SOC- 101 Chapter 6

The broken windows model resulted in a theory of policing premised on the idea that the metaphorical broken windows must be addressed early on before the domino effect kicked in and the neighborhood was engulfed à crime . In practice , to prevent this from happening police focused less on physical indicators f decline and instead targeted individuals who might represent early signs of social disorganization . That included moving homeless people out of areas in an effort to stop the first domino . The challenge arises , however , when undesirability is linked to race , ethnicity , age , and sex .

A particularly controversial implementation of the broken windows hypothesis came in the form of " stop and frisk " policing programs . Such policies encourage police to stop and search individuals for drugs , weapons , or other illegal items , even without probable cause . This technique has been criticized for unfairly targeting and denying the constitutional rights of young African American and Latino males ( Gelman , Fagan , and Kiss 2007 ; Kochel , Wilson , and Mastrofski 2011 ; Sampson and Raudenbush 2004 Torres 2015 ) , and its effectiveness in reducing crime has been questioned ( Rosenfeld and Fornago 2014 ) . In spite of the controversy surrounding this approach , Donald Trump advocated its implementation in Chicago as a way to address the violence in that city ( Gonzales and Holland 2018 ) .

Cultural transmission

A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions .

Labeling theory

An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaged in the same behavior are not .

Sutherland's Cultural Transmission Theory

As humans , we learn how to behave in social situations , whether properly or improperly . Sociologist Edwin Sutherland ( 1883-1950 proposed that , just as individuals are socialized to conform to society's basic norms and values , so also are they socialized to learn deviant acts . It's not that we are born to be wild ; we learn to be wild .

WHAT BEHAVIOR IS DEVIANT ?

Because deviance involves violation of some group's norms , defining an act as deviant depends on the context . File sharing and streaming on the Internet - including songs , movies , computer games , books , and almost anything else that can be digitized provides an example of how deviance can be in the eye of the beholder . Whenever a new film or show is released , online piracy groups compete with each other to see who can be the first to upload a high - definition copy . Competition to upload films nominated for an Academy Award is even more intense . In 2018 , 94 percent of Academy Award - nominated films were leaked in a high - quality format by Oscar night Baio 2015 , 2016 , 2018 ; Van der Sar 2017 ) .

Transnational crime

Crime that occurs across multiple national borders .

Violent crimes tend to be much more common in the United States than in the nations of western Europe . Yet the incidence of other types of crime appears to be higher elsewhere

For example , France , Italy , Sweden , and Greece all have higher rates of reported car theft than does the United States , and rates for reported thefts are higher in the Netherlands , Denmark , Sweden , and France . When it comes to murder , most South and Central American nations , including Honduras Salvador and Venezuela , have homicide rates many times higher than does the United States ( UNODC 2018b ) . But when comparing incarceration rates the United States has the highest rate putting people behind bars of any nation in the world . On a typical day the United States imprisons 655 of every 100,000 adults , compared to 397 in Russia 164 in Mexico , and 114 in Canada Institute for Criminal Policy Research 2016 ) . Sociologist Elliot

Laws

Formal norms enforced by the state .

White - collar crime

Illegal acts committed by high - status individuals who use their positions of power and influence for their own benefit .

INTERNATIONAL CRIME

In the past , international crime was often limited to the clandestine shipment of goods across the border between two countries . Increasingly , however , crime is no more restricted by such borders than is legal commerce . Rather than concentrating on specific countries , international crime now spans the globe .

Organized crime dominates the world of illegal business , just as large corporations dominate the conventional business world

It allocates territory , sets prices for goods and services , and acts as an arbiter in internal disputes . A secret , conspiratorial activity , organized crime generally evades law enforcement . It takes over legitimate businesses , gains influence over labor unions , corrupts . public officials , intimidates witnesses in criminal trials , and even " taxes " merchants in exchange for " protection " ( Federal Bureau of Investigation 2016 ) .

Social control

Society's power to limit deviance by enforcing conformity to expected norms and values

LAW AND SOCIETY

Some norms are so important to a society that they are formalized into laws limiting people's behavior . Laws - formal norms . enforced by the state - are a form of governmental social control . Some laws , such as the prohibition against murder , are directed at all members of society . Others , such as fishing and hunting regulations , pri - marily affect particular categories of people . Still others govern the behavior of social institutions ( for instance , corporate law and laws regarding the taxing of nonprofit organizations ) .

Index crimes

The eight types of crime reported annually by the FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports : murder , forcible rape , robbery , aggravated assault , burglary , larceny - theft , motor vehicle theft , and arson .

Deviance

The flip side of social control is deviance . Deviance is behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society ( Wickman 1991 : 85 ) . Being late for class is categorized as a deviant act , as is wearing jeans to a formal wedding . On the basis of the sociological definition , we are all deviant from time to time . Each of us violates common social norms in certain situations . As a society , we decide how deviant is too deviant , and sociologists provide us with tools to better understand how and why we do so .

Organized crime

The work of a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities , including prostitution , gambling , and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs .

Being stigmatized can limit a person's opportunities . For example , even though they may be fully qualified for a job , people who are homeless often have trouble getting hired because employers are wary of applicants who cannot provide a home address .

Though many hiring agencies use a telephone for contacts , cell phones are expensive , and owning one while homeless is often looked at with suspicion by others . If a homeless person has access to a telephone at a shelter , the staff generally answers by announcing the name of the institution , which discourages prospective employers from hiring the applicant . And , even if the person is hired , the stigma attached to homelessness , should the employee's past or present situation become known , can negatively impact opportunities , even in the face of positive work performance .

Victimless crime

A term used by sociologists to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired , but illegal , goods and services .

Differential association

A theory of deviance that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts .

Social control theory

A theory of deviance that posits that the social bonds we share with other members of society lead us to conform to society's norms

Crime

A violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties .

Conformity

Abiding by the norms of our peers even though they have no direct authority over us .

