Deviance

1
Chapter 5

• Deviance Crime

2
What is Deviance?

• Emile Durkheim observed that behaviors that seen
  as virtues in one culture may be taboos in
  another
• Deviance behavior that violates norms
• Social norms determine deviance
• Crossing road at corners, waiting turn in line,
  writing thank you notes
• When behavior is deviant, social disapproval
  follows
• Deviant behavior usually condemned or punished
• Punishment can be simple or more complex
• Deviance is decided by 2 things
• Extent of Disapproval of condemning people
  must be great
• Degree of Social Outrage hostility or outrage
  set off by the act must be intense

3
Social Controls Conformity

• Society employs social controls to prevent
  deviance.
• techniques strategies for punishing wrongdoing
  or rewarding proper behavior
• Parents punish reward children peer groups
  encourage adherence to friendship norms
  workplace requires adults to follow rules
• 2 main types of social controls
• Internal Social Controls exist within the
  individual
• Social norms that are part of our socialization
• Ex - Feeling bad when you lie
• External Social Controls exist in the world
  around us (usually seen as penalties)
• skipping class gt detention, violating team rules
  gt sitting out a game, commit murder gt life in
  jail

4
The Effects of Deviance

• Positive Social Functions
• Can Promote Unity a community that faces a
  common threat often unites to stop it
• A neighborhood uniting against a recent crime
  spree
• Can Relieve Tension minor deviant acts can
  sometimes help people avoid more serious
  violations
• Opening fire hydrants in the summer when people
  have no AC
• Can Clarify Norms defining what is deviant
  helps clarify existing norms
• School doesnt punish people for tardiness, new
  principle comes in reminding people of the
  existing policy gives people tardies
• Can Identify Problems if a norm is frequently
  violated it could mean the norm isnt valid
  anymore
• Civil Rights movement in the 1960s

5

• Negative Social Functions
• Deviance Disrupts Norms
• People break social norms, call them into
  question
• Others respond w/ anger feeling that their basic
  values are being threatened
• Artists depicting religious figures in unholy
  settings, protesters burning the flag
• Deviance Makes Life Unpredictable
• People dont like to not know what to expect
• Chaos is result of people not knowing if they can
  expect each other to observe norms
• A convicted sex-offender is released from jail
  must make this information known to neighbors

6
Explaining Deviance

• Biological Explanations
• 3 theories that seem strange today
• Cesare Lombroso 18th cent Italian doctor,
  suggested that criminals were biologically less
  evolved
• Ernest Hooten 1939, American anthropologist,
  suggested criminals were genetically physically
  degenerate humans
• William Sheldon 1949, American psychologist,
  said body type was linked to criminal behavior
  (mesomorphs, specifically, linked to criminal
  behavior)
• 1960s M. Yamir Y. Berman suggested a link
  between criminal behavior genetics
• XYY pairing found in high percentage of men
  committing violent crimes
• Important XYY is very rare, overwhelming
  majority of criminals have normal chromosome
  arrangement

7

• Psychological Explanations
• Freud argued that children develop their superego
  (conscience) from observing their parents
• One theory stated that criminal behavior
  indicated an underdeveloped superego
• Another stated that an overdeveloped superego may
  also lead to deviance
• frustration-aggression theory deviance is a form
  of aggression towards society produced by
  frustration
• Degree of frustration based on the strength of
  needs not met
• Degree of aggression related to the amount of
  frustration

8

• Sociological Explanations
• Biological psychological explanations explain
  why a person deviates, sociological explanations
  help you understand why a group deviates
• Functionalist Perspective
• Functionalists talk of structural strain (when
  people cannot reach the goals society admires,
  social structure is strained)
• Anomie Theory of Deviance (Robert Merton)
• Merton focused on the goal of economic success as
  his norm
• When people cant achieve the goal by normal
  means (conformity), deviance occurs (4 types)
• Innovation accepts societys goals, but find
  alternative methods
• Ritualism observe rules, but believe behavior is
  pointless
• Retreatism reject both goals means of reaching
  them
• Rebellion create new goals ways of pursuing
  them

