1. Crime and Deviance

2. ????
Criminal activity-nature or nurture?

3. What Is Deviance? Deviance Society establishes social norms
A behavior, belief, or condition that is a violation of social norms
Society establishes social norms
When norms violated, behavior considered deviant
Definitions of deviance are relative to the values and beliefs of society
Defining deviance is a social and historical construct

4. Crime
An act, or the omission of an act, that is a violation of a federal, state, or local criminal law for which the state can apply sanctions.
Put simply-Breaking the law

5. Significance of Relativity of Crime
Understanding what is considered a social problem and how certain problems are constructed as the social structure changes
Changing attitudes
The political nature of defining crime and deviance-Drugs and sexuality-
The case of marijuana
The effect of society on the individual
The Sociological Imagination

6. The Cultural Production of knowledge about crime
The social problems perspective
Measurements of crime and deviance
Uniform crime reports
The dark figure of crime
Victimization surveys
The social construction of the crime problem

7. Images of crime and justice from the media
Crime news sells
Reality based cop shows

8. Crime Scares The social construction of crime as a social problem
1980’s-Missing children scare
80’s and 90’s-Serial murder scare
80’s and 90’s-The drug scare
How might a critical constructionist view these crime scares?

9. Street Crime versus Violent Crime
Corporate violence
Critical construction and crime

10. Street Crime U.S.-high rates of violent crime
Culture and social structure
American values and crime
Robert Merton and the American Dream
Strain Theory
People adapt to inconsistency between means and goals in society. Structural limitations  Strain adaptation(Crime)

11. Race and Street crime Representation of minorities in prison
Bias in the CJS
Moral deficiency argument=anti-sociological
Poverty and crime rates
A self fulfilling prophecy

12. The American Punishment Frenzy
The Death Penalty
Escalating incarceration rates and expenditures
Began in mid 1970’s
The prison experience is so common in America today that the Federal government predicts 1 in every 11 men will be imprisoned at some time during his life
Why the increase in incarceration rates?

13. The American Punishment Frenzy
Punitive policies
Imprisonment of non-violent offenders
1980’s-The drug war
Mandatory minimums
Three strikes laws
Plea bargains
In 2007, the United States had the highest incarceration rate in the world
Over 7 million people in prison, jail, or under correctional supervision

14. Is our criminal justice system “soft on crime”?
Are we really the freest nation in the world?
Who benefits from the incarceration boom?
The massive escalation in imprisonment has occurred despite the fact that there was no corresponding increase in crime

15. The Prison-Industrial Complex
Idea that correctional expansion serves many other interests rather than the public’s interest
Prison guards union-Strong lobbyists for tough on crime strategies
Prison construction=money and jobs
Prison labor benefits government and corps
Many prisons now run by corporations
For these groups, whether or not incarceration is an effective method of crime control is not a concern

16. Is massive incarceration working?
Has little deterrent effects on crime
Serves as an example of what happens to criminals and will therefore deter crime
There is very little evidence indicating that imprisonment has any effect on crime
“Despite extensive research…a direct link between increased incarceration and lower crime has never been empirically established”

17. Public Opinion
A majority of Americans tend to believe that we are “soft on crime,” despite the fact that we already lock up criminals at higher rates and for longer sentences than every other country in the world
As a result, state expenditures on education continue to decrease, while spending on prisons has been increasing
Does this make sense?
What role does the media play in this process?

18. Cross Cultural Comparisons
Societies more punitive than the United States
Societies less punitive…

19. Social and Financial benefits of treatment programs
Drug treatment programs not only make neighborhoods safer, but save residents money
RAND Corporation study
For every dollar invested into a treatment program, taxpayers save $7.56 in criminal prevention costs
In light of such evidence, why are treatment programs rarely used or suggested by politicians?