Sutherland offers the example of a child who is sociable , outgoing , and athletic and who lives in an area with a high rate of delinquency . The youth is very likely to come into contact with peers who commit acts of vandalism , fail to attend school , and so forth , and they may come to adopt such behavior . However , an introverted child who lives in the same neighborhood may stay away from their peers and avoid delinquency . In another community , an outgoing and athletic child may join a Little League baseball team or a scout troop because of their interactions with peers . Thus , Sutherland views improper behavior as the result of the types of groups to which one belongs and the kinds of friendships one has ( Sutherland , Cressey , and Luckenbill 1992 ) .

Although the cultural transmission approach may not explain the conduct of the first - time , impulsive shoplifter or the impoverished person who steals out of necessity , it does help explain the deviant behavior of juvenile delinquents or graffiti artists . It directs our attention to the paramount role of social interaction and context in increasing a person's motivation to engage in deviant behavior ( Morselli , Tremblay , and McCarthy 2006 ; Sutherland , Cressey , and Luckenbill 1992 ) .

The practice of racial profiling , in which people are identified as criminal suspects purely on the basis of their race , frequently occurs in stop - and - frisk policing and has come under public scrutiny . Studies confirm the public's suspicion that in some jurisdictions , police officers are much more likely to stop African American males than White males for routine traffic violations , in the expectation of finding drugs or guns in their cars . Civil rights activists refer to these cases sarcastically as DWB ( Driving While Black ) violations Warren et al . 2006 ) . The deaths of numerous young African American men , including Trayvon Martin in Sanford Florida ; Michael Brown in Ferguson , Missouri ; Eric Garner in New York City ; Tamir Rice in Cleveland , Ohio ; Philando Castile in Falcon Heights Minnesota ; and , Stephon Clark in Sacramento , California , raised substantial concerns about the life - and death consequences of labeling young African American males as threats .

Although the labeling approach does not fully explain why certain people accept a label and others manage to reject it , labeling theorists do suggest that the power an individual has relative to others is important in determining his or her ability to resist an undesirable label . It opens the door to additional emphasis on the undeniably important actions of people with power who can shape what counts as deviance .

INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION AND DEFINING DEVIANCE

Another approach to explaining crime and deviance grows out of insights drawn from the interactionist perspective . Rather than . concentrating on the societal level and its presumed needs for social order , these theories emphasize the interpersonal level and highlight the importance of interaction in shaping how deviance occurs . Deviance here is something we learn or something attributed to us by others .

Societal - reaction approach

Another name for labeling theory .

Social Control

As individuals , we all face times when we want to rebel against what is expected of us . We may know better , having been socialized to accept the norms and values of those who surround us , yet when it comes to obedience , sometimes we would prefer not to . Or the urge to disobey may come in the form of friends and colleagues who prod us . If we give in , we are likely to encounter pushback from others in the form of social control , which refers to society's power to limit deviance , behavior that violates socially accepted norms by enforcing conformity to expected norms and values . As we saw in the " Normative Culture " section in Chapter 3 , those around us . use positive and negative sanctions to encourage and discourage particular behaviors . The scary part about social control is the amount of power that potentially rests in the hands of those with authority over us .

Victimization Surveys

Because not all crimes that are committed are reported to the police , the UCR underestimates the frequency of crime . To get a more accurate count of the actual number of crimes , researchers conduct victimization surveys that ask representative samples of the population whether or not they have been victims of crime . The National Crime Victimization Survey , conducted annually by the U.S. Department of Justice , reveals that some crimes are more likely to be reported than others . As shown in the " Crimes Reported to Police " graph , motor vehicle theft is the most likely property crime to be reported , with 73 percent victims contacting the authorities . Larceny - theft is the least likely at 30 percent . When it comes to violent crimes less than half of victims overall contact the police ( Morgan and Kena 2018 : Table 4 ) . Because not all crimes get reported , justice does not get served within the U.S. legal system for many offenses .

HBO's Game of Thrones represents one of the most popular illegally available shows online . Season seven alone has been illegally streamed or downloaded more than billion times , and its final episode was pirated more than 120 million times within its first 72 hours of release . Pirated copies of episodes frequently appear for illegal streaming before they even premier on the cable network as a result of preview copies made available to TV critics and reporters getting leaked and uploaded to the Internet ( Holloway 2017a ) . Film and television studios have responded to such practices by limiting preview copies of films and television series ' secure video distribution sites , such as Screeners.com . And yet , online piracy continues to rise . In 2017 , more than 10 billion films or TV shows were downloaded globally ( Holloway 2017b ; Irdeto 2018 ; Spangler 2018 ) .

Because the " property " these movie , music , and game files represent is not physical , it can be copied over and over again for virtually no cost . Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can grab the files from people willing to share and pass them along to others who want them . People find it easy to justify doing so , thinking it does little harm to anyone . The entertainment companies that produce these products take a different view . Research projects that $ 52 billion in revenues were lost to piracy in 2018 ( Bevir 2017 ) . However , the widespread availability of these files suggests that many people do not view downloading them as particularly deviant . Some even view it as an act of protest against what they consider unfair prices charged by big corporations .

Deviance

Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society .

The interplay between formal and informal social control can be complicated , because we sometimes have to balance one source of control against another

College students , for example , receive conflicting messages about the acceptability of binge drinking . On the one hand , for most college students drinking alcohol of any kind is illegal because they are under age , and for all , binge drinking violates student codes - of - conduct policies On the other hand , as the " Binge Drinking on Campus " graphs demonstrate , those who indulge in binge drinking are conforming with student norms , which vary based on age , gender , and race / ethnicity ( SAMHSA 2018 ) . In response , colleges and universities are taking steps to exert greater social control by instituting rules banning kegs , closing fraternities and sororities that violate standards of conduct , expelling students after multiple alcohol - related violations , and working with local liquor retailers to discourage high - volume sales to students ( Carey et al . 2012 ) .

OFFICIAL CRIME REPORTS

Crime is a major concern in any society . It represents a breakdown in social order and potential threat to the health and safety of individuals and communities . The FBI tracks the frequency of crime in the United States using what calls its " Crime Clock . " For example , a property crime occurs on average every 4.1 seconds and the most frequent category of property crime is larceny - theft , which includes incidents such as shoplifting and stealing items from cars . Violent crimes occur every 24.6 seconds , with perhaps the most serious being murder , which occurs every every 30.5 minutes in the United States ( U.S. Department of Justice 2018b ) .

