DEVIANCE AND CRIME

DEVIANCE AND CRIME

DEVIANCE: BEHAVIOR, BELIEFS OR CONDITIONS THAT VIOLATE CULTURAL NORMS

NO ACT OR BELIEF IS INHERENTLY DEVIANT

• RELATIVE TO TIME AND CULTURE

• SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED
 FUNCTIONALIST VIEW OF
DEVIANCE
DURKHEIM
• DEVIANCE OCCURS IN ALL SOCIETIES

• DEVIANCE CLARIFIES RULES

• DEVIANCE UNITES A GROUP

• DEVIANCE PROMOTES SOCIAL CHANGE

 MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY OF
DEVIANCE
FIVE MODES OF ADAPTATION

• CONFORMITY
• INNOVATION
• RITUALISM
• RETREATISM
• REBELLION
 Typology of Individual Modes of
Adaptation

MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED

ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS

1. CONFORMITY + +
2. INNOVATION + -
3. RITUALISM - +
4. RETREATISM - -
5. REBELLION +/- +/-
 Strain Theory: Anomie
MAJOR PREMISE
People who adopt the goals of
society but lack the means to attain them
seek alternatives, such as crime.

STRENGTHS
Points out how competition for success creates
conflict and crime. Suggests that social conditions
and not personality can account for crime. Can
explain middle- and upper-class crime.
 OPPORTUNITY THEORY OF
DEVIANCE
• CLOWARD AND OHLIN THEORY

• ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITIES EXIST IN

SOME SUBCULTURES

• WHEN LEGITIMATE MEANS ARE NOT

AVAILABLE TO ACQUIRE SOCIETIES
GOALS
 Cultural Deviance Theory:
Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory of
Opportunity

MAJOR PREMISE:
Blockage of conventional opportunities causes
lower-class youths to join criminal, conflict, or
retreatist gangs.
STRENGTHS:
Shows that even illegal opportunities are
structured in society. Indicates why people
become involved in a particular type of
criminal activity. Presents a way of preventing
crime.
 INTERACTIONIST VIEW OF
DEVIANCE
• DEVIANCE IS LEARNED THROUGH SOCIAL INTERACTION

• THEORIES:
– DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (EDWIN SUTHERLAND)
– LABELING THEORY
 DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION

• DEVIANCE IS LEANED THROUGH ASSOCIATION

WITH THOSE MORE FAVORABLE TO DEVIANCE

• LEARNING INCLUDES TECHNIQUES, MOTIVES,

ATTITUDES AND RATIONALIZATION

• THE ASSOCIATION MUST BE: FREQUENT, INTENSE,

AND LONG LASTING
 Social Learning Theory:
Differential Association

Major Premise:
People learn to commit crime
from exposure to antisocial
definitions.

STRENGTHS
Explains onset of criminality. Explains the
presence of crime in all elements of social
structure. Explains why some people in
high-crime areas refrain from criminality.
Can apply to adults and juveniles.
 LABELING THEORY
• FOCUSES ON THE PROCESS NOT THE
BEHAVIOR

• DEVIANTS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN

SUCCESSFULLY LABELED AS DEVIANT

• LABELING DONE BY THOSE IN AUTHORITY

• PRIMARY DEVIANCE
• SECONDARY DEVIANCE
Primary and Secondary Deviance

Negative
Social Label
reaction
Degradation
Ceremonies
Deviant
THE
act Self-
LABELING
labeling
PROCESS

Secondary
deviance Deviant
Deviance subculture
amplification
 CONFLICT VIEW OF DEVIANCE
• THE POWERFUL USE LAW TO PROTECT
THEIR INTERESTS
• LAW IS USED TO CONTROL LOWER
CLASSES
• AFFLUENT NOT PROSECUTED AS ARE
POOR
• THE POOR AND UNEDUCATED MORE
LIKELY TO BE ARRESTED AND
PROSECUTED
 Conflict Theory
STRENGTHS
Accounts for class differentials in the
crime rate. Shows how class conflict
influences behavior.

MAJOR PREMISE
Crime is a function of class conflict.
The definition of the law is controlled
by people who hold social and
political power.
 CRIME
• DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRIME AND
DEVIANCE

• SOCIOLOGIST CLASSIFICATION OF CRIME

• STREET CRIME: PROPERTY AND
PERSONS
• OCCUPATIONAL/WHITE COLLAR CRIME
• CORPORATE CRIME
• ORGANIZED CRIME
• POLITICAL CRIME
 Classification of Crime

FELONY MISDEMEANOR

More serious offenses Less serious offenses

Punishable by death Punishable by incar-

or imprisonment for ceration for less than a
more than a year in a year in a local jail or
state prison. house of correction.
 The General Theory of
Crime
Low self-control
Impulsive personality

Crime and
deviance

Criminal Weakening of
Opportunity social bonds
 PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT
• RETRIBUTION: VENGEANCE

• SOCIAL PROTECTION: INCAPACITATE

• REHABILITATION: REFORM

• DETERRENCE: FEAR OF PUNISHMENT

BENTHAM’S PANOPTICAN
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY, PENN
ALCATRAZ
SAN QUENTIN