Chapter 6

1. Chapter 6 Deviance, Crime, and Social Control

2. Conformity and Deviance Understanding Conformity Social controlconsists of the forces and processes that encourage conformity. It takes three forms: • Self-control– Through internalized norms, we police ourselves. • Informal social controls– Our friends and others around us reward conformity and punish nonconformity. • Formal social controls– The state or authorities discourage nonconformity. False enforcement occurs when people enforce norms they themselves reject.

3. Conformity and Deviance Defining Deviance Norm violations that typically result in disapproval or punishment when encountered in a community. • Deviance is relative – it is not the act itself that is important but the audience (context). • The same act may be deviant in front of one audience but not another; • When behavior is considered so unacceptable that it becomes subject to legal penalties, we label it crime.

4. Conformity and Deviance Deviance Recent years: - “extreme body modification.” Many Americans consider such modifications unattractive. Body modifications can be regarded both as : • attractive, sign of group membership. The pain of body modification helps others recover their sense of control and personal strength. For some, body modification is a political statement.

5. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Structural Functional Theories • Deviance can be useful to society; it is defined as a social problem. • When deviance becomes extreme, it is disruptive (dysfunctional) to society. • Émile Durkheim described a societal condition where the norms of society become unclear or no longer apply as anomie.

6. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Explaining Individual Deviance: Strain Theory Structural-Functional Theories

7. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Merton’s Modes of Adaptation – Strain Theory Structural-Functional Theories

8. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Structural-Functional Theories Explaining neighborhood deviance: Collective Efficacy Theory • Explains why some neighborhoods have higher crime rates than others. • Refers to the extent to whichindividuals in a neighborhood share the expectation that neighbors will intervene to stop social disorder and will work together to maintain social order.

9. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Conflict Theory • Deviance is a natural and inevitable product of competition in which some groups have more access to scarce resources than do others. • Competition and conflicts between social groups affect: ◦what gets defined as deviance ◦ who engages in deviance

10. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Conflict Theory

11. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Symbolic Interaction Theories • Suggest that deviance is learned through interaction with others. • Involves development of a deviant self-concept. • Deviance results from face-to-face interactions. • Three theoretical foci: ◦Differential association theory ◦Deterrence theories ◦Labeling theory

12. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Symbolic Interaction Theories Differential Association Theory:

13. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Symbolic Interaction Theories Differential association theory helps us understand why young people who grow up in neighborhoods where gangs are common, powerful, and in some ways respected are more likely than others to join gangs themselves.

14. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Symbolic Interaction Theories Deterrence Theory

15. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Symbolic Interaction Theories According to deterrence theory, individuals such as prom queens and kings are unlikely to engage in deviance because they will have too much to lose if they do so.

16. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Symbolic Interaction TheoriesLabeling Theory

17. Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance Medicalization of Deviance • The medicalization of deviance is the process through which the bad or odd label is redefined as illness. • Drinking that is publicly out of control is redefined as alcoholism – an illness. • Individuals who acquire the ill label are more likely to get treatment and sympathy. • People with higher status are more likely to be labeled ill than labeled deviant and punished.

18. Crime Crimes are deviant acts considered so repugnant that laws are passed against them. Property Crimes and Violent Crimes • Property crimes: Robbery, burglary, larceny (theft), motor vehicle theft • Violent crimes: Murder, rape Victimless Crimes • Voluntary exchanges such as drug use, prostitution, gambling, and pornography are called “victimless” because those engaged in them think they are making free choices about free enterprise.

19. Percentage Change Over Time in Crime Rates, 1980–2010 Burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, rape, and murder have all declined steadily and substantially since the 1990s and are now less common than in 1980. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice 2010)

20. Homicide Rates per 100,000 Persons

21. Crime  White-Collar Crimes • Crimes committed by people of high social status in the course of their occupation. • Can be committed by corporations – corporate crime. • The high cost of white-collar crime can dwarf that of street crime. • Challenges the concept of crime being a lower class phenomenon. • Lenient treatment of most white-collar criminals mocks the idea of equal justice.

