CRIME & DEVIANCE UNIT 2 MODULE 2

CAPE SOCIOLOGY
CRIME and Deviance

SOCIAL ORDER
Social order is a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve,
maintain and enforce ways of relating and behaving. The concept refers to all those facts of society
which remain relatively constant over time. These conditions could include both property, exchange and
power relations, but also cultural forms, communication relations and ideological systems of values.

SOCIAL CONTROL
Societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behaviour in an
attempt to gain conformity and compliance [consensus] to the rules of a given society, state, or social
group. Sociologists identify two basic forms of social control:

 Informal means of control - Internalisation of norms and values through primary and secondary
socialization, which is defined as "the process by which an individual, born with behavioural
potentialities of enormously wide range, is led to develop actual behaviour which is confined to
the narrower range of what is acceptable for him by the group standards."
 Formal means of social control - External sanctions enforced by government to prevent the
establishment of chaos or anomie in society. Some theorists, such as Émile Durkheim, refer to
this form of control as regulation [maintained by e.g. laws, legal systems, police force, armies
etc.].

Sociologist Edward A. Ross argues that belief systems [informal] [social bonds -Travis Hirschi] exert a
greater control on human behaviour than laws imposed by government [formal].

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DEVIANCE
A deviant person is one whose behaviour and attitudes differ from the norm (accepted social standards
of a society)

Deviance in a sociological context describes actions or behaviours that violate cultural norms including
formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime) as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways
and mores).

Deviance is behaviour that some people in society find offensive and which excites, or would excite, if it
were discovered, disapproval, punishment, condemnation, or hostility. Deviance is behaviour that is
likely to get you into trouble. Deviant behaviour is outside the bounds of the group or society

Deviant? Or Fashion Statement

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 Is she naughty, cute or deviant?

PERCEPTIONS OF DEVIANCE ARE CULTURAL

Cross-cultural communication as deviance

Below is a list of non-verbal gestures that are appropriate in one country, and that would be considered
deviant in another.

Asian United States Canada United States United States

Whistling can express

The O.K. signal Thumbs up-used for Someone may
Avoiding eye contact approval, as in
expresses hitch hiking, or approving whistle when
is considered polite cheering at a public
approval of something happy.
event.

United States Japan United States Nigeria Europe

The O.K.
When saying hello or Using your middle finger
This is a rude Whistling may be a
talking to someone it signal means is very offensive. Used in
gesture in sign of disapproval at
is impolite to not look that you are place of inappropriate
Nigeria. public events.
directly at the person. asking for language.
money.

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 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF DEVIANCE

Functionalists
Functionalist theories focus on the preservation of social order. Deviance helps maintain social
cohesion and the collective conscious.

1. FUNCTIONAL DEVIANCE

Deviance Contributes to Social Order

Durkheim emphasized the importance of deviance in society as a tool for boundary maintenance. A
classic example of this is shown in the media. The media reports on deviance and the accompanying
punishment, serves to educate the public by restating society's rules. Punishing violators reaffirms the
rightness of society and its rules.

Deviance Contributes to Social Change

Deviance is an important element of social change because it offers alternative definitions to what is
right. Sometimes the alternative becomes acceptable and it may even become the dominant view. For
civil rights, deviant behaviour called attention to inadequacies in the existing system of race relations.
Today's crime may be tomorrow's accepted behaviour.

Dysfunctional Deviance

While functionalists like to concern themselves with those forms of deviance that assist in maintaining
the social order, dysfunctional deviance are those acts of deviance which threaten the social order.
Terrorism and civil disobedience are examples of these.

2. CONTROL THEORY

Kendall (1998:193) suggests that one functionalist perspective raises the question - why don't people
engage in more deviance than they do? An assumption of Control Theory is that people have a strong
desire to be deviant.   Control theory assumes that people are hedonists (pleasure seekers). Henslin
(2004:143) suggests that people often do not engage in deviance because they have outer containments
emanating from a supportive family and friends.  Significant others reinforce the idea that deviance is
wrong. People also have inner containments such as self-control and a sense of responsibility that
reduce deviance.

3. Structural Functional Theory

Another framework sociologists use to understand the world is the structural functional theory. Its
central idea is that society is a complex unit, made up of interrelated parts. Sociologists who apply this
theory study social structure and social function. French sociologist Émile Durkheim based his work on
this theory.

Functions of Deviance

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Durkheim argued that deviance is a normal and necessary part of any society because it contributes to
the social order. He identified four specific functions that deviance fulfils:

Affirmation of cultural norms and values: Seeing a person punished for a deviant act reinforces what a
society sees as acceptable or unacceptable behaviour. Sentencing a thief to prison affirms our culturally
held value that stealing is wrong. Just as some people believe that the concept of God could not exist
without the concept of the devil, deviance helps us affirm and define our own norms.

Clarification of right and wrong: Responses to deviant behaviour help individuals distinguish between
right and wrong. When a student cheats on a test and receives a failing grade for the course, the rest of
the class learns that cheating is wrong and will not be tolerated.

Unification of others in society: Responses to deviance can bring people closer together. In the
aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, people across the United States, and even the world,
were united in their shock and grief. There was a surge in patriotic feeling and a sense of social unity
among the citizens of the United States.

Promoting social change: Deviance can also encourage the dominant society to consider alternative
norms and values. Rosa Parks’s act of deviance in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 led to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s declaration that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional.

4. ANOMIE OR STRAIN THEORY

Anomie or Strain Theory:

Robert Merton's Typology of Deviance

The historic foundations of the Anomie or Strain Theory go back to the work on Emile Durkheim and
Robert Merton. For both sociologists, the cause of deviance is found in disturbances in the social
structure. People who encounter disturbances in social structure experience stress. Durkheim was the
first sociologist to investigate how disturbances in social structure prompt one to commit suicide.
Durkheim said that the sensation to commit suicide was associated with stress anomie.