9

• Conflict Perspective
• Deviance is result of competition social
  inequality
• People w/ power break norms to keep power
• People w/o power break norms to obtain power or
  to compensate for feelings of powerlessness
• Interactionist Perspective
• Focus on everyday interactions how these may
  influence deviant behavior
• 2 theories
• Cultural Transmission Theory (Edwin Sutherland)
• Deviance is learned through interaction w/ others
• If a persons interactions are mostly w/ deviant
  individuals, that person is likely to be a
  deviant
• Labeling Theory (Edwin Lemert, Howard Becker)
• Deviance is what we call it
• Once a person is labeled, the more deviant they
  usually become

10
Criminal Behavior

• Crime a deviant behavior prohibited by law
  punishable by the govt.
• Laws divide crimes into categories depending on 4
  things
• Seriousness
• age of offender
• potential punishment
• court of law that holds jurisdiction (local,
  state, federal)
• U.S. Crime Clock
• property crime / 3 seconds
• burglary every / 15 seconds
• violent crime / 22 sec.
• motor vehicle theft / 27 sec
• aggravated assault / 34 sec.
• Forcible rape / 6 min.
• Murder / 34 min.

11
Types of Crime

• FBI collects data for 7 index crimes
• Murder
• Rape
• Robbery
• Assault
• Burglary
• Larceny Theft
• Motor Vehicle theft
• 1st four violent crimes against people
• Last 3 property crimes
• Data is not indexed for Organized, White-collar,
  or Victimless crime

12

• Violent Crime
• Violent crimes a small of total, but biggest
  threat to society
• African-American males more likely to be a victim
  of a violent crime than anyone else
• 5x that of Af.-Amer females, 7x that of white
  males, 22x that of white females
• Crimes Against Property
• Property crimes 10X more likely than violent
  crimes
• Involve no violence or threat of force against
  someone
• Most who commit usually wish to avoid
  confrontation
• Organized Crime
• Large-scale professional criminal groups
• Usually control drug-trafficking, gambling,
  prostitution in a geographic area
• usually are stockholders in legit businesses
• Often work to carefully avoid public attention

13
White-Collar Crime

• white-collar refers to people in management,
  politics, the professions office workers.
• blue collar factory workers manual laborers
• White collar crimes - committed by a person of
  high social status during his/her professional
  career
• White collar crimes include
• Tax evasion not paying the taxes you owe
• Fraud deliberately deceiving another to obtain
  property or services unjustly
• Embezzlement the act of dishonestly
  appropriating goods, usually money
• Price fixing agreement between business
  competitors to sell the same product or service
  at the same price
• Stock manipulation increasing or decreasing
  price of stock to buy/sell
• Political corruption taking bribes, being
  bought in return for financial backing

14
The Criminal Justice System

• the courts responsibility is protecting society
  from crime
• 4 Steps in the justice system
• Apprehending suspected offenders
• Determining innocence/guilt
• Deciding punishment
• Keeping the guilty separated from other citizens
• 3 Major elements of the Criminal Justice System
• police, courts, the correctional system
• Police
• have to make a lot of decisions to make an arrest
• Seriousness of the offense
• Wishes of the victim
• Attitude of the suspect
• Presence of bystanders

15

• Courts
• Once the police make an arrest, the courts take
  responsibility
• Determine guilt or innocence
• Assigning some form of punishment
• In reality, most cases dont go though the entire
  process
• to save time money, plea-bargains are often
  reached
• In return for a guilty plea, the accused usually
  receives a lighter sentence than innocent pleas
  that are found guilty
• Correctional System
• Serves 4 purposes
• Retribution a way for the victim society to
  get even
• Deterrence meant to discourage future offenders
• Rehabilitation try to reform the offender
• Social Protection keeps offender separate from
  society

16
Prison Facts

• 2,258,983 prisoners were held in Federal or State
  prisons or in local jails (2006)
• Per 100,000 people from each ethnic category
  there are
• 3047 black males in prison
• 1261 Hispanic males
• 487 white males

17
(No Transcript)
18
Cost of Imprisonment in Florida52.06 Per Day/
19,002 Per Year