Crime &

Deviance

Sociology

Crime is behaviour that

breaks the formal written
laws of a society. If someone
commits a crime they can be
arrested, charged and
prosecuted. Actions can
be illegal but not deviant.

Introduction.

Deviance is behaviour
which does not comply
with the dominant norms of
a specific society. If people
are seen as deviant it can
lead to negative
sanctions such as being
told of or ridiculed.

Introduction.

Gary, walked through his

local library whilst talking
loudly on his mobile phone.
This is legally deviant as he
is not breaking any law, he
is just acting socially
unacceptable.

Legally Deviant

Robert, punched a pregnant

lady in the face.
This is illegally deviant as
he committed an assault,
the fact that he punched a
pregnant lady also makes
the mater worse.

Illegally Deviant

Sam, illegally downloads

thousands of songs for her
mp3 player.
Sam is a criminal as she is
breaking the copyright act.
She is not a deviant as what
she is doing is not hurting
anyone.

Criminal Behavior.

In Arab culture family honour

is dependant on female purity.

VALUE;

CRIMINAL

Social Code

Public nudity

Separation of sexes

Sex outside marriage

Modesty in dress

Homosexuality

Marriage

Talking to random
women in the street

Jobs for women at

home or in the care
industry - Nurses,
Teachers

Public displays of
afection

DEVIANT

Taking photos of
women

Showing thighs,
shoulders, cleavage
and midrif

How Values Create Laws

and Social Codes.

 Official Statistics; a set of

statistics generated from data
gathered by the government or
other official organisations.
Often used as secondary data in
social research.

Recording Crime.

REASONS WHY NOT ALL CRIMES ARE

INCLUDED IN THE OFFICIAL CRIME
STATISTICS
Detection; Is a crime detected? If a
crime is observed and identified as a
crime, the police may be informed.
However, if the crime has not been
detected it cannot be reported to the
police neither can it be included in
official statistics. This is the reason
many crimes occur but go undetected.

Recording Crime.

WHY DO NOT ALL VICTIMS OF CRIME

REPORT CRIME?
Blackmail
Embarrassment
Fear
Lack of confidence in force
Hassle
Victim of crime is criminal themselves
Victim sufered no loss
Victim does not consider crime worthy
Victim feels crime is too personal
Institutional crime may be swept under carpet
due to fear of bad press.

Recording Crime.

Victim Surveys
Surveys the public asking them to
report any crimes committed against
them and whether or not they
reported these
crimes.
Advantages
Disadvantages
May uncover hidden
figure of crime
Local geo-graphic data
generated

Not all crimes reported

Participants may lie
In some cases victims
can not be questioned

Measures Of Crime.

British Crime Survey

A victim survey conducted annually by
a team of researchers at the Home Office.
The BCS measures the amount of
crime in England and Wales by asking
the public about their experiences
with crime over the last year.

Measures Of Crime.

Self Report Surveys

Self Report Surveys of the population
which ask them to confess to crime
they have committed but for which
they were not caught.
Advantages

Disadvantages
Participants may lie

May uncover the hidden

figure of crime

They can not do

anything about the
crimes respondents
were not caught for.

Measures Of Crime.

DESPERATION

HATE

PEER
PRESS
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INFL
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BORED
OM
OR
LONLI
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GREED

Reasons People Commit

Nature
In 1876, Lombroso conducted research into
large numbers of prisoners. He believed that
criminals could be identified by visual
traits as they were less evolved than
normal citizens. This theory is no longer
accepted.
Hormones; Stress caused by
menstruation can cause women to act
irrationally, 80% of female ofenders
committed their crimes during the
menstruation period.
Relationships;

Nature vS Nurture

Nature
Hormones; Stress caused by
menstruation can cause women to act
irrationally, 80% of female ofenders
committed their crimes during the
menstruation period.

