Chapter 7 Deviant Behavior and Social Control

1. Chapter 7Deviant Behavior and Social Control

2. Normal v. Deviant • Eccentric Person • Creative/ Unique Person • Deviant Person

3. Role of Culture • Norms + values = MORAL CODE • “ The symbolic system in terms of which behavior takes on the quality of being “good” or “bad”, “right” or “wrong”.

4. Analyze Deviant Behavior • What a person did • Who the person is • The social and cultural contexts of the act • Deviant behavior: “Behavior that fails to conform to the rules or norms of the group in question.”

5. Making Moral Judgements • Universally accepted deviant behavior • Incest • Genocide • Improper drug use • Torture of humans Do you agree?

6. Functions of Deviance • Durkheim- “[its] an integral part of all healthy societies”. • Helps reawaken society • Redefine moral order • Promote organization • Provides clarification • Prevents more serious instances of nonconformity

7. Dysfunctions of Deviance • Threaten social order • Causes confusion about the norms and values of society • Undermines trust • Diverts valuable resources from other needs • Police force • FBI

8. Mechanisms of Social Control • Internal Means of Control: • Consist of other people’s responses to a person’s behavior • Rewards and punishments • External Means of Control: • Sanctions: Are rewards and penalties that a group’s members use to regulate an individual’s behavior

9. Positive and Negative Sanctions • Positive Sanctions: • Actions that encourage the individual to continue acting in a certain way • Negative Sanctions: • Actions that discourage the repetition or continuation of the behavior

10. Formal and Informal • Formal Sanctions: Are applied in a public ritual, as in the awarding of a prize or an announcement of expulsion, and are usually under the direct or indirect control of authorities • Informal Sanctions: Involve things such as gossip or a congratulations

11. A Typology of Sanctions Positive Negative 2. Informal Negative: frowns, avoidance, and so on 1. Informal Positive: smiles, pats on back, and so on Informal 3. Formal Positive: awards, testimonials, and so on 4. Formal negative: legal sanctions, and so on Formal

12. Theories of Crime and Deviance • Medieval Law: “If two persons fell under suspicion of crime, the uglier or more deformed was to be regarded as more probably guilty”

13. Biological Theories • Cesare Lombroso Italian M.D. emphasized that deviant behavior was not of free will but of anatomical structures of the skull • Apelike structure • Primitive instinctual behavior • “Evolutionary throwbacks” • Tested the skulls and dissected the bodies of dead prisoners and determined that criminal crimes were made by people with animal-like bodies. • The chromosomal linkage for supposed criminals was XXY • Contemporary studies show that environment and social interaction determine behavior

14. Psychological Theories • Freud’s psychoanalytic theory: Our unconscious, which causes irrational thoughts, feelings we are not aware of • Causes deviant acts

15. Behavioral Theories • People modify behaviors in response to punishment or reward • Wilson and Hernstein claimed, that people choose to do things because the outcome would be more desirable then doing something else • Restating individual CHOICE

16. Techniques of Neutralization • Process that justifies deviant behavior • Denial of responsibility • Denial of injury • Denial of the victim • Condemnation of the authorities • Appealing to higher principles • Standards are greater • Labeling Theory- You carry the name then you continue the action • Affects socialization

17. The Importance of Laws • Laws are passed to give the state the power of enforcement • It is important not to confuse a society’s moral code with its legal code • The legal code consist of the formal rules, called laws, adopted by a society’s political authority

18. The Emergence of Laws • Consensus approach assumes that laws are merely a formal version of the norms and values of the people • It’s a functionalist model for explaining a society’s legal system • As the norms and values in society change, so will the law • Conflict approach to laws assumes that the elite use their power to enact and enforce laws that support their own economic interest and go against the interest of the lower classes • The laws change as the institutions change

19. Crime in the United States • Crime: Is behavior that violates society’s legal code • Violent Crime: An unlawful event such as homicide, rape and assault that can result in injury to a person • Property Crime: An unlawful act that is committed with the intent of gaining property but that does not involve the use or threat or force against an individual • Felonies: Offenses punishable by a year or more in state prison

20. Crime Statistics • Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) • Began in 1929 • How the FBI measures crime nationally. They receive monthly and annual reports from law enforcement agencies throughout the country • National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

