Deviance and Crime

Deviance is any action, condition, belief, characteristic that violates social norms.

Deviance is a result of violating norms while crime is a result of violating laws.

Laws = formal protections for norms we find most desirable -- attempts to encourage conformity and prohibit

deviance and varies in intensity

Some silly Arkansas Laws   

Can’t walk your pet cow down main street after 1PM on sundays

No flirting on the streets of Little Rock  It’s illegal to yell at your kids at a drive-in restaurant  Can’t beat your wife more then once a month   

It’s illegal for Arkansas river to rise above the main street bridge

What can be deviant?A radical belief system can cause you

to be seen as deviantA condition can render you deviantA behavior can render you deviant

Stigma may result -- “spoiled identity”

Why do we have deviance?

Durkheim

“Deviance is universal and necessary.”

Enhances conformity and clarifies rules, norms, expectations i.e., creates moral

boundaries

Strengthens solidarity among those who do conform

Brings needed change

Provides jobs for those in the deviance “industry”

e.g., counselors, police officers, lawyers, priests, prostitutes, pimps, dealers, etc....

Provides a safety valve for discontented people 

Types of Deviance and CrimeDiversions, e.g., nose rings

Deviations, e.g., subject to sanction

intoxication, cursing in public, heckling a speaker

Conflict crimes, e.g., laws against but not strong consensus -- medical

marijuana, right to protest, legal drinking age

Consensus crimes, e.g., strong consensus

incest, rape, murder

But deviance is relative. Why?

1 Varies from place to place2 Varies over time3 Varies by intensity4 Depends upon public consensus5 Depends upon rule creators and

rule enforcers6. Moral Entrepreneurs

From place to place “A Sudanese woman, believed to be

about 20, has been sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery” June 2012

Would this happen here? The lifetime rate of infidelity for men over 60

increased to 28 percent in 2006, up from 20 percent in 1991. For women over 60, the increase is more striking: to 15 percent, up from 5 percent in 1991.

In relatively new marriages. About 20 percent of men and 15 percent of women under 35 say they have ever been unfaithful, up from about 15 and 12 percent respectively.

Even higher rates among military couples……

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/health/28well.html?_r=0

Theories of Deviance:

Symbolic Interaction: Differential association (Sutherland)

Control Theory (Hirschi)

DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION:

Criminal behavior is learned in social interaction with others.

  The learning includes techniques and

rationalizations.

Takes place in primary groups - learn motives reasons for conforming to or breaking rules, and what is permissible.

  If situation is favorable, more factors at work than

opposed - crime is likely. 

Interactions are frequent, long lasting, intense, and occur early in life usually.

There's no pattern unique to criminals as opposed to non-criminals.

CONTROL THEORY (social bond theory)

Attached - primary group interaction with affection. Kid feels a sense of obligation or responsibility to parents to do well.

Commitment - having a "stake" in society. We believe we have something to lose if we screw up - invest time and energy into conventional things - job, graduating, buying a home etc..

 

Involvement - idle hands are the "devil's work." -- if we stay busy enough with legitimate action then we won't have time to deviate.

 

Belief - a sense of allegiance, not just obligation, to values and a moral code. This should probably be the most important. We see the rules, laws, and norms as morally valid.

= Internal constraints….

 

Functionalist Perspective: Strain Theory (Merton) response types Illegitimate Opportunity Theory

 

STRUCTURAL STRAIN THEORY:

DEVIANCE IS A RESULT OF ADAPTATIONS TO THE MIXED MESSAGES SOCIETY SENDS.

INNOVATION RITUALISM

RETREATISM, REBELLION

ARE DEVIANT ADAPTIVE RESPONSES

Merton’s Strain Theory

Relationship between cultural goals and legitimate, institutional means to achieve goals:

Goals Means Conformist + + Innovator + - Ritualist - + Retreatist - - Rebel +/- +/-

ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY

THEORY:DEVIANT SUBCULTURES DEVELOP

WHEN LEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURES ARE

SYSTEMATICALLY BLOCKED. (e.g., drug running occurs in illegitimate

structures)

Previous gangs interracial conflict

Today’s gangs – more likely to sell and use drugs, carry lethal weapons, more likely to engage in intraracial conflicts –

“Black on Black” “Chicano on Chicano” “White on white” 54 percent of property crimes are committed by those

between 15 – 24 yrs of age.

Status Frustration -- role strains lead to frustration. Can’t

get respect in mainstream culture so turn to delinquent subculture for status.

Relies upon cultural capital because cultural attributes are devalued (e.g., lower class youth) so replaces “success” with “status” “respect” “dignity” in spite of…..

Labeling Theory (Becker)

Reactions to Deviants

The punishment is the labelPrimary -- fleeting actsbehavior that violates a social norm but

that does not affect

one’s sense of self

Secondary – through labels, self-labeling and self-concept develops

norm violation that is a response to the problems caused by the societal reaction to

primary deviance

Tertiary – deviance is normalized or relabeled non-deviant

Institutional Punishments to accompany labels

Becker – deviance as a “master status”

Braithwaite – “reintegrative shaming” = moral disapproval followed by efforts to bring offender back tothe community

(Consistent with Restorative Justice)

“disintegrative shaming” = both the offense and offender are labeled deviant

Sykes & Matza’s Neutralization Theory

The line between conformity and deviance is not always clear.

