Crime and Deviance - Episode 1

devian act? Well, a crime is to find as something that breaks the law and as such may follow criminal proceedings such as a police caution, court proceedings and for serious offenses prison. Different societies have different laws and therefore crime can be seen as fluid and relative as a concept. Examples of crimes in the UK are theft, murder or rape. Deviance is a much broader term, and it's something that breaks the informal rules or the norms that are accepted

by the majority of a society. For example, burping during a meal is considered a deviant act in some societies but is socially acceptable in others. Nevertheless, you will not get a fine, or go to court or be imprisoned if you did commit a deviant act, as these are dealt with via informal sections, so things such as exclusion or shame, or gossiping or a glance. These terms can become more complicated as most crimes are deviant, however, not all are. A crime like murder, is both against the

law and deviant. However, some acts such as breaking the law to protect the environment or parking on a double yellow line, are criminal but not always seen as deviant. We must remember that what is socially acceptable can be subjective, and therefore we don't all categorize acts in exactly the same way. To clarify, some acts are just criminal, some are just deviant, and others are both criminal and deviant.

The key thing for you to remember is a criminal act is something that breaks the law, whereas a deviant act is something that just breaks a norm of society. So let's move on to this idea of relativity. Room and deviants are relative, and there are three factors that you should really try and remember for your exam, and that is that crime is relative to time, place, and person. Let's start with time. What constitutes a criminal act can depend on the time or era in which it took place.

For example, the sociologist Fuco shows us the homosexuality was illegal in England and Wales until nineteen sixty seven. After that it became legal. As we go through time, it also becomes more socially acceptable. In the early two thousands, people of the same sex could have a civil partnership, and by twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen we allowed gay marriage in the UK. So if we were asked, is homosexuality illegal in the UK, well, it depends what time

we're talking about. Pre nineteen sixty seven it would be. Post nineteen sixty seven it wouldn't be. There are also other areas that have changed. For example, abortion was not legalized in England, Scotland and Wales until the introduction of the Aborda Act in nineteen sixty seven. Driving without a seat belt was not criminalized in the UK until nineteen eighty three. So one way in which crime can be seen as relative is due to time or when a

crime actually took place. Let's think about place in terms of place, we can see what constitutes a crime is relative to where you are. Fuko again talks about how an act can change from place to place in his discourse theory. For example, having sex under the age of sixteen in Britain is a criminal offense, whereas in Germany and Italy the age of consent is fourteen, So having sex at the age of fifteen is a criminal act

in some places but not in others. In Saudi Arabia, homosexual or extramarital sexual relations, including adultery, are illegal and can be subject to severe penalties. It's also illegal to be transgender in Saudi Arabia. In addition, it could also be unacceptable for men to wear shorts in public. In regard to deviance, it could be deviant in the UK to be naked on the street, but not in your

own home. Therefore, the place in which the act takes place plays a significant role in classifying what is and what isn't deviant or criminal. Then we have the person that actually commits the act. In terms of person, what is deemed a crime may depend on who you are. For example, drinking alcohol is illegal for under sixteens in the UK, yet adults are allowed to drink as much as they want. Therefore, it is relative to a person's

age or status. Interactionists such as Sigarel are interested in how the status of a person may affect their chances of being labeled as a criminal. For example, he found that working class youths were more likely to get a criminal record than middle class uths because of police expectations, regardless of the fact that they were both doing the

same types of crimes or activities. In terms of deviants, it's normal if you were to skip along the street if you're a young child, but if adults started to do it, they will be looked at a little bit oddly. Therefore, what constitutes a crime and deviant act is relative to who you are to So if you were to get a question on crime being relative, try and remember those

three factors time, person, and place. All of this demonstrates then that crime and deviance is what we call socially constructed, and this means that is created and defined by society. A common sense understanding of crime and deviants is that certain acts are wrong and will always be this way. However, we should open our minds beyond this idea and think what is classified as criminal or deviant is the result

of society's definitions and not the actual act itself. Think of a soldier who has to kill in the line of duty. Some people would call them a hero or a heroine for what they did, whereas others would say that they were a murderer. However, some sociologists, such as the interactionist Howard Becker, wants us to think carefully about this and ask ourselves, is is there really any difference between a soldier and a person in prison for murder.

If crime is a social construction, as sociologists believer is, then we need a fundamental shift away from seeing acts and people as criminal or deviant and start looking at the role of powerful groups like the police, courts, and media who define a person's actions as criminal or deviant. So there's another couple of terms that are really useful here to understand, and one is social order and the other is social control. Social order is defined as the

general order of conformity to shared norms and values. We don't always recognize this. Look around you and you'll see examples of social order all the time, students working in the classroom, people in the street, drivers adhering to the rules of the road, and so on. Social control is defined as the process by which people are persuaded to

obey rules and conform. Agents of socialization, such as the police and courts, are influential in persuading us to adhere to the rules or suffer the consequences for not doing so. You must remember that there are two forms of social control, and this is really useful to understand. We have informal social control, and this is carried out by agencies such as the media, family or friends. It's a more subtle form of control and includes both positive and negative sanctions.