21. Crime Statistics • National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) • Began in 1973 to collect information on crimes suffered by individuals and households, wether they were reported to the police or not • Collects detailed information on the frequency and nature of the crimes of rape, sexual assault, personal robbery, aggravated and simple assault, household burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft

22. Kinds of Crime in the US

23. Juvenile Crime • Breaking of criminal laws by individuals younger than age 18 • 2/3 of serious crime • Typical serious juvenile offenders • Most common crime: Larceny- theft • Main difference from adult crime

24. Juvenile Courts • Courts are clogged, detention centers overcrowded • Violent offenders often receive little or not punishment • Are they helping? • Recidivism: Repeated criminal behavior after punishment

25. Violent Crime • What are they? • Low rate compared to other years • 54% know their attackers • 70% of rape and sexual assault victims know their attackers • US one of highest homicide rates

26. Property Crime • 75% of ALL crime is against property • Examples: burglary, auto theft, larceny theft • 2007 over 17.5 million households affected

27. White Collar Crimes • Acts of individuals who, while occupying positions of social responsibility or high prestige, break the law in the course of their work for the purpose of illegal personal or organizational gain • Examples: embezzlement, bribery, fraud, kickback schemes • Greater economic impact

28. Victimless Crimes • Acts that violate the laws meant to enforce the moral codes • Examples: narcotics, illegal gambling, public drunkenness, prostitution • Person them self may be the victim • Indirectly leads to other crimes • Some eventually become decriminalized

29. Victims of Crime • A person’s race, gender, age, and socioeconomic status affects whether they are more likely to be affected

30. Criminal Justice in the United States • Criminal Justice System- Personnel and procedures for arrest, trial, and punishment to deal with violations of the law • three main categories: • police • courts • prisons

31. The Police • Highly decentralized • 3 levels federal • Federal • State • Local

32. The Federal Level: • US does not have a national police system • Congress enacts federal laws • FBI enforces these laws • The State Police: • patrol highways • regulate traffic • primary responsibility of enforcing some state laws • other services they provide: • criminal identification system, police training programs, computer-based records systems to assist local police departments • The Local Police: • Limited to the state, town, or municipality in which the officer was sworn into

33. 63% of whites had confidence in police • 26 % of african americans had confidence in police • 35% of blacks have little no no confidence in police • Studies have shown that cities with high crime rates have the most police officers, so will it benefit a city to add more police to the streets? • Ways to determine if police presence is effective

34. The Courts • Dual court system: • State • Federal • Some crimes can violate both state and federal statuses • State court system • Higher trial courts • All states have appeal courts

35. The Federal Court System • 3 basic levels • US district courts • Supreme Court

36. Prisons • We cannot imagine being without prisons • Represent a fundamental defense against crime and criminals • Before prisons • Goals of imprisonment: • Four goals: • Separate criminals from society • Punish criminal behavior • Deter criminal behavior • Rehabilitate criminal

37. Sociological theory • Labeling theory • Certain changes are needed • Halfway houses • If process of de-labeling were made available, former inmates will find it easier to win reentry into society

38. A Shortage of Prisons • State of crisis • Over crowding • National prison capacity has expanded but has not kept up with the growth of the criminal population • States • How much does each crime cost the public?

39. Women in Prison • Segregate women into sections of the existing institutions • Fewer woman inmates- justified not being provided with a matron • 1873- first separate prison for women was opened • More aesthetic and less secure • In the past not considered high security risks or proved to be as violent as males • More likely to commit property crimes

40. Trend in crimes has changed • Institutions are are built and maintained with the view that their occupants are not great risks to themselves or to others • Inmates • Since 1995: The growth rate of women inmates has been greater than the growth rate of the male inmates • Females have a harder time adjusting to the absence of their families, esp. children

41. The Funnel Effect • Truth in Sentencing • Time spent in prison is always almost shorter than the time they are sentenced to serve by the court • Public-- in favor of longer sentences and uniform punishment • Crowding and reductions in prison time for good behavior have resulted in the release of prisoners well before they have served their assigned sentences • States enacted restrictions on the possibility of early release