CRIME & DEVIANCE:

CONCEPTS AND
THEORIES

Crime may be under-reported for a wide range of reasons...

Objectives

At the end of the presentation the

students
will be able to:
Explain the terms Deviance and
Crime in the society
Identify the types of crime
Explore the social distribution of
crime
Discuss Social Control
Discuss the theories on crime

Introduction
In any particular social environment,

people may have their own views about

appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.
In every society, some behavioural
patterns are viewed as appropriate
standards of role performance. These are
known as norms.
Norms set boundaries for acceptable
behaviour and at the same time define
behaviour that transgresses these
boundaries.
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Introduction
Many people are likely to be the victim of

a crime at some time in their life: phone

theft, car theft, domestic burglary, or, in
extreme cases, a rape or murder. Many
of those who do not become victims
and some who dowill be the
perpetrators of crime. Some crime seems
to be the result of a long-term profession
of crime. Much crime seems to have
been motivated by drug use and the
need to purchase illegal drugs.

Deviance
Deviance is the term used by

sociologists to refer to that action

defined by society and its defenders to
be outside the range of the
acceptable.
acceptable
Deviance is actually created by
society, by REACTION to certain
actions, rather than by the actor
who does the acting.
It is societys rules and lines that
create the boundaries between what is
and what is not deviant.

Deviance
Deviance is problematic because it

disrupts; it is essential because it

defines the confines of our shared
reality .
Deviance is nonconformity to social
norms or expectations.

Deviance
For many people, the word deviance is

used only in relation to moral, religious, or

political norms.
The deviant is seen as someone whose
behaviour departs from normal moral
standards (for example, those concerned
with sexual behaviour), or who deviates
from a political or religious orthodoxy.
The sociological concept of deviance,
however, takes a broader point of view and
recognizes that there can be deviation
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from social norms of all kinds.

Deviance
Along with sexual deviants, political

deviants, and religious deviants must

be counted as those whose behaviour
runs counter to legal or customary
norms, more generally criminals,
the mentally ill, alcoholics, and many
others.

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Deviance
It is this that the homosexual, the

prostitute, the child molester, the

schizophrenic, the suicide minded, the
radical, the heretic, the Ecstasy user, and
the burglar all have in common. All of
them seem to engage in behaviour that is
not seen as normal in their society.
No form of behaviour is deviant in and of
itself. To judge behaviour as deviant is to
judge it from the standpoint of the norms
of a particular social group.

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Aspects of Deviance
These are areas used to determine if an act

is deviant.
Relevance of audience anyone who
witness the act or was aware of the act. The
judgment of what is good or bad depends
on those who observe and evaluate the act.
The cultural practice differs among the
people.
The dress, manner, occupation, social
influence, demeanor and family background
help to determine whether the individuals
actions will be labeled deviant/criminal.
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Aspects of Deviance
Relevance of Situation the

situational context is as important as

the act itself. For example a woman
who kills her husband who has been
abusing her and was in the act of
abusing will sometimes be found
innocent of murder and it is called
self defense.

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Aspects of Deviance
Relevance of Time normative

expectations change over time. The

standards and expectations of conduct
vary in the modern industrial society e.g.
homosexuality, use of marijuana.

Relevance of Social Status people will

be perceived differently according to their

social characteristics. The higher-status
individuals are less likely to be labeled as
criminals or receive harsh treatment in
comparison to the lower-status individuals.

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Crime
A crime is a deviant act that breaks the

law of the land. It includes anti-social

conduct that is prohibited by law, with
sanctions that commit offenders into
custody. At the heart of crime is the
concept of protecting not only the
individual, but society. Punishment of
crime was developed primarily as
means of social control and as a means
of protection for members of society.
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Crime
While crime in and of itself, is often regarded

as deviant activity, not all deviant activities

are defined as crime. For example, people
who follow a particular religious cult may be
labeled or viewed as deviant, but such
behaviour in itself is not criminal.
Crime statistics are sometimes manipulated
in order to serve political ends.
Power structures in society influence the
decision as to what is considered criminal.
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Difference between Crime and

Deviance
Crime involves breaking the law and may

vary from minor or petty offences such as

shoplifting to very serious crime such as
murder. Decisions about what is criminal
or not are made consciously by people in
authority, such as police, members of the
legal profession and the government. In
most cases, such laws become formally
enacted and documented.
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Types of Crime

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Difference between Crime and

Deviance
Deviance involves breaking of social norms and is

determined in a more informal manner. Deviance

is culturally determined; what is normal in one
culture may be seen as deviant in another.
Societal norms evolve as a social process, rather
than as a decision-making process by people in
society.
Crime is punishable by law, that is, by formal
sanctions. Deviance, on the other hand, is
punishable by informal sanctions such as peer
pressure ridicule and media reporting. All
criminal acts are considered deviant but not all
deviant acts may be considered criminal

