Crime and Deviance Notes

Crime and Deviance

G.K. Chesterton Quote

  • "The law locks up the man or woman, who steals the goose from off the common, but leaves the greater villain loose, who steals the common from the goose."

Crime: A Central Societal Concern

  • Crime is a central concern for society, government, the public, and the mass media.
  • Different approaches to understanding crime share a commitment to the modernist approach.
  • The modernist approach aims to construct a valid explanation of crime to develop prevention strategies.

Social Control

  • Socialization and social control maintain social conformity.
  • Social control consists of formal agencies (law) and informal agencies (peer pressure/disapproval).

Functions of Crime (Durkheim)

  • Durkheim argues that crime serves a purpose in society:
    • Clarifies social boundaries by defining what society will and will not tolerate.
    • Acts as an agent of social change and reform (e.g., same-sex marriage).
    • Strengthens social cohesion and assists the social order through collective consciousness.
    • Brings people together when certain events take place.

Definitions: Crime and Deviance

  • Crime: Behavior against the law, i.e., law-breaking.
  • Deviance: Any non-conformist behavior disapproved of by society or a subgroup; norm-breaking behavior ranging from eccentricity to criminality.

Definition Difficulties: Crime and Deviance

  • Crime is easily defined by law.
  • Deviance covers a large area of behaviors; what is considered deviant depends on:
    • Time
    • Place
    • Society/subgroup
    • Attitudes of those who view the act

Non-Deviant Crime

  • Many illegal acts aren't considered deviant (e.g., speeding, illegal parking).
  • Some offenses are seen as expected behavior; non-participants are seen as deviant (e.g., underage drinking).
  • Time: Deviance is defined relative to norms, which change over time.

Societal and Social Group Norms

  • Society: Norms and definitions of deviance differ between societies (e.g., alcohol consumption).
  • Social Groups: Norms vary between social groups in the same society.
  • Acceptable behavior in one group can be deviant in wider society (e.g., marijuana use).
  • Place: Where an act takes place influences whether it is regarded as deviant or not.

Explaining Crime/Deviance

  • It is impossible to be born a criminal or deviant.
  • Crime and deviance involve legal and social rules.
  • What counts as criminal or deviant depends on social rules and norms.

Why Some Deviant Acts Are Criminal While Others Are Not

  • Consensus Approach:
    • Social rules are made and enforced for everyone's benefit.
    • There is consensus that some deviant acts are serious and require legal sanction.
    • Explains various societal norms (e.g., soft drugs/alcohol).
  • Conflict Approach:
    • The law reflects the interests of the most powerful in society.
    • Ideas are imposed through agencies of social control.
    • Anything against their interests is considered deviant.

Different Theories on Crime

  • Classicist/Rational Choice Theory:
    • A person is a free agent with a rational thought process.
    • Crime is a choice for the individual, who is responsible for their actions.
  • Positivism:
    • People commit crime due to innate characteristics (biological and psychological).
    • Crime is "in the genes" or "in the mind."
  • Sociological:
    • An individual's experience of their environment are the main explanations of criminal activity.

Classical Criminology

  • Beccaria: Father of the classicist criminological perspective.
  • Person is rational and exercises free will.
  • Person has free choices, and criminals make a deliberate choice to break the law.
  • People should be free to do as they wish, as long as their actions do not interfere with the happiness and contentment of others.

Classic Criminology (Continued)

  • Classicism is directly linked to liberalism.
  • The individual is responsible for their own lives with minimum/no interference and regulation from the state.
  • The criminal justice system must operate in a fair and logical way.
  • Punishments need to be consistent and proportionate to the offense.
  • "The certainty of punishment, even if it be moderate, will always make a stronger impression than the fear of another which is more terrible but combined with the hope of impunity" (Beccaria).

Classicism and the Social Contract

  • Classicism believes the social order is based on the social contract.
  • Society evolved so that people banded together to protect life and property.
  • The state can punish because criminality is an attack on society and a breach of the social contract.

Classicist Critics

  • Assumes all men are free, rational, and equal, which is not true.
  • Why is there a relationship between social class and criminal activity?
  • If men are rational, and the legal system proportional and just, why is there a high rate of recidivism (reoffending)?

Positivism

  • Positivist theory states that man has no free choice, but their behaviour is determined by other factors (psychological, biological, and sociological).
  • Positivist theories focus on the characteristics and causes of a criminal type.
  • Positivist criminology argues that criminal behaviour is not often rational and is linked to other factors (e.g., poverty, environment, family).

Psychological Approaches

  • Focus on personality and cognitive development.
  • Associates certain personality traits with criminality.
  • Psychodynamic theory: Differences in individual make up makes some more pre disposed to criminal activity.
  • Theory of psychoanalysis focuses on personality structure and it’s influence on human behaviour.

Classicism vs. Positivism

  • Classicism: Individuals are conscious beings with an ability to act as they choose.
  • Positivism: Behaviour is influenced by biological, psychological, or sociological factors.
  • Criminologists recognize the connection between biological, psychological, and social factors, with more emphasis on either one depending on one’s philosophy.

Labelling Theory

  • Labelling theory (Howard Becker): People are not offenders until they are labelled as such.
  • Criminals are the product of social reaction.
  • A person is labelled, often segregated from society, associates with other outsiders, the label sticks, and those labelled may continue to live up to their title.
  • Labelling influences the person’s sense of self.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

  • "The situation where social actors construct their self- image from the reactions of powerful and persuasive others, thereby acting out or living up to the characteristics attributed to them, thus confirming the original evaluation" (Bilton et al,2002: 390)

Who Labels?