Crime

Crime represents a particular form of deviance in which offenders violate formal norms . Sociologists define crime as a violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties . Crimes that violate the central mores of society , such as murder , often result in harsh punishments because they constitute attacks on core social values , such as life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness . The consequences of other crimes , such as burglary , may seem less serious , and , as a result , violators of such crimes typically receive less severe punishments .

Laws at the state level have also changed dramatically . As the " Marijuana Laws by State " map shows , the move to legalize marijuana use has expanded nationally . Thirty - three states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes . Ten states Washington , Colorado , Oregon , Alaska , Maine , Massachusetts , Nevada , California , Michigan and Vermont - took the additional step of legalizing marijuana for personal recreational use ( National Conference of State Legislatures 2018a , 2018b ) .

Critics of the term victimless crime object to the notion that there is no victim other than the offender in such crimes . Excessive drinking , compulsive gambling , and illegal drug use contribute to an enormous amount of personal and property damage . A person with a drinking problem can become abusive to a spouse or children ; a compulsive gambler or drug user may steal to pursue his or her obsession . Feminist sociologists contend that prostitution , as well as the more disturbing aspects of pornography reinforce the misconception that women are " toys " who can be treated as objects rather than people . According to critics of decriminalization , society must not give tacit approval to conduct that has such harmful consequences Farley and Malarek 2008 ; Meier and Geis 1997 ) .

Obedience

Doing what a person in a position of authority over you says you should .

Durkheim argued that , because some form of deviance exists in all societies , it must serve a positive social function . One positive effect comes from collectively labeling acts as deviant which clarifies our shared beliefs and values and thus brings us closer together . We say , in effect " This who we are , and if you want to be one of us , you cannot cross this line Another positive function occurs through punishment , which creates solidarity by drawing a group together in opposition to the offender . Punishment also functions as a deterrent . Seeing violators pay the price for their deviance discourages others from similar transgressions When we see a driver receiving a speeding ticket , a department store cashier being fired for yelling at a customer , or a college student getting a failing grade for plagiarizing a term paper , we are reminded of our collective norms and values and of the consequences of their violation . Finally , Durkheim did recognize that deviant acts might also lead us to recognize the limits of our existing beliefs and practices , resulting in positive social change in which we revise existing norms and values .

Durkheim also recognized that , during times of significant social upheaval , as occurred during the Industrial Revolution , society's capacity to provide direction can breakdown . Durkheim used the term anomie to describe the state of normlessness that occurs during times of profound social change and disorder . The power of society to constrain deviant action at such times is limited because there is no clear consensus on shared norms and values . Just as we saw with Durkheim's analysis of suicide , at times when social integration is weak , people are freer to pursue their own deviant paths .

Durkheim's Functions of Deviance

Durkheim argued that no act is inherently criminal . He put it this way : " We must not say that an action shocks the common consciousness because it is criminal , but rather that it is criminal because it shocks that consciousness " ( [ 1895 ] 1964 : 123-24 ) . In other words , the context of the action impacts our perception of whether or not it is right or wrong more than something inherent in the act itself . For example , killing another person isn't always murder . We justify killing in self defense or in combat as legitimate but condemn killing in cold blood .

What is particularly interesting about the Madoff case is that officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) were tipped off numerous times to the possibility that Madoff's investments were a scam

Finally , after receiving documented accusations that he was running a Ponzi scheme , the SEC launched official investigation in 2006. Two years later it concluded that there was " no evidence of fraud . " The SEC failed to see what analysts now say should have been obvious . Red flags were ignored , but why ? Sociologists suggest that white - collar criminals are often given the benefit of the doubt . In fact , during each previous investigation , Madoff deliberately and successfully used his status as a respected businessman as evidence of his innocence . He might have avoided detection had it not been for his own confession ( Berenson and Henriques 2008 ) .

Hirschi identified four key elements involved in strengthening those social bonds .

First , attachment refers to the emotional ties and sense of connection individuals feel toward significant others in their lives . Second , commitment involves the extent to which individuals view their long - term success as tied to the ongoing success of their society In other words , investing one's time , energy , and resources in the existing system reduces the likelihood of deviance , which would jeopardize that investment . Third , involvement means spending time doing what is expected - for a student , that might include studying for exams , rehearsing lines , going to volleyball practice - which reduces a person's availability for deviance . If , as the old proverb goes , " Idle hands are the devil's workshop , " involvement prevents deviance by keeping people busy . And fourth , belief involves buying into the society's core values by making them one's own . Those least integrated into society along these four dimensions are the ones most likely to commit deviant acts . According to Hirschi's theory , society can reduce levels of crime and deviance by socializing children effectively at a young age and building strong social ties as children develop ( Brown and Jennings 2014 ; Hirschi 1969 , 2004 ) .

In a prearranged script , the learner deliberately gave incorrect answers and pretended to be in pain when " shocked . "

For example , at 150 volts the learner would cry out , " Get me out of here ! " At 270 volts the learner would scream in agony . When the shock reached 350 volts , the learner would fall silent . If the teacher wanted to stop the experiment the experimenter would insist that the teacher / volunteer continue , using such statements as " The experiment requires that you continue " and " You have no other choice you must go on . " Milgram repeated this experiment numerous times , altering 23 different experimental conditions such as the gender of the scientist , the number of scientists and the presence of the scientist in the room , to see what effects they might have . In Experiment 5 , the variation for which Milgram is best known , 65 percent of the volunteers continued all the way up to the 450 - volt maximum ( Blass 1999 ; Haslam , Loughnan , and Perry 2014 ; Milgram 1974a ) .

In diverse societies , the establishment of laws inevitably generates conflicts over whose values should prevail or whose interests should be protected .

For example , should it be against the law employ undocumented workers ? To have an abortion To allow prayer in public schools ? To smoke on an airplane ? Such issues have been bitterly debated because they require a choice among competing interests . Not surprisingly , unpopular laws - such as the 18th Amendment , which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol ( ratified in 1919 ) , or the nationwide 55 - mile - per - hour speed limit that was imposed in 1974 - become difficult to enforce when there s no consensus supporting the norms . In both cases the public commonly violated the stated government policy , and the laws proved unenforceable ; the states repealed Prohibition in 1933 , and Congress overturned the national speed limit policy 1987 .

