Crime and Deviance A2 Summary

Definition of crime: Illegal act punishable by law, it's legally defined.

Can laws change? Yes - e.g. homosexual acts were illegal in Britain until 1967, changed due to protests/campaigns & secularisation

Is it always wrong to break the law? No. E.g. Aaron Swartz, Snowden, Anonymous

Definition of deviance: behaviour which does not conform to society's norms & values

C&D depends on: Time, place, situation & culture

Media & Crime:

Williams & Dickinson: British newspapers devote up to 30% of their news space to crime

How the media distorts crime:

• Over representation of violent & sexual crime: Ditton & Duffy found 46% of media was about sexual/violent crime yet only 3% of all crime: A03: not all sexual crimes are reported
  
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