22. Crime Correlates of Crime • Age – Younger persons consistently have higher crime rates.(Cook & Laub 1998) • Sex– Males commit more crimes. • Social Class– Lower-class people are significantly more likely to commit and be arrested for street crimes; corporate and white-collar crimes are more likely among higher status individuals. • Race– Minorities are more likely to be cited, arrested, prosecuted, and convicted.

23. Arrest Rates by Age and Sex in 2010 Arrest rates in the U.S. show strong and consistent age and sex patterns. Arrest rates peak sharply for young people ages 15-24; at all ages men are considerably more likely than women to be arrested. (Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010)

24. Crime Fear of Crime • Since the 1990s, crime rates have dropped dramatically. • Yet each year about 2/3 of Americans say they believe crime is increasing (Gallup Poll). • Explanation: Fear-mongering by politicians, by business to sell products, by advocacy groups to support causes, and by media to gain ratings. • Consequences: Burgeoning prison system, deterioration of public life, social isolation.

25. The Criminal Justice System Why Punish? • Retribution– Society punishes offenders to avenge the victim and society. • Prevention – By controlling offenders, society keeps them from committing further crimes. • Deterrence– Punishment can scare previous offenders and nonoffenders away from a life of crime. • Reform– Building character and skills, enables criminals to become law-abiding members of society.

26. The Criminal Justice System The Police • Police officers occupy a unique and powerful position in the U.S. criminal justice system. • They have discretion to determine if and how to enforce the law. • There are 3.5 police officers to every 1,000 persons in U.S. – enforcing the law uniformly and fully is neither practical nor possible.

27. The Criminal Justice System The Courts • Once arrested, a complex journey through the criminal justice system moves a person toward or away from conviction. • Critical stage: State decision on prosecution. • Plea-bargaining means the accused pleads guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. • Consequences: Almost all convictions result from pre-trial negotiations rather than from court trials. (U.S. Department of Justice 2010)

28. The Criminal Justice System Prisons Inmates are depersonalized in overcrowded prisons by assigned numbers. Identical uniforms and unvarying routines breed anger, violence, boredom, and further deviance.

29. Number of Prisoners per 100,000 Population The U.S. leads the world in imprisoning its own population. We imprison more people than even dictatorships like Libya and China. Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, 2011

30. The Criminal Justice System Alternatives to Prisons • Unsustainable costs are prompting cities and states to turn to “diversion” programs, especially with minor crimes and young offenders. • New intensive supervision probation programs are being used to safely release persons from prison earlier. Strategies include curfews, electronic surveillance, drug testing, and halfway houses. • Some jurisdictions have programs which provide work and psychological skills to ex-inmates to facilitate greater re-entry success.

31. Quick Quiz

32. When driving our cars we stop at a red light, whether or not a policeman is present. This is a form of: • internalized social control. • formal social control. • externalization. • anticipatory socialization.

33. Answer: A When driving our cars we stop at a red light, whether or not a policeman is present. This is a form of internalized social control.

34. When sociologists stress that deviance is relative, they mean that: • relative to criminal acts, deviance is a minor form of nonconformity. • it runs in the family, among relatives. • whether an act is regarded as deviant or not often depends on the time, place, or individual. • deviance is related to more serious criminal offenses.

35. Answer: C When sociologists stress that deviance is relative, they mean that whether an act is regarded as deviant or not often depends on the time, place, or individual.

36. Youths growing up in poor neighborhoods are more likely to deal drugs to make money than middle-class youth. This example represents the pattern of deviance called: • rebellion. • retreatism. • ritualism. • innovation.

37. Answer: D Youths growing up in poor neighborhoods are more likely to deal drugs to make money than middle-class youth. This example represents the pattern of deviance called innovation.

38. By far, the most costly crimes to the economy and social fabric of society are: A. theft/larceny committed by lower class members. B. violent crimes such asmurder and rape. C. white-collar crimes committed by middle-class members. D. victimless crimes that are hard to find and prosecute.

39. Answer: C By far, the most costly crime to the economy and social fabric of society are white-collar crimes committed by middle-class members.