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Crime and Deviance
Chapter Seven
What is Deviance?
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Central concepts:
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Social control: systematic practices developed
by social groups to encourage conformity and to
discourage deviance (p. 198)
Deviance: any behaviour, belief, or condition that
violates those cultural norms in the society or
group in which it occurs (p. 198)
What is Deviance?
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Crime: is an act that violates criminal law
and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and
other sanctions (p. 201)
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Juvenile delinquency: refers to a violation of the
law by young people under the age of 18 (in
Canada) (p. 201)
Strain Theory
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Defined: people feel strain when they are
exposed to cultural goals that they are
unable to obtain because they do not have
access to culturally approved means of
achieving those goals (p. 201 and from R.
Merton)
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Example: a study of Canadian Mohawks’
involvement in the organized crime of smuggling
in the early 1990s.
Opportunity Theory
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Expands on strain theory
Defined: for deviance to occur people must
have access to illegitimate opportunity
structures—circumstances that provide an
opportunity for people to acquire through
illegitimate activities what they cannot get
through legitimate channels (p. 202)
Control Theory
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Theme: deviant behaviour is minimized
when people have strong bonds that bind
them to families, peers, religious
organizations, and other institutions
Thesis: that the probability of deviant
behavior increases when a person’s ties to
society are weakened or broken (p. 204 and
after Hirschi)
Differential Association Theory
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(“Getting in with the wrong crowd”)
Defined: That individuals have a greater tendency to
deviate from societal norms when they frequently
associate with persons who favour deviance over
conformity (p. 205 and Sutherland)
Variations: Likelihood increases to the level a
person has frequent, intense, and long-lasting
interactions with others who violate the rules.
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Example: subcultural groups in schools
Labelling Theory
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Two elements are involved in defining
deviance:
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1. Some people act in a manner contrary to the
expectations of others
2. Others disapprove of and try to control this
contrary behaviour
Part of this control process involves labelling
people as deviants
Labelling Theory
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The theory defined: it suggests that deviants are
those people who have been successfully labelled
as such by others (p. 206)
Process: directly related to the power and status of
those persons who do the labelling
One kind of those with power and status: Moral
entrepreneurs:
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Persons who use their own views of right and wrong to
establish rules and label others as deviant (p.208)
Labelling Theory
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Other terms:
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Primary deviance: the initial act of rule breaking
Secondary deviance: occurs when a person who
has been labelled deviant accepts the new
identity and continues the deviant behaviour
Example: the study of the effects of two
different ways of treating blind people
Labelling Theory
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Moral entrepreneurs often create moral crusades: public and
media awareness campaigns that help generate public and
political support for their causes (p. 208)
Examples:
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Mothers Against Drunk Driving
The Women’s Temperance movement of the early 20th century that
resulted in Prohibition
Campaigns against abortion, prostitution, and child abuse
2003 example: Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, and Sikh
leaders united against same-sex marriages
How the Law Classifies Crime
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Indictable Offenses
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Includes serious crimes
such as homicide, sexual
assault, robbery, and break
and entry
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Summary Conviction
Offenses
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Relatively minor offences
including fraudulently
obtaining food from a
restaurant, causing a
disturbance, or
committing an indecent
act
How Sociologists Classify Crime
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Street Crime
Occupational and Corporate Crime
Organized Crime
Political Crime
Street Crime
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Defined: that which includes all violent crime,
certain property crime, and certain moral
crimes (p. 213)
Examples: robbery, assault, break and enter
Several types:
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Violent
Property
Moral
Types of Street Crime
Violent
Force
against
others
Produces
most anxiety
Victims are
physically
injured
Victimizers:
intimate
persons
Property
Moral
Break and
Entry
Illegal action
voluntarily
engaged in by
individuals
Theft
Arson
Vehicle
theft
Kinds:
prostitution,
gambling,
illegal drugs,
illegal
pornography
Occupational and Corporate Crime
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Occupational or white-collar crime
consists of illegal activities committed by
people in the course of their employment or
in dealing with their financial affairs
Key Element: a violation of a position of trust
in business or government
Occupational and Corporate Crime
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Examples: employee theft, soliciting bribes
or kickbacks, embezzling
The computer has enhanced this possibility
even more
Corporate Crime: illegal acts committed by
corporate employees on behalf of the
corporation and with its support.
Example: Enron Corporation in Houston
Occupational and Corporate Crime
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Costs:
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Exceeds that of street crime
Tax evasion: costs about $30 billion a year in
Canada
Calgary Bre-X gold mining company lost around
$5 billion of share holders investment--a geologist
had “salted” core samples with gold
Occupational and Corporate Crime
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Costs:
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Occupational accidents and illnesses were the
third leading cause of death in Canada: some of
the causes are unsafe working environments
Problems:
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More stigma attached to street crime
Hard to convict
Organized Crime
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Defined: is a business operation that
supplies illegal goods and services for profit
(p. 215)
Examples: drug trafficking, prostitution, liquor
and cigarette smuggling, loan-sharking,
money laundering, and large-scale theft like
truck hijacking
Political Crimes
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Defined: refers to illegal or unethical acts
involving the misuse of power by government
officials, or illegal or unethical acts
perpetrated against the government by
outsiders to make a political statement,
undermine the government, or overthrow it
(p. 215)
Political Crimes
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State officials may use their position to
engage in graft through bribery, kickbacks, or
“insider” deals
Costly to tax payers
Some use these methods to hang onto
power
The Criminal Justice System
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Defined: the criminal justice system includes
the police, the courts, and the prisons
However, it is not a large, complete, and
unified system. Rather, it is a collection of
“somewhat interrelated, semi-autonomous
bureaucracies”.
Each part has significant discretionary
jurisdiction apart from the others.
The Criminal Justice System
The Criminal
Justice System
Police
Courts
Prisons
The Police
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Function: They are the concrete extension
of the State to provide for social order
This is extended to maintain peace in the
community
Broad range: finding lost children, counseling
crime victims, notifying next of kin in fatal
accidents
Why?
The Courts
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Function: they decide the guilt or innocence
of those accused of committing a crime
Process: adversarial:
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Prosecutor: A lawyer who represents the State
Defense lawyer: asserts that the accused (the
defendant) is innocent
Judge (or jury): Final decision as to the guilt or
innocence of the defendant
Punishment
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Defined: any action designed to deprive a
person of things of value (including liberty)
because of some offence the person is
thought to have committed (p. 228)
Functions of Prisons
Retribution
Imposes a
penalty on the
offender
Social
Protection
In prison, he or
she cannot
commit crime
anymore
Rehabilitation
Deterrence
Seeks to return
offenders to the
community as
law abiding
citizens
Seeks to reduce
criminal activity
by instilling a fear
of punishment
Restorative Justice
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Defined: to seek to return the focus of the justice
system to repairing the harm that has been done to
the victim and the community (p. 230)
Elements:
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The involvement of the victim and other members of the
community as active members in the process
To reconcile offenders with those they have harmed
Roots in traditional societies
Restorative Justice
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Elements:
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Some aboriginal communities use what is called
circle sentencing: bringing the offender, the victim,
and the community together
Some current attempts:
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Victim-offender reconciliation
Family Group Conferencing: for young people linked to
the victim and the family members
Community Corrections
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Defined: shifts responsibility for corrections
back to the community and minimizes the
separation of the offender from society at a
number of different stages in the correctional
process
Deviance and Crime in the Future
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The present system cannon solve the
problem of crime
More structural solutions like:
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Better education and jobs
Affordable housing
More equality
Less discrimination
Socially productive activities