Crime and Deviance
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3 Crime and deviance Introduction We are fascinated by crime and deviance.This is evident from the mass media – from crime series on TV and crime reports in newspapers, from detective novels which are concerned with finding the criminal and explaining the crime, and from movies which often portray the more colourful, lurid and violent aspects of crime. Why this fascination? Criminal behaviour appears unusual and different. It involves risks which endanger those who commit crimes and their victims. For many people, out-of-the-ordinary behaviour seems much more interesting than their own humdrum activities. And to those of us looking on, the risks and dangers involved are often experienced as exciting and entertaining – from a safe distance! Crime and deviance break social norms – they deviate or diverge from conventional behaviour.This can be disturbing.We often fear crime and feel worried and anxious when taken-for-granted norms are broken.Why? Because such activities disrupt our sense of social order and threaten our view of the way things should be. And this adds to our fascination with crime. It should therefore come as no surprise that crime and deviance is one of the most popular topics in sociology. chaptersummary Unit 1 looks at the meanings of deviance, crime and Unit 9 looks at the relationship between globalisation social control. and crime, focusing on green crime and state crime. Unit 2 investigates evidence on the extent of crime, Units 10, 11 and 12 look at the relationship between trends in the crime rate, and the identity of offenders. ethnicity and crime, gender and crime, and age and crime. Unit 3 examines media representations of crime and Unit 13 examines the spatial distribution of crime. deviance. Unit 14 looks at social control, crime reduction and Units 4, 5 and 6 outline and evaluate various social policy. sociological theories of crime and deviance, including Unit 15 examines sociological studies of suicide, functionalist, interactionist and Marxist approaches. focusing on the methodologies they use. Units 7 and 8 examine two opposing theories of crime, social order and social control – right realism and left realism. Unit 1 The nature of crime, deviance and social control Sociologists have long been concerned with how society’s keyissues norms and values are maintained. 1 What are crime, deviance and social control? However, there is another side to the story – how and 2 What is distinctive about the sociological approach to why are norms broken and values rejected? In other words, crime, deviance and social control? how and why does deviance occur? Deviance 1.1 Defining crime and deviance Deviance is usually defined as behaviour which goes against conventional norms and generally accepted values. Human social life is governed by norms and values – by In terms of this definition, deviance is behaviour which norms which define appropriate and acceptable behaviour, most people would regard as inappropriate, or more and by values which define behaviour as right or wrong. strongly, as unacceptable and wrong. As a result, deviance Crime and deviance 5 is usually subject to a variety of social controls ranging or more disruptive to society than non-criminal behaviour. from mild disapproval to severe punishment. Think of all the non-criminal behaviour that contributes to This view of deviance is reflected in the following global warming, global pollution and the destruction of the definition by Downes and Rock (2003). ‘Deviance may be world’s wildlife. In Muncie’s (2001) words, ‘Any number of considered as banned or controlled behaviour which is damaging events are far more serious than those that make likely to attract punishment or disapproval.’ This definition up the “crime problem” ‘. covers acts such as murder and rape which are explicitly What is more, breaking the criminal law covers a vast banned in most cultures and subject to severe punishment. array of actions from the trivial to the serious. Crime, like It also covers relatively trivial acts such as burping and deviance, covers a highly varied range of behaviour. This farting in public which usually attract little more than a leads some sociologists to talk about crimes in the plural disapproving glance or a negative comment. rather than crime in the singular. In other words, there’s ‘crime and crime’. Crime There are many different definitions of deviance and At first sight, crime is a much more specific category than crime. None are without their problems as Activity 1 the wide and varied range of activities covered by illustrates. It looks at vandalism which the Concise Oxford deviance. Often, crime is simply defined as an infraction of Dictionary defines as the wilful or malicious destruction or the criminal law – as lawbreaking. Crimes are usually seen damage of property. This destruction or damage may or as particularly serious and negative forms of deviance – may not be seen as deviant. It may or may not be defined hence laws which ban them and agents of social control as criminal damage. such as the police and judges who deal with them. This view of crime is reflected in the following definition. ‘Crimes are those actions deemed so disturbing to citizens key terms or disruptive to society as to justify state intervention’ Deviance Actions which deviate from the norms and values of (Pease, 2002). society. This type of definition has its limitations. We cannot Crime A form of deviance which breaks the law. assume that crimes are always more disturbing to citizens activity1 vandalism Item A Item B 6 Chapter 1 Item C Item D Item E Item F questions 1 Look at the pictures. Which (if any) would you see as examples of vandalism? Give reasons for your answer. 2 Using examples from this activity, briefly discuss the problems of defining crime and deviance. 1.2 The contexts and diversity of West appeared to be a fairly average family man with a deviance normal occupation as a self-employed builder. Yet, in the privacy of his home, he murdered two members of his Deviance takes varied forms in society. For example, we family and a number of vulnerable young women. can distinguish between secret and private deviance as Furthermore, he was able to use his ‘normal’ skills as a against open and public deviance, and between individual builder to hide the dead bodies in his house and garden. deviance as against collective deviance. Open and public deviance This form of deviance often Secret and private deviance This form of deviance is often involves conforming to the norms and values of a clearly concealed – not least due to the heavy personal costs of defined outsider group – norms and values which differ exposure to the public gaze. It is often undercover and may from those of the wider society. Take the example of the be hidden in normal settings such as the home or the so-called New Age Travellers in Britain today. Their lifestyle workplace. Secret deviance may be legal – for example, a is very different from that of the mainstream population. group with unusual sexual practices who meet in each They tend to be seen as a deviant group and are viewed other’s homes. Or it may be illegal, as in the case of the with distaste and hostility by some members of society. Gloucester serial killer, Frederick West. They are an example of public and collective deviance. Crime and deviance 7 society affect views of situational deviance. However, he key terms argues that in certain contexts people either neutralise or reject the societal version of deviance. Secret and private deviance Deviance conducted in private which is often concealed from the wider society. Plummer uses the example of homosexuality to illustrate Open and public deviance Deviance conducted in public this point. Homosexuality is societally deviant but not which is not concealed from the wider society. always situationally deviant. In certain contexts, such as Individual deviance The deviant behaviour of an individual. gay bars and clubs, homosexuality is no longer deviant – it Collective deviance The deviant behaviour of a group of becomes the norm. people. Culture and deviance Crime and deviance are relative to culture. Different cultures have different norms and values. As a result, what is considered normal and deviant will 1.3 The relativity of crime and deviance vary from one culture to another. For example, in many non-Western societies marriage is polygynous – a man may Crime and deviance are relative to time, place and culture. have two or more wives. In the West, this is not only In other words, what counts as crime and deviance varies deviant, but criminal. from time to time, place to place and culture to culture. As cultures change, so do definitions of deviance and Societal and situational deviance Ken Plummer (1979) crime. At certain times in Western societies it was captures this point in his distinction between societal and considered deviant for women to use make-up and situational deviance. Societal deviance refers to behaviour consume alcoholic drinks in public. Today, this is no which breaks the law or which is seen as deviant by most longer the case. In the same way, definitions of crime members of society. It is judged to be deviant on the basis change over time. Sexual relations between men were of their shared values and beliefs and what ‘common once a criminal offence in Britain. Since 1969, homosexual sense’ tells them. There is general agreement about the acts between consenting adults in private have no longer identification of societal deviance – for example, most been illegal. people regard armed robbery as wrong, as deviant and as criminal. Situational deviance refers to the effect of the context or key terms situation on the classification of deviance.