Anomie or Strain Theory contends that social structure puts varying degrees of stress on individuals in
society. In order to cope with the stress individuals will begin to pursue unconventional means to relieve
that stress. In essence, deviance (unconventional means) arises from purely conventional sources.

I.     Robert Merton's Explanation of Deviance

The following material represents Merton's attempt to explain deviance. According to Merton, deviance
is an adaptation by individuals to the dominant culture.

Discrepancies exist between cultural (material) goals and structural opportunities. As the discrepancy
grows between the material goals of society and the means to achieve those goals, the individual
experiences more and more internal conflict.

Example: Poor people internalize middle-class goals, like wanting a home in a middle-class suburb. They

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learn to want goals, such as owning a color TV or new home, from sources such as the mass media or
school. The means to achieve their goal, however, is difficult to find. Good paying jobs are scarce.
Society has not provided the means to achieve those goals. Unable to achieve their goal, they
experience stress.

In order to relieve the stress the individuals violate the "goals" defined important by society or they
violate the "means" to achieve those goals. Note that individuals approach the means-ends discrepancy
in different ways.

Merton argues that poor people, who cannot achieve goals determined worthy by the dominant society,
use illegitimate means to achieve legitimate goals.

Society defines success through the ownership of material possessions such as cars or color TVs. The
individual, however, cannot find legitimate means, like a job, to finance that TV. The next course of
action for the individual is to use illegitimate means, like stealing, to get that TV.

People from the middle-class, however, are less inclined to steal. They have more at stake in the system.
A person from the middle-class who steals may suffer greater criticism compared with a poor person
who steals the same TV. When people from the middle-class experience discrepancies between goals
and opportunities, they tend to use illegitimate goals while using conventional means. A response by a
middle-class person may be to continue to "work hard," but deny that they need a new home or color
TV.

Merton presents the following typology of Deviance. According to Merton, people conform to either the
opportunities and goals defined by society or they engage in four types of deviance:

II.     Merton's Typology

Conformity: The individual conforms to the dominant culture. Here the individual experiences no
problem in terms of goals and the means that society provides to achieve those goals. There is,
therefore, no need to engage in deviance to obtain goals deemed worthy by society.

A.     Innovation

Innovators are people who accept the goals of society. For some reason, like poverty, they cannot
achieve societies' goals by legitimate means. They have to use illegitimate means such as stealing.

B.     Ritualism

People who ritualize have similar problems that the innovator experiences, but for ritualists the
individual rejects the goals, but accepts the means. The individual may, for example, choose to work
hard knowing that he or she is not going to achieve the goals that society defines as worthy because
they do not get paid enough.

C.     Retreatism

People who are retreatists reject both the means and goals of society. Drug addicts and vagrants are
examples of people who retreat.

D.     Rebellion

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The individual rejects the culture (values, goals, norms). These individuals pursue alternative cultures.
Included in this group are revolutionaries and some gangs.

III.     Critiques of Merton's Typology

Many functionalist arguments, like the ones presented above, are easy to critique because their
positions are usually very rigid and simplistic. They assume that what exists and is dominant is correct.

Functionalists assume that people who are not a part of the dominant culture automatically use the
dominant culture as their point of reference. Note that functionalists define legitimate and illegitimate
from a middle-class point of view.

Even if we accept the middle-class point of reference, Merton assumes that people who do not have
access to goals by legitimate means automatically have access by illegitimate means. How do you steal a
colour TV? Criminal activity is also a skilled profession. An individual does not just wake up one morning
and say to him or herself: "I think I'll rob a TV store today!"

Merton assumes that people who have access to legitimate means and goals automatically use
legitimate means and goals. The drug "problem" in middle-class high schools demonstrates that people
who have access to legitimate means still engage in deviance. Another example that contradicts
Merton's claims is the large number of middle-class teenagers who shoplift merchandise at shopping
malls. They do not engage in this activity because they do not have access to means and/or goals. They
shoplift because their life is boring.

There is also a problem with cause and effect. We assume that because a person cannot achieve
legitimate goals in society that he automatically turns to deviance (like drug use). Perhaps the cause and
effect travel in the opposite direction. The individual may get into drugs, which in turn blocks their
access to legitimate goals in society (via drug tests).

Finally, when an individual cannot achieve legitimate goals, Merton assumes failure with reference to
the person engaging in the deviance. This assumption is misplaced. If someone is a successful "hustler"
in drugs or weapons how can we say that person is a failure? He or she is achieving something
illegitimately, which means that the individual must have to work extra hard to be a success at his or her
deviant profession.

Strain Theory of Deviance – additional points

Sometimes people find that when they attempt to attain culturally approved goals, their paths are
blocked. Not everyone has access to institutionalized means, or legitimate ways of achieving success.
Strain theory, developed by sociologist Robert Merton, posits that when people are prevented from
achieving culturally approved goals through institutional means, they experience strain or frustration
that can lead to deviance. He said that they also experience anomie, or feelings of being disconnected
from society, which can occur when people do not have access to the institutionalized means to achieve
their goals.

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Example: In a class of graduating high school seniors, 90 percent of the students have been accepted at
various colleges. Five percent do not want to go to college, and the remaining five percent want to go to
college but cannot, for any one of a number of reasons. All of the students want to succeed financially,
and attending college is generally accepted as the first step toward that goal. The five percent who want
to attend college but can’t probably feel frustrated. They had the same goals as everyone else but were
blocked from the usual means of achieving them. They may act out in a deviant manner.

