Yellow booklet - Compare Crime & Deviance

Question 1

What is the social definition of crime and who are the two people who helped define it? (M+B)

Answer 1

“ behaviour or an activity that offends the social code of the community”

Mower = “anti-social act”

Blackburn = “ act attracting legal punishment… Offences against the community”

Question 2

what is the legal definition of crime?

Answer 2

“ and act (or sometimes a failure to act) that is deemed by statute or by the common law to be a public wrong and is therefore punishable by the state”
-> The Oxford dictionary of law

Question 3

what are the two factors a criminal act must have to be legally defined?

Answer 3

1) Actus Reus = the guilty act

2) Men’s Rea = The guilty mind

Question 4

What are the formal sanctions against criminals and what does it mean?

Answer 4

= sanctions that are officially recognised and enforced by an authority.

Court Based=
-Custodial sentences
-Community service
-Fines
-Discharge

Non-Court Based=
-Cautions
-Conditional cautions
-Penalty notices

Question 5

What are the three types of criminal offences?
- give an example for each

Answer 5

1) summary offences = least serious (common assault)

2) either way offences = heard in magistrates court or the crown court (theft)

3) indicatable offences = most serious dealt with in the Crown Court (murder, rape)

Question 6

what does deviance mean and what does it go against?
- What are the three types of deviance?

Answer 6

= it is any violation of what society considers acceptable behaviour, it goes against the social norms, moral codes and social values.

The three types are:
1) Admired
2) Odd
3) Bad

Question 7

what are the sanctions against the deviance?

Answer 7

Informal sanctions= ‘not legally binding’ - occur in face-to-face interactions from nonofficial authorities like peers and family.
(e.g name calling, frowning or dirty looks)

Question 8

what are the three similarities between crime and deviance?

Answer 8

1) they both receive some sort of negative punishment/sanction

2) they are both viewed negatively by the majority of society

3) neither of them are fixed

Question 9

what are the three differences in crime and deviance?

Answer 9

1) the types of sanction they receive usually differ

2) different definitions

3) the levels in severity of harm differ