1. Deviance, Crime and Social Control
Chapter 5
Deviance, Crime and Social Control

2. Chapter Outline The Social Definition and Social Construction of Crime
Explaining Deviance and Crime
Social Control

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Types of Deviance and Crime
Vary in terms of:
Severity of the social response.
Perceived harmfulness of the act.
Degree of public agreement about whether an act should be considered deviant.

7. Measuring Crime
Official crime statistics, such as those reported by the FBI, can be misleading for several reasons:
Assaults and rapes often go unreported.
Tougher enforcement of select laws can lead to inflated statistics.
Victimless crimes—violations of the law in which no victim steps forward—are excluded from the statistics.

8. 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

9. 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

11. Why Crime Rates Have Declined
Governments put more police on the streets and increased surveillance.
The proportion of young men, those most likely to commit street crime, in the population has declined.
Legalized abortion has led to a decrease in unwanted children, who are more prone to crime.
Improved economic conditions and lower unemployment rates lead to decreases in crime.

12. Abortions and Crime

13. Arrests by Sex, 2009 Sex % of Population Arrests Male 49.1 74.7 Female
50.9
25.3

14. Arrests by Age, 2009 Age % of Population % of Arrests Under 15 21.3
3.8
15-19
7.1
20.1
20-24
6.8
19.6
25-29
14.5
30-34
7.2
10.3
35-39
8.2
8.6
40-44
8.1
7.8
45-49
7.0
50-54
6.1
4.4
55-59
4.8
2.2

15. 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

16. Criminal Profiles: Race
The disproportionately high arrest and incarceration rates of African American are a result of three factors:
Bias in statistical collection
Low class status of blacks in America
Discrimination in the criminal justice system

17. 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

18. 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?

19. Explaining Crime and Deviance
Theories used by sociologists to explain crime and deviance include:
Symbolic interactionism
Functionalism
Conflict
Feminist

20. 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

21. 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.

22. Functionalist Explanations
Functionalists direct their attention to the social dysfunctions that lead to deviant behavior
Often exaggerates the relationship between crime and class

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. Institutionalized means
Strain Theory
Cultural Goals
Institutionalized means
Accept
Reject
Create New
conformity
innovation
ritualism
retreatism
rebellion

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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

31. Social Control Reactions to deviance and crime include: Medicalization
Prison
Moral Panic
Capital Punishment
Alternative Prison Model

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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”.

35. 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.

36. Polling Question
From the following list, what do you feel is the most important function of prison?
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

37. 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.

38. 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.

40. 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.

41. Capital Punishment Misgivings
It is questionable whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent.
Capital punishment does not save money.
Sentencing mistakes are common.
Sentencing someone to death is often not a matter of blind justice.

42. Capital Punishment Around the World

43. 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.

44. Quick Quiz

45. Sociologist John Hagan classifies types of deviance and crime along which of the following dimensions?
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

46. 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.

47. 2. Which of the following behaviors is not considered a white-collar crime?
embezzlement
burglary
tax evasion
insider stock trading
copyright infringement

48. Answer: b
Burglary is not considered a white-collar crime.

49. 3. Crime statistics underestimate the actual incidence of crime because:
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

50. 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.

51. 4. Most sociologists agree that the disproportionately high arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates of African Americans are due to:
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

52. 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.

53. 5. Strain theory explains crime and deviance in terms of:
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

54. Answer: a
Strain theory explains crime and deviance in terms of the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve material success.

55. 6. Which of the following are regarded as a function of prisons?
rehabilitation
deterrence
revenge
incapacitation
all of these choices

56. Answer: e
Rehabilitation, deterrence, revenge, and incapacitation are regarded as a function of prisons.

57. A growing number of people have misgivings about capital punishment because:
it is questionable whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent.
capital punishment does not save money.
sentencing mistakes are common.
sentencing someone to death is often not a matter of blind justice.
of all of these choices.

58. 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.