Reactions to Cultural Goals and Institutionalized Means

Merton theorized about how members of a society respond to cultural goals and institutionalized
means. He found that people adapt their goals in response to the means that society provides to achieve
them. He identified five types of reactions:

a) Conformists: Most people are conformists. They accept the goals their society sets for them, as
well as the institution-alized means of achieving them. Most people want to achieve that vague
status called a “good life” and accept that an education and hard work are the best ways to get
there.
b) Innovators: These people accept society’s goals but reject the usual ways of achieving them.
Members of organized crime, who have money but achieve their wealth via deviant means,
could be considered innovators.
c) Ritualists: A ritualist rejects cultural goals but still accepts the institutionalized means of
achieving them. If a person who has held the same job for years has no desire for more money,
responsibility, power, or status, he or she is a ritualist. This person engages in the same rituals
every day but has given up hope that the efforts will yield the desired results.
d) Retreatists: Retreatists reject cultural goals as well as the institutionalized means of achieving
them. They are not interested in making money or advancing in a particular career, and they
tend not to care about hard work or about getting an education.
e) Rebels: Rebels not only reject culturally approved goals and the means of achieving them, but
they replace them with their own goals. Revolutionaries are rebels in that they reject the status
quo. If a revolutionary rejects capitalism or democracy, for example, he or she may attempt to
replace it with his or her own form of government.

5. Cloward and Ohlin’s Opportunity Theory – An Extention to Merton’s Strain Theory

Deviant behavior—crime in particular—was not just a response to limited institutionalized means of

success BUT ALSO resulted from increased access to illegitimate opportunity structures, or various illegal
means to achieve success.

These structures, such as crime, are often more available to poor people living in urban slums. A poor
person can become involved in prostitution, robbery, drug dealing, or loan sharking to make money.

While these activities are clearly illegal, they often provide opportunities to make large amounts of
money, as well as gain status among one’s peers. [apply to Caribbean situation. Youths involved in drug
subcultures which bring instant gratification, quick money, = prestige in the ghetto

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Institutionalized Means to Success

In the 1960s, sociologists Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin theorized that the most difficult task facing
industrialized societies is finding and training people to take over the most intellectually demanding jobs
from the previous generation. To progress, society needs a literate, highly trained work force. Society’s
job is to motivate its citizens to excel in the workplace, and the best way to do that is to foment
discontent with the status quo. Cloward and Ohlin argued that if people were dissatisfied with what they
had, what they earned, or where they lived, they would be motivated to work harder to improve their
circumstances. In order to compete in the world marketplace, a society must offer institutionalized
means of succeeding. For example, societies that value higher education as a way to advance in the
workplace must make educational opportunity available to everyone.

Illegitimate Opportunity Structures

Cloward and Ohlin further elaborated on Merton’s strain theory. Deviant behavior—crime in particular
—was not just a response to limited institutionalized means of success. Rather, crime also resulted from
increased access to illegitimate opportunity structures, or various illegal means to achieve success.
These structures, such as crime, are often more available to poor people living in urban slums. In the
inner city, a poor person can become involved in prostitution, robbery, drug dealing, or loan sharking to
make money. While these activities are clearly illegal, they often provide opportunities to make large
amounts of money, as well as gain status among one’s peers.

Cloward and Ohlin depicted three types of delinquent subcultures: the criminal, conflict and retreatist.
Which subculture one finds themselves engaged in will depend upon the cultural transmission of
delinquent values. For instance, the criminal subculture was felt to exist in more stable working class
areas whereas the conflict subculture, which is characterised by high levels of violence, rather than
property crime as with criminal subculture, existed in less stable populations. The retreatist subculture
would support values surrounding, for instance, crimes associated with the use of drugs. The retreatist
subculture 'exists for the 'double failures'. These are the people who have neither criminal opportunities
nor the ability to compete in a conflict group'. Hence opportunity is an important feature of Cloward and
Ohlin's theory because it relates to the availability of either legitimate or types of illegitimate
opportunities available to the potential delinquent.

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Cloward and Ohlins case study on working class boys and delinquency in their neighbourhood –
applicable to the Caribbean

According to them working class boys learn criminal/delinquent values through the transmission of
them in accordance to the particular delinquent subculture - criminal, conflict or retreatist - that exists in
the area they live. These boys at some point of time must have accepted and internalised middle class
values and norms for them to experience the strain to which delinquency provides a solution where
there is failure. The question is: Do lower-working class lads typically desire, then are denied, middle
class status?

Note Well

Cloward and Ohlin's opportunity theory is seen as important as it stressesthat strain theory was
incomplete without a systematic explanation of why people solve their problems in one way and not
another. The issue of selection of adaptations, they believed, could be answered only by focusing on
how the illegitimate opportunity structure regulated access to different forms of crime/deviance for
people located at different points in society.

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Marxist Theories
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Conflict theory interprets society as a struggle for power between groups engaging in conflict for limited
resources.

The capitalist class, or elite, consists of those in positions of wealth and power who own the means of
production or control access to the means of production. The working class consists of relatively
powerless individuals who sell their labour to the capitalist class. It is advantageous to the elite to
keep the working class in a relatively disadvantaged position so that they can maintain the status quo
and their own privileged positions

The capitalist class passes laws designed to benefit themselves. These same laws are detrimental to
the working class. Both groups commit acts of deviance, but the system the capitalists created defines
deviance differently for each group. The criminal justice system judges and punishes each group
differently.

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EXAMPLE: White-Collar Crimes

Members of the elite are less likely to commit acts of violence but more likely to engage in white-collar
crime, or nonviolent crime committed by the capitalist class during the course of their occupations.

The elite can often afford expensive lawyers and are sometimes on a first-name basis with the
individuals in charge of making and enforcing laws. People in positions of power make the laws to
benefit themselves. They have the means to hire lawyers, accountants, and other people who can help
them avoid being labelled as deviant. Members of the working class generally do not have these
advantages. The working class is more likely to commit so-called street crime, such as robbery, assault,
or murder.

Example: White-collar criminal acts include embezzlement, insider stock trading, price fixing, and
breaking regulatory laws.

