Crimes and Social Deviances in the 1990s

Crimes and Social Deviances in the 1990s

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In the nineties the world and society has been faced with many different crimes and

social deviancies, most of which have been as a result of rebellion and a form of

expression. Whether it is to force a change or to create something new deviance is at a

strong high. At the dawn of a new millenium some of society feel the need to express

themselves in proscriptive norms and "leave our mark" on the world.

The words "deviance" and "crime" are two words often mistaken for each other.

Crime is a unlawful activity while deviance is a behavior that is different from that of the

accepted social or moral standards. Deviance most of the time is the "gateway" to crime.

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

In the September 2nd issue of Rolling Stone magazine the author Kurt Loder writes about

the transgression that takes place when the music festival turns sour. He writes about how

amid the music and peaceful motto of the festival some individuals feel the need to be

malicious and irregular. He goes on to tell that when the band Limp Bizkit performed the

song "Break Stuff" the violence took place. There was an "unending blizzard of empty

plastic water bottles sailing through the air and bouncing off skulls further down front,

across the field people were ripping up the plywood barriers...and launching big, splintery

crowd-surfing boards atop a sea of upsteached hands...The bonfires roaring out of control,

the looting, the explosions, the whole stupid riot. Festival security, such as it was,

collapsed in the face of this sudden war-zone situation." There was also accounts of

different and unusual sexual activit...

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...s another theory that can be said as a reason for the Woodstock riots.

People who were normally not deviant were persuaded to a more deviant personality when

they were surrounded by the deviant individuals who were causing havoc around the

festival fields. They learned the "necessary techniques the motive, drives, rationalizations,

and attitudes of deviant people."

There are many views on crime and deviance and many theories to why they occur.

The events that happened at Woodstock are among millions of acts of deviance that

happen each year. The reason for deviance and crime is still a thought out and

philosophized subject. Nevertheless deviance is a social component and may be both good

or bad. Crime on the other hand is a social problem and can only hurt society. While both

may be held liable for social deterioration both will be the reason for change.