sociology crime and deviance

crime and deviance revision

what is crime and deviance

Crime- is usually associated with behaviour that breaks the formal, written laws of given society.

Deviance- is behaviour which does not conform to the dominant norms pf a specific society.

An act can be criminal or deviant- both breaking social and legal rules. E.g. battering an old lady to death is both deviant and criminal that deserves imprisonment. An act can be deviant and not criminal e.g. a male manager wearing a dress to work.

Crime and deviance are believed to be socially defined behaviour. Whether an act is criminal or deviant depends on the social setting or culture in which it takes place e.g. Jamaica man smoking weed in public (normal) or a man smoking weed in the UK.

Criminal activities are defined by the laws of a particular society, acts seen as criminal or deviant can depend on…..

·       Time- when the act takes place e.g. drinking alcohol at 9 o clock in the morning compared to 9 o’clock at night. What is considered crime or deviant also changes over time, e.g. smoking ban in public places before this ban smoking in restaurants would have just been seen as deviant not illegal.

·       Place – where the act takes place e.g an adult running naked across a nudist beach as compared to running across a cricket match.

·       Social situation- the context In which the act takes place, e.g chanting and waving a flag at a funeral as compared to at a football match.

·       Culture- different cultures have different expectations of appropriate behaviour e,g the use of cannabis in arab states is perfectly  legal while alcohol use is a serious crime. The opposite apply for Britain.

How do we measure the amount of criminal behaviour is society?

Official statistics- official are drawn from records kept by the police and other official agents. They are published by the home office annually.

Why use official statistics?

Sociologist use official statistics as a secondary source of data to obtain information on a range of crime related issues. Other uses are ….

·       They are cheap and easy resource

·       Can show change over time

·       Contain large amounts of information

·       Used to estimate the real rate of crime

Reason why not all crimes are included in the official crime statistics?

Detections- Not all crimes are detected, if a crime has not been detected it can not be counted into the official crime statistics. Only the tip of the ice berg (30% recorded) and the dark figure (70% un recorded).

Reporting- some people may not report the crime committed so the police therefore cannot record them. Many reasons of why people don’t report a crime is….

·       Victims may fear the consequence from criminals if reported.

·       Victims may fear the police

·       Crime is considered too private e.g domestic violence.

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