Chapter 7
Deviance and Crime
Chapter Outline
What Is Deviance?
Functionalist Perspectives on Deviance
Conflict Perspectives on Deviance
Symbolic Interactionist Perspectives on Deviance
Postmodernist Perspectives on Deviance
Crime Classifications and Statistics
The Criminal Justice System
U.S. Deviance and Crime in the Future
Transnational Crime and the Global Criminal Economy
Deviance:
• Drinking too much
• Robbing a bank
• Laughing at a funeral
Deviance is relative
• An act becomes deviant when it is socially defined as such
• Definitions of deviance vary widely from place to place, from time to
time, and from group to group
• Deviant behavior ranges from mild transgressions of folkways, to
serious infringements of mores, to very violations of the law
• Examples: Homosexual behaviors; tattoos; children out of wedlock;
change in what is acceptable in music-Elvis’ dance moves VS Dance
moves we see now.
Crime
• A crime is a behavior that violates criminal law
• Juvenile delinquency, refers to a violation of law or the commission of a
status offense by young people
• The criminal justice system, which includes the police, the courts, and the
prisons, is the primary mechanism of external social control
• Criminology
• When sociologists study deviance, they attempt to determine:
• What types of behavior are defined as deviant
• Who does the defining
• How and why people become deviants
• How society deals with deviants
What Is Social Control?
• Practices that social groups develop to encourage conformity
to norms, rules, and laws and to discourage deviance
• Internal social control
• External social control
Functionalist Perspective
• Deviance serves three functions:
• Clarifies rules
• Unites a group
• Promotes social change
Deviance can be dysfunctional:
World can become unpredictable and chaotic
Opportunity Theory
Deviance occurs through illegitimate opportunity structures
_________________________________________________________
–Examples: keys left in a car; an ATM in a dark location
Merton's Strain Theory of Deviance

According to strain theory, 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

Merton identified five ways in which people adapt
Ways to Adapt
• Conformity: accepting approved goals, pursuing them through
approved means
• Examples: working for a salary; studying for a test
• Innovation: accepting approved goals but using disapproved
means
• Examples: using company equipment for personal business;
cheating on a test
• Ritualism: abandoning society's goals but conforming to the
means
• Example: giving up on success but continuing to go to work or
class
• Retreatism: abandoning approved goals and approved means
• Example: using drugs or alcohol to escape
• Rebellion: challenging approved goals and approved means
• Examples: gangs, anti-government groups
Conflict Perspective or Marxist/Critical Approach

The powerful capitalist class ___________________

Deviance and crime are a function of a capitalist
economic system
Laws are established for the benefit of ________
The behaviors of the poor and lower income individuals
are more likely to be defined as criminal.
Criminal justice system is more focused on and less
forgiving of deviant and criminal behaviors by people in
some categories, especially young, single, urban males.



Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• Differential associations: deviant behavior is learned in interaction with
others
• Rational choice theory: deviant behavior occurs when a person weighs
the costs and benefits of nonconventional behavior

Social control/social bonding: _________________________________

When ties to family and friends become weak, individuals are likely to
engage in criminal behavior
Labeling theory: acts are deviant because they have been labeled as such
 Primary deviance: the initial act of deviance
 Secondary deviance: person accepts the label and continues to act in a
deviant manner
 Tertiary deviance: person seeks to normalize the behavior

How the Law Classifies Crime
• Crimes are divided into felonies and misdemeanors.
• A felony is a ________________________________________
• A misdemeanor is a ________________________________________
Classifications of Crime
• Violent crime involves force or the threat of force
Examples: murder, forcible rape, and aggravated assault
• Property crimes: robbery, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson
• Public order crimes: prostitution, illegal gambling, use of illegal drugs, and
illegal pornography
Also called "victimless crimes“
• Internet crime: Identify theft; FBI scams;
Occupational (white-collar) crime: illegal activities committed by people
in their occupation or financial affairs
Corporate crime: illegal acts committed by corporate employees on
behalf of the corporation and with its support
Examples: antitrust violations; tax evasion; misrepresentations in
advertising; infringements on patents, copyrights, and trademarks;
price fixing; and financial fraud
• Organized crime
• A business operation that supplies illegal goods and services for profit
• Premeditated, continuous illegal activities such as drug trafficking
prostitution, loan-sharking, money laundering, and large-scale theft (e.g.,
truck hijackings) Thrives because there is great demand for illegal goods
and services
• Political crime
• Illegal or unethical acts involving usurpation of power by government
officials or
• Illegal/unethical acts perpetrated against the government by outsiders
seeking to make a political statement, undermine, or overthrow the
government
Crime Statistics
• Official statistics show the number of crimes reported rather than the
actual number of crimes
• The National Crime Victimization Survey asks randomly selected
households about being victims, showing higher rates than official
statistics
Studies based on anonymous self-reports of criminal behavior reveal much higher
rates of crimes than official statistics
Terrorism is the calculated, unlawful use of physical force or threats of violence
against persons or property in order to intimidate or coerce a government,
organization, or individual for the purpose of gaining some political, religious,
economic, or social objective
Crime Victims
Who are most likely to be victims?
Street Crime and Criminals
• Gender: males make up 80% of persons arrested for violent crime and 63%
of persons arrested for property crimes Per 2011 stats
• Age: arrest rates for violent crime and property crime are highest for people
between the ages of 13 and 25
Social Class

Persons from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to be
arrested for violent and property crimes
Persons from upper socioeconomic backgrounds generally commit whitecollar crimes
 Only a small portion of these are arrested
Race
Whites (including Latinos) account for 69% of all arrests
Compared with African Americans, arrest rates for whites were higher for nonviolent
crimes and lower for violent crimes
African Americans are overrepresented in arrest data
THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Criminal Justice System
• Refers to more than 55,000 local, state, and federal agencies that enforce
laws, adjudicate crimes, and treat and rehabilitate criminals
• Includes police, courts, and corrections facilities
Discretion

The use of personal judgment by police officers, prosecutors, judges, and
other criminal justice system officials regarding how to proceed in a given
situation
 Example: the police have the power to selectively enforce the law and have
on many occasions been accused of being too harsh or too lenient on
alleged offenders
The Courts
Criminal courts determine the guilt or innocence of those persons accused
of a crime
In theory, justice is determined in an adversarial process in which the prosecutor
argues that the accused is guilty, and the defense attorney asserts that the
accused is innocent
Punishment and Corrections

Punishment is any action designed to deprive a person of things of value
because of some offense the person is thought to have committed

GOALS OF PUNISHMENT

Retribution: ____________________________________________

Deterrence:_____________________________________________
Social protection: restrict offenders so they can’t commit further crimes
Rehabilitation: return offenders to the community as law-abiding citizens
The Death Penalty
Execution numbers have gone down in recent years as the controversy over
the death penalty has grown
In 2008, 37 inmates were executed and about 3,300 people awaited
execution
Two pressing questions:
Is the solution to our "crime problem" more law and order?
Is equal justice under the law possible?
Global Crime
• The 1994 United Nations Conference on Global Organized Crime
estimated that about $500 billion per year is accrued in the global trade
in drugs alone
• Today, profits from all kinds of global criminal activities are estimated to
range from $750 billion to more than $1.5 trillion a year
• Reducing global crime will require a global response, including:
• The cooperation of law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and
intelligence services across geopolitical boundaries
• The regulation by the international community to control
international money laundering and trafficking in people and
controlled substances such as drugs and weapons