PREPARED BY

UMAIR
 Deviance
Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms.
(macionis)
Or
it is behavior that a large or powerful segment of the
population disapproves of.

"Sociologists use the term deviance to refer to any

violation of norms.”
(Henslin)
For example
Speak up too much
or too loudly
Strange get up
Stealing
Murder etc.
There are two types of deviance
Informal deviance
Formal deviance
 Informal deviance
It refers to the fact that an individual goes
against the general trend of society; however,
this behaviour does not constitute an illegal act.
e.g
Someone Licking the ground
Odd hair style to look different
from others
Informal deviants are
people whose behaviour
might raise an eyebrow
but will not encourage a
person to call the police.
e.g
Someone picking your nose
 Not all informal deviance
is negative
it can be positive as well
for example
A Rock star who perhaps
drifts from the norm but
people like his style
 Formal deviance
It refers to the fact that an individual goes
against the established laws of society.
So formal Deviant is a criminal
It has wide range from
minor traffic violation
to murder.
Characteristics
1. Cross cultural analysis
demonstrates that ideas of
right and wrong vary from
culture to culture.
e.g
marrying young girls under 18
may be common practice in
some countries
but
in US it would be considered
child abuse.
2. Deviance seem to vary
according to the status of
the person performing the
act.
e.g
The individual who shot
several people was
condemned
But
A soldier performing the
same act in another country
might win a medal.
3. Deviance also depends on
the context of the act
e.g
If I take a needle and inject
you with a lethal poison, it
would be considered murder
But
If the state does it, it's
considered capital
punishment.
 Social control
These are attempts by society to regulate
people’s thoughts and behavior.

Social control is of two types

1. Informal
2. Formal
Informal means of social
control

• when parents praise or

scold their children

• when friends make fun of

our choice of music or
style of dress
 Formal means of social control

• criminal justice system,

the organizations (police,
courts and prison
officials) that respond to
alleged violations of the
law.
 PERSONALITY FACTORS AFFECTING
DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR
o Psychologists consider:
deviance as abnormality
in individual personality.
Personality is shaped by
social experience.

Therefore deviance is the

result of unsuccessful
socialization
Containment Theory
 This classic research was made by
Walter Reckless and Simon Dinitiz
, illustrate the psychological
behaviour.

 They studied the behaviour of 12

year old male students asking
their teachers to categorize as
either likely or unlikely they get
into trouble with the law.
Containment Theory (Cont’d)
o Conclusion
 They concluded that

 “good boys” showed a strong

conscience , could handle frustration
and identified with social norms.

 “bad boys” didn’t have these

characteristics and were more
deviant.
Recent study also agrees with
the classical approach of
Walter Reckless and Simon
Dinitiz.
Psychologist also have shown
that personality patterns have
some connections to deviance.
These approaches consider
deviance as a trait of individual
so limited in explaining
deviance.
 SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF DEVIANCE
There are three social
foundation of deviance:

I. Deviance varies according to

social norms

II. People become deviant as

others define them that way

III. How societies set norms and

how they define rule
breaking both involves social
power
Deviance varies according to cultural norms

No thought or action is deviant, it becomes

deviant in relation to some particular norms

Norms varies place to place to place and

therefore deviance also

Not a single norm and deviance is universal

SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF DEVIANCE
Examples
• The selling of alcohol is
banned in Pakistan but
allowed in US.
• Wearing dastaar is deviance
in urban areas but not in
rural areas of Pakistan.
• Iran bans wearing makeup
by women.
People become deviant as others
define them that way
• Everyone violates culture
norm at one time or another.
A person become deviant
when the people of some
particular culture perceive
and define him deviant.

• For example, when a person

talking to himself, some
people consider it deviance.
 How societies set norms and how they define
rule breaking both involves social power
• The law, is the means by which
powerful people protect their
interests.(Karl Max)

• For example, when a homeless

person speaks against
government, arrested for
disturbing the peace but when an
opposition leader during election
campaign does the same thing
gets police protection.
Crime
CRIME

• Crime amounts to
a violation of the
criminal law
enacted by the
local, state or
national
government.
• Crime is behaviour
that breaks the
formal written laws
of a society. If
someone commits
a crime he/she
can be arrested,
charged and
prosecuted.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRIME AND DEVIANCE
Deviance Crime
Deviance is the recognized violation Crime amounts to a violation of the
of cultural norms. criminal law enacted by the local,
state or national government.

Agents of control for deviance are Agents of control for crime are
societal pressure and fear of God. police and judiciary.

Society has no coercive power to but governments have the power of

deal with deviance. punishment to tackle crime.

For example For example

• Walking with the shoes in holy • Murder
place like mosque. • forcible rape
• standing too close to another • robbery
unnecessarily.
• Smoking in public place
A person can be deviant and criminal
at same point in time.