Nature vS Nurture

Nature
Relationships; Early childhood
deprivation, lack of emotional security
and secure attachment in childhood can lead
to people developing criminal
personalities as they crave afection and
attention.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Peer Groups & Subcultures; Some
sociologists pin criminal activity on influences
from other parties - mainly peers - known as
peer pressure. Being in a group gives us
a sense of belonging and acceptance, for
some these feelings are so important, so
much so that they risk breaking the law
and being caught, just to remain in a
certain social circle. As the members of the
group feel that illegal activities are
acceptable they are classified as a negative
subculture.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Socialisation; People who do not receive a
decent level of socialisation during their
childhood, do not know how to act
appropriately in society as they can not
comprehend the norms and values. This
may lead to them braking laws / acting
deviantly because they know no better.
Another way socialisation can afect
whether people go on to commit crimes, is if
a person is brought up with a criminal role
model - meaning they developed criminal
values.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Socialisation; People who do not receive a
decent level of socialisation during their
childhood, do not know how to act
appropriately in society as they can not
comprehend the norms and values. This
may lead to them braking laws / acting
deviantly because they know no better.
Another way socialisation can afect
whether people go on to commit crimes, is if
a person is brought up with a criminal role
model - meaning they developed criminal
values.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Labelling; Labelling is giving someone in
society a tag. Labelling someone a
criminal / negatively can have serious
consequences on their identity, if the label
sticks and the person is viewed as a
criminal by everyone then they may
develop self-fulfilling prophecies and
break the law as its all they think they
can achieve.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Relative Deprivation; When a person is
brought up amongst poverty and do not
own luxuries such as a mobile phone or
computer, they may act illegally to obtain
such desirables.
This is a Marxist explanation of crime as
it is caused by social inequality; the
working class seeing the rich with
personal possessions and wanting them
but not being able to obtain them
legitimately.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Relative Deprivation; When a person is
brought up amongst poverty and do not
own luxuries such as a mobile phone or
computer, they may act illegally to obtain
such desirables.
This is a Marxist explanation of crime as
it is caused by social inequality; the
working class seeing the rich with
personal possessions and wanting them
but not being able to obtain them
legitimately.

Nature vS Nurture

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Media; The media reports on crime in a
selective way. Amplification of deviancy is
when moral panic is created by the mass
media, which then causes a frenzy of worry,
and the police take drastic action to deal
with it, starting the cycle all over again.

Nature vS Nurture

INFORMAL AGENTS

FORMAL AGENTS

Parents
School Teachers
Media
Charity Groups

School
Employer

Sub-cultures /
peers

Legal System

Religion
Celebrity Role
Models

Police Officers

Social Control.

Why Males Commit More Crime Than Females

Diferent Socialisation
Processes; Boys are more likely
to be taught values associated
with toughness and aggression.
Whereas girls adopt qualities and
expectations which see them
abide by the law.

Crime And Gender.

Why Males Commit More Crime Than Females

Diferent Opportunities to
Commit Crime; Generally
teenage girls are subjected to
restrictions and close
supervision and then in later life
they are usually occupied with
maintaining the home and
caring for the family.

Crime And Gender.

Why Males Commit More Crime Than Females

Social Control; Men may

constrain women into home
lives limiting their freedom due
to the care of the family being
imposed on them.
The media creates expectations
of women too.

Crime And Gender.

Why Males Commit More Crime Than Females

Chivalry Thesis; This is a

common belief that the maledominated police force and
courts, are easier on women due
to them not being considered a
threat. Whereas a man may be
arrested, police may let women of
with a warning.

Crime And Gender.

Why Males Commit More Crime Than Females

Inaccurate Statistics;
Statistics which show men
commit more crime than women
could be representative of the
labelling of men as criminals
and police going out to look for
male ofenders ignoring female
criminals.

Crime And Gender.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Institutional Racism; Police

officials belonging to certain ethnic
groups may set out to punish
members of other ethnic groups
whilst protecting their own.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Relative Deprivation; Foreign

workers are usually left with low
paying manual jobs, thus meaning
they may not be able to aford
material goods and so obtain these
desirables illegally.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Labelling; If a police officer labels

a particular ethnic group as
criminals he will go out and arrest
more criminals belonging to that
ethnic group, whilst ignoring other
crimes.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Racism; White police officers may

purposely prosecute or dig deeper
into crimes involving diferent
ethnic groups due to a racial
hatred for such a group. This may
also mean they ignore cases where
a certain ethnic minority has fallen
victim eg. Steven Lawrence.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Racism; White police officers may

even frame Black or Asian criminals
with crimes they did not commit.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Media; Creates the moral panic and

then promotes labelling in the force.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Inaccuracy of Figures; The

figures could just be a reflection of
racism within the force.

Crime And Ethnicity.

Reasons why the poor commit more crime.

Poor Socialisation
Relative Deprivation
Anomie; Society does not provide enough
opportunities for people to succeed,
therefore some turn their back on society
and cause trouble
Education; More likely to be in low sets,
get low paying job, struggle for money, so
turn to illegal ways of obtaining it.

Crime And Social Class.

WHITE COLLAR CRIME

White Colour Crime; Involves middle

class people, who commit crimes during
work hours.
4 Main Types:
Occupational Crime
Professional Crime
Corporate Crime
Computer Crime

Crime And Social Class.

WHITE COLLAR CRIME

White Colour Crime is difficult to deal

with as;
Judges Are Often From Similar Social
Backgrounds To White Collar Criminals
Compared to Burglary and Assault it
is not dangerous to the public.
There are usually no victims and no
one person is impaired
The media does not show WCC as
serious

Crime And Social Class.