Definitions

Question 1

What is crime?

Answer 1

Crimes are behaviours that break the formal, written rules in society (laws)

Question 2

What is deviance?

Answer 2

Deviance is behaviour that doesn’t conform to a society’s consensus norms and expectations (“unwritten rules”)

Question 3

What is the difference between crime and deviance?

Answer 3

Criminal behaviour breaks a rule agreed in parliament and passed into law, whereas deviant behaviour is so unusual it makes others consider you undesirable or dangerous

Question 4

What does “social construction” refer to in crime and deviance?

Answer 4

Social construction is the creation of social facts through a strong value consensus.
Social construction explains why definitions change along with the norms of society (eg. homosexuality was illegal in the UK before 1967, and gay marriage was legal from 2014)