For example: If someone commits a

murder. He is violating the cultural
norms of society and religion, also he is
breaking the criminal law.
ELEMENTS OF CRIME

THE ACT ITSELF

MENS REA (guilty mind )

TYPES OF CRIME
• Crimes against the person
• involve violence or the threat
of violence against another
person
• For example: Murder, Rape
and Robbery

• Crimes against Property

There are two basic
types of crime • Property crimes involve theft of
property without physical harm,
such as burglary, larceny, auto
theft, and arson.
OTHER TYPES

VICTIMLESS CRIMES

• Definition: Victimless crimes are violations of

law in which there are no readily apparent
victims. Normally the act is against society itself
through norms, values, attitudes, and beliefs.
• Examples: When someone smokes a cigarette
or uses cocaine he is violating cultural values.
He is committing a crime, but there is no direct
victim on a specific person, as there is when
someone is robbed or murdered.
 OTHER TYPES (Cont.)
WHITE-COLLAR CRIME
• Definition:
• White-collar crime is a criminal act that arises from
opportunities created by a person’s social position.
• These are crimes committed by persons of high
social position in the course of their occupation
• These crimes are generally viewed as less serious and
less deserving of punishment because of the class
bias of society.
• Examples:
• tax fraud
• false advertising, etc.
OTHER TYPES (Cont.)

Corporate crime

• Failure of
corporations to
provide a safe
working
environment
• the production of
unsafe products
• unsafe disposal of
toxic waste
OTHER TYPES (Cont.)
Organized Crime

• Organized crime is crime

committed by structured
groups typically involving the
distribution of illegal goods
and services.
• Many people think of the
Mafia when they think of
organized crime, but the
term can refer to any group
that exercises control over
large illegal enterprises
• Example:
• such as the drug trade,
• illegal gambling,
• prostitution,
• weapons smuggling
• money laundering
Demographic Patterns of Crime
What is critical in
explaining high
levels of crime
are the social
factors linked to
sex, race,
economic
deprivation,
lifestyle
differences,
educational level
and so forth.
Sex:-

Sex is the single social factor

that is most predictive of
patterns of criminal
behaviour. Males have higher
rates of involvement than
females in practically all
forms of criminality. Men are
arrested about three times
more than women for
property crimes.
Age:-

Crime is a "young person's game."

Most people arrested are under
thirty years of age, and the
highest percentage of the arrests
for violent offenses is within the
eighteen to twenty-four age
brackets. Notice that this same
age group is the one most likely to
use and abuse drugs. The drop in
criminal activity and drug use
after age 24 is called "aging out".
Consider that people between
the ages of 15 and 24 only make
up about 14% of the US
population but they represented
39.1% of those arrested for violent
crimes and 46.8% of those
Socioeconomic Status:-

The relationship between

socioeconomic status (SES) and
criminality has been one of the
more controversial issues in
modern-day criminology. On the
one hand, research statistics
indicate that members of lower
socioeconomic groups are more
likely to commit crimes. Yet we
also know that lower
socioeconomic groups are more
likely to be arrested, suggesting
that it may be that arrest is more
common among them than the
Race:
Detailed analysis through
victimization surveys indicate that
black-white differences in criminal
behaviour are real rather than merely
reflecting the criminal justice system
biases such as the likelihood of arrest.
The social environment of blacks in
America is thought to be primarily
responsible for these crime rate
differences. Blacks may be more
closely watched than whites by law
enforcement agencies and this leads
to higher arrest rates.
 Crime in Global Perspective

Typically more New Yorkers are hit by

stray bullets than are gunned down
deliberately in cities elsewhere in the
world. Rough comparisons suggest that
the homicide rate in the US stands five
times higher than the rate in Europe and
the property crime rate is twice as high.
Another contributing factor to the
relatively high level of violence in the US
is widespread private ownership of guns.
About 68 per cent of the 15,517 (as of
2000) murder victims annually in the US
are killed by guns. In fact, the US is the
country with the highest number of
killings involving handguns.
Critique of America's Criminal Justice System

According to Jeffrey Reinman, a professor of criminal

justice:
“The goal of our criminal justice system is not to reduce
crime or to achieve justice but to project to the American
public a visible image of the threat of crime. To do this, it
must maintain the existence of a sizable or growing
population of criminals. And to do this, it must fail in the
struggle to reduce crime.” (Reinman, 1979:1).
 Legalization of Some Crimes

Some have proposed that we should legalize many of

the victimless crimes, such as gambling, prostitution,
and some drug violations. Legalization involves the
recognition that the criminal justice system should deal
with controlling behaviour that threatens the public
order, not with regulating people's morality.