Masculinity And Crime Essay

Whenever the topic of crime or any other criminal activity comes up as a topic of discussion, we usually and immediately think of the male figure as the most common contributor to the growing issue of crime. More often than not, the business of crime and its activities is a male centred and male dominated problem. Frequently for every murder, kidnapping, drug deal, assault, or gang related problem, males are the general suspects. Is it because crime is a masculine thing? Although females commit crimes as well, they cannot imagine to compete with their male criminal counter parts, the offending male population is far too large. For us to understand men’s involvement in criminal activity, we need to become familiarized with the

concept

Labelling theory, it is important because we see it when talking about young boys and men. It also comes into play when we talk about gang activities. Tannenbaum (1938) viewed labelling of a delinquent or criminal as “bad” or “evil” as amounting to a self-fulling prophecy.

Being labelled by society can reinforce the deviant outsiders status and leads to more deviance, joining of gangs etc.… it could eventually cause a crisis for the persons self-concept and lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which they live up to the label, resulting in secondary deviance.

The labelling or societal reaction school takes seriously the power of bad labels to stigmatize, and by doing so, they evoke the very behaviour the labels signifies.

Labelling theory shifts the focus from the actor to the reactor. Crime is defined into existence rather than discovered, and no crime is independent of cultural values or norms.

With that lemert came up with primary and secondary deviance: primary deviance, is the initial nonconforming act that comes to the attention of the authorities. Secondary deviance however,