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White-collar criminals are difficult to catch and prosecute for two main reasons:

 White-collar crime is difficult to identify. It leaves little physical evidence and no easily
identifiable victim. In order to detect white-collar crime, authorities must have knowledge of
high finance to discover that embezzlement, for example, has taken place.
 White-collar criminals are sometimes able to use their power and influence to avoid
prosecution. Because of their social and economic clout, white-collar criminals rarely face
criminal prosecution. When prosecuted, they are much less likely than members of the working
class to receive a prison sentence. They are more likely to pay a fine as punishment for their
crime.

White-Collar Crime: Not Dangerous?

Generally, white-collar crimes are not harmful or dangerous to the general public. But there are
exceptions. In 2001, consumer advocates accused the Ford Motor Corporation of equipping some of
their vehicles with faulty tires, made by Bridgestone/Firestone. Ford had already recalled the tires from
vehicles sold in other countries but made no such recall on tires on those sold in the United States. Over
200 people died and more than 800 were injured in automobile accidents allegedly caused by the
defective tires.

Deviance and Power

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Conflict theorist Alexander Liazos points out that the people we commonly label as deviant are also
relatively powerless. According to Liazos, a homeless person living in the street is more likely to be
labelled deviant than an executive who embezzles funds from the company he or she runs.

Interactionist Theories

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The symbolic interactionist perspective) of sociology views society as a product of everyday social
interactions of individuals. (Weber – why are you not thinking about the individual)

Symbolic interactionists also study how people use symbols to create meaning. In studying deviance,
these theorists look at how people in everyday situations define deviance, which differs between
cultures and settings.

1. Labelling Theory

Howard Becker being one of the labelling theorists posited that deviance is that which is so labelled. No
status or behaviour is inherently deviant until other people have judged it and labelled it deviant. Why
are some people considered deviant and others not? The question is therefore asked, why do certain
people become deviant and others do not. Labelling theorists view criminals not as evil people who
engage in wrong doing but as individuals who had a criminal status placed on them by both the
community and the justice system at large. Take this for example. Not all juvenile offenders are labelled
as delinquents. However, lower-class youth and poor youths, are more likely to be labelled as
delinquent.

Primary and Secondary Deviance

Sociologist Edwin Lemert differentiated between primary deviance and secondary deviance. The
difference between primary deviance and secondary deviance is in the reactions other people have to
the original act of deviance. Primary deviance is a deviant act that provokes little reaction and has
limited effect on a person’s self-esteem. The deviant does not change his or her behaviour as a result of
this act.

Example: An adolescent who smokes cigarettes with other adolescents is not at risk of being labelled a
deviant among her peers, since they all smoke. Even though adolescents who smoke cigarettes are
considered deviant by the larger American society, that teenager’s actions go relatively unnoticed,
unpunished, and therefore unchanged. The primary deviance is of little consequence.

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Secondary deviance includes repeated deviant behaviour that is brought on by other people’s negative
reactions to the original act of primary deviance.

Example: The same adolescent moves to a new school where his peers never smoke and where smoking
is considered a deviant behaviour. The students call him names and exclude him from all of their social
activities. Because of their reactions to his smoking, he feels like an outcast and begins to smoke more,
perhaps engaging in other deviant activities, such as alcohol or drugs.

According to Lemert, the reactions to the adolescent’s primary deviance provoked a form of secondary
deviance. Because his alleged friends reacted so negatively to his behaviour, he began to engage in
more of the deviant behaviour. This repeated deviance results in the adolescent having a deviant
identity. He now has a “reputation,” and no one looks at him in quite the same way as before.

CASE STUDY

Chambliss and the Saints and Roughnecks

In the 1970s, sociologist William Chambliss studied two groups of high school boys to find out how
strongly labels affected them. The eight boys in the group Chambliss called the Saints came from middle-
class families. Society expected them to do well in life. The six boys in the other group, the Roughnecks,
came from lower-class families in poorer neighbourhoods. The community generally expected them to
fail. Both groups engaged in deviant behaviour—skipping school, fighting, and vandalizing property—but
suffered different consequences. The teachers, the police, and the community excused the Saints’
behaviour because they believed the Saints were good boys overall. The same people saw the
Roughnecks as bad and prosecuted them for their behaviour more often.

Years later, all but one of the Saints had gone to college and subsequently into professional careers. Two
Roughnecks went to college on athletic scholarships, graduated, and became coaches. Two never
graduated from high school, and the other two ended up in prison.

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Chambliss discovered that the boys’ social class had much to do with the public’s perception of them
and the ways the public perceived their acts of deviance. He also hypothesized that a deviant label can
become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Roughnecks had heard for so long that they were never going to
amount to much that they behaved in accordance with the negative expectations others had of them.

2. Sub-cultural Theories

Within the deviant subculture, individuals adopt new norms and values and sometimes feel alienated
from the larger society. They rely more on the group to which they feel they most belong. Members of
the immediate group often become the individual’s primary source of social interaction. The deviant
feels comfortable among others who have also been rejected from the dominant society.

Example: People released from prison often find that the dominant society does not welcome them back
with open arms, and they often drift toward other ex-convicts to attain a sense of belonging and
purpose, thereby forming a subculture. This deviant subculture helps to explain why rates of recidivism,
or repeated offenses by convicted criminals, are so high. The ex-convict subculture sanctions and
encourages further acts of deviance.

Differential Opportunity Theory – A Subcultural Theory (Extension to Merton’s Strain Theory)

Deviant behaviour—crime in particular—was not just a response to limited institutionalized means of

success BUT ALSO resulted from increased access to illegitimate opportunity structures, or various illegal
means to achieve success.

Differential Association Theory

This is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland. Differential association theory proposes that through
interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal
behaviour. Deviance is a learned behaviour. It is not necessarily due to biological or due to personality.
People commit deviant acts because they associate with individuals who act in a deviant manner. If

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people learn deviance from others, the people with whom we associate are of utmost importance. The
closer the relationship, the more likely someone is to be influenced. Parents for example who worry that
their children are socializing with an undesirable crowd have a justified concern. Differential association
predicts that an individual will choose the criminal path when the balance of definitions for law-breaking
exceeds those for law-abiding.

