Crime and Deviance

446 Words1 Page

Crime and Deviance

*No Works Cited

Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms. Laws have been made to help curb deviant behavior. When there is not a particular law in place for certain behavior then a rule may apply. For example, you do not run the risk of being arrested for belching at the dinner table, but you may be excused without finishing dinner if a “no belching at the table” rule is enforced at your home. Deviating from the rules and the laws can have serious consequences depending just how far one chooses to depart from the acceptable norm. Just how clearly the law has been defined is also a factor in determining when certain behaviors are deviant or even criminal. The subject of rape will be discussed in this paper and how sometimes rape is considered deviant rather than criminal and still remain completely within the law.

What is considered deviant in a society has much to do with the relative power and privilege of different categories of people. (John J. Macionis pp.215) In society today, rape is considered a crime. In the past, a man could get away with sexually harassing a woman and not be punished especially if they were acquainted with one another. However, violent rape has always been viewed as serious deviant behavior. John Macionis provides this example of deviant, criminal behavior as a young man lurking in the shadows who suddenly attacks an unsuspecting victim. (John J. Macionispp.217) When this happens the law seems clearly defined and criminal justice can be served.

In more recent times, some men have taken advantage of a relationship by assuming that his date may owe him sex. Sex without a woman’s consent is rape, and when a woman says “no”, she means no. (John J. Macionis pp217) The law, in this case, has been defined clearly, but yet men get away with this crime daily. So why would a not think this to be rape, but just a sexual encounter? Gail Dines believes that magazines such as Playboy as well as all other pornographic magazines support the notion that women exist for male use. Playboy has managed to combine the commodification of sex with the sexualization of commodities, with women being the prized commodity. (John J. Macionis & Nijole V.

Show More
Related

  • Crimes and Social Deviances in the 1990s

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    A strong example of this would be the recent exploits at the Woodstock 99 music festival.

    Read More

  • Crime and Deviance - Left and Right Realism

    1692 Words  | 4 Pages

    Within this essay there will be a clear understanding of the contrast and comparison between left and right realism, supported by accurate evidence that will support and differentiate the two wings of realism.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Susan Griffin's Rape: The All-American Crime

    928 Words  | 2 Pages

    Susan Griffin’s Rape: The All-American Crime touches on many issues within American society. She begins by recounting how she was taught to be afraid of strange men from such a young age that she had not yet learned what it was she was so afraid of, and then goes into her experience with harassment, an experience shared by every woman at some point in her life. Griffin recounts the belief that all rapists are insane and the proof that they are just normal men and dispels the myth that rape is normal activity that is prohibited by society. However, she goes on to clarify that our culture views rape: “as an illegal, but still understandable, form of behavior” (Griffin 514). It seems that the wrongness of rape is determined by the situation in

    Read More

  • Deviant Behavior: Deviance: Positive, And Consequences

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    Deviant behavior is sociologically defined as, when someone departs from the “norms”. Most of the time when someone says deviance they think against the law or acting out in a negative behavior. To sociologists it can be both positive and negative. While most crimes are deviant, they are not always. Norms can be classified into two categories, mores and folkways. Mores are informal rules that are not written; when mores are broken, they can have serious punishments and sanctions. Folkways are informal rules that are just expected to be followed, but have no real repercussions.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Criminal Deviance

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the victim on this show was taken seriously and given a rape kit, she was still asked what she was wearing and whether or not she welcomed the man’s behavior with flirtation. These sorts of questions do touch on how many rape cases are biased against women and do not usually work in their favor. Also, motivational theories in sociology focus on social factors which drive a person to commit crimes (Wadsworth). In this case, the defense argues that the woman’s behavior, appearance, and attitude demonstrated that she wanted to have sex. As a result of these social factors and indicators, he to committed a deviant

    Read More

  • What Is The Mystification Of Social Deviance?

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    After reading all four articles, it has come to my attention that deviant behavior is everywhere in our society, and all around the world. Different cultures have different norms and morals making things we believe are normal, deviant. Deviance can be seen in everything, sexual intercourse, rock n roll, and even so much as technology.

