Comparing crime and deviance
- Created by: StarrWinchester
- Created on: 14-02-20 08:57
View mindmap
- Comparing crime and deviance
- Crime
- Legal definition- Any action that is forbidden by the criminal law
- Actus reus: Guilty act. Mens reus: Guilty mind
- Social definition: Any offence which breaks rules or laws of society.
- Criminologists look beyond the legal definition of crime because some laws are no longer relevant and sometimes legal things are unacceptable. This shows that crime is socially constructed
- The social definition of crime can be a problem because societies can have different norms and values so it can be difficult to standardise definitions of crime. It's subjective.
- In conclusion, it's difficult to define crime as it's dependent on the society in which the act is committed
- Legal definition- Any action that is forbidden by the criminal law
- Deviance
- Behaviour that goes against social norms, moral codes and values of a specific society. Not always illegal.
- Social norms
- Behaviours which are deemed acceptable in society or groups. They help judges and law makers define what is a crime
- Moral codes
- A set of unwritten rules that an individual or society believe are right/wrong. Taught by society until we create our own moral code
- Values
- What an individual sees as important and valuable. It is unique to each individual.
- Laws
- A system of rules which a society develops in order to deal with areas such as crime that helps to regulate a society
- Implications of committing a criminal or deviant act
- Sanctions
- Positive rewards or negative punishments used to enforce social control which includes both written and unwritten rules. Used to encourage our conformity with social norms
- Enforced by agencies of social control such as the police, courts, peer groups, family. Help to constrain people's behaviour
- Formal sanctions are based on written laws and enforced by organisations and institutions
- Informal sanctions are enforced by individuals or groups that aren't apart of a formal system
- Sanctions
- Impact of reporting and not reporting crime and deviance on public perceptions
- If criminal and deviant behaviour is not reported it may longer be seen as deviant or criminal. It could influence law maker to change the law e.g. homosexuality in 1967
- Crime
Comments
No comments have yet been made