Deviance Flashcards
Deviance
Norm violations ranging from minor infractions, such as bad manners, to major infractions, such as serious violence.
Biological Theories
Focus on individual abnormality; explain human behaviour as the result of biological instincts; Lombroso claimed that criminals have apelike physical traits; later research links criminal behaviour to certain body types and genetics.
Psychological Theories
Focus on individual abnormality; see deviance as the result of unsuccessful socialization; Reckless and Dinitz’s containment theory links delinquency to weak conscience.
Sociological Theories
View all behaviour as products of society; deviance varies based on cultural norms; behaviour/individuals become deviant as others define them that way; deviance reflects who has/does not have social power.
Criminal Justice System
The organizations - police, courts, and prison officials - that respond to alleged violations of the law.
Crime
Violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal law.
Émile Durkheim
Deviance is a normal element of society that: affirms cultural norms/values, clarifies moral boundaries, brings people together, and encourages social change.
Strain Theory
(Merton) Explains deviance in terms of a society’s cultural goals and the means available to achieve them.
Deviant Subcultures
Discussed by Cloward and Ohlin, Cohen, Miller, and Anderson
Labelling Theory
Claims that deviance depends less on what someone does than on how others react to that behaviour; if people respond to primary deviance by stigmatizing a person, secondary deviance and a deviant career may result.
Medicalization of Deviance
Transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition; change in labels, replacing good and bad with sick and well.
Differential Association Theory
(Sutherland) Links deviance to how much others encourage/discourage that behaviour.
Control Theory
(Hirschi) States that imagining the possible consequences of deviance often discourages such behaviour; people who are well integrated into society are less likely to engage in deviant behaviour.
Stigma
Powerfully negative label that greatly changes a person’s self-concept and social identity.
Social-Conflict Theory
Laws and other norms operate to protect the interests of powerful members of society.
White-collar Offences
Committed by people of high social position as part of their jobs; Sutherland claimed that such offences are rarely prosecuted, and are most likely to end up in civil rather than criminal court.
Corporate Crime
Refers to illegal actions by a corporation or people acting on its behalf; although they cause considerable harm, most cases of corporate crime go unpunished.
Organized Crime
Long history in North America, especially among categories of people with few legitimate opportunities
Hate Crimes
Crimes motivated by racial, religious, or other bias; they target people who are already disadvantaged based on race, gender, or sexual orientation
Gender
Societies control the behaviour of women more closely than that of men; 85%-90% of arrests involve males
Violent Crime
Crimes against the person, including murder, aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery
Property Crime
Crimes against property, including burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft, and arson
Age and Crime
Arrest rates peak in late adolescence and drop steadily with age
Street Crime
More common among people of lower social position
Race and Crime
Black people and particularly Aboriginal people are arrested and imprisoned in disproportionate numbers
Victimless Crimes
Violations of law in which there are no obvious victims
Plea Bargain
Legal negotiation in which the prosecution reduces a defendant’s charge in exchange for a guilty plea; puts less powerful people at a disadvantage
Police
Maintain public order by enforcing the law; use personal discretion; more likely to make an arrest if the offence is serious, if bystanders are present or if the suspect is of a visible minority/Aboriginal
Courts
Rely on an adversarial process in which attorneys - representing defendant and Crown - present their cases in presence of a judge who monitors legal procedure; resolve most cases through plea bargaining
Justifications for Punishment
Retribution, Deterrence, Rehabilitation and Societal protection
Community-based Corrections
Correctional programs operating within society at large; Probation, parole, and sentencing circles; lower the cost of supervising people convicted of crimes and reduce prison overcrowding but they have not been shown to reduce recidivism.
Criminal Recidivism
Subsequent offences by people previously convicted of crimes
Societal Protection
Rendering an offender incapable of further offences either temporarily through incarceration or permanently by execution
Deterrence
Attempt to discourage criminality through punishment
Retribution
Act of moral vengeance by which society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime
Rehabilitation
Program for reforming the offender to preclude subsequent offences
Containment Theory
Ability to cope with frustration and identifying positively with cultural norms and values are related with fewer problems with police
Conformity
Uses approved means
Innovation
Strain between cultural goals and opportunities; may use illegitimate means
Ritualism
Inner rejection of cultural goal
Retreatism
Dropping out
Rebellion
Seek new cultural goals
Retrospective Labelling
Interpreting someone’s past in light of present deviance
Projective Labelling
A deviant identity is used to predict future action
Parole
Early release to serve remainder of sentence in community
Sentencing circles
For Aboriginal offenders