One critique levelled against differential association stems from the idea that people can be
independent, rational actors and individually motivated. Example: In a gang environment, current gang
members re-socialise new members to norms that oppose those of the dominant culture. From the
gang, these new members learn that stealing, carrying a gun, and using drugs are acceptable behaviours,
whereas they were not before. In the meantime, the norms they learned at home are no longer
acceptable within the gang environment, and they must reject those norms and values to accept the
new ones. Current gang members also teach new members how to commit specific deviant acts, such as
hotwiring a car or breaking into a home.

3. Social Control Theory

Sociologist Travis Hirschi elaborated on the control theory. He identified four elements that would
render an individual more or less likely to commit deviance: attachment, commitment, involvement, and
belief.
• Attachment: People who feel a strong attachment to other people, such as family or close
friends, are less likely to be deviant. If people have weak relationships, they feel less need to
conform to the other person’s or group’s norms. They are more likely to commit a deviant act.
• Commitment: Individuals who have a sincere commitment to legitimate goals are more likely to
conform to society’s norms. Those goals could be a legitimate job, higher education, financial
stability, or a long-term relationship. When people have little confidence in the future, they are
more likely to engage in deviance.
• Involvement: The more involved people are with legitimate activities, the less likely they are to
deviate from appropriate behavior. A person with a job, a family, and membership in several
clubs or organizations is less likely to commit deviance. Not only does he not have time to waste
in potentially harmful activities, but he has a lot to lose if he does.

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 • Belief: An individual who shares the same values as the dominant society, such as respect for
authority, the importance of hard work, or the primacy of the family, is less likely to commit
deviance. Individuals whose personal belief systems differ from those of the dominant society
are more likely to commit deviance. A person raised to believe that it is acceptable to cheat, lie,
and steal will probably not integrate into mainstream society as well as someone whose beliefs
conform to the values of the larger society

Theoretical perspectives applied to the Caribbean

Ken Pryce: [Caribbean Sociology, 2001] Towards a Caribbean criminology highlights the need for
research on crime and deviance in the Caribbean. He refers to traditional criminology, which was
influenced by oppressive colonial regimes intent on maintaining control of the majority black
population. He suggests the need for new laws, new perspectives.
a. Functionalist theory has limited use in the Caribbean as it tends to underscore the colonial
status quo which Caribbean societies are trying to shed.
b. Marxist theory applies to some extent but given the present problems with crime need to be
reviewed.
c. Interactionist theories are best able to explain issues such as anomie, the response of the youth
to societal pressures, resulting in youth violence, gangs, involvement in the drug trade etc. The
counterculture as revolution is a concept that needs to be explored.

INSTITUTIONS OF SOCIAL CONTROL

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It must be noted that in studying all the institutions of social control they should not be
compartmentalized, but rather, one must appreciate that they are intertwined and are affected by one
another.

FAMILY

Giddens (2001)- Family is a group of persons directly linked by kin connections, and the adult members
assume responsibility for the children. Family is an internal unit of social control and achieves such
through socialization, as the family is the primary agent of socialization. Parsons and Bales (1956) state
socialization involves the processes of internalization of society’s culture and structuring personalities.
The internalization of society’s culture involves absorbing and accepting society’s norms and values.
i.e establishing social control. The family provides the bonding and attachment to allow individuals to
have the support that prevents them from deviating from societal norms. The nuclear family is seen as
the ideal family as both parents are present to ensure proper socialization of children.

Research was carried out by UWI in 1988 and 1989, which showed that there was need for increased
involvement of fathers with their children. However, Sclater (2000) states that 1 in 4 children will
experience divorced parents before the age of 16. In the Nation Newspaper’s, May 31 2006 edition,
Howell states that when fathers are involved in parenting children do better in school and are less

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susceptible to juvenile delinquency. It was also noted that absence of the father was a stronger factor
than poverty in contributing to juvenile delinquency

RELIGION

Giddens (2001) notes that religion involves a set of symbols, invoking feelings of awe or reverence.
Religion is characterized as an institution of social control because rules of conduct are administered to
believers as how they should carry themselves. Also, society’s laws evolved from religious tenets.
Religious belief is an informal and internal form of social control. It also occurs through the process of
socialization. Mustapha (2006) states the characteristics of religion as a form of social control include,
“obedience to rules and conformity to norms leading to various types of religious rewards.

According to Functionalists……

 Religion also functions as a form of social control because the burdens of deprivation,
disappointed desires, and mortality can be offset by supernatural payoffs.
 religion plays a role in value consensus, and
 operates as a barrier to social change.

The Marxists also believe religion is a form of social control, that is, it is the opium of the people and it
controls the working class, preventing revolution by promising rewards for conformity/good
behaviour/suffering in the afterlife. It justifies subordination.

NB: the use of religion to justify and perpetuate African slavery in the Caribbean.

NB Secularization has weakened religious bonds (secularization is used to describe societies that have
become or are becoming modernized—meaning that features of society such as the government, the
economy, and schools are more distinct, or less influenced by religion)

EDUCATION

Education is the social institution guiding a society’s transmission of knowledge. Schools provide formal
education. Formal education is a key institution in modern society as it reflects and transmits the values,
norms and culture of society. These norms and values are internalized and may be accepted by students,
which perpetuates social order. According to Durkheim (functionalist) – “Education is the ‘methodical
socialization of the young generation”. Education achieves homogeneity/ social solidarity. Education

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helps to provide an important link between the individual and society. Education rewards conformity
and punishes deviance, strengthening norms and values of society. It reinforces social control. People
develop attachments to other people in the various activities at school. They believe this attachment
promotes social order, and deters people from choosing to become deviant or criminal. Children are
socialized into ‘universal values’, that is, that in order to success it is important to work and achieve on
the basis of merit.

