we treat different groups.
- We evaluate others based on our values and may treat them differently if they don’t align.

Canadian Values and Beliefs

The University of Waterloo has stated the following about Canadian values:

Fairness
Inclusion
Economic Security
Diversity
Health
Democracy
Equity
Safety
Sustainability

Norms

Rules or standards about acceptable ways to act.
Help people know how to act in social situations.
- Example: Being quiet in a library.
Impact of norms is usually considered when they are broken.
Norms change based on situations and locations.
Breaking a norm results in a negative sanction.

Three Types of Norms

Folkway: Informal, common sense, not illegal (right vs. rude).
- Example: Staring, sneezing on someone.
Mores: More official, formal, laws (right vs. wrong).
- Example: Being naked in public = being arrested.
Taboos: Important to the central values of society, they are NEVER OK (right vs forbidden).
- Example: Murder = incarceration.

Laws

Based on norms (specifically mores or taboos).
Formally defined rules within the legal system.
Breaking laws involves a formal process to determine consequences (negative sanctions).
- Example: Stealing leads to legal consequences.

Sanctions

Consequences for people’s behavior.
- Positive Sanctions: Acceptable behavior is rewarded (praise, feedback, rewards).
- Negative Sanctions: Unacceptable behavior is punished (disapproval, suspensions).
Sanctions differ across cultures as they reinforce culturally appropriate behaviors.
- Example: Privacy is valued in Western culture, leading to strong sanctions for privacy violations.
People may break norms if they think violating the norm outweighs the possible sanction.
- Example: Underage drinking, peer pressure outweighs the sanction.

Changing Values, Beliefs, and Norms

Resisting shared values, beliefs, or norms can result in social change.
*Social change can be changes in trends, clothes, music, political or human rights. This can be seen in form of protests, marches, spreading messages on social media etc.
When people share the same ideas, they unite to achieve a goal.
- This is known as collective behaviour.

Subculture

When a group of people agree to deviate from a socially accepted norm, value, or belief together.
- Example: activists, goths, hippies.

Types of Deviance

Bad Behavior:
- Usually taboos or mores.
- Involves laws and sanctions.
Odd Behavior:
- Usually just folkways.
- Does not involve the law or sanctions
Admired Behavior:
- Usually does not have a negative consequence or sanctions (but it can!).
- Can be folkways, mores, or even taboos depending on the act.
- Example: Environmental activists.

For an act to be “deviant”, society needs to label it as such.
- Labelling is dependent on the situation, time period, culture, personal viewpoints of the participants, and frequency of the behaviour.
  - Primary Deviance: Occasional norm-breaking.
  - Example: Underage drinking only at parties.
  - Secondary Deviance: Regular deviant behavior.
  - Example: Criminals

Theories to Explain Deviance

Differential Association Theory - Edwin Sutherland
Social Class Conflict Theory - Karl Marx
The Labelling Theory (Self-fulfilling Prophecy) - Howard Becker
Social Stress/Strain Theory - Robert Merton
Social Control Theory - Travis Hirschi

Differential Association Theory - Edwin Sutherland

Deviant behavior is a result of one’s social context.
Individuals learn values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior through interaction with others.
- Ex. Just as a child learns behaviour by watching other kids on the playground.
Associating with people who accept or participate in deviant behavior leads to learning such behavior.
- Ex. when young offenders are put in prison with more experienced criminals they may learn attitudes and habits from them which will prevent their rehabilitation.
Sutherland’s 9 precepts to bad behaviour:
1. Bad behaviour is learnt
2. It is learnt through interactions, conversation, and storytelling
3. Learning takes place in small groups
4. Learning includes sharing techniques and reasons for bad behaviour (justifications)
5. Laws are divided into “good” and “bad” laws. This creates a motive
6. Rationale for breaking the law outweighs the rational of following the law
7. Differential Association/Learning varies in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity
8. The same mechanisms are used to learn criminal behaviour as any type of learning
9. Bad behaviour can be an expression of someone’s needs and values BUT it does not explain them

Recidivism Example

More than three quarters of prisoners released from state prisons were arrested for a new crime or parole violation within five years of their release.
Male inmates were arrested at higher rates than female inmates following release.
Black inmates had the highest recidivism rate, followed by Hispanic former-prisoners and then white inmates, according to the study.
With an increase in age, recidivism decreased, the study also found.
About 84 percent of inmates who were age 24 or younger when they left prison were arrested, compared with about 69 percent who were 40 or older.
Arrest causes were split into four categories — violent offenses, drug offenses, property offenses and public order offenses — and the study found that those who originally committed a property offense were most likely to be arrested and those who committed a violent offense were least likely to be arrested again.”

