Crime and Deviance, Construction of criminality

Question 1

What is the legal definition of crime?

Answer 1

An act that violates the law and is punishable by a sentence of imprisonment.

Question 2

What is the social definition of crime?

Answer 2

An act harmful to a community or society. These acts are punishable by law.

Question 3

What are 5 examples of crime?

Answer 3

Murder Burglary, Rape, Speeding, Revenge porn.

Question 4

What is deviance?

Answer 4

Any behaviour that disrupts social norms and usually results in disapproval from the rest of society. It is criminal and non-criminal.

Question 5

What are 3 examples of deviant acts?

Answer 5

Spitting in public, Swearing at a teacher, Fighting on the playground.

Question 6

What are norms?

Answer 6

Expected patterns of behaviour. These vary between cultures. Most people do these in a day to day life.

Question 7

What is an example of a norm?

Answer 7

Wearing clothes in public.

Question 8

What is a moral?

Answer 8

Decides what thoughts, behaviour, actions, traits and characteristics are right and wrong and good and bad.

Question 9

What is a moral code?

Answer 9

Set of rules or guidelines that a person or group follows in order to live a good life. They are heavily dependent on culture. It affects how we act, how we dress and how we treat other people.

Question 10

What is an example of a moral code?

Answer 10

10 commandments because they are a guide on how to live a good Christian life.

Question 11

What are values?

Answer 11

Beliefs and ideas that society see as important. They are accepted by the majority of society. They strive to encourage good behaviour.

Question 12

What is an example of a value?

Answer 12

Respecting your teachers.

Question 13

What are formal sanctions?

Answer 13

Given out by an authority such as the government or police. They are to do with the law.

Question 14

What are 3 examples of formal sanctions?

Answer 14

Warnings from the police, Sentence in court, Exclusion from school.

Question 15

What are informal sanctions?

Answer 15

Given out by other social groups in society which don’t have anything to do with law. Fines given out by schools to parents who have had poor attendances.

Question 16

What are 3 examples of informal sanctions?

Answer 16

Socially excluding someone from a friendship group, Being pushed out from a religion, Disappointed reactions from parents.

Question 17

How is crime and deviance socially constructed?

Answer 17

They are created and defined by society.

Question 18

What are the 4 factors that can affect crime and deviance?

Answer 18

Time, Culture, Place, Circumstance.

Question 19

How does time influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 19

When the act takes place. Time of day or changes of crime/deviance over a period of time.

Question 20

How does culture influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 20

Different cultures have different expectations of appropriate behaviour. What’s acceptable in one culture will bot be seen acceptable in another culture.

Question 21

How does the place influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 21

Where the act takes place can decide whether it is criminal or deviant. It relates to the social situation of where the act takes place.

Question 22

How does the circumstance influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 22

An act will often require certain circumstances to be fulfilled as well as the action itself.

Question 23

What is an example on how time can influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 23

Drinking a bottle of wine at 8am Friday morning.
Drinking a bottle of wine 8pm Friday night.

Question 24

What is an example on how culture can influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 24

Women exposing their arms and legs in Islamic countries.
Women exposing their arms and legs in Britain today.

Question 25

What is an example on how the place can influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 25

Running naked on the school playground.
Running naked on a nudist beach.

Question 26

What is an example on how circumstance can influence whether something is criminal or deviant?

Answer 26

Killing a person in cold blood.
A soldier killing an enemy in battle.

Question 27

What is a moral panic?

Answer 27

An increased reporting on a form of antisocial behaviour or negative event. It is blown out of proportion by the media and exaggerates fear or outrage.

Question 28

Who were the ‘Folk Devils’?

Answer 28

Groups targeted by a moral panic and they are seen as a threat to society.

Question 29

Who are an example of a ‘Folk Devil’?

Answer 29

Boys in hoods, Benefit scoungers.

Question 30

What does Stanley Cohen believe?

Answer 30

People are labelled and stereotyped by the media as evil or deviant and a threat to the moral of wellbeing in society.

Question 31

What is deviancy amplification?

Answer 31

When groups such as the police, courts or judges use the media to create public uproar to want change to happen and issues to be dealt with. It creates pressure on the government.

Question 32

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 32

When a prediction comes through. When the police begin to crack down on Folk Devils, it never ends positively and leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 33

What does Stanley Cohen believe about moral panics?

Answer 33

They tend to happen when people are feeling anxious about changes in society and when things are happening that they are not really used to.

Question 34

What are 2 examples of a moral panic?

Answer 34

Covid-19. Folk Devils.

Question 35

Who was Stanley Cohen?

Answer 35

1942-2013.
Sociologist and criminologist.