Deviance, Crime and Social Control
Chapter Outline
 The Social Definition and Social Construction of
Crime
 Explaining Deviance and Crime
 Social Control
The Social Definition of Deviance
and Crime
 Because norms vary widely, deviance is relative.
 People commit deviant acts only when they break a
norm and cause others to react negatively.
 From a sociological point of view, everyone is a deviant
in one social context or another.
The Difference between Deviance
and Crime
 Deviance involves breaking a norm and evoking a
negative reaction from others.
 Crime is deviance that breaks a law, which is a norm
stipulated and enforced by government bodies.
Sanctions
 Disapprovals of deviance.
 Informal punishment is a mild sanction imposed
during face-to-face interaction, not by the judicial
system.
 Stigmatized - People who are negatively evaluated
because of something that distinguishes them from
others.
 Formal punishment takes place when the judicial
system penalizes someone for breaking a law.
Types of Deviance and Crime
Vary in terms of:
1. Severity of the social response.
2. Perceived harmfulness of the act.
3. Degree of public agreement about whether an act
should be considered deviant.
Measuring Crime
Official crime statistics, such as those reported by the
FBI, can be misleading for several reasons:
1. Assaults and rapes often go unreported.
2. Tougher enforcement of select laws can lead to
inflated statistics.
3. Victimless crimes—violations of the law in which
no victim steps forward—are excluded from the
statistics.
Self-Report Surveys
 Surveys in which respondents are asked to report
their involvement in criminal activities
 Nationwide survey of 80,000 people that is
regularly conducted by the U.S. Department of
Justice
 Show approximately the same rate of serious crime
as official statistics but two to three times the rate
of less serious crime, such as assault
Crime Rates
1960 – 1992
 500 percent increase in rate* of violent crime
 150 percent increase in rate of major property
crimes
1991 – 2000
 Murder and manslaughter rate fell 49 percent
 Rate of forcible rate fell 32 percent
*Refers to the number of cases per 100,000 people in a year
Why Crime Rates Have Declined
Governments put more police on the streets and
increased surveillance.
2. The proportion of young men, those most likely
to commit street crime, in the population has
declined.
3. Legalized abortion has led to a decrease in
unwanted children, who are more prone to crime.
4. Improved economic conditions and lower
unemployment rates lead to decreases in crime.
1.
Abortions and Crime
Arrests by Sex, 2009
Sex
% of
Population
Arrests
Male
49.1
74.7
Female
50.9
25.3
Arrests by Age, 2009
Age
% of Population
% of Arrests
Under 15
15-19
20-24
25-29
21.3
7.1
6.8
6.8
3.8
20.1
19.6
14.5
30-34
35-39
40-44
7.2
8.2
8.1
10.3
8.6
7.8
45-49
50-54
55-59
7.2
6.1
4.8
7.0
4.4
2.2
Arrests by Race, 2009
Racial Group
% of
Population
Arrests
White
75.1
69.1
Black
12.3
28.3
American Indian and
Alaskan Native
0.9
1.4
Asian and Pacific
Islander
3.7
1.2
Criminal Profiles: Race
The disproportionately high arrest and incarceration
rates of African American are a result of three factors:
1. Bias in statistical collection
2. Low class status of blacks in America
3. Discrimination in the criminal justice system
Street vs. White Collar Crime
Street crimes include arson, burglary and
assault.
 Disproportionate number committed by African
Americans
 Reported in official crime statistics
White-collar crimes are illegal acts such as
embezzlement
 Disproportionate number committed by White
Americans
 Not reported in official crime statistics
Consider This…
If you were in charge of the budget for the war on drugs,
what proportion of the budget would you invest in:
 Controlling the drug trade abroad?
 Stopping drugs at the border?
 Arresting drug traders and users?
 Implementing drug prevention programs?
 Implementing drug treatment programs?
Explaining Crime and Deviance
Theories used by sociologists to explain crime and
deviance include:
 Symbolic interactionism
 Functionalism
 Conflict
 Feminist
Symbolic-Interactionist
Explanations
 Becoming a habitual deviant is a learning process that
occurs in a social context
 Deviants or criminals teach novices “tricks of the
trade”
 Social environment influences the type of deviant
activity in which a person engages
Labeling Theory
 A variation of symbolic interactionism, which holds
that deviance results not so much from the actions of
the deviant as from the response of others, who label
the rule breaker a deviant.
Functionalist Explanations
 Functionalists direct their attention to the social
dysfunctions that lead to deviant behavior
 Often exaggerates the relationship between crime and
class
Durkheim’s Functional Approach
 According to Durkheim, deviance gives people the
opportunity to define what is moral and what is not.
 Our reactions to deviance clarify moral boundaries,
allowing us to draw the line between right and wrong.
 This promotes the unity of society and encourages
healthy social change.
Strain Theory: Merton
 Argued that cultures often teach people to value
material success.
 However, societies do not provide enough legitimate
opportunities for everyone to succeed.
 Therefore, some people experience strain.
 Most will adhere to social norms.
 The rest adapt.
Strain Theory
Institutionalized means
Cultural
Goals
Accept
Reject
Accept
conformity
innovation
Reject
ritualism
retreatism
Create New
Create
New
rebellion
Subcultural Theory
 Argues that gangs are a collective adaptation to social
conditions.
 Distinct norms and values that reject the legitimate
world crystallize in gangs.
 Members create justifications that make illegal
activities appeal morally acceptable.
 Norms of the subcultural are strictly adhered to its
members.
Conflict Theory
 The powerful impose deviant and criminal labels on
less powerful members of society.
 Meanwhile, they are usually able to use their money
and influence to escape punishment for their own
misdeeds.
Control Theory
 The rewards of deviance and crime are many.