Techniques of neutralization:

1. denial of responsibility2. denial of injury3. denial of victim4. condemnation5. appeal to higher loyalties

UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS (UCR)

THE CRIME INDEX INCLUDES 7 OFFENSES:1. HOMICIDE – THE KILLING OF ONE PERSON BY ANOTHER.2. FORCIBLE RAPE – ANY SEXUAL PENETRATION DIRECTED AGAINST ANOTHER PERSON AGAINST THAT PERSON’S WILL.3. ROBBERY – THE TAKING OR ATTEMPTING TO TAKE ANYTHING OF VALUE UNDER CONFRONTATIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES FROM THE CONTROL, CUSTODY, OR CARE OF ANOTHER PERSON BY FORCE, OR THREAT OF FORCE, OR VIOLENCE.4. AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – A RECKLESS ATTACK WITH INTENT TO SERIOUSLY INJURE ANOTHER (WITH A WEAPON).5. BURGLARY – THE UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO A BUILDING OR OTHER STRUCTURE WITH THE INTENT TO COMMIT A FELONY OR A THEFT.6. LARCENY-THEFT – THE UNLAWFUL TAKING OF PROPERTY FROM THE POSSESSION OF ANOTHER.7. MOTOR VECHICLE THEFT – THE THEFT OR ATTEMPTED THEFT OF A MOTOR VEHICLE.

THE UCR HOME PAGE IS FOUND AT: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

Street Crime Offenders (general or typical profile)…

Minority males with limited economic opportunityLiving in povertyHaving fragmented links to institutions

of informal social control (e.g., family, church, community)Socialized into criminal activities

Street Crime Victims – those who fit the profile of the offender are also those who are the most likely to experience victimization (poor, unemployed, minority, male, young)

Conflict/Critical Theory of Deviance:

See crime by the poor as an adaptation to life without resources. But argue that the criminal justice system does not operate impartially because most prisoners are from marginal minority working class families (often unskilled and unemployed). These people are more likely to commit street crimes which upset the social order and therefore are more severely punished than their white-collar criminal counter-parts that cost taxpayers much more. (e.g., social dynamite, social junk)

b. The criminal justice system does not focus on the capitalist class and the harm it does to the masses (e.g., white collar). The laws reflect those in power. Bankruptcy laws, estate taxes, white collar sentencing

Since 1930 billions have been invested in a street crime database (UCR) but no funded established database for corporate crimes

Crime in the United States There are roughly 2.3 million people in state and

federal prisons and local jails. This number is increasing by 50,000 to 80,000 per

year. Males – Minorities - “explosion” and compare rates to population

The U.S. has more people behind bars than any other country on Earth. Over 12% more people are behind bars in the U.S.

than in China and India combined. 1 in 106 white males 1 in 36 Hispanic males 1 in 15 African American males

Drugs

Inmates sentenced for drug offenses comprised 48 percent (94,600 inmates) of the sentenced federal prison population in 2011, while 7.6 percent of federal prisoners were held for violent offenses. An estimated 11 percent (22,100 inmates) were serving time in federal prison for immigration offenses.

Source: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4559

Who is most likely to be arrested…….

Disproportionate Rates for Men of Color

While people of color make up about 30 percent of the United States’ population, they account for 60 percent of those imprisoned. The prison population grew by 700 percent from 1970 to 2005, a rate that is outpacing crime and population rates.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Individuals of color have a disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, indicating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. A report by the Department of Justice found that blacks and Hispanics were approximately three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white motorists. African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.

Source: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/

Women of ColorAfrican American women are three

times more likely than white women to be incarcerated, while Hispanic women are 69 percent more likely than white women to be incarcerated.

In the 1990s, at the height of the prison-building boom, a prison opened in rural America every 15 days.

Source: PBS.org

Why the explosion in prison populations?

Examples of Racial ProfilingMuslims

Black Males

Latinos

Definitions of Dangerous Consumption As with all sorts of deviance, definitions of what is

deviant consumer behavior are sometimes in dispute.

Napster users did not consider the downloading of music from the Internet to be illegal or deviant.

Those who consume the “wrong” drugs (e.g., marijuana) are more likely to be seen as deviant than those who consume the “right” drugs (e.g., alcohol).

Copyright 2012, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Dangerous ConsumersBefore the recession of 2008, those who

did not consume enough were considered deviant.

Consumerism was considered to be patriotic.

Those who consume illegal goods are considered to be dangerous.

See http://sundayposts.blogspot.com/2010/03/mall-girls.html for a short clip of

“Mall Girls” – the documentary

Copyright 2012, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Why don’t corporations go to jail???

Corporation as Psychopath

Is Corporate Deviance Widespread? Or a few bad apples?

J.P. Morgan Chase engaged in risky trades (derivatives) that grew from

$2 billion to about $7 billion. Traders in the London division attempted to hide the losses. CEO Jamie Dimon personally claimed full responsibility. Investigation into the trading loss is ongoing by several federal agencies. J.P. Morgan Chase lost an estimated $7 billion

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/high-profile-financial-scandals-months/story?id=17023140#1

Rigging of interest rates Libor interest rates are the standard used to

determine interbank lending. Barclays, a London-based bank, was discovered to have manipulated those rates to profit on select trades. Several U.S. municipalities have sued Barclays as libor rates also have an effect on bond rates. Those municipalities believe that they were cheated out of millions. The world trades an estimated $315 trillion worth of derivatives using libor, according to the New York Times.

Capital OneCapital One told some of its customers

that they could receive credit monitoring services for free when in fact they were being charged for the service, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Abbott LaboratoriesRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina

will reap almost $16 million from a national Medicaid fraud settlement involving Abbott Laboratories

Corporations don’t go to jail….. They pay a fine….

Abbott pled guilty on May 7, 2012 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia pursuant to a criminal action filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Abbott agreed to pay $1.5 billion to resolve its civil and criminal liability related to government health programs that were allegedly defrauded when the company received reimbursements for Depakote after engaging in illegal marketing practices.

AllBusiness.com "For every company convicted of

health care fraud, there are numerous others who get away with ripping off Medicare and Medicaid, or face only mild slap-on-the-wrist fines and civil penalties when caught,"