Bellringer 3/14
• You see on the news that there has been a
mass shooter and 25 people are killed. Write
down what would cross your mind if they
were:
– African American
– Caucasian (white)
– Arab/Middle Eastern
Chapter 7
Section 3: Symbolic Interactionism
and Deviance
Two Theories Associated with
Symbolic Interactionism and Deviance
• Differential Association theory
• Labeling theory
Differential Association Theory
• Theory that individuals learn deviance in
proportion to number of deviant acts they are
exposed to
• Emphasizes role of primary groups in transmitting
deviance
• More individuals are exposed to people who
break the law more apt they are to become
criminals
Three Characteristics of Differential
Association Theory
• The ratio of deviant to nondeviant individuals
– More deviants one knows…more likely to learn deviant
behavior
• Whether the deviant behavior is practiced by
significant others
– More likely to copy deviant behavior from someone
important to you
• Age of exposure
– Younger kids learn deviant behavior more quickly than
older kids
Labeling Theory
• Theory that society creates deviance by
identifying particular members as deviant
• Labeling theory helps explain why deviance is
RELATIVE. The other theories help explain why
deviance happens.
• Deviant behaviors are always a matter of social
definition
Examples of Labeling Theory
• Pregnant young women more stigmatized than
the young fathers to be
• African American/Caucasian crime
• “Affluenza”
• Mass shooters based on religion
Degrees of Deviance
• Primary deviance: deviance • Secondary deviance:
involving occasional
deviance in which an
breaking of norms that is
individual’s life and
not part of a person’s
identity are organized
lifestyle or self-concept
around breaking society’s
norms
– Isolated acts of deviance
– Deviance as a lifestyle and
personal identity
– Deviance overshadows all
other aspects of someone’s
identity
Scenarios are primary or secondary deviance?
•
•
•
•
•
Skipping school
Developing alcoholism
Using drugs constantly
Kleptomaniac
Joining some
counterculture movement
• Underage drinking
• Talking back to your
guardians/parents
• Armed robbery
• Getting a tattoo or
piercing
What are the consequences of labeling?
• Labeling someone as deviant can cause
pain/suffering for the person
• Alter direction of their lives
• Stigma: undesirable trait or label that is used to
characterize an individual
– Denies someone social acceptance
Chapter 7
Section 4: Conflict Theory and
Deviance
How Industrial Societies Protect
Culture Against Deviance
• Critics of industrial society are seen as deviant
because their beliefs challenge its economic,
political, and social basis
• Because industrial societies require a willing
workforce, those who don’t work= deviants
• Those who threaten private property (esp. for
rich) are prime targets for punishment
Continued
• Industrial societies need respect for authority.
People who show lack of respect for authority
are treated as deviants
– Protesters/nonviolent demonstrations
– Agitators on the job
• Certain activities encouraged depending on
how well they fit within industrial society
Race, Ethnicity, and Crime
• Relationship between minorities and the
judicial system is a good way to view deviance
through conflict perspective
• Supporters of conflict perspective believe
minorities receive unequal treatment from
American criminal justice system
Statistics
• When criminal offense the same…African
Americans/Hispanics more likely than whites to
be convicted
• Interracial murders= Af. Am is 13x more likely to
be sentenced to death for murder of white
person as a white person for murdering an Af.
Am.
Victim Discounting
• What is it?
– Process of reducing the seriousness of crimes that
injure people of lower status
• Minorities generally do not have the economic
resources to buy good legal services
• Crimes against whites tend to be punished
more severely than crimes against minorities
Victim Discounting
• “Granted, the percentage
of pregnancies due to rape
is small because it’s an act
of violence, because the
body is traumatized. I don’t
know what percentage of
pregnancies are due to the
violence of rape. Because
of the trauma the body
goes through, I don’t know
what percentage of
pregnancy results from the
act.” California GOP
Assembly President Celeste
Greig, March 2013
• “I’ve struggled with it
myself for a long time, but I
came to realize that life is
that gift from God. And
even when life begins in
that horrible situation of
rape, that is something that
God intended to happen.”
Indiana Senate candidate
Richard Mourdock, 2012
Young black men were nine times more likely than other
Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015, according to the
findings of a Guardian study that recorded a final tally of 1,134
deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers this year.
White Collar Crime
• What is it?
– Job related crimes committed by high-status people
• Used for economic crimes: price fixing, insider
trading, illegal rebates, embezzlement, fraud,
bribery, tax evasion, etc.
