DEVIANCE AND CRIME
DEVIANCE AND CRIME
DEVIANCE: BEHAVIOR, BELIEFS OR CONDITIONS
THAT VIOLATE CULTURAL NORMS
NO ACT OR BELIEF IS INHERENTLY DEVIANT
• RELATIVE TO TIME AND CULTURE
• SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED
FUNCTIONALIST VIEW OF
DEVIANCE
DURKHEIM
• DEVIANCE OCCURS IN ALL SOCIETIES
• DEVIANCE CLARIFIES RULES
• DEVIANCE UNITES A GROUP
• DEVIANCE PROMOTES SOCIAL CHANGE
MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY OF
DEVIANCE
FIVE MODES OF ADAPTATION
•
•
•
•
•
CONFORMITY
INNOVATION
RITUALISM
RETREATISM
REBELLION
Typology of Individual Modes of
Adaptation
MODES OF
ADAPTATION
CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED
GOALS
MEANS
1. CONFORMITY
+
+
2. INNOVATION
+
-
3. RITUALISM
-
+
4. RETREATISM
-
-
5. REBELLION
+/-
+/-
Strain Theory: Anomie
MAJOR PREMISE
People who adopt the goals of
society but lack the means to attain them
seek alternatives, such as crime.
STRENGTHS
Points out how competition for success creates
conflict and crime. Suggests that social conditions
and not personality can account for crime. Can
explain middle- and upper-class crime.
OPPORTUNITY THEORY OF
DEVIANCE
• CLOWARD AND OHLIN THEORY
• ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITIES EXIST IN
SOME SUBCULTURES
• WHEN LEGITIMATE MEANS ARE NOT
AVAILABLE TO ACQUIRE SOCIETIES
GOALS
Cultural Deviance Theory:
Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory of
Opportunity
MAJOR PREMISE:
Blockage of conventional opportunities causes
lower-class youths to join criminal, conflict, or
retreatist gangs.
STRENGTHS:
Shows that even illegal opportunities are
structured in society. Indicates why people
become involved in a particular type of
criminal activity. Presents a way of preventing
crime.
INTERACTIONIST VIEW OF
DEVIANCE
• DEVIANCE IS LEARNED THROUGH SOCIAL
INTERACTION
• THEORIES:
– DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (EDWIN
SUTHERLAND)
– LABELING THEORY
DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION
• DEVIANCE IS LEANED THROUGH
ASSOCIATION WITH THOSE MORE
FAVORABLE TO DEVIANCE
• LEARNING INCLUDES TECHNIQUES,
MOTIVES, ATTITUDES AND
RATIONALIZATION
• THE ASSOCIATION MUST BE: FREQUENT,
INTENSE, AND LONG LASTING
Social Learning Theory:
Differential Association
Major Premise:
People learn to commit crime
from exposure to antisocial
definitions.
STRENGTHS
Explains onset of criminality. Explains the
presence of crime in all elements of social
structure. Explains why some people in
high-crime areas refrain from criminality.
Can apply to adults and juveniles.
LABELING THEORY
• FOCUSES ON THE PROCESS NOT THE
BEHAVIOR
• DEVIANTS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN
SUCCESSFULLY LABELED AS DEVIANT
• LABELING DONE BY THOSE IN AUTHORITY
• PRIMARY DEVIANCE
• SECONDARY DEVIANCE
Primary and Secondary Deviance
Social
reaction
Deviant
act
Negative
Label
Degradation
Ceremonies
THE
LABELING
PROCESS
Secondary
deviance
Deviance
amplification
Selflabeling
Deviant
subculture
CONFLICT VIEW OF DEVIANCE
• THE POWERFUL USE LAW TO PROTECT
THEIR INTERESTS
• LAW IS USED TO CONTROL LOWER
CLASSES
• AFFLUENT NOT PROSECUTED AS ARE
POOR
• THE POOR AND UNEDUCATED MORE
LIKELY TO BE ARRESTED AND
PROSECUTED
Conflict Theory
STRENGTHS
Accounts for class differentials in the
crime rate. Shows how class conflict
influences behavior.
MAJOR PREMISE
Crime is a function of class conflict.
The definition of the law is controlled
by people who hold social and
political power.
CRIME
• DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRIME AND
DEVIANCE
• SOCIOLOGIST CLASSIFICATION OF CRIME
• STREET CRIME: PROPERTY AND
PERSONS
• OCCUPATIONAL/WHITE COLLAR CRIME
• CORPORATE CRIME
• ORGANIZED CRIME
• POLITICAL CRIME
Classification of Crime
FELONY
MISDEMEANOR
More serious offenses
Less serious offenses
Punishable by death
or imprisonment for
more than a year in a
state prison.
Punishable by incarceration for less than a
year in a local jail or
house of correction.
The General Theory of
Crime
Impulsive personality
Low self-control
Crime and
deviance
Criminal
Opportunity
Weakening of
social bonds
PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT
• RETRIBUTION: VENGEANCE
• SOCIAL PROTECTION: INCAPACITATE
• REHABILITATION: REFORM
• DETERRENCE: FEAR OF PUNISHMENT
BENTHAM’S PANOPTICAN
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY, PENN
ALCATRAZ
SAN QUENTIN