Sutherland maintained that through interactions with a primary group and significant others , people acquire definitions of proper and improper behavior

He used the term differential association to describe the process through which exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts leads to the violation of rules . For example , people are more likely to engage in norm - defying behavior if they are part of a group or subculture that stresses supports and encourages such actions , such as a street gang . Research suggests that this view of differential association also applies to noncriminal deviant acts , such as smoking , binge drinking , and cheating ( Higgins , Tewksbury , and Mustaine 2007 ; Nofziger and Hye - Ryeon 2006 ; Vowell and Chen 2004 ) .

Curious about obedience , social psychologist Stanley Milgram ( 1963 , 1974a wondered how far people would go if a trusted authority figure asked them to do something harmful .

He was motivated , in part , because he wanted to better understand involvement of the German people in the murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others during World War II . One rationalization people gave after the war was that they were " just following orders . " Milgram conceived of a test to assess people's willingness to obey

INFORMAL AND FORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

In addition to being horizontal and vertical , social control can be informal and formal . Informal social control involves the use of interpersonal cues , either positive or negative , through everyday enforce norms . It's the kind of casual sanction parents might use when they give their child " the look " indicating they've said or done something wrong and had better stop it immediately . Other examples include smiles , laughter , crossed arms , frowns , and ridicule . We seek to read such cues in new situations , such as a date or a job interview , so we might adjust our behavior accordingly .

CONFLICT , POWER , AND CRIMINALITY

In addition to its significance for labeling theory , the story of the Saints and Roughnecks points toward the role that having power and control over valued resources can play in defining deviance . Sociologist Richard Quinney ( 1974 , 1979 , 1980 ) is leading proponent of the view that the criminal justice system serves the interests of the powerful . Consistent with the conflict perspective , this approach maintains that people with power protect their own interests and define deviance to suit their own needs . Crime , according to Quinney ( 1970 ) , is defined as such by legislators who may be influenced by the economic elites to advance their interests .

Arresting , prosecuting , and convicting a person who breaks the law represents one of the most powerful means of formal social control available . In the United States , in 2016 , 6.6 million adults underwent some form of correctional supervision - jail , prison probation , or parole . Put another way , 2.6 percent , or 1 out of every 38 adult Americans , was subject to this very formal type of social control Kaeble and Cowhig 2018 ) . As is evident from the " U.S. Incarceration Rates , 1910-2017 " graph , rates of imprisonment rose rapidly in the United States during the 1980s and remain high . Factors influencing this dramatic rise included a government crackdown on illegal drug use and the establi ment mandatory sentences . In the early 1970s , for example , President Richard Nixon declared a " war on drugs , " a policy President Ronald Reagan expanded in the 1980s and that continues to shape policy today . As a result , efforts to deal with drug abuse shifted from prevention and treatment to law enforcement and punishment . The Anti - Drug Abuse Act of 1986 , for example , put mandatory minimum sentences in place for a variety of drugs , including marijuana and cocaine .

In an effort to get tough on crime , this mandatory minimum approach was extended to other crimes . The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 , for example , created the United States Sentencing Commission , which establishes sentencing guidelines , including minimums , for defendants found guilty of any federal statute . Critics of the mass incarceration that resulted from these policies point out that punishment fell , and continues to fall , disproportionately on African Americans and other minority groups ( Alexander 2012 Davis 1998 ; Dufton 2012 ; United States Sentencing Commission 2016 ) .

Gender Feminist criminologists such as Meda Chesney - Lind ( with Lisa Pasko 2004 ) and Gillian Balfour ( 2006 ) have suggested that many of the existing approaches to deviance and crime were developed with only men in mind . For example , in the United States , for many years any husband who forced his wife to have sexual intercourse - without her consent and against her will - was not legally considered to have committed rape . The law defined rape as pertaining only to sexual relations between people who were not married to each other , reflecting the overwhelmingly male composition of state legislatures at the time . It took repeated protests . by feminist organizations to get changes in the criminal law defining rape It was not until 1993 that husbands in all 50 states could be prosecuted under most circumstances for the rape of their wives ; however , significant exceptions remain in no fewer than 30 states Bergen 2006 ) .

In some parts of the world , laws regarding rape and marriage continue to point toward inequality for women in the eyes of the law . In various countries in the Middle East , for example , rapists can avoid prosecution by marrying their victims . Women's rights groups have protested by displaying bloodied wedding gowns in public places to bring attention to the practice . As a result , some countries , including Morocco , Lebanon , Jordan , and Tunisia , have abolished the marry - your - rapist loophole in recent years ( Raphelson 2017 ; Sengupta 2017 ) .

People choose not to report crimes for a variety of reasons .

In the case of larceny - theft , for example , people may conclude that , because there is little chance of getting stolen items back , it simply isn't worth the hassle . More significantly , members of racial and ethnic minority groups often distrust law enforcement agencies and may not contact the police when they are victimized . Further many women do not report rape or spousal abuse out of fear they will be blamed for the crime .

The social disorganization theory gave rise to what is known as the broken windows hypothesis , which holds that physical signs of decline in a community or neighborhood indicate a corresponding breakdown of social order within which crime and deviance are likely to thrive ( Wilson and Kelling 1982

Indicators of physical decline include abandoned cars , litter , graffiti , and drug paraphernalia , The analogy goes something like this , " If a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired all the rest of the windows will soon be broken " ( Wilson and Kelling 1982 ) . The broken window gets taken a sign that no one cares , meaning there will be no consequences for breaking more . As that happens , a perception develops that the community is unsafe leading people to action . Many community members who can do so will move out . As informal social controls break down others will be more willing to display deviance publicly , including panhandling , prostitution , public intoxication , drug use , and mugging ( Kelling 2015 ; Kelling and Coles 1996 ; Wilson and Kelling 1982 ) .

Stigma

Labeling individuals or members of a group as less than whole persons due to some attribute that marks them as different in the eyes of others .