• White collar crime is 18x more costly than street
crime
• People who commit these crimes treated more
leniently than other criminals. Less likely to be
imprisoned...shorter sentences
Stats on White Collar Crime (you don’t have to write
this down)
• Most white-collar criminals are charged/convicted but
typically escape punishment
• Government study found: those convicted of fraud
normally paid less than 10% of what they owed/stole,
they hide money/assets to avoid paying up
• ½ convicted of embezzlement (more serious WCC) ever
served a day in jail
– 53% received prison sentences, rest put on
probation or pay a fine
Survey: What do you think is worse?
• Street crime- larceny, robbery, burglary, auto
theft, and murder
• White collar crime- money laundering, insider
trading, embezzlement
Stats
• More than $100 million per year is laundered through
banks by white-collar criminals
• Cost of corporate crime in USA= 10x greater than all
combined street crime listed on previous slide
• For every murder committed, 2 people die as a result of
unsafe working conditions associated with WCC
Does this change your view on whether white collar crime or
street crime is worse?
Chapter 7
Section 5: Crime and Punishment
What is crime?
• Acts committed in violation of the law
• More than 2800 acts are considered “federal
crimes”
• Many more acts violate state/local laws
How much crime is in the U.S. today?
• Crime increased between the 1960s-1990s
• Violent crime rates in the U.S. considerably
higher than in other industrialized nations
• Crime rate usually 2-3 times what is reported
How are crime statistics collected?
• Major source= FBI’s
Uniform Crime Reports
(UCR)
• Gathered by police
departments and
voluntarily given to
law enforcement
agencies around
country
• UCR coves 9 types of
crimes:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Murder
Forcible rape
Robbery
Aggravated assault
Burglary
Larceny-theft
Motor vehicle theft
Arson
Hate crimes
How reliable are UCR statistics?
• UCR provides considerable
info about crime
• Strength of the system=
experienced police officers
decide whether an incident
should be reported as a
crime
• Serious limitations of the
UCR System (6):
– UCR tends to overrepresent
lower classes and
undercount middle and
upper classes
– Some crimes not as likely to
be reported to the police
– Prostitutes/intoxicated
persons can be arrested in
public but not in private
settings w/o a warrant
– About 2/3 of crime not
reported at all
– Crime reporting varies from
place to place and crime to
crime.
– White collar offenders
seldom included
Are there any other places for crime stats/reporting
besides the UCR?
• National Crime
Victimization Survey
(NCVS) launched in
early 1970s
• Survey conducted
semiannually for the
Bureau of Justice
• Stats by U.S. Census
Bureau
• Two Advantages of the NCVS:
– Helps make up for underreporting
of crime
– Surveys more scientifically sound
than methods used for the UCR
Juvenile Crime: legal violations among those under 18
• 3rd largest category of offenders in the U.S.
• Includes deviant acts that only those under 18 can
commit:
– Underage drinking
– Smoking
– Not going to school
Approaches to Crime Control
• Criminal justice system has 4 approaches to
control and punish lawbreakers
– Deterrence
– Retribution
– Incarceration
– Rehabilitation
Deterrence
• Discouraging criminal acts by threatening
punishment
• Debate on whether this is an effective method
or not
• Deterrence works if potential lawbreakers
know 2 things:
– They’re likely to get caught
– Punishment will be severe
Deterrence- Capital Punishment
• Attitude towards death penalty depends on
race/ethnicity
• Death penalty doesn’t cause a decrease in
homicide rates
• People still support death penalty regardless
of whether it deters those from committing
violent crimes
Methods of Execution
•
•
•
•
•
Lethal Injection • http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/m
ethodsGas Chamber
execution?scid=8&did=245#state
Electrocution
• http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/s
Firing Squad
ome-examples-post-furmanHanging
botchedexecutions?scid=8&did=478
Do you agree with the death penalty?
• Yes
• No
• Depends on the act
Retribution
• Punishment intended to make criminals pay
compensation for their acts
• “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
Incarceration
• A method of protecting
society from criminals
by keeping them in
prisons
• Mass incarceration
occurred in the 1990s2000s
Rehabilitation
• Process of changing or reforming a criminal
through socialization
• Most prisons have programs aimed at giving
prisoners both social and work skills to help
them upon release
• 30-60% released from prison are sent back
within 2-5 years
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTBEOfE
auwA
Recidivism
• A repetition of or
return to criminal
behavior
• Reasons for high rates
of recidivism:
– Basic nature of
offenders
– Influences of more
hardened criminals
– The stigma of being an
ex-convict
Alternatives to Prison
• Combination of prison and probation
– Mixed or split sentence= shock probation
• Community-based programs
– Gets convicts out of prison for part of the day
• Diversion strategy
– Referral to community-based treatment program