Alienation/Social Class Conflict Theory - Karl Marx

Society is unfairly biased in favor of the wealthy and deliberately disadvantages the poor.
People who don’t feel invested in society may deviate or break rules, leading to unrest.
Marx believed that the rich are just as likely to commit crimes or act defiantly, however, because they are wealthy, they have the means to afford the best attorney’s or to ‘pay to make the problem go away’
White Collar Crimes are just as harmful or expensive (often more so) than traditional crimes but they are more likely to go unreported or unpunished.
- Examples:
  - Mortgage fraud
  - Embezzlement
  - Identity theft
  - Cyberstalking
  - Medicare fraud
  - Money laundering
  - Intellectual property theft

Statistics:

Prosecution Rates: White-collar crimes make up only about 3% of federal prosecutions.
*This low rate is partly due to the complexity of these crimes and the resources required to investigate and prosecute them.
Sentencing: About 40% of those convicted of white-collar crimes are incarcerated, lower than the incarceration rate for other types of crimes.
*White-collar criminals often receive shorter sentences.
Financial Impact: Annual losses from white-collar crimes are estimated to range from $426 billion$ to $1.7 trillion$ , significantly higher than the losses from traditional street crimes.

HSBC Money Laundering Case (2012)

HSBC laundered money for drug cartels and countries under sanctions.
No executives were prosecuted; HSBC paid a $1.9 billion$ fine.

The Labelling Theory (Self-fulfilling Prophecy) - Howard Becker

Deviants are people who have been successfully labelled as such by others.
People become what they are ‘labelled’ (self-fulfilling prophecy).
This leads to stigmatization, social exclusion and eventually modifies the individual’s self-concept

Social Control Theory - Travis Hirschi

Conformity depends on strong bonds between individual and society.
- If those bonds are weak or broken, deviance occurs.
- Social bonds control the behaviour of people
Hirschi thought that there were four basic components of social bonds.
1. Attachment: Emotional and social ties (family, friends, community).
  - Individuals care about the opinions and expectations of those they are attached to.
    - Ex: A teenager who has a close relationship with their parents and values their approval is less likely to engage in deviant behavior because they do not want to disappoint them.
2. Commitment: Investment individuals have in society’s “normal/accepted” goals (education, career, achievements).
  - The more committed someone is to these goals, the less likely they are to engage in deviant behavior because they have more to lose.
    - Example: A student who is dedicated to school and aims to get into a good university is less likely to skip school or engage in illegal activities because it could jeopardize their future.
3. Involvement: Participating in activities (school, work, extracurriculars).
  - High levels of involvement leave less time and opportunity for deviant behavior.
    - Example: A young person who is involved in after-school sports, clubs, and part-time work is less likely to engage in deviant acts because they are occupied with positive activities.
4. Belief: Acceptance of social values.
  - When people believe in society’s morals and values, they are more likely to follow them.
    - Example: Someone who believes strongly in the importance of honesty and integrity is less likely to lie or cheat because it goes against their personal values.

Social Stress/Strain Theory - Robert Merton

Deviant behavior may be caused by the stress of not being able to achieve society’s cherished goals in an acceptable way.
- Eg. great value is placed on success and wealth.
Individuals are more likely to pursue illegitimate actions to achieve goals if they cannot overcome obstacles.
- e.g. stealing to be able to afford an iPhone like everyone else in your class.
Deviance is created from the very system that means to control it!
Merton believed there were 4 possible paths:
1. Conform (“goes through the motions”).
2. Retreat or drop out of society (alcoholism, drug abuse).
3. Innovate (stealing, bribery).
4. Rebel against the system and join groups with completely different goals (hippies).

