Crime and Deviance
Chapter Seven
Outline
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What is Deviance?
Functionalist Perspectives
Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives
Critical Perspectives
Feminist Perspectives
Postmodern Perspectives
Crime Classification and Statistics
The Criminal Justice System
Deviance and Crime in the Future
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What is Deviance?
 Central concepts:
– Deviance: any behaviour, belief, or condition
that violates cultural norms in the society or
group in which it occurs (p. 198)
– Social control: systematic practices developed
by social groups to encourage conformity and to
discourage deviance (p. 198)
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What is Deviance?
 Can be understood to mean not only behaviour
but also beliefs
 Deviance is relative: an act becomes deviant
when it is socially defined as such
 Example: Members of a gang may shun
mainstream conformity, yet conform to the group’s
code of dress, etc.
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What is Deviance?
 Deviance is Ambiguous: Good and bad
definitions vary so much that sometimes it is
difficult to consider what is deviance and
what is not
 Deviance varies with degrees: It ranges
from mild transgressions of folkways (sexual
overtones) to serious infringements of laws
(rape)
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What is Deviance?
 Crime: is an act that violates criminal law
and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and
other sanctions (p. 201)
 Juvenile delinquency: refers to a violation
of the law by young people under the age of
18 (in Canada) (p. 201)
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Functionalist Perspectives to
Explain Deviance and Crime
 Strain Theory
 Opportunity Theory
 Control Theory
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Strain Theory
 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)
 Example: a study of Canadian Mohawks
involvement in the organized crime of
smuggling in the early 1990s.
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Opportunity 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)
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Opportunity Theory
 Three different forms of delinquent
subcultures:
– Criminal: Focus on economic gain and includes
theft, extortion, and drug dealing
– Conflict: groups that fight over territory and
adopt a value system of toughness, courage,
and status-enhancing qualities
– Retreatist: Those who avoid mainstream
society and adopt alternative lifestyles:
example: Destructive cults like the Solar Temple
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Control Theory
 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)
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Social Bonding Consists of:
Attachment
Bonds to
other people
Commitment
To rules
and
regulations
Involvement-
Belief
In
conventional
activities
In the
legitimacy of
conventional
values and
norms
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Symbolic Interactionist
Perspectives
 Differential Association Theory
 Labelling Theory
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Differential Association Theory
 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.
 Example: subcultural groups in schools
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Labelling Theory
 Two elements are involved in defining
deviance:
– 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
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Labelling Theory
 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:
– Persons who use their own views of right and wrong to
establish rules and label others as deviant (p.208)
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Labelling Theory
 Other terms:
– 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
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Labelling Theory
 Moral entrepreneurs often create moral crusades: public
and media awareness campaigns that help generate public
and political support for their causes (p. 208)
 Examples:
– 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
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Conflict Perspective
 Theme: these scholars maintain that
lifestyles considered deviant by political and
economic elites often are defined as illegal
 Issue: who has the power to define, enforce,
and punish crime and deviance?
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Conflict Perspective
 Elements:
– The marginalized commit crime in order to
survive, not to become rich
– Frequently, in the struggle for survival,
marginalized persons victimize other
marginalized persons
– Law protects the interests of the affluent and the
powerful and not, as is claimed, the “common
good”
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Feminist Perspective
 Focus: to examine the relationship between
gender, deviance, and crime
 Various nuances of Feminist theory:
– Liberal Feminism: Women’s deviance and
crime as a rational response to oppression and
discrimination
– Radical Feminism: Patriarchy keeps women
tied to family and home. Example: prostitution—
women are more likely to be charged than the
“Johns”
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Feminist Perspective
 Various nuances of Feminist theory:
– Socialist Feminism: Authors contend that women are
exploited by capitalism and patriarchy. Because
women, more than men, have low-paying jobs they may
become involved in prostitution and shoplifting
 Add: Nuanced by class, race, and ethnicity.