For example, if someone were to make a comment at your give you a little glance, they are controlling your behavior, but in no more subtle and informal way. Formal social control is carried out by agencies specifically set up to control our behavior, such as the police, the courts, and the army, and of course they can give more severe punishments. As already mentioned, the police can give fines, they can give cautions, and ultimately they can also give prison sentences

as well. So let's now move on to the victims of crime. According to official statistics, who are more likely to be victims. When we analyze the data for the Crime Survey for England and Wales, we can see lots of dif different variations. For example, with gender, one variation between male and female victimization shows that males are much more likely to be victims of homicide that means murder, whereas females are much more likely to be the victims

of domestic abuse. However, we also need to consider what we call intersectionality. This is a person's multiple identities such as their class, their age, their gender, ethnicity, etc. That create different levels of discrimination or privilege. To these findings, the variations within these gender trends and patterns of victimization change. So let's take victims of homicide and think about gender

and age. Variations between male and female homicide rates in England and Wales show that males are sixty four percent more likely to be victims and females at thirty six percent. However, intersectionality if we apply age to these findings, we can see that female homicide victims were mostly older than males, often between the ages of twenty five to thirty four. Male victims were comparatively younger, with higher proportions within the

age of sixteen to twenty four. Therefore, males are more likely to view victim of murder, but this is more likely to happen between the ages of sixteen and twenty four, whereas female murder victims are less frequent but more likely to be slightly older between the ages of twenty five to thirty four. Let's compare that to victims of domestic violence. The variation between males and females and domestic violence shows that the proportion of females experiencing domestic violence is around

seven point three percent of the population. That is around double that of males at three point six percent. Is therefore clear that females experience domestic violence more than males. However, with intersectionality, there seems to be clear variations within these statistics based on age and social class. Women aged twenty to twenty four years were significantly more likely to be victims of any domestic abuse in the last twelve months than women in Ana any other age group. Therefore, younger

females are statistically more likely to experience domestic violence. When we look at social class, females with a lower household income were around twenty one percent of all domestic violence victims. More middle class women are around twelve point five percent, and with high income around four percent. These figures show us that age and social class are very important factors, and this intersectionality gives us a better understanding of patterns

and trends of domestic violence among female victims. So for yourself, it's really important if you were giving examples in relation to gender, to remember that men are more likely to be victims of being attacked or being a victim of homicide, whereas females are more likely to be a victim of domestic violence. Let's think about some statistics in terms of victimization and ethnicity. First of all, we have what's called interracial crime rates. This is between different racial or ethnic groups.

These statistics that people of mixed ethnicity are more likely to be the victim of crime. In twenty twenty, the figure for ethnic groups and victimization where mixed twenty percent, Asian fifteen percent, Black groups fourteen percent, and white thirteen percent. Home Office figures also show that black people are five times more likely to be murdered than white people in the UK. That's clear evidence of interracial victimization. We also

have what's called intra racial crime rates. This is within racial or ethnic groups, and these statistics shasts that the most violent crime is interracial. That means black on black or white on white, etc. Home Office intraracial figures show that one third of gun murder victims and suspects were black.

So all of these figures show us there are clear variations between different social groups, i e. Males are more likely to be victims of murder, females are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, Mixed ethnicity groups are more likely to be the victims of crime in general. However, it's also important to pinpoint these variations within these trends and patterns ies. Social class can play a huge significant role in domestic violence, age can play a role in homicide.

Social class plays a role in differing ethnic levels of victimization. This intersectionality provides a deeper understanding of patterns and trends of victimization. However, it is also important to note that the Crime Survey for England and Wales is only one way of measuring crime, and this method does have some weaknesses. It's also important to keep in mind that different sociological perspectives have differing and sometimes contrasting views on crime and

victims of crime. For example, Marxists would point out that all proletariats are victims of crime because of the bourgeoisie and due to capitalism, whereas feminists would argue that patriarchy victimizes all females in ways that can be seen as criminal in today's society. So just to recap have a think about these areas. Can you now define what is meant by crime? Can you define what is meant by deviants? Could you give an example of a criminal act? Could

you give an example of a deviant act? Could you name the three factors which make crime and deviance relative? Could you name at least three different patterns in relation to victimization and crime. Thank you for listening to part one. In part two, we will look at how crime is measured. The Sociology Show podcast now offers online tutoring. Whether you want a single session or a regular slot, then you

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