However, Marxists believe that education reinforces the existing status quo in society, and serves the
interest of the capitalist. The education system is a means of transmitting ruling class values and
ideologies. Bowles and Gintis even identifies a ‘hidden curriculum’, which serves to reproduce the
existing social structure.

MEDIA

Technologies such as the television, radio and newspaper can be referred to as media. It is argued that
society is comprised of interacting and competing sections, which the media in turn caters to. Media
reflects society and thus helps to change it. Media is often government or state owned, and thus, media
centres may choose to only disclose information which suits them. The Marxists believes what is
portrayed in media are the ideas of the ruling class, which helps to maintain their dominance, and the
capitalist system. E.g. advertisements promoted the goods of the ruling class by attaching positive
attitudes, desires and results of buying products. Marcuse considers that media diverts the masses
away from an awareness of their true exploitation, just as religion did in the past. Media thus sends the
message that all can hope to achieve material success and should strive to do so. NB. Barbados only has
one local television broadcasting business and a few media print. The interactionist believe that media
produces consensus and that sincere interaction between individuals and media can and does take
place.

LEGAL & POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Legal and political control are types of formal control which are also regarded as external social control.
The institutions of social control use negative sanctions to punish criminals and certain deviants.
Sociologists generally agree that legal control is less effective than other forms of internal control, and is
often used as a last resort.

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Functionalists believe that laws are instituted by those who hold power in society and usually reflect the
societal norms and values of that society. Laws seek to deter people from acting contrary to societal
norms, and are enforced by courts, police, prisons etc. Marxist argue that legal/political control is a
means to maintain the power of the elite, by the formation of laws which benefit them and oppress the
working class.

Politics is how power is used to affect the society, via the governmental activities. Giddens (2001) states
that “authority is a government’s legitimate power”. In a globalizing world, political social control has far
reaching effects. Ideologies such as democracy have been spread worldwide by the US and so
communist ideologies can be seen as deviance. NB. The US international watch-dogs concept.

CARIBBEAN PERSPECTIVE:

Slavery was an institution.

Functionalist- Laws of the nation reflected the societies views eg slave codes [Colonial laws still exist in
Caribbean constitutions

Marxist- Laws were used to maintain the dominance of the elite (planters) and subordination of the
working class (slaves). Now replaced by private sector and politicians]

EXAMPLES:

Guyana- voting process done along racial lines.

Jamaica- political tensions and over-policing has led to the police being derogatorily termed ‘Babylon’.

Also, common law unions arose out of familial situation in Caribbean (reinforces functionalist view of
laws as a reflection of society).

Social Distribution of Crime

You must be able to apply relevant theories to explain the rise in crime:

1) SOCIAL CLASS AND CRIME

Anomic Theory
Merton used Durkheim’s concept of anomie, saying that people committed crimes when they'd failed to
achieve goals within society's standards with legitimate means, and the working class had less means.

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Subcultural Theories
A different set of values are identified within a subculture. The culture may be a rebellion against
middle-class-values or an exaggerated form of mainstream working class values.

Interactionist theory
Working class are labelled more readily.

Marxist theories
Ruling class define crime, and enforcement works against the workers.

FACT: Over 80% of offenders are working class only 8% came from middle class backgrounds. Middle-
class offenders tend to be associated with white-collar crime, fraud & tax evasion, whilst working-
class offenders are found guilty of burglary & street crime. BUT apply Chambliss study of saints and
roughnecks here. Also ‘Men at Risk’ should be looked at with a focus on working class youth in
Jamaica Note well in addition to the above for the Caribbean, historical background of slavery, laws
associated with slavery must also be looked at.

2) AGE & GENDER AND CRIME

Male crime generally outnumbers female crime by a ratio of 5 to 1. Men and women are generally
convicted for different types of offences - e.g Men dominate all offences and when females are
convicted is likely to be for theft (shoplifting).
Why less females?
 Women commit less crimes
 Women less likely to be caught
 Women are less likely to be labelled

While Merton's theory would suggest women are more criminal as less opportunities for success
emerges. Subculture theories have linked masculinity and deviance and as such males will tend to be
involved in more infractions than women. Moreover, women tend to have more control generally in
their lives, and if they break a law they are doubly breaking femininity laws.

Feminist Theory - One inequality that didn't receive much attention even from the conflict theorists is
gender. Theorists sometimes apologized for their lack of attention to girls and women, but there was an
assumption that the more dramatic and interesting forms of deviance were primarily the purview of the
boys and men. Official crime data confirmed their preponderance both as perpetrators and aggressors.
Only since the rise of modern feminism in the late 1960s and early 1970s has that assumption been
systematically tested. The first focus of the feminist theorists was domestic violence and rape. The
criminal justice system, by largely ignoring male violence against women in intimate relationships,
helped to perpetuate a patriarchy that was at least as basic to American society as class or racial
domination.

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FACT: Barbados
1/7/2011 [Advocate newspaper] report from Police Commissioner,
During 2010, 183 persons were charged with offences such as robbery, theft from persons and assault
with intent to rob and again, 39 per cent of them were under age 19; 40 per cent of them between ages
20 and 29 and 41 per cent were repeat offenders. MOST WERE MALE.
Jamaica 1995 80% offenders were male aged 15-25 years

3. THE SOCIAL DISTRIBUTION OF CRIME BY REGION

Urban areas, have higher rates of crime than suburbs or rural areas. Official surveys on crime indicate
that members of young households living in inner cities (students?) are ten times more likely to be
burgled than older people living in rural areas.

