Crime and Deviance
•Critical Constructionism and Crime
• The Nature of Deviance
• Culture, social structure, and crime
• The social construction of crime problems
• The social problems perspective
• Problems with the Criminal Justice System
• The drug war
• Is the U.S. tough on crime? Or soft on crime? How do you know?
• What is the popular construction of crime issues in the media?
The Nature of Deviance
• Deviance:
• Any behavior that violates a norm-Folkways, mores, or laws
• When deviance constitutes law breaking, it is considered criminal
• Norms vary from society to society, as do reactions to deviance
• In analyzing deviance we must consider two important points
• 1. Whether something is deviant depends on who is evaluating it
• Deviance is what people say it is-based upon one’s value system
• 2. When important norms are violated, social control mechanisms function to maintain order
• Informal and formal sanctions
The Nature of Crime and Deviance
• Universality
• The Relativity of Deviance
• Relativity-There is nothing inherent in an act that makes an act wrong,
criminal, or deviant.
• Social definitions of deviance are relative to the values, beliefs, and norms of a society
• Defining deviance is a social and historical construct, varying from:
• Time to time
• Place to place
• Group to group
• Examples?
The Social Construction of Deviance
• Time
• Has using heroin always been deviant?
• Has domestic violence and child abuse always been against the law?
• Culture
• What is the drinking age in other cultures?
• Are the same drugs illegal in U.S. illegal elsewhere?
• Group
• Religion-Is working on the sabbath deviant? Should women work outside of
the home?
• Family-Is the norm in your family deviant in others?
Significance of Relativity of Crime
• Understanding what is considered a social problem and how certain
problems are constructed as the social structure changes
• The Cultural nature of defining crime and deviance:
• A changing culture=changing attitudes, beliefs and values.
• A changing Social structure= Institutions acknowledge and give way to the demands of
oppressed minorities and populace
• Influenced by social movements
• I.e.: Sexuality: Is homosexuality deviant?
• The political nature of defining crime and deviance
• Power struggles between groups in political arena
Critical Constructionism
• Argues that social problems are constructed, conceived, and presented to the
public in ways that reflect the interests of those in power, the elite.
• Critical constructionists ask the question, why are some
drugs criminalized while others are not? Is it based on
relative harm done?
• Social Construction of Drugs-Definitions about drugs
are based on meanings that people in groups have
imputed to certain substances.
• Who has the power to socially construct the meaning of
drugs?
Subjective vs. Objective View of Drug Abuse
 Objective component is
physical, psychological, or
social evidence of harm
 Subjective component is
people’s perceptions
about the consequences
Example: Marijuana vs. Alcohol
Subjectively our society believes that marijuana is harmful
and should remain illegal, while alcohol is relatively harmless
and should stay legal
Objectively there is little evidence that marijuana is harmful
but much evidence of alcohol and tobacco and associated
dangers.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Video on Harm
The Case of Marijuana
• Why was the drug made illegal?
• Who was it connected to in New Orleans?
• Who was it connected to in the Southwest?
• How did the great depression and economy play a role in making marijuana
illegal?
• Who had the power to define pot smoking as deviant?
• How was the public made aware of the “so called” negative or
positive effects of the drug?
“The Power to Make Definitions Stick”
• Who and what are defined as deviant or criminal depend on who is doing
the defining and who has the power to make definitions stick
• I.e.: The case with illegalizing marijuana
• I.e.: White Collar Crime-How often do we hear about corporate crimes and when
we do, how much time do the very wealthy often spend in prison?
• Americans are more likely to be victims of white collar crime than street crime, but what do
we fear most and hear about every night in the news? Who are we scared of?
• Street violence vs. corporate violence
• The street criminal who steals one hundred dollars may spend years in jail, while the corporate
executive who embezzles millions may pay a fine or serve a short sentence
• Conflict theorists believe CJS benefits rich and powerful and defines crime and allocates
punishments in ways that favor the rich at the expense of the poor.
The relativity of deviance and drug
use
• These subjective definitions have very real consequences
• According to the FBI in 2008, "Law enforcement made more arrests for non
violent drug abuse violations (an estimated 1.8 million arrests, or 13.0
percent of the total number of arrests) than for any other offense in 2007."
• “Marijuana arrests set another all-time record in 2007, totaling 872,720 — that’s a
marijuana arrest every 36 seconds.”
