crime and deviance chapter seven. what is deviance? central concepts: – social control: systematic...
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Crime and Deviance
Chapter Seven
What is Deviance?
Central concepts:– Social control: systematic practices developed
by social groups to encourage conformity and to discourage deviance (p. 198)
– Deviance: any behaviour, belief, or condition that violates those cultural norms in the society or group in which it occurs (p. 198)
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)
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.
Opportunity Theory
Expands on strain 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)
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)
Differential Association Theory
(“Getting in with the wrong crowd”) 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
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
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)
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
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
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
How Sociologists Classify Crime
Street Crime Occupational and Corporate Crime Organized Crime Political Crime
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
Types of Street CrimeTypes of Street Crime
Moral
Illegal action voluntarily
engaged in by individuals
Kinds: prostitution,
gambling, illegal drugs,
illegal pornography
Violent
Force against others
Produces most anxiety
Victims are physically
injured
Victimizers: intimate persons
Property
Break and Entry
Theft
Arson
Vehicle theft
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
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
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
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
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, loan-sharking, money laundering, and large-scale theft like truck hijacking
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)
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
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.
The Criminal Justice System
Police Courts Prisons
The Criminal Justice System
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?
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
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)
Functions of Prisons
Social Protection
In prison, he or she cannot commit crime anymore
Retribution
Imposes a penalty on the offender
Deterrence
Seeks to reduce criminal activity by instilling a fear of punishment
Rehabilitation
Seeks to return offenders to the community as law abiding citizens
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
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
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
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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