Race and Class

Looking at crime from this perspective draws our attention to the effects that power and position might have throughout the criminal justice system in the United States . Researchers have found that the system treats suspects differently based on their racial , ethnic , or social class background . In many cases , officials using their own discretion make biased decisions about whether to press charges or drop them , whether to set bail and how much , and whether to offer parole or deny it . Researchers have found that this kind of differential justice , which refers to variations in the way social control is exercised over different groups , puts African Americans and Latinxs at a disadvantage in the justice system , both as juveniles and as adults . On average , White offenders receive shorter sentences than comparable Latinx and African American offenders , even when prior arrest records and the relative severity of the crime are taken into consideration ( Brewer and Heitzeg 2008 ; Quinney 1974 ; Wakefield and Uggen 2010 ) .

The final adaptation identified by Merton reflects people's attempts to create a new social structure . The " rebel " feels alienated from the dominant means and goals and may seek a dramatically different social order . Members of a revolutionary political organization , such as a militia group , can be categorized as rebels according to Merton's model .

Merton's theory , though popular , does not fully account for patterns of deviance and crime . Although it is useful in explaining certain types of behavior , such as illegal gambling by disadvantaged " innovators , " it fails to explain key differences in crime rates . Why , for example , do some disadvantaged groups have lower rates of reported crime than others ? Why do many people in adverse circumstances reject criminal activity as a viable alternative ? Merton's theory does not easily answer such questions ( Clinard and Miller 1998 ) . Exploring additional sociological perspectives on crime and deviance helps us to more fully appreciate such nuances .

Transnational Crime

More and more , scholars and law enforcement officials are turning their attention to transnational crime , or crime that occurs across multiple national borders . Historically , probably the most dreaded example of transnational crime has been slavery . At first , governments did not regard slavery as a crime but merely regulated it as they would trade in any other good Examples of transnational crime now include human trafficking , illicit trade in firearms , sale of fraudulent medicines , counterfeiting goods , wildlife trafficking , and migrant smuggling ( Kelly and Levy 2012 ; Ruetschlin and Bangura 2012 ; UNODC 2018a ) .

The pressure to conform to the norm , and thus avoid stigma , can have powerful effects . People try not to deviate too far from cultural expectations . Women , for example , can feel pressured to approximate what Naomi Wolf ( 1992 ) refers to as the " beauty myth , an exaggerated ideal of beauty , beyond the reach of all but a few females . an effort to attain this ideal , many women undergo plastic surgery . In 2017 , 300,378 women underwent breast augmentation , 218,174 chose liposuction , 177,290 had eyelid surgery , 166,531 opted for nose reshaping , and 124,869 received a tummy tuck . When it comes to less invasive procedures , 6.8 million opted for Botox , and 1.3 million received chemical peels . Overall , women received 13 million cosmetic procedures in 2017 alone But it wasn't only women . Men , too , are opting for plastic surgery and accounted for 13 percent of all cosmetic surgical procedures . Among men , 52,393 opted for nose reshaping , making it their most common surgical procedure . The estimated total cost of all U.S. cosmetic procedures in 2017 was $ 16.7 billion ( American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2018 ) . The desire to avoid stigma reinforces the standards of the status quo .

Often people are stigmatized for deviant behaviors that they may no longer practice . The labels " ex - convict , " " formerly homeless , " and " recovering alcoholic " can function like a master status , sticking to a person for life . Goffman draws a useful distinction between a prestige symbol that calls attention to a positive aspect of one's identity , such as wedding band or a police badge , and a stigma symbol that discredits or debases one's identity , such as a conviction for child molestation Although stigma symbols may not always be obvious , they can become a matter of public knowledge . Starting in 1994 , many states . required convicted sex offenders to register with local police departments . Some communities publish the names and addresses and , in some instances , even the pictures , of convicted sex offenders on the web .

An important dimension of deviance to remember is that social change occurs when people choose to act differently .

Our tendency is to go with the flow , thus reproducing the status quo . As a result , we frequently fail to see the ways in which our existing practices may violate our core principles . When such violations occur , people who stand up for what they believe is right are often punished . The civil rights movement provided numerous examples of this , such as when nonviolent protestors at sit - ins and marches were met with attack dogs , fire hoses , beatings , and jail time . In the end , however , these protests led to greater political , legal , and economic opportunity for African Americans and others . Part of what makes such change difficult is that those with the greatest status have the capacity to define what is acceptable and what is deviant . It often takes a concerted effort , and the mobilization of substantial resources , to counteract such power .

WHITE - COLLAR CRIME

People generally agree that crimes such as theft , assault , or murder call for serious punishment , but research shows that crimes committed by well - respected people are perceived differently . Sociologists define white - collar crime as illegal acts committed by high - status individuals who use their positions of power and influence for their own benefit . Examples include tax evasion , embezzlement , stock manipulation , and fraud ( Sutherland 1940 , 1949 , 1983 ) . Frequently , convicted offenders for these kinds of crimes receive less harsh punishments than do those for more common street crimes , even when the dollar values involved in these white - collar crimes is substantially greater .

DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL STIGMA

People who deviate from the norm in terms of how they think , believe act , or look are frequently categorized as different , strange , unusual , or abnormal by people in social positions of power . Whole groups of people - whether on the basis of hair color , skin color , height weight , clothing , nationality , physical ability , or other attributes - can be denied respect due to their presumed shortcomings . Sociologist Erving Goffman ( 1963 ) coined the term stigma to describe the process of labeling individuals or members of a group as less than whole persons due to some attribute that marks them as different in the eyes of others . Because our perception of others shapes how we treat them , such labels have consequences , as we learned from the Thomas theorem . As a result , stigmatizing represents a form of social control . First we label people as different using stereotypes to characterize them as " other . " Then the distinction between " us " versus " them " is used to justify discrimination against those in the stigmatized group , denying them access to valued material , social , and cultural resources ( Link and Phelan 2001 ) .

Victimization surveys

Questionnaires or interviews that ask representative samples of the population whether or not they have been victims of crime .