The official Crime statistics, reliability & Validity

Sociologists point out that the official statistics do not comprise the total volume of crime. There is a
‘dark figure’ of unrecorded crime a phenomenon which is now more widely acknowledged. Andy
Pilkington (1995) notes the following:
• The OCS do not comprise a complete record of criminal offences known to the authorities, e.g.
tax fraud,
• The number of recorded offences depends on official counting procedures which frequently
changes.
• Over 80% of all recorded crimes result from reports by the public but crime may not be
reported to the police because:
• People may not be aware a crime has taken place (fraud)
• The victim may be afraid or unable (child abuse)
• The offence may seem too trivial (vandalism)
• The victim may fear embarrassment or humiliation at the hands of the police or courts (rape)
• The victim or the community may distrust the police (ethnic minority communities may feel the
police do not take racial attacks seriously as shown by the Stephen Lawrence case).
• Around 40% of crimes reported to the police are not recorded by them and therefore do not
end up in official statistics.
• Barclay (1995) argues that the net sum of all these processes is that only 2% of offences
committed lead to a conviction in the criminal courts.

RESEARCH suggests that the rise in crime is an artificial phenomenon a rise in reporting rather than
a real increase because of the following:
• Living standards have risen rapidly and modern society is more materialistic. More to steal ( e.g.
cars, videos, mobile phones etc) to steal and a greater public intolerance of property crime.
People are therefore more likely to report it. The popularity of insurance has given people more

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 incentive to report theft whilst increased ownership of mobile phones may have made it easier
to report crime.
• Public attitudes towards violence have changed the greater stress on women’s rights has
produced a less tolerant attitude towards domestic violence.
• Changes in legislation and police practices may result in more crimes being reported.
• More police, better technology, results in better monitoring of crimes.

CRIME STATISTICS

According to the latest statistics, Jamaica has the fifth-highest homicide rate in the world, with 49
murders per year per 100,000 people, trailing only Iraq (89 per 100,000), Venezuela (65 per 100,000), El
Salvador (55.3 per 100,000), and Honduras (49.9 per 100,000).
• Trinidad and Tobago: 30.38 murders per 100,000
• Haiti: 11.5 per 100,000
• Panama: 11.3 per 100,000
• Suriname: 10.30 per 100,000
• Costa Rica: 7.68 per 100,000
• Barbados: 7.49 per 100,000
The murder rate in the Bahamas hit an all-time high in 2009, with 82 people killed, and killings also were
near record highs in Jamaica (1,660 murders in 2009), Puerto Rico (890-plus killings), and Trinidad and
Tobago (489 homicides).

ISSUES OF DEVIANCE

• Drug use among youth correlated with risky behaviour and behavioural problems.
• Youth engage in health compromising behaviours: violence involvement, illicit drug and tobacco
use, and alcohol use for both genders.
• Youth display rage versus school connectedness.
• Youth initiate sexual activity quite early and this correlated with gang membership and weapon
carrying.
• Youth engaged in unprotected sex and had multiple partners.
• Youth are disproportionately at risk for HIV infection

DRUGS
The Caribbean is awash with drugs. The associated crime, proliferation of guns and chances for huge
profits are undermining the efforts of ill-trained and poorly paid police and corrupting whole
governments, unable to stand up to drug cartels. High rates of crime and violence in the Caribbean are
undermining growth, threatening human welfare, and impeding social development, according to a
new report published today by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC).According to the report ‘Crime, Violence and Development : Trends, costs and Policy Options in
the Caribbean,’ murder rates in the Caribbean are higher than in any other region of the world, and

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assault rates are significantly above the world average. Narcotics trafficking is at the core of these high
rates. Narcotics trafficking diverts criminal justice resources from other important activities, increases
and embeds violence, undermines social cohesion and contributes to the widespread availability of
firearms in the region.

The World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), report draws on input from
governments, civil society organizations, and Caribbean experts, and presents detailed analyses of crime
and violence impacts at the national and regional levels. Caribbean countries are transit points and not
producers of cocaine. Gun ownership is an outgrowth of the drug trade and, in some countries, of
politics and associated garrison communities
Although reducing gun ownership is difficult, better gun registries, marking and tracking can help, as can
improved gun interdiction in ports. Policies should also focus on limiting the availability of firearms and
on providing meaningful alternatives to youth.
The report also suggests good practice approaches from global experiences; and offers concrete actions
and recommendations on crime prevention and crime reduction strategies. “Although there is no one
“ideal” approach for crime and violence prevention, interventions such as slum-upgrading projects,
youth development initiatives and criminal justice system reform can contribute to reducing crime and
violence” said Francis Maertens, UNODC Director, Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs.

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY READ sta.uwi.edu/nlc/2008/documents/papers/DPhillips.doc

Juvenile delinquency is the broad-based term given to juveniles who commit crimes What defines
adulthood or the age of majority in a court system may be predetermined by law, especially for minor
crimes. Major crimes may force the courts to decide to try a juvenile as an adult. Thus juvenile
delinquency can cover anything from small crime — a student who cuts school repeatedly is
delinquent--to very serious crimes like felony theft and murder. When a child, anyone under the age of
majority, commits a crime, most frequently they are tried and sentenced through a court system
separate from that which tries adults. There are also confinement centers, in other words, prisons,
specifically designed for children who commit serious crimes. These are often called juvenile detention
centers. [Summervale in Barbados]. Courts can decide how a juvenile should be punished, based on the
severity of the crime. They may recommend court appointed therapy, house arrest, or a variety of
measures short of incarceration. In many cases, records of children who commit crimes are expunged
when a child reaches eighteen, especially if no other crimes have been committed.

Possible Causes:
• Nature/nurture argument
• Parental neglect and abuse
• Mental disabilities

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Possible Solutions:
• Rehabilitation Programmes
• Fix the problem at the source

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

One in three women will suffer violence in their lifetime Marital rape is recognised as a crime in only 51

countries 70% of female murder victims are killed by male partners

* Police in Jamaica attributed 39% of their murders in 1995 to domestic disputes. The overwhelming
majority of the victims were women.