Example:
– Female victims of child abuse are more likely to become
involved in crime than those who have not been abused
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Postmodern Perspectives
 From the work of Michel Foucault
 His thesis: Prisons control the inmates not
by physical punishment but by constant
surveillance
 The Panoptican: a structure that gives
prison officials the possibility of complete
observation of criminals at all times
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Crime Classification and
Statistics
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How the Law Classifies Crime
How Sociologists Classify Crime
Crime Statistics
Street Crime and Criminals
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How the Law Classifies Crime
 Indictable Offenses
 Includes serious crimes
such as homicide, sexual
assault, robbery, and
break and entry
 Summary Conviction
Offenses
 Relatively minor
offences including
fraudulently obtaining
food from a restaurant,
causing a disturbance,
or committing an
indecent act
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How Sociologists Classify Crime
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Street Crime
Occupational and Corporate Crime
Organized Crime
Political Crime
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Street Crime
 Defined: that which includes all violent
crime, certain property crime, and certain
moral crimes (p. 213)
 Examples: robbery, assault, break and enter
 Several types:
– Violent
– Property
– Moral
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Types of Street Crime
Violent
Force
against
others
Produces
most anxiety
Victims are
physically
injured
Property
Moral
Break and
Entry
Illegal action
voluntarily
engaged in by
individuals
Theft
Arson
Vehicle
theft
Victimizers:
intimate
persons
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Kinds:
prostitution,
gambling,
illegal drugs,
illegal
pornography
Occupational and Corporate
Crime
 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
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Occupational and Corporate
Crime
 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
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Occupational and Corporate
Crime
 Costs:
– 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
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Occupational and Corporate
Crime
 Costs:
– Occupational accidents and illnesses were the
third leading cause of death in Canada: some of
the causes are unsafe working environments
 Problems:
– More stigma attached to street crime
– Hard to convict
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Organized Crime
 Defined: is a business operation that
supplies illegal goods and services for profit
(p. 215)
 Examples: drug trafficking, prostitution,
liquor and cigarette smuggling, loansharking, money laundering, and large-scale
theft like truck hijacking
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Organized Crime
 Elements:
– Not a centrally controlled organization
– Public demand for cheap goods encourages the
crime
– Deadly nature: biker gangs in Montreal result in
many deaths
– Linked to legitimate enterprises. Example:
Some terrorist groups use Muslim charities to
gather illicit funds for nefarious ends
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Political Crimes
 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)
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Political Crimes
 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
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Four Types of Political
Deviance
Secrecy and
Deception
To
manipulate
public
opinion
Abuse of
power
Prosecution
of individuals
due to their
political
activities
Official
Violence
Police brutality
Canadian Example: During the 1960s,
The Front de Liberation du Quebec
(FLQ) tried to bring about an
independent Quebec using terrorism
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Crime Statistics
 Official Statistics:
– Most of our crime statistics come from the
Canadian Uniform Crime Reports (CUCR)
– From the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics
of Statistics Canada
– Figures 7.3 and 7.4 show that, contrary to public
opinion, crime rates have decreased
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Crime Statistics
 Weakness of these official statistics:
– Police statistics always underreport the actual
amount of crime
– Reporting of crime is inconsistent from place to
place and from time to time
– Example: Why such an increase of domestic
violence in Winnipeg from 1444 in 1990 to 3387
in 1996? Not that there was actually more
violence in 1996, but that there was more
violence reported.
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Crime Statistics
 Weakness of these official statistics:
– Many crimes reported by persons of highest
SES status are routinely handled by the
administrative or quasi-judicial bodies or by civil
courts
 Victimization Surveys:
– Many surveys (some from Statistics Canada)
have attempted to fill the gap
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Crime Statistics
 Victimization Surveys:
– One survey found that less than 42% of the
victimizations reported by respondents had
been reported to the police
– Value:
 Additional information
 With both kinds of statistics, a truer picture of the
reality of crime is possible
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Who is more likely to commit street crime?
 What are the correlates of street crime?
 Significant correlates:
– Age
– Gender
– Class
– Race
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Age
– One of the most significant factors
– Pattern: arrests increase from early adolescence, peak
in young adulthood, and steadily decline with age
– This pattern reveals that crime is a young person’s
game
– Common in all societies where data is available
– Why? Adulthood is a time of expected conformity. Also,
simple maturation processes seem relevant
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Street Crime and Criminals
 Gender
– Another one of the most significant factors
– Pattern: most crime is committed by males
– Some statistics:
 Men make up over 80% of those charged with crime
 They are more involved in violent crime and major
property offences
 However, there is a narrowing of the gap
 From 1968-1992, the percentage of offences
committed by women increased from 9 % to 18%
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Increase of Female Crime In Canada (from
data on page 220)
35
30
25
Percentage
Serious Theft
Fraud
Minor Theft
homocide
All
20
15
10
5
0
1968
1992
Years
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Gender
– Why has there been this increase?