• “Arrests for marijuana possession totaled 775,138, greatly exceeding arrests for all
violent crimes combined, which totaled 597,447”
• The American Drug War
Public Opinion
• All Americans have opinions regarding criminal behavior: what
constitutes criminal behavior; how we, as a society, should deal with
crime; and what crimes and criminals we should fear.
• Where do Americans get information related to crime and form their
opinions?
???
• How do media sources impact our view and understanding of crime
and justice in America?
• Examples??
• What stance do most politicians take on crime issues?
• How can the media influence how we vote on policies related to
crime?
• Is America tough on crime?
Public Opinion
• Popular Construction of Crime Problem
• A majority of Americans tend to believe that we are “soft on crime,” despite
the fact that we already lock up criminals at higher rates and for longer
sentences than every other country in the world
• As a result, state expenditures on education continue to decrease,
while spending on prisons has been increasing
• Does this make sense?
• What role does the media play in this process?
The Cultural Production of knowledge about crime
• The social problems perspective
• Certain types of criminal activity becomes defined as such because either a
number of significant people, or a significant number of people identify/label
the crime problem
• Measurements of crime and deviance
• Uniform crime reports
• The dark figure of crime
• Victimization surveys
• The social construction of the crime problem
• The power of media in shaping public opinion
Media and Crime
• Images of crime and justice from the media
• Crime news sells
• “If it bleeds, it leads”
• Reality based cop shows
• Crime dramas
• Studies show that these forms of media commonly distort reality by emphasizing violent
crime and perpetuating racial stereotypes
• Selected on basis of entertainment value. .. Yet just because the public watches for
entertainment, does not mean it does not effect their ideas and opinions about crime
and policy
Street Crime
• U.S.-high rates of violent crime
• Culture and social structure
• American values and crime
• Robert Merton and the American Dream
• Strain Theory of Deviance
• People adapt to inconsistency between means and goals in society. Structural limitations
 Strain adaptation(Crime)
The American Punishment Frenzy
• The Death Penalty
• Escalating incarceration rates and expenditures
• Began in mid 1970’s
• The prison experience is so common in America today that the Federal
government predicts 1 in every 11 men will be imprisoned at some time
during his life
• Why the increase in incarceration rates?
The American Punishment Frenzy
• Punitive policies
• Imprisonment of non-violent offenders
• 1980’s-The drug war
• Mandatory minimums
• Three strikes laws
• Plea bargains
• In 2007, the United States had the highest incarceration rate in the world
• Over 7 million people in prison, jail, or under correctional supervision
Film: The House I Live In
“The War on drugs has never been about drugs”
• How have ideas, beliefs, and policies concerning crime and deviance related
to drug use and abuse been constructed in ways that benefit individuals in
positions of power?
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Politicians
The elite
Dominant vs. minority groups
Law enforcement agencies
Upper class vs. lower class
White collar criminals vs. street criminals
• Reframes the discussion.
• The drug war is a social problem itself
???
• Who benefits from the incarceration boom?
• The massive escalation in imprisonment has occurred despite the fact that there
is no evidence to suggest that it makes society safer or takes drugs off the streets
• There is very little evidence indicating that imprisonment has any effect on
crime
• “Despite extensive research…a direct link between increased incarceration and
lower crime has never been empirically established” (Heiner 146)
• Then Why does the drug war continue?? A critical constructionist asks: how has
this social problem been constructed in ways that might benefit the Elite or
individuals in positions of power
• Politicians
• Who else?
The Prison-Industrial Complex
• Idea that correctional expansion serves many other interests rather
than the public’s interest
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Prison guards union-Strong lobbyists for tough on crime strategies
Prison construction=money and jobs
Prison labor benefits government and corps
Many prisons now run by corporations
• For these groups, whether or not incarceration is an effective method of crime control is
not a concern
• I.E.: Videos
Treatment Programs
• Rehabilitation vs. Incarceration
• Center for Substance Abuse
• Average savings of three to one resulted in:
• Reduced crime
• Increased earnings from productive individuals
• Lower health care costs
• According to the Center for Substance Abuse: Drug treatment
programs not only make neighborhoods safer, but save residents
money
• RAND Corporation study
• For every dollar invested into a treatment program, taxpayers save $7.56 in
criminal prevention costs