Crime and Deviance

Thounaojam Somokanta
somo@iitk.ac.in

Photos used in the PPT are only for teaching purpose

Crime vs deviance
u What is crime?
u Crime is an illegal act for which someone
can be punished by the government
(authority)

u What is deviance?
u Deviance refers to actions that fall outside
the scope of accepted norms, values, and
behaviors
The basic concepts
Deviance
u Non-conformity to the social norms widely accepted by larger
community/society
u Edwin Lemert distinguished primary and secondary deviance:
u Primary deviance: An initial deviant attitude which may or
may not be labelled as deviant act by family, peers, etc.
u Secondary deviance: occurs when the act becomes labelled
as deviant behaviour by others
u Sanctions: any actions taken in response to abnormal by society
u Sanctions are used to control deviant behaviour
u Sanctions promote conformity and discouraging nonconformity
u Sanctions can be informal or formal:
u Informal sanction: enacted by individuals/groups
u Formal sanction: based on laws, enforced by police officers,
judges, etc.
u What this picture
represents?
u Where is the location?
u Related to
crime/deviance?
Crime
u Action that break law and are punishable by the state
u Action that contravenes laws established by a political authority
u Criminalization: processes which certain individuals or groups
become categorized as criminal and subject to legal sanctions
u Criminology is ‘the scientific study of crime’
u According to Edwin Sutherland, criminology is ‘the study of the
making of laws, the breaking of laws, and of society’s reaction
to the breaking of laws’
Theories of crime and deviance
u In his book L’uomo delinquente (1876), Cesare Lombroso
argued that criminal types could be identified by their visible
and anatomical features
u Lombroso concluded that criminals displayed clear signs of
atavism
u In 1949, Sheldon developed a theory of ‘somatotypes’
which distinguished 3 types of human physique:
u 1). Muscular active types (mesomorphs)
u 2). Thin physique (ectomorphs)
u 3). More round, fleshy (endomorphs)

u Raine (2014) worked on neurocriminology, adopting ‘the

principles and techniques of neuroscience to understand the
origins of anti-social behaviour’
Tutorial question (31 August)
u Differentiate between crime and deviance
u Explain major crime/deviance witnessing in the Indian
society
u What is functionalism?

u How functionalism explains crime/deviance?

Functionalism
u Functionalism: all aspects of a society are indispensable for
the survival of society
u Social institutions, norms, etc have positive functions
u Individuals are the production of social structure
u Emile Durkheim developed functionalism; how society works
together to maintain social order and stability
u According to Durkheim, society is a stable system based on
value consensus
u Such consensus maintains social solidarity (social glue)
u Society has mechanisms to maintain social solidarity:
u Socialization and social control
How society maintains social order/stability?

Functionalism

Emile Durkhiem

Value consensus Social solidarity

Social order &

stability
Durkheim's work on crime
u Emile Durkhiem used the concept ‘anomie’, which is
normlessness
u Breakdown of moral values, standards or guidance for
individuals to follow; disconnected from the society
u Anomie refers to the lack of social integration/cohesion within
society
u Organic solidarity vs mechanical solidarity
u Anomie explains the rise of deviant/criminal behavior
How crime/deviance brings positive functions in society?

Anomie in Lack of social

Normlessness
Society regulation

Lack of social Lack of social

integration cohesion

Crime/deviance

Positive functions

Adaptive function Boundary

& change maintenance
Some functions of crime/deviance
u Despite crime disturbs social stability, it also performs some
positive functions
u Durkheim argued crime/deviance is an inevitable and normal
part of society
u Durkhiem claimed that, crime/deviance is necessary for
society because of positive functions:
u 1). Adaptive function and change
u 2). Boundary maintenance
u 1). Adaptive function and change:
u Deviance introduces new ideas and challenges existing
norms and values; innovative force to bring social change
u Social change begins with some form of deviance
u If this is suppressed, then society will stagnate
u Protest may be an example of deviant behaviour which
perhaps brings change in society
u 2). Boundary maintenance:
u Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members
against the wrong doers and reinforcing their commitments to the
value consensus
u Function of punishment is to reaffirm share rules and reinforce
social solidarity
u Legal proceedings help to remind individuals of the boundary
between right and wrong/ good and bad behavious
Interactionist perspectives
u What is interactionism?
u Society as a product of social interaction (e.g., social groups)

u How interactionism explains crime/deviance?

u Labelling theory (e.g., you are a ‘criminal’)

u How crime/deviance are socially constructed?

u Why certain groups are labelled as such…..?

Labelling theory

“You are a criminal!

That’s all you’ll ever be!”