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Types of Crime
Personal crimes violent or nonviolent crimes

directed against people e.g. murder, aggravated

assault, rape and robbery.
Property crime theft or change of property,
without threat of bodily harm e.g. burglary, larceny,
auto theft and arson.
Victimless crime the willing exchange of illegal
goods and services. Though victimless crime violate
the laws they are not normally considered serious,
since they do not have a victim or complainant as
such. They include activities such as illegal
gambling (not sanctioned by the authorities), illegal
drug use, pornography and prostitution (where these
21 are illegal).

Types of Crime
Hate crimes assaults and other

malicious acts (including crime against

property) motivated by various forms of
bias, including but not limited to those
based on race, religion, sexual
orientation, ethnic or national origin
and disability.

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Types of Crime
Organised Crime activity that

appears, on the surface, to be

acceptable, but is illegal, involving
criminal groups that are well organised
and provide illegal goods and services.
Organised crime may include activities
such as drug trafficking, gambling and
prostitution. Such undertakings are
organised like legitimate businesses.
Organised crime today is often
23 facilitated by information technology.

Types of Crime
White Collar or Elite Crime crime

carried out by people of high social

standing. According to Sutherland (1960 as
cited in Mustapha, 2009), it refers to crime
committed by a person of respectability and
high social status in the course of his
occupation. Examples include
embezzlement, insider trading, or
unacceptable financial practices. In terms of
dollars, white-collar crime is much more
consequential for society than street crimes.

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Types of Crime
Many white-collar crimes are especially

difficult to prosecute, because the

perpetrators are sophisticated criminals who
have attempted to conceal their activities
through a series of complex transactions.
It tends to be made up of complex,
sophisticated and relatively technical actions
White-collar crime tends to be intermingled
with legitimate behaviour.

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Types of Crime
Harm is not always conceptualised or

identifiable as such, because it is usually spread

out over a substantial number of victims.
The monetary sums involved tend to be quite
large in most cases.
White-collar crimes is much more lucrative than
ordinary burglaries, robberies and larcenies
because:
1.White-collar criminals steal by manipulating
symbols, which means that they can steal
money they do not even have to pick up and
carry away

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Types of Crime
2. White-collar crime is not a one-shot deal. It is made

up of a number of interrelated actions that extend

over a period of time months, years even decades.
3. It is rarely condemned to the same degree as street
crime. And there is little public stigma attached.
4. It may not be given the media coverage as street
crime because it may make less sensational news.
5. The white-collar criminals rarely think of themselves
as real criminals because of its lack of stigma. They
insist that, even though they engaged in the action
of which they were accused, what they did was not a
crime.
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Examples of white collar crime

Tax evasion
Defective and dangerous merchandise
Corporate fraud
Price fixing
Government bribery
Embezzlement, money laundering,

and fraud.

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Other forms of Deviance

Mental illness these carry powerful stigma.

People are wary of an ex-mental patient as they

are of ex-convicts. The major problem our society
face with mental illness is how to treat the
chronically mentally ill who have little or no
money and find it difficult or impossible to hold a
job.
Some view the mental institutions as a place for
the unwanted. And when release they make up
the population of street people and many stop
taking their drugs and become another challenge
for the society. People care for their pets more
than the mentally ill.
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The social distribution of crime

1. Gender and Crime both official statistics and
several research studies indicate that males commit
more crimes than females and are arrested more
often.
These gender differences are quite pronounced for
property crimes and violent crimes. The reasons
include:
Men, partly because of more aggressive socialisation
experiences, are more likely to commit violent crime.
However, womens participation in crime has been
increasing
Society places more constraints on females
behaviour. Law enforcement officers tend to be more
30 lenient toward females

The social distribution of crime

Age and Crime criminal activity is more
prevalent among younger people than among
older people in most societies. One consistent
finding of statistical and survey methods is the
correlation between age and deviant behaviour;
young people (the 1024 age group in the UK) are
more involved in crime and deviance than their
older counterparts.
In the United States, people between the ages of
15 and 24 represents 39.1% of all arrests for
violent crimes and 46.8% arrested for rape,
robbery and arson (FBI, 2001 as cited in
31 Mustapha, 2009).