Hirschi's Social Control Theory

Rather than asking why people do commit crimes , American sociologist Travis Hirschi 1969 ) asked why they don't . He assumed that , left to their own devices , people would naturally seek their own gratification , including lying , cheating , and stealing to get their way , even at the expense of others . Growing out of the functionalist perspective , the theory presupposes that society would be unable to function if people couldn't trust others to work toward common goals . As an answer , he proposed social control theory , which posits that the social bonds we share with other members of society lead us to conform to society's norms According to Hirschi , deviance occurs due to lack of self - control , and self - control develops as a consequence of socialization into society's norms and values through the relationships we have with others . Even if we are tempted at times , we take into account what family , friends , and significant others might think should they find out what we did . As a result , we typically refuse to give in to temptation because we do not want to damage those relationships .

Social Disorganization Theory The relative strength of social relationships in a community or neighborhood influences the behavior of its members . Social psychologist Philip Zimbardo ( 2007 ) studied the effect of these communal relationships by conducting the following experiment . He abandoned a car in each of two different neighborhoods , leaving its hood up and removing its hubcaps . In one neighborhood , people started to strip the car for parts even before Zimbardo had finished setting up a remote video camera to record their behavior . In the other neighborhood , weeks passed without the car being touched , except for a pedestrian who stopped to close the hood during a rainstorm .

Rather than focusing on the positive ways in which communal bonds hold us together , social disorganization theory attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions , such as the family , school , church , and local government The lack of such local community connections with their associated cross - age relationships , makes difficult to exert informal control within the community , especially of children . Without community supervision and controls , playing outside becomes an opportunity for deviance and for older violators to socialize children into inappropriate paths . Crime becomes a normal response to a local context ( Shaw and McKay 1969 ) .

Milgram concluded that we are willing to do things we would otherwise not do , including inflicting pain , when a person in al position of authority tells us to do so . He pointed out that , in modern society , we are accustomed to submitting to impersonal authority figures whose status is indicated by a title ( professor , president , doctor ) or by a uniform ( police officer , army lieutenant , scientist ) . Because we defer to authority , we shift responsibility for our behavior to the authority figure without fully appreciating what we are doing . Under similar circumstances , otherwise normal people can and do treat one another inhumanely , as demonstrated by the revealing photos taken at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 which showed U.S. military guards humiliating , if not torturing , Iraqi prisoners ( Hayden 2004 ; Zimbardo 2007 ) .

Reflecting on his research , Milgram wrote , " It may be that we are puppets - puppets controlled by the strings of society . But at least we are puppets with perception , with awareness . And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation " ( 1974b : 568 ) . We do not make choices in a vacuum . Sociology enables us to better recognize the social forces that shape our actions so that we might choose more wisely .

Strain theory of deviance

Robert Merton's theory of deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment , or both

We can better understand Merton's model by looking economic success as an important goal in the United States

Socially agreed upon pathways exist in order to attain that goal - go to school , work hard , do not quit , take advantage of opportunities and so forth . Merton wondered what happened when someone who shared the goal of economic success lacked the means to attain that end . For example , a burgler and a small - business owner may share a common goal of making money , but their means of attaining are radically different . Merton combined acceptance and rejection of goals and means to create a model with five possible adaptations .

Merton's Strain Theory

Sociologist Robert Merton ( 1968 ) took Durkheim's theory a step further . He suggested that a disconnect can exist between a society's goals and the means people have to attain them . By goals he meant the dominant values that most members of a society share , and by means he meant the material , social , and cultural resources necessary for success . He did not assume that all people in a society would be equally committed to those values . He also did not assume that everyone would have the same opportunity to attain those goals . Putting these together , he developed the strain theory of deviance , which views deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment , or both .

FUNCTIONS OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE

Sociologists drawing on the functionalist perspective explore the ways deviance both challenges and reinforces social order . Émile Durkheim ( [ 1895 ] 1964 ) , for example , wondered why deviance , which seems to undermine order , is found in all societies . For Durkheim the answer rested with how such actions actually reinforce social order .

Sociological Perspectives on Crime and Deviance

Sociologists have always been interested in how and why society holds together . As a result , they have also always explored reasons why people violate accepted social norms . Though we might wish otherwise , there is no one , simple , universal theory that explains all such acts . Here we look to just a few of the theories that sociologists have offered in order to identify significant factors . that we must consider in our attempt to understand deviance and crime more fully .

VICTIMLESS CRIMES

Some crimes seem less severe because any negative effects only harm consenting participants . Sociologists refer to victimless crimes as the willing exchange among adults of widely desired , but illegal , goods and services . Examples include gambling , drug use , and prostitution ( Schur 1965 , 1985 ) . The fact that the parties involved are willing participants has led some people to suggest that such transactions should not constitute crimes .

Labeling Theory

Sometimes when it comes to deviance , perception dominates over reality . In the early 1970s , sociologist William Chambliss ( 1973 ) conducted what has become a classic sociological study . deviance . Using observation research at a moderate - sized suburban high school , he followed two groups of male students , which he called the Saints and Roughnecks . Those designated the Saints came from " good families , " were active in school organizations , planned on attending college , and received good grades . Those designated the Roughnecks had no such aura of respectability . They drove around town in beat - up cars , were generally unsuccessfull school , and aroused suspicion no matter what they did ( Chambliss 1973 ) .

Sutherland drew on the cultural transmission school , which emphasizes that individuals learn criminal behavior by interacting with others

Such learning includes not only the techniques of lawbreaking ( for example , how to break into a car quickly and quietly ) . but also the motives , drives , and rationalizations of the criminal . The cultural transmission approach can also be used to explain the behavior of those who habitually abuse alcohol or drugs .

International Crime Rates

Taking an international perspective on crime reinforces one of the key sociological lessons about crime and deviance : place matters . Although cross - national data comparison can be difficult , we can offer insight about how crime rates differ around the world .

As individuals , each and every moment of our lives we face a choice about whether to obey or rebel .

That choice gets . complicated by the fact that we confront competing and oftentimes incompatible options . Choosing one path may delight some of the people in our lives and enable us to pursue our own self - interests , but doing so might disappoint others and cause us to sacrifice benefits we also desire . Obedience to one group may look like deviance to another .