    Read More

  • Labelling Theories' Contribution to the Sociological Understanding of Crime and Deviance

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    the theory is viewed. If the theory is seen as ' a theory with all the

    Read More

  • Essay On Masculinity And Deviance

    1208 Words  | 3 Pages

    　　Several individuals within society typically follow social guidelines that they are unaware of performing. Social guidelines such as stopping at a red light or saying thank you when someone has done something for you. These social guidelines or norms give society a script to follow regarding their behavior and actions. Although norms are the acceptable actions and behaviors that society is taught to perform, there are occurrences where individuals stay away from those in which they are now enacting deviance. To act deviant is considered to break away or do something different of a social norm. There are several forms of deviance that occur frequently within society that violate social norms and hinder society’s overall function.

    Read More

  • What is Deviance?

    858 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deviance is defined as actions or behaviors that violate socials norms. In turn the concept of deviance is dependent on the social observation and perception. “By it’s very nature, the constructionism through which people define and interpret actions or appearances is always “social.” ”(Henry, 2009 , p. 6) One’s perception of a situation may be completely different from another depending on cultural and social factors. The way someone talks, walks, dresses, and holds themselves are all factors that attribute to how someone perceives another. In some cases what is socially or normally acceptable to one person is deviant in another’s eyes. For this reason there is a lot of gray area involving the topic of deviance because actions and behaviors are so diversely interpreted.

    Read More

  • Rape Culture

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. (Vogelman) This socialization process is changing, but slowly.

    Read More

  • Deviance and Social Control

    1733 Words  | 4 Pages

    The concepts 'Social Control' and 'Deviance' have more than one definition to me, my understandings of these terms are that they try to group, control and define different kinds of anti-social behaviour. In this essay I will be reflecting on how certain topics have deviant labels attached to them as a result of social control. I will be explaining my initial understanding and views of these topics, going on to explain how they may have been changed, challenged or reinforced after attending lectures and using the sources available to me to expand my knowledge. Also, I will be using evidence from texts I have read to support these views and considering how these contribute to the inner-relationship between 'deviance' and social control. The key topics I will be demonstrating this with are Teenage Mothers, Eugenics, Deviant Bodies and The Cultural Degeneration of Travellers. These topics highlight key areas in which deviant labels are attached to groups of people by social control and how society has tried to control people's views in order to separate class and be in command of what should be seen as acceptable behaviour.

    Read More

  • Deviance and Social Control

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    As we all have observed, throughout history each culture or society has unique norms that are acceptable to that group of people. Therefore, to establish and come to the acceptance of these basic norms, each society must develop its’ own strategies and techniques to encourage the fundamentals of behavior, which is clear in our modern society. Most do assume that everyone in a society will follow and respect such norms. However, some tend to deviate from the adequate norms and demonstrate deviant behavior. Nevertheless, we are inclined to ask ourselves, why do people decide to violate such important standards of living?

    Read More

  • Acquaintance Rape

    2622 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “women secretly enjoy rape,” from a historical perspective, can lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Much stems back to the idea that women are still seen as the property of men, and are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men a...

    Read More

  • Social Construction Of Crime Analysis

    348 Words  | 1 Pages

    In an article named Social construction of crime by Stuart Henry(2009) state that deviance and crime is defined through the social meanings collectively applied to the people’s behaviour conditions and is rooted in interaction. Society created rules to differentiate what is right and wrong in a certain society. People that violates the rules will be labelled as criminal and might get punished. Molesting is example of criminal act that violate rules and social norms.

    Read More

  • Crime : Crime And Crime

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    The UCR data, although it is useful in the sense that it provides a small picture of the large amounts of crime that go unreported in any given city, this crime is undetectable because of a reluctance from victims to report crime. The most important factors which limit our understanding of crime are the dark figure of crime and the crime funnel. The former being the numerical value that represents the discrepancy between crime, which is reported, and crime which is committed (actual crime). The latter is an actual diagram which represents that the total amount of crime may be quite high, but the amount of crime that is detected, reported, prosecuted and punished decreases in proportion respectively. The UCR does not include victimless crime, so even though prostitution is considered a crime, it isn 't reported in the UCR since there is a victim involved. Another limitation of the UCR is that when an offender commits multiple crimes, only the most severe crime is recorded, causing further discrepancies in the UCR data.

    Read More

More about Crime and Deviance

Open Document