The social distribution of crime

Age and Crime

The reasons for such trend include the

following:
Young people are more likely to be
unemployed or employed in low-paid jobs
Young people are more likely to be
unattached to the traditional or
established institutions of society
Young people tend to be adventurous and
willing to take chances.
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The social distribution of crime

Ethnicity/Class and Crime - As we

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have seen in relation to age and sex,

in relation to conviction rates there is
a clear relationship between crime and
class, insofar as the majority of
convicted offenders are drawn from
the working classes. As might also be
expected, there is a clear correlation
between type of crime and social
class.

The social distribution of crime

Ethnicity/Class and Crime - For

example:
Crimes involving violence, theft from
property, etc. are mainly associated with
the working class.
Fraud, embezzlement and so forth are
mainly middle class crimes.
Corporate crime (involving such things as
insider trading, environmental crimes,
market-rigging ) is mainly an upper class
34 phenomenon.

Factors giving rise to Crime

and Violence
Destabilized family structure

Decline in values and attitudes

Urban drift
Economic instability
Inequality in income distribution
Drug culture
High level of illiteracy
Political tibalism
Culture of violence, reinforced by organized

crime
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Social Control
Social Control refers to the

techniques and strategies for

preventing deviant human behavior in
any society (Schaefer, 2002).
It is a process by which order is
established and maintained in society,
or obedience to the norms of the group
or society by almost all people whether
by internalization or sanctions.
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Forms of Social Control

Social norms group-shared
expectations. A norm is passed on from one
generation to another through the process
of socialization.

They represent ways of acting and

behaving which have been tried and tested

over time and found to be beneficial in
promoting group cohesion and reducing
tensions and conflicts e.g. children are
37 taught to say please and thank you .

Questions of Social Control

Why do people defy the norms of

the society?
Why do they steal, or cheat or lie?
Who are the notorious men/women
in our country?
Our fear of and fascination with
crime is a crucial indicator of the
significance we give crime, one kind
of deviance, in our society
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Why individuals resist Social

Control?
Most law violators do not believe that they

will be caught and by the happenings in our

society we agree. For some crimes there is
a relatively low probability of being caught
and punished e.g. white collar crimes.
Also crime in one country may not be called
crime in another, may be a religious
practice or just not wrong in the eyes of a
people.
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Deviance and Social Control

The three types of social control will be

looked at.
1. Internal Mechanism (Socialization
Process) individuals are taught what
is proper according to their society so
they internalize those beliefs and can
then control their own behaviour.
They become self governing through
internalization and it is ingrained in
them
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Deviance and Social Control

2. External Mechanism further divided

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into
Informal social control individuals are
controlled by the group to which they
belong and by the reactions of others to
their perceived behaviour. They use
ridicule, hostility, ostracism, cold
shoulder, raised eyebrows and other
informal actions to keep them in line.
Even among strangers we may fear social
embarrassment.

Deviance and Social Control

Formal social control in this case

society sets up a system of laws

and attempts to induce conformity
through the threat of
institutionalized punishment. The
threat of being caught by the
police, being publicly tried and
convicted, paying fine, prison or
death sentence is a deterrent used.
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Sanctions
Sanctions are rewards or punishment

used to establish social control that is

to enforce the norms in a society. It
may include the use of physical force.
Basic purpose of sanctions is to bring
about conformity, solidarity and
continuity of a particular group or
larger society.

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Theories of Crime
and Deviance

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Psychological Theories of
Deviance

Psychoanalytic theory is based on the

work of Sigmund Freud

Freud suggested that much deviance
results from the inability of the ego
and superego to control the urges of
the id
Behavioral theory suggests that people
respond to stimuli, and seek to
maximize rewards and punishments

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Psychological Theories of
Deviance
Rational choice theory also emphasizes

rewards and punishments, but suggests

that people act rationally on the basis of
perceived consequences

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Sociological Theories of
Deviance

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Sociological theories on
Deviance
Robert Mertons Anomie theory refers to a

societal condition where people feel blocked

from achieving the socially defined goals of
success through approved means of achieving
success e.g. owning a car, house etc. would
mean getting an education and a good job.
Merton suggested that society holds out

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universal goals of material success;

however, society does not hold out the
legitimate means to attain this success
equally across the population.
This results in certain strain which can be
resolved in one of several way

Sociological theories on
Deviance

Edwin Sutherland Differential Association people

learn norms, values etc. through associations and
interactions with others. So therefore if the
individual
who you associate lie, cheat and kill you will
become
like him/her. It may depend on specific variables:
frequency, duration, priority and intensity. It is not
necessarily an expression of needs and values. Not
all
homeless people, for example, steal in order to eat.