Trends in Crime

The FBI provides a more detailed account of the frequency of crimes in its annual Uniform Crime Reports ( UCR ) . These reports focus particular attention on what have come to be known as index crimes which include eight types of crime reported on annually : murder , forcible rape , robbery , aggravated assault , burglary , larceny - theft , motor vehicle theft , and arson . The first four are categorized as violent crime , and the second four as property crimes . As evidenced in the " FBI Uniform Crime Reports Data " figure , both the numbers and rates of these crimes vary significantly .

Researchers since Milgram have conducted similar demonstrations seeking to replicate his findings and have produced . comparable results

The average obedience rate for 17 similar studies was 65 percent , though rates for these studies varied . significantly from 28 to 91 percent ( Blass 1999 ) . Due to the potentially harmful psychological side effects on the volunteers , studies such as these ceased . In a more recent attempt , social psychologist Jerry Burger ( 2009 ) attempted to minimize the ethical concerns by , among other things , assuring volunteers they could stop at any time , guaranteeing they could keep the money they were paid for volunteering even if they stopped , and ending the experiment immediately after the 150 - volt level when the " learner " asked for experiment to stop , at which point the true nature of the experiment was revealed and the learner was shown to be unharmed . Burger found that 65 percent of his subjects continued to administer what they thought were shocks until the end .

Some activists are working to decriminalize many of these illegal practices . For example , supporters of decriminalization are troubled by the attempt to legislate a moral code for adults . In their view , prostitution , drug use , gambling , and other victimless crimes are expensive to enforce and impossible to prevent . The already overburdened criminal justice system should instead devote its resources to " street crimes " and other offenses with obvious victims .

The current debate over the legalization of marijuana illustrates the difficulty of enforcing laws involving willing participants engaged in private behavior . Even though marijuana use remains illegal at the federal level , 52 percent of U.S. adults admit to having tried it and 14 percent use it at least once a month ( Marist 2017 ) . Over time , attitudes regarding marijuana legalization have shifted dramatically . As the " Marijuana Legalization , 1969-2018 " graph illustrates , the percentage of people in the United States favoring legalization rose from 12 percent in 1969 to 62 percent in 2018 ( Hartig and Geiger 2018 ) .

Over time , the definition of white - collar crimes has expanded to include offenses by businesses and corporations . Corporate crime , or any act by a corporation that is punishable by the government , takes many forms and includes individuals , organizations , and institutions among its victims . Corporations may engage in anticompetitive behavior , environmental pollution , medical fraud , tax fraud , stock fraud and manipulation accounting fraud , the production of unsafe goods , bribery and corruption , and health and safety violations ( Coleman 2006 ) .

The downfall of Bernie Madoff represented the largest case of white - collar crime of its type in history . Madoff , an American businessman who managed people's financial investments , promised investors annual returns of 15 to 20 percent and delivered on that promise for years . This enabled him to attract extremely wealthy clients from around the world , even charitable organizations . In the end , he was just running a scam . Madoff had provided investors with false statements showing nonexistent trades and profits . Estimates are that he defrauded his clients out of $ 65 billion in purported assets . Life savings and family fortunes were gone in an instant . Madoff ultimately pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts , including securities fraud , mail fraud , money laundering , and perjury ( Gaviria and Smith 2009 ; Henriques and Healy 2009 ) .

One way to fight such crime has been through multilateral cooperation in which countries work together to pursue border - crossing crime

The first global effort to control international crime was the International Criminal Police Organization ( Interpol ) , a cooperative network of European police forces founded to stem the movement of political revolutionaries across borders . Although such efforts to fight transnational crime may seem lofty - an activity with which any government would want to cooperate - they are complicated by sensitive legal and security issues . Most nations that have signed protocols issued by the United Nations , including the United States , have expressed concern over potential encroachments on their national judicial systems , as well concern over their national security . Thus , they have been reluctant to share certain types of intelligence data . The terrorist attacks of September 11 , 2001 , increased both the interest in combating transnational crime and sensitivity to the risks of sharing intelligence data ( Deflem 2005 ; Felson and Kalaitzidis 2005 ) .

Formal social control

The imposition of sanctions , whether positive or negative , by officially recognized authorities in order to to enforce norms .

Knowledge of the impact of these and other possible factors would help us establish more effective policies designed to further reduce the crime rate in the future ( Chettiar 2015 ; Roeder , Eisen , and Bowling 2015 ) .

The likelihood that a crime will be " solved " varies by the type of offense . According to the FBI , an offense can be " cleared " either though arrest or exceptional means . To be cleared by arrest , at least one person must be arrested , charged with a crime , and turned over to the court for prosecution . Clearance by exceptional means includes examples such as the death of the offender or refusal of the victim to cooperate with prosecution . As the " FBI Uniform Crime Reports Data " figure shows , violent crimes , at 46 percent , are more likely to be cleared than property crimes , at 18 percent ( U.S. Department of Justice 2018a : Table 25

Conformity to social norms , the most common adaptation in Merton's typology , is the opposite of deviance . The " conformist " accepts both the overall societal goal ( for example , to become wealthy ) and the approved means ( hard work ) . In Merton's view there must be some consensus regarding accepted cultural goals and the legitimate means for attaining them . Without such a consensus , societies could exist only as collectives of people rather than as unified cultures , and they might experience continual chaos .

The other four types of behavior all involve some departure from conformity . The " innovator accepts the goals of society but pursues them with means that are regarded as improper . For instance , a safecracker may steal money to buy consumer goods and take expensive vacations . The " ritualist " has abandoned the goal of material success and become compulsively committed to the institutional means . Work becomes simply a way of life rather than a means to the goal of success . An example would be the bureaucratic official who blindly applies rules and regulations without remembering the larger goals of the organization . The " retreatist , " as described by Merton , has basically withdrawn ( or retreated ) from both the goals and the means of society . In the United States , drug addicts and vagrants are typically portrayed as retreatists . Adolescents who are addicted to alcohol or drugs at an early age may become retreatists .

Social disorganization theory

The theory that attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions , such as the family , school , church , and local government

Broken windows hypothesis

The theory that physical signs of decline in a community or neighborhood indicate a corresponding breakdown of social order within which crime and deviance are likely to thrive

Informal social control

The use of interpersonal cues through everyday interaction to enforce norms

He set up a scenario in which a volunteer , recruited from the local community , was told that researchers were investigating the effects of punishment on learning .