* Out of 97 women ages 20 to 45 surveyed in Antigua, 30% said they had been battered as adults.

* The same percentage of 264 women surveyed in the same age group in Barbados said they had
suffered domestic abuse as adults.

Most abuse in the region is not reported.

REASONS:

Cultural [men are the breadwinners in working class environments., “How do you charge the man who
is the father of your children? If he goes to jail, he doesn’t work. If he doesn’t work, he can’t support the
children.” - attorney Roberta Clarke

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Attitudes: A huge part of the problem regarding domestic violence is the fact that it is not taken
seriously in the eyes of many who have the authority to implement meaningful and lasting reforms –
particularly the police and politicians.

Economic: Financial downturns, failure of agriculture [crops destroyed by hurricanes] result in economic
pressure and a resulting rise in domestic abuse] women have been and continue to be economically
marginal, despite the fact that through the daily work in the home that unfortunately continues to be
seen as only women’s work, they provide the most important foundation of society.

Some Perspectives/Opinions and Views on Crime

Many important initiatives are taking place and being implemented in several Caribbean countries, to
develop community awareness of domestic violence and strengthen the laws against it in many cases.
However, the fact that violence against women continues and appears to be on the rise despite the
establishment of stricter anti-domestic violence initiatives across the Caribbean, raises crucial questions
about the effectiveness of legislative measures in the absence of an uncompromising approach to
enforcement, one moreover that does not end up going after everyone but those with the power and
money to ‘buy’ their own justice. Without that unwavering commitment to significant resources and
attitude shifts, it will be hard to make these initiatives anything more than window dressing. An
important factor is also that many women may not follow through on charges, partly because they may
fear losing whatever economic support their abuser might be providing them and their children.

Many people in the Caribbean are deeply religious, and they blame their troubles on the loss of faith
among the young as well as social and family breakdown, the high incidence of single-parent families,
materialism, corruption and poverty. For many, the solution is the return of hanging and birching,
tougher sentencing and a wholesale cleanout of corrupt police forces. But the little islands are often at
the mercy of trends and forces beyond their capacity to control. The Caribbean is awash with drugs. The
associated crime, proliferation of guns and chances for huge profits are undermining the efforts of ill-
trained and poorly paid police and corrupting whole governments, unable to stand up to drug cartels.

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Violent Crime Surge in the Caribbean Takes Heavy Toll

Crime costs Jamaica alone over $529 million a year in lost income.

In Trinidad and Tobago, a one per cent reduction in youth crime would boost tourism revenue by $35
million per year.

Case Study: Jamaica

Jamaica is a good example of how youth unemployment and the programs meant to solve this issue are
seen as falling short. Jamaica has the lowest average annual per capita GDP growth in the Caribbean
outside of Haiti (negative 0.1 percent), and recently signed an agreement with the International
Monetary Fund, with funding from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, for nearly $2
billion USD in loans throughout the next four years. [15] In terms of violence, the aforementioned U.N.
Human Development Report found that Jamaica has the “highest homicide rate in the Caribbean and
the third-highest murder rate worldwide in recent years, with about 60 murders per 100,000
inhabitants.” [16] The impacts of increased violence are considerable, with $529 million USD spent on
costs associated with crime every year. [17] There are approximately 800,000 young people in Jamaica,
and given the country’s waning economy, it is not surprising that youth are negatively impacted.

As of July 2012, unemployment for Jamaicans aged 14-19 was at 47 percent—virtually unchanged from
the previous year. Unemployment for those aged 20-24 in 2012 was at 30.1 percent—a 3.7 percent
increase since 2010. [18] These numbers are nearly double those of adult unemployment. Particularly
startling is that the overall youth unemployment rate in Jamaica in 1990 (ages 15-24) was 25.4 percent
—indicating that the problem has increased over the past two decades. [19] Young Jamaican females
are more likely to have higher rates of unemployment than males, on average, despite having higher
enrollment and average daily attendance rates in school. Young men tend to lag behind and often yield
to societal expectations that men “acquire income-generating skills, leave school early to go working, or
get involved with gang activities and criminal actions.” [20] This negative correlation between education
and employment for young women demonstrates an overall lack of opportunities to work.

There are four notable advances that have been made—past and present—which have been
implemented to resolve youth unemployment issues. The 1994 Jamaican Youth Policy focused on
motivation, as it specifically states that its goal is to “improve work ethics and training and promote
entrepreneurial skills.” [21] The National Centre of Youth Development, created in 2000, organizes a
Youth Entrepreneurship Training program that emphasizes entrepreneurial skills and development as
means of alleviating unemployment. [22] In addition, the Jamaican Emergency Employment Programme,
founded in 2011, is a job placement organization aimed at the general population. To date, it has
created 15,000 jobs for youths and adults.

An important program launched in June 2012, Digital Jam 2.0, demonstrates the importance of
entrepreneurship and the need for similar programs. Digital Jam 2.0 capitalized upon the booming
mobile applications and virtual economy markets by focusing on relevant and forward thinking topics.
Funded at less than $200,000 USD, the program attracted “2,000 young Jamaicans in a series of
competitions (app contests and a “hackathon” on the sports industry), workshops, training on mobile
software development, and presentations by industry leaders [and] successful young Jamaicans who are
currently working online.” [23] Not only were youth exposed to opportunities in the field of technology,

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but Howard University, a premier black institution located in the U.S. capital, also offered two full
Master of Arts fellowships to the winners of the app competition. As a result of the event, there are now
4,400 new Jamaican youth working in the fields of microwork (dividing tasks into smaller jobs to be be
completed via internet) and e-lancing platforms (online freelancing). [24] Forward thinking initiatives like
Digital Jam 2.0 are of the utmost importance because they offer relevant skills that could position youth
to be competitive in the global market. The Jamaican government seems committed to ending youth
unemployment, but, despite nearly two decades of these efforts, the problem of rampant youth
unemployment persists.

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