  • Power is important in how society makes and enforces its rules.
  • Those with power benefit; those without power often suffer.
  • Who defines what’s right and wrong?
  • Those who generally make rules are people with a stake in society: Men vs Women, Rich vs Poor, Majorities vs Minorities.

Control Theory

  • Control Theory focuses on why people do not commit crime.
  • Originates in the 16th century - Hobbes.
  • Fear is a powerful influence on behavior.
  • Hirschi argues that the bonds and attachments that people possess/do not possess explain their behavior.
  • Correlation between high attachment and low delinquency.

Social Bonds and Crime

  • Social bonds pull people away from crime.
  • Inadequate self-control from weak social bonds can force people into crime, but also the opportunity for offending must be present.
  • Criticism of control theory includes not explaining why some have weaker bonds than others.
  • It also does not recognize crime within tight social bonds.

Strain Theory - Merton 1

  • Merton argues that most people try to achieve society’s goals in approved ways, i.e., they conform.
  • He rejects the individualistic explanations of crime linked to characteristics of the criminal.
  • Deviance arises when the approved ways of achieving society’s goals do not correspond with the actual position individuals find themselves in (e.g., living in poverty).
  • A sense of not belonging (anomie) in society develops.
  • Merton attempted to explain the relationship between the social structure, anomie, and crime rates.
  • A strain develops when people want to achieve societal goals but lack the opportunity by conventional means to achieve them.

Merton 2

  • Values are learned from the cultural norms of society.
  • The “American Dream” ensured that society was structured so hard work was rewarded with material success.
  • Some people develop anomie when they cannot succeed, and a “strain” develops.
  • Individuals adapt to the strain of having opportunities blocked by the lack of institutional means to succeed.

Merton 3: Five Modes of Adaptation

  • Conformity: Accept societal goals and attempt to achieve them by legitimate means.
  • Innovators: Try to achieve success by illegitimate means.
  • Ritualists: Continue to work within the system but give up trying to achieve success.
  • Retreatists: Abandon goals and drop out of society.
  • Rebels: Reject societies' goals and the means of achieving them, and try to replace them with their own.

Test: Merton's Strain Theory

  • Classify each of the following acts/groups according to Merton’s strain theory:
    • Someone cheating in exams.
    • A civil servant who has no interest in the job but continues working.
    • A heroin addict.
    • A member of Al Qaeda.
    • A newly qualified accountant.

Theory of Differential Association

  • Sutherland (1934) argued that deviance is learned through interaction with others in society.
  • Sutherland’s theory of differential association is based on the frequency of association with other people.
  • In a society with different subcultures, some environments encourage criminal activity.
  • Criminal activity is learned in the same way as any other activity.

The Company You Keep

  • “Birds of a feather flock together” (Curry).
  • Young people are attracted to gangs for many reasons (e.g., group identity, protection, and monetary gain).
  • Curry recognizes that Sutherland’s theory is limited because it does not address why most people who live in high crime areas do not commit crime.

Deviance Amplification

  • Moral Panics and Folk Devils.
  • Deviance Amplification: “A spiraling sequence of interaction between deviants and those reacting to their behavior (typically agents of control, such as the police), which generates further deviance and therefore further punitive responses.”
  • Event >>>> Media Hype >>>>> Over Response >>>>> Expectations >>>> Event.
  • Moral Panics: Society reacting to deviant/criminal behavior.
  • Folk Devils: The group who threaten society.

Control Theory (Revisited)

  • Control theory asks why most people DO NOT commit crime.
  • Theorists like Hirschi argue that most people could be tempted to commit crime, but social bonds prevent them from doing so.
  • Four social bonds are identified: belief, attachment, commitment, and involvement.

Four Social Bonds (Explained)

  • Belief: People share similar moral beliefs (e.g., respect for the law and community values).
  • Attachment: Attached to and sensitive of family and community.
  • Commitment: Committed to conventional activities like work, education. They have a stake in conforming to norms.
  • Involvement: Involved in many activities and don’t have an opportunity to become involved in crime.

Control Theory Evaluation

  • Suggests we are all potential criminals and require monitoring and controlling.
  • Its functionalist base recognizes the importance of social control and socialization.
  • Assumes criminals have no mainstream values.
  • It ignores that you can have social bonds and be a criminal.
  • It doesn’t explain why people with weak bonds don’t all turn to crime.

Marxist Criminology

  • Structural-conflict model of society.
  • Rejects positivist accounts of crime.
  • Crime is an inevitable consequence of unequal power structures in society.
  • Crime committal and crime figures only tell a small part of the story.
  • Crime is a result of only one of a number of related social problems, all of which arise because of inequality.

Left Realism

  • Move away from Marxist oversimplification of crime.
  • Realization that crime and fear of crime is a real situation, and simply blaming capitalism does not do justice to the real situation.
  • Left realism explained crime with reference to the state, offender, society, and the victim.
  • Most crime is intra class.

Left Realism (Continued)

  • Acknowledges that there is a significant association with deprivation, marginalization, and subculture.
  • Recognizes the reality of crime and the need for radical solutions - “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.”
  • Left realism provides a multidimensional framework for understanding crime and the interactions between the victim, offender, state, and wider society.

Right Realism

  • Critique of liberal sociological theorizing about crime.
  • Associated with New Right neo-liberal doctrine.
  • Focuses on containment and control.
  • Deterrence is a byword.

Right Realism (Continued)

  • The welfare state has contributed to an increase in crime.
  • A sense of personal responsibility diminished.
  • Reasons for crime are liberal parenting, permissiveness, liberal social policies, etc.
  • Zero tolerance and active citizenship are right realists' solution to crime.