Categorizing individuals -Robert Merton's Social Strain Typology

Based on someone’s chosen “pathway”, Merton labeled people to help us understand their reasoning, likelihood and type of deviance they may demonstrate.

Cultural Goals: Things we strive for (graduation, making money, getting married, having kids)

Institutionalized means: How we reach these goals (going to university to get an education to get a job)

Merton identified 5 different type of people:

*Conformists:People who accept the cultural goals and strive for a well paid career and follow the system to attain those goals.

*Ritualists:Accepts the means ,follows the system , but does not accept cultural goals

*Innovators: accept cultural goals , do not accept the traditional means by which to attain those goals.

Retreatism Believe that they are not represented in the social or cultural goals of the group and believe that the rules that govern success do not speak to them directly. they isolate themselves in their parents basement for example

Rebels: attempt to change the society in which they live for social, political or economic form.

Crime

Categories of Crime:

Crimes against a person:

Ex. Assault, Kidnapping, Homicide/Murder

Crimes against property:

Ex. Theft, Arson, Burglary

Victimless crime:

Ex. Prostitution, Gambling, Drug Abuse and Fraud

Discrimination:

An action or a decision that treats a person or a group negatively based on specific characteristics

Grounds/characteristics of discrimination in Canada:

Race (Racism)
National or Ethnic Origin
Colour
Religion
Age (Ageism)
Sex (Sexism)
Sexual Orientation (Homophobia)
Marital Status
Family Status
Disability

Hate Crimes

Government of Canada’s Definition of Hate Crimes: “Hate crimes are criminal acts done by a person who is motivated by an extreme bias or hatred towards a particular social group Hate crimes may be directed at physical, symbolic targets (such as a mosque) or at individuals or groups of people. Research studies show that hate crimes cause “disproportionate harm” to individual victims as well as other members of the community belonging to the targeted social group. These crimes send a message of rejection towards both the target of the crime and their community. For example, an assault can have negative physical and psycho-emotional effects. If the assault occurs because you are a Black person (or a person with a disability or transfemale), the harm is magnified because you cannot change these characteristics of who you are and are at risk of being targeted all your life. Not only are you at risk, but everyone else who looks like you, or has a disability or practices a minority religion or any other immutable characteristic in your family, your community, Canada and even beyond our borders. Across Canada, police services use a single definition of hate crime to ensure that the data they collect and report on are consistent and can be compared.

Hate Crime Statistics (2015-2022):

Race/ethnicity (7,204 incidents, representing 45% of police-reported hate crimes)
Religion (4,455 incidents, representing 28% of police-reported hate crimes)
Sexual orientation (1,653 incidents, representing 10% of police-reported hate crimes)
Sex/gender (289 incidents, representing 1.8% of police-reported hate crimes)
Other motivations (710 incidents, representing 4.4% of police-reported hate crimes; this category includes mental or physical disability, language, age and other similar factors – for example, occupation or political beliefs)

Key Legislation:

Criminal Code of Canada:
- Section 318: Prohibits advocating or promoting genocide.
- Section 319: Prohibits public incitement of hatred and willful promotion of hatred against identifiable groups.

Recent Legislative Actions:

Bill C-36 (2021):
- Amendments to the Criminal Code: Introduced a legal measure to prevent hate propaganda and hate crimes
- Canadian Human Rights Act: Defined hate speech as a discriminatory practice and provided supports for victims

Government Initiatives:

Anti-Racism Strategy: Aimed at addressing and reducing hate crimes and discrimination
Online Harms Act Bill (Feb, 2024): Proposed to tackle hate speech and harmful content on social media platforms

The Online Harms Act (Bill C-63)

Create a safer online environment by holding social media platforms accountable for harmful content. Social media platforms must:

Act Responsibly: Implement measures to stop exposure to harmful content.
Protect Children: Integrate design features that protect children.
Remove Harmful Content: Make non-consensually distributed intimate images and child sexual abuse material inaccessible within 24 hours

Free Speech Concerns:

Could lead to over-censorship.
Platforms might remove content too quickly to avoid penalties, potentially stopping free expression
Limits legitimate debates due to the broadness of the definition of “harmful content”