Deviance & Crime
Deviance
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A behavior that violates significant norms
Can be criminal or non-criminal
Examples:
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Talking to yourself loudly in public
Drag racing
Using illegal drugs
Cross-dressing
Assault with a deadly weapon
Changes in deviance
Deviance has changed throughout
history and culture
 Divorce used to be considered deviant
in the US but has become accepted by
society.
 In the Philippines, divorce is illegal
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Stigma
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A mark of social disgrace that sets the
deviant apart from the rest of society
Examples:
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In ancient Greece, they would burn or cut
signs into the bodies of criminals in order to
warn others of their deviance
Prison inmates have dress codes and
numbers that must be worn daily
More examples of stigma
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Hester Prynne and her “scarlet letter”.
During the Holocaust, they would tattoo the
Jews and other non-Aryans in the
concentration camps. And/or they would
have badges denoting their status.
Functions of Deviance
1.
Clarifying Norms
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Deviance serves to define norms
How do we know what’s wrong until
someone else does it?
We know what society accepts or
doesn’t by people pushing the limits
Functions of Deviance
2.
Unifying the Group
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Serves as a way for a community to
bond
Separates the conformers from the
non-conformers or “outsiders”
Functions of Deviance
3.
Diffusing Tension
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In some cases, minor acts of deviance
serves as a safety valve.
It allows people to act out and get out
tension and stress
Functions of Deviance
4.
Promoting Social Change
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When large numbers of people violate
a particular norm, it usually means that
something needs to be changed in
society
Example: people who strike in order to
change working conditions
Functions of Deviance
5.
Providing Jobs
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Because deviance exists, it requires
people to control it
Police, lawyers, judges, prison
workers, etc
All these people help control an
important part of society
Crime
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Three parts to what defines a crime
are:
Any act that is labeled as such by those
in authority
 Is prohibited by law
 Is punishable by the government
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Types of Crimes
1.
Violent Crimes
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Make up a small percentage of the population
Examples: murder, forcible rape, robbery,
aggravated assault
Occurs every 22 seconds in the US
Every 2 minutes, someone is sexually
assaulted in the US
Most victims of violent crimes are African
American
Types of Crimes
2.
Crimes against property
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Examples: burglary, larceny (theft
other than auto), car theft, arson,
tagging
Involve stealing someone else’s
property or intentionally damaging it
Rate of larceny and burglary has
declined since the 1990’s
Types of Crimes
3.
Victimless Crimes
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Examples: prostitution, illegal
gambling, illegal drug use, vagrancy
“victimless” because they supposedly
harm no one but the person
committing the act
Types of Crimes
4.
White-collar crimes
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Describes offenses committed by individuals
of high social status in the course of their
professional lives
Examples: misrepresentation, fraud, tax
evasion, embezzlement, price-fixing, toxic
pollution, insider trading, political corruption
Cost the US over $300 billion each year
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FBI Most Wanted - White Collar Crimes
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Martha Stewart
Money
Laundering &
Fraud
Obstruction of Justice
& Conspiracy
Bernie Madoff
Fraud
Convicted to
150 years in
prison
Types of Crimes
5.
Organized Crime
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Crime syndicate – a large scale
organization of professional criminals
that controls some vice or business
through violence or threat of violence
Operate in many areas of business
including legal businesses often as
“fronts” for their criminal activities
Types of Crimes
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They reinvest their money through legal channels
Examples:
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drug trafficking
 illegal gambling
 unfair labor practices
 hijacking of merchandise
 loan-sharking (lending money at very high interest
rates)
FBI — Famous Cases & Criminals
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