 Cross cultural data reveals that where men are
dominant, women are less likely to commit crime;
however, where there is more equality between men
and women, crime rates are higher.
 Another theory, the feminization of poverty as an
impetus to commit crime
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Social Class
– Some possible correlates:
 Does crime increase with times of unemployment?
No
 Do poorer cities, provinces, and countries have
higher rates? No
 In Canada, the poorer provinces (Newfoundland and
New Brunswick) have lower crime rates than the rich
provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
 See Map 7.2.
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
Street Crime and Criminals
 Social Class
– Some verified correlates:
 Lower class are overrepresented in arrest and prison
admission
 Why? Is it because they commit more crime or are
they more likely to be targeted?
 Suicide, alcoholism, mental illness, and drug
addiction are more common in lower classes
 On the other hand, occupational or white collar crime
(costing Canadians more than street crime) is higher
among the middle and upper classes
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Race and Ethnicity
– US statistics: African American and Hispanic
peoples are more likely to commit street crime
than others
– In Canada, non-Aboriginal visible ethnic
minorities were underrepresented in the federal
correctional institutions
– Aboriginals: Many studies have shown that they
are overrepresented in prison after committing
crime
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Race and Ethnicity
– Why are Aboriginals overrepresented in prison
after committing crime?
 More likely to be discriminated against than other
visible minorities
 They have much less power and fewer resources
 Strong social bonds are less likely (see control
theory)
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Street Crime and Criminals
 Region and Crime
– Difficult to get international figures as each
country varies in how they report crime
– Best to consider the homicide rate as it is
measured the same in most countries which
keep crime statistics
– See graph on next slide:
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Some International Homicide Rates
(from data on page 224)
Countries
6
5.4
5
4
Per 100,000
3
Population
2
Rates
1.8
1.2
1
0
Canada
US
UK
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Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada
The Criminal Justice System
 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.
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The Criminal Justice System
The Criminal
Justice System
Police
Courts
Prisons
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The Police
 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?
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Why So Many Functions?
 1. The police are one
of the few public
agencies open 24
hours a day
 2. They service clients
that other agencies
may not be interested
in
 3. The police may not
know about or may not
have access to other
agencies
 4. Historically, the role
of the police has been
to keep the peace
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The Police
 What ties these diverse functions together?
– 1. They have authority
– 2. Authority is backed by non-negotiable force
– 3. Have high degrees of discretion
 Two kinds of Discretion:
– A. Administrative
– B. Individual
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The Courts
 Function: they decide the guilt or innocence
of those accused of committing a crime
 Process: adversarial:
– 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
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Punishment
 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)
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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
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Incarceration Rates in Various
Countries (p. 232)
800
700
600
Per 100,000 500
400
Population 300
200
100
0
Countries
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Jap
an
Swe
den
s
Neth
erla
nd
Italy
Aus
trali
a
Fran
ce
UK
Rus
sia
US
Can
ad
a
Rates
Restorative Justice
 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:
– 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
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Restorative Justice
 Elements:
– Some aboriginal communities use what is called
circle sentencing: bringing the offender, the
victim, and the community together
– Some current attempts:
 Victim-offender reconciliation
 Family Group Conferencing: for young people linked
to the victim and the family members
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Community Corrections
 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
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Deviance and Crime in the
Future
 The present system cannon solve the
problem of crime
 More structural solutions like:
– Better education and jobs
– Affordable housing
– More equality
– Less discrimination
– Socially productive activities
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Key terms
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Corporate crime
Crime
Deviance
Differential association theory
Illegitimate opportunity
structures
Juvenile delinquency
Labelling theory
Moral crusades
Moral entrepreneurs
Occupational or white-collar
crime
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Organized crime
Political crime
Primary deviance
punishment
Secondary deviance
Social bond theory
Social control
Strain theory
Street crime
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Review Questions
Chapter 7 Crime and Deviance
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is deviance?
What is the strain theory of deviance?
How does social control theory explain crime?
What are the major types of crime?
What are the main sources of crime statistics?
How are age, sex, and social class related to
crime?
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