 Nearly everyone would engage in deviance and
crime if they could get away with it.
 System of social control: Sanctions in society by
means of which conformity to cultural guidelines is
ensured.
Feminist Theory
 Changes in the distribution of power between men
and women influence the degree to which crimes
against women are identified and prosecuted.
 Power shift also effects the degree to which women
become criminals
Social Control
Reactions to deviance and crime include:
 Medicalization
 Prison
 Moral Panic
 Capital Punishment
 Alternative Prison Model
Medicalization of Deviance
 The process by which medical definitions of deviant
behavior are becoming more prevalent.
 Increasing number of recognized mental disorders has
led to attempts to medically treat deviance
Example: Medicalization of
Deviance
 Alcoholic drinking sprees are now treated in detoxification
centers.
 People with frequent violent rages are often medicated
 Heroin addicts seek treatment at methadone clinics
Origins of Imprisonment
 In preindustrial societies, criminals were humiliated,
tortured, or put to death, depending on the severity of
the crime.
 As societies industrialized, imprisonment became an
important form of punishment for criminal behavior.
 In the industrial era, depriving criminals of their
freedom by putting them in prison seemed more
“civilized”.
Goals
of
Incarceration
 Rehabilitation – Prisoners can be taught how to be
productive citizens.
 Deterrence - People will be less inclined to commit
crimes if they know they are likely to serve long and
unpleasant prison terms.
 Revenge - Depriving criminals of their freedom is
fair retribution for their acts.
 Incapacitation - The chief function is to keep
criminals out of society to ensure that they can do
no more harm.
Polling Question

From the following list, what do you feel is the most
important function of prison?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Punishment for crimes.
Rehabilitation of people who commit crimes.
Protect society from criminals.
Serve as a warning.
Make criminals pay society back
Don't know
Goals of Incarceration
 In 1966, 77% of Americans believed that the main goal
of prison was rehabilitation.
 By 1994 only 16% held that opinion.
 The American public has demanded that more
criminals be arrested and imprisoned.
 The nation’s incarceration rate rose substantially in the
1970s, doubled in the 1980s, and doubled again in the
1990s.
Moral Panic
 Between the early 1970s and the present the U.S.
was gripped by moral panic—a widespread fear
that crime posed a grave threat to society.
 The government declared a war on drugs,
imprisoning hundreds of thousands of nonviolent
offenders.
 Many states passed a law to put three-time violent
offenders in prison for life.
Capital Punishment
 Due to moral panic, support for capital punishment
grew from 38% to 80% between 1965 and 1994.
 A national debate followed an Illinois moratorium on
the death penalty and subsequent support for the
death penalty fell to 64% in 2010.
Capital Punishment Misgivings
It is questionable whether the death penalty serves as
a deterrent.
2. Capital punishment does not save money.
3. Sentencing mistakes are common.
4. Sentencing someone to death is often not a matter of
blind justice.
1.
Capital Punishment Around the
World
Alternative Prison Model
 Prisons should act to rehabilitate, not just incarcerate
criminals.
 Second Chance Act signed into federal law in 2008.
 $114 million in 2010 to fund programs aimed at helping
prisoners reenter society
 Job training, substance abuse, education, etc.
1.
Sociologist John Hagan classifies types of
deviance and crime along which of the following
dimensions?
a.
b.
c.
d.
severity of the social response
perceived harmfulness of the act
degree of public agreement about whether the act
should be considered criminal or deviant
all of these choices
Answer: d
 Sociologist John Hagan classifies various types of
deviance and crime along the following dimensions:
 the severity of the social response
 the perceived harmfulness of the deviant or
criminal act
 the degree of public agreement about whether the
act should be considered criminal or deviant.
2. Which of the following behaviors is not
considered a white-collar crime?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
embezzlement
burglary
tax evasion
insider stock trading
copyright infringement
Answer: b
 Burglary is not considered a white-collar crime.
3. Crime statistics underestimate the actual
incidence of crime because:
a.
b.
c.
d.
many criminal acts are not reported to the police
self-report surveys target only perpetrators not
victims
many crimes are not incorporated into major crime
indexes
many criminal acts are not reported to the police, and
many crimes are not incorporated into major crime
indexes
Answer: d
 Crime statistics underestimate the actual incidence of
crime because many criminal acts are not reported
to the police, and crimes are not incorporated
into major crime indexes.
4. Most sociologists agree that the disproportionately
high arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates of
African Americans are due to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
community policing in ghettoes
low class position of blacks in society
racial discrimination in the criminal justice system
the low class position of blacks in American society
and racial discrimination in the criminal justice
system
Answer: d
 Most sociologists agree that the disproportionately
high arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates of
African Americans are due to the low class position
of blacks in American society, and racial
discrimination in the criminal justice system.
5. Strain theory explains crime and deviance in terms
of:
a.
b.
c.
d.
the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve
material success
exposure to more deviant than non-deviant values
during socialization
the responses of others who define some actions as
deviant and others as normal
the imposition of labels by the rich and powerful on
the less powerful
Answer: a
 Strain theory explains crime and deviance in terms of
the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve
material success.
6. Which of the following are regarded as a function
of prisons?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
rehabilitation
deterrence
revenge
incapacitation
all of these choices
Answer: e
 Rehabilitation, deterrence, revenge, and
incapacitation are regarded as a function of prisons.
7. A growing number of people have misgivings
about capital punishment because:
it is questionable whether the death penalty serves
as a deterrent.
b. capital punishment does not save money.
c. sentencing mistakes are common.
d. sentencing someone to death is often not a matter
of blind justice.
e. of all of these choices.
a.
Answer: e
 There is growing concern that the death penalty does
not serve as a deterrent, costs more money, and is
often not a matter of blind justice.