Person becomes a criminal, or

continues to engage in criminal acts.
Labelling theory
u The behaviour of human beings is influenced significantly by
other members who label them in society
u Individuals who are labelled as criminals more likely to engage
in criminal activities
u Who label whom in society?
u Does power structure influences labelling?
u Wealthy people to poor?
u Ethnic majority to minority?
u Example: alcohol consumption – rich vs poor
u For Becker (1963), labelling produced
deviant identities and behaviours
u Deviance is a consequence of external
judgements, or labels that modify
individual’s self concept
u Person’s dress, manner of speaking or
country of origin could determine the
labelling of deviance
u Labelling not only affects individual’s
perception but also self-identity
u Wilkins (1964) defines ‘deviancy
amplification’ as the unintended
consequence of the control agencies
provoking more on the deviant
behaviour
u Criminal terms such as ‘thief’ or ‘drug
dealer’, may be used throughout
criminal justice process
u This may incorporate that label (e.g.,
thief) into their identity leading to
deviance
Conflict theories
u What is conflict theories?

u How conflict theories explain crime/deviance?

u According to Willem Bonger, the structure
of inequality within capitalist economies
weakens key social institutions
u This promotes egoism while eroding
altruism
u Root cause of criminality in society
u The New Criminology (1973) made a
significant contribution in crime/deviance
studies
u Authors argued that people actively
choose to engage in deviant behaviour as
a response to the inequalities of the
capitalist system
u Counter-cultural groups were often
regarded as ‘deviant’,
u engaging in political acts which challenged
the existing social order
u In this book (1978), Stuart Hall and his
colleagues studied new offence of
‘mugging’
u Mugging was a term used by newspapers to
describe street robberies with the threat of
violence
u Muggers were portrayed as young black
men; such criminality was a moral panic
u Young peoples with Black and South Asian
communities are seen as social problems or
victim of crimes
u Increasing inequality between ruling and
working classes
u Laws at the hands of powerful class
u Zemiology: study of social harm
I will cover the following topics briefly:
u Gender and crime
u Young people and crime
u White collar crime
u Corporate crime
u State crime
u Organized crime
u Cyber crime
Gender, sexuality and hate crime
u Gender: social construction (e.g., woman, man, etc)
u Sexuality: sexual orientation, identity, behaviour, etc
u Feminists criticized social science for being male-dominating
discipline (androcentric)
u The representation of women were largely ‘invisible’
u e.g., ‘man is a social animal’ (Aristotle)
u ‘man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains’ (Rousseau)
u Gender of classical thinkers:
u Founding fathers of sociology?
u Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber
u Founding mother of sociology?
u Harriet Martineau as mother of sociology, first feminist
sociologist
u In Society in America (1837), Martineau exposed discrimination,
violence and subjugation of women
u Rise of feminist movements opposing crime against women:
u First wave of feminism (19th and early 20th C) – legal issues such
as suffrage, voting rights, etc.
u Second wave of feminism (early 1960s) – domestic violence,
reproductive rights, workplace, etc.
u In 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term ‘intersectionality’
explaining multiple oppression of African-American women
u Patricia Collins developed the concept of Black Feminism
u Third wave of feminism (early 1990s): ‘riot grrrl’ feminist punk
subculture
Young people as offenders and victims
u Age–crime curve: criminality increases during adolescence,
peaks in the mid to late teenage years, but then falls back,
decreasing as people move into adulthood
 White collar crime
u In 1949, Edwin Sutherland introduced the term ‘white-collar
crime’: crime committed by a person of respectability and
high social status in the course of his occupation
u Croall (2001) defines white-collar crime as ‘an abuse of a
legitimate occupational role which is regulated by law’

u In contrast to white-collar crime, blue-collar crime is committed

by person from lower social class
Corporate crime
u Offences and major harm committed by large corporations in
society (e.g., environmental damage, violations of health
and safety regulations, etc)
State crime
u Criminal or deviant activities committed by governments or
state agencies for their own benefit
u ‘Crime by and for the benefit of the state’ (Doig, 2011)
Organized crime
u Albanese (2011) defines organized crime as ‘continuing criminal
enterprises that rationally work to profit from illicit activities
that are often in great public demand. Its continuing existence is
maintained through the use of force, threats, monopoly control,
and/or the corruption of public officials.’

u Castells (1998) argues that the coordination of criminal activities

of organized crime groups took place with the help of new
information technologies
 Cybercrime
u Thomas and Loader (2000): ‘cybercrime can be regarded as
computer-mediated activities which are either illegal or
considered illicit by certain parties and which can be conducted
through global electronic networks.’

u Athique (2013) lists 26 possible types of cybercrime