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Social Control Theory

Control theory maintains that we all have the

capacity to commit deviant acts; however fear

deters most people from committing deviant acts.
Travis Hirschi identifies 4 elements to this social
bond:
Attachment to othersemotional attachments
to parents, teachers, etc.
Commitment to conformityinvestment of time
in conforming behavior such as school, sports,
etc.
Involvement in conventional activitiesleaving
little time for deviant activities
Belief in validity of social rulesacknowledging
the moral authority of law and rules
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Sociological theories on

Deviance
Cultural Transmission it is theorized that one

becomes a criminal because that is the

culture in which they grew up in.
The culture of crime and violence is deeply
entrenched and pervasive. Criminal activities
are supported and facilitated in far too many
communities. Criminals are supported in their
communities; the popular music glamorises
criminal activity, and the wider society
condones many activities not normally
accepted in modern, civilized societies.
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Labeling Theory
Labeling theory shifts the focus from why

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people engage in deviant acts to:

how and why certain acts are defined as
deviant in the first place
how and why certain individuals are
labeled deviant
the impact of the label on future behavior
Labeling a primary deviant as a criminal
may lead to secondary deviance. In other
words, labeling may stigmatise a person,
and the persons response, may be to
commit further acts of deviance, thereby
leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Politics,
crime
and
dons in
It is well known
that in some
communities
Jamaica gunmen and dons have aligned themselves
to political parties. We recall that a decade ago, it
was fashionable for politicians to attend the
funerals of dons and gunmen. This practice may
have stopped, but there is still a strong association
between criminal elements and the political parties.
It may be difficult for the political parties to prevent

infiltration of its ranks by criminal elements, as

these are real people who live in our communities.
However, the parties must make a greater effort to
dissociate themselves from criminal elements
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Crime Statistics Source and

Issues
Crime Statistics are gathered from the

54

administrative records of the Police system

island wide & published by the Police Statistics
Unit:
The issue of coverage needs to be addressed
not all crimes are reported, particularly those
that occur within the home, and when
reported the victim and/or the witness is not
always forthcoming;
There are no standards for the collection and
retrieval of crime the data;
The system is largely manual efforts are
being made to address this problem.

The
Justice
System

The inadequacy of the justice system to cope with the

increasing number of cases has resulted in:
Cases are not being disposed of in a timely manner
and there is a growing backlog;
Because of the delays in trial, some persons are
detained for inordinately long periods;
Citizens loose confidence in the system and are
inclined to apply vigilante justice in some
instances e.g. praedial larceny & carnal abuse;
Witnesses are not always willing to come forward to
give evidence & some have no confidence in the
witness protection system the trial of some cases
are compromised.

The Penal System

The Correctional Institutions are all

overcrowded;
The buildings and the operating
systems are old and in need of
refurbishing;
The rehabilitation programmes are
being upgraded to offer life skills
and earning skills.
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Impact of Crime & Violence

Sections of downtown Kingston are feared

and there has been steady migration out of

these areas;
The infrastructure in downtown Kingston is
underutilised;
Growth of informal land settlements, mainly
the urban centres, with high population
densities provide a heaven for criminal
activities and make policing difficult;
In violence prone communities economic and
social activities have been considerably
reduced, schools are under-populated and
when there is a flare-up of violence
businesses and schools close;
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Impact of Crime & Violence

Persons who reside in these communities do

not provide their correct addresses when

seeking jobs the fear of being discriminated
against in the selection process;
The social fibre of the families are being
affected as the perpetrators and the victims
of crime are mainly young males;
Growth in private security companies and
gated communities;
Greater difficulty in data collection
concerns for safety of interviewers and the
challenge of gaining access to gated
communities.
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Recommendations other
areas

The Judiciary
The system needs to be strengthened

so that cases can be heard and

resolved in shorter periods;
The laws need to be reviewed
particularly in relation to application of
sentences where there is conviction.
The Penal System
The system needs to be modernised
and the over crowding reduced.

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Recommendations other
areas
The Society

The social and cultural factors that

contribute to aggression, violence

and criminal tendencies within the
society have to be studied;
Gender issues must be studied and
understood; gender inequalities
addressed.
The strategies used by the Police and
the Military in crime management &
apprehension need to be reformed.
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Conclusion
Social Control has to be reemphasized

in the society to bring order and

maintain standards and discipline. The
break down of the family unit has
greatly influenced our way of life and
our socialization which must be
addressed urgently.
We then need to use the impact of
urbanization in a positive manner as
knowledge increase people ought to be
wiser and use new knowledge and
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technology for a better society.

References:
Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2007- a

publication of the Planning Institute of Jamaica

The website of the Correctional Services
Department for custodial data
http://www.dcsj.net/p/statscustodial.xls
http//. www.osac.gov/pages jamaica2015
crime and safety report
INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS on CRIME
AND JUSTICE

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