The volunteer was then brought into a lab setting and asked to serve as a " teacher " who would ask questions of a " learner . " If the learner got the question wrong , the teacher was instructed by a scientist , dressed in a lab coat , to administer an electric shock to the learner . For each additional question the learner got wrong , the teacher was instructed to increase the shock's voltage . Unbeknownst to the volunteer , however , no actual shock was administered . The real purpose of the study was to see how far the teacher / volunteer would go before refusing to obey the scientist .

Historically , organized crime has provided a means of upward mobility for groups of people struggling to escape poverty . Sociologist Daniel Bell ( 1953 ) used the term ethnic succession to describe the sequential passage of leadership from Irish Americans in the early 1900s to Jewish Americans in the 1920s and then to Italian Americans in the early 1930s . Recently , ethnic succession has become more complex , reflecting the diversity of the nation's latest immigrants . Colombian , Mexican , Russian , Chinese , Pakistani , and Nigerian immigrants are among those who have begun to play a significant role in organized crime activities ( Friman 2004 ; Kleinknecht 1996

There has always been a global element in organized crime . However , law enforcement officials and policy makers now acknowledge the emergence of a new form of organized crime that takes advantage of advances in electronic communications . International organized crime includes drug and arms smuggling , money laundering , and trafficking in unauthorized immigrants and stolen goods ( Lumpe 2003 ; National Institute of Justice 2007 ) .

From the feminist perspective , we also learn that men's greater average earning power disadvantages women . For example , wives may be reluctant to report acts of abuse to the authorities and thereby lose what may be their primary or even sole source of income But as women have taken more active and powerful roles both in the household and in business , these gender differences in deviance and crime have narrowed ( Chesney - Lind 1989 ; Kruttschnitt 2013 ) .

Together sociological perspectives on crime and deviance help us better understand and explain such acts . No single explanation is sufficient . We must consider multiple factors from a variety of perspectives , including the extent to which deviance exists for the sake of social order ; the degree of opportunity to attain both means and ends ; the role of socialization in deviance ; the strength of local community networks ; the power to administer labels and make them stick ; and differential access to valuable resources based on class , race , and gender . If we are to fully understand crime and deviance , we need to dig deep enough and consider what is going on from enough angles and with sufficient care , concern , and curiosity .

Differential justice

Variations in the way social control is exercised over different groups .

We see this pattern of differential justice at work with death penalty cases . Simply put , poor people cannot afford to hire the best . lawyer and often must rely on court - appointed attorneys , who typically are overworked and underpaid . With capital punishment in place these unequal resources may mean the difference between life and death for poor defendants ( Kutateladze et al . 2014 ; National Center for Access to Justice 2016 ; National Center for State Courts 2015 ) . Indeed , the American Bar Association has repeatedly expressed concern about the limited defense most defendants facing the death penalty receive . Through the end of 2018 , DNA analysis and other new technologies had exonerated 362 inmates , 20 of whom had served time on death row , with an average of 14 years served in prison . Forty of the exonerees pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit . Overall , 61 percent of those found innocent were African American ( Innocence Project 2018 ) .

Various studies show that defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death if their victims were White rather than Black . Even though about half of all murder victims are White , 75 percent of death penalty case victims are White . Some evidence indicates that Black defendants , who constituted 42 percent of all death row inmates , are more likely to face execution than Whites in the same . legal circumstances . Overall , 70 percent of those who have been exonerated by DNA testing were African American , Latinx , Native American , or Asian American . Evidence exists , too , that capital defendants receive poor legal services because of the racist attitudes of their own defense counsel . Apparently , discrimination and racism do not end even when the stakes are life and death ( Death Penalty Information Center 2018 ; Innocence Project 2018 ; Jacobs et al . 2007 ) .

Why are rates of violent crime so much higher in the United States than in western Europe ? Sociologist Elliot Currie ( 1985 , 1998 ) has suggested that U.S. society places greater emphasis on individual economic achievement than other societies . At the same time , many observers have noted that the culture of the United States has long tolerated , if not condoned , many forms of violence . Coupled with sharp disparities between poor and affluent citizens , significant unemployment , and substantial alcohol and drug abuse , these factors combine to produce a climate conducive to crime .

Violent crime remains a serious problem in nations around the world . In Mexico , for example , approximately 44 percent of the 27,734 homicides in 2017 were categorized as organized crime - style killings , involving elements such as group execution torture beheadings , and dismemberment . Attacks have been especially concentrated in the Mexican states of Guerrero , Chihuahua Veracruz , and Guanajuato ( Calderón , Ferreira , and Shirk 2018 ) . The violence is a consequence , in part , of governmental attempts to crack down on the illegal drug trade . After his election in 2006 , President Felipe Calderón sent in tens of thousands of troops to enforce the law . Since then , drug cartels fought both the authorities and one another in a struggle to maintain their local power Camp 2010a , 2010b ) .

Chambliss learned that boys from both groups repeatedly engaged in excessive drinking , reckless driving , truancy , petty theft and vandalism . However , students he identified as Saints were never arrested , whereas Roughnecks were frequently in trouble with police and townspeople . Even though their acts of deviance were largely the same , the two groups were not treated equally . The Saints hid behind a facade of respectability , and people generally viewed their delinquent acts as a few isolated cases of sowing wild oats Consistent with the Thomas theorem , Chambliss concluded that people's perception of the students , as rooted their social class positions , played an important role in the varying fortunes of the two groups .

We can understand such discrepancies by using an approach to deviance known as labeling theory , which emphasizes how a person comes to be labeled as deviant or to accept that label . Unlike Sutherland's work , labeling theory does not focus on why some . individuals come to commit deviant acts . Instead , it attempts to explain why society views certain people ( such as the Roughnecks ) as deviants delinquents , bad kids , losers , and criminals , while it sees others whose behavior is similar such as the Saints ) in less harsh terms . Sociologist Howard Becker ( 1963 : 9 ; 1964 ) , who popularized this approach , summed up labeling theory with this statement : " Deviant behavior is behavior that people so label . "

CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE

We experience social control in a variety of forms . Conformity is a more horizontal form of social control that involves abiding by the norms of our peers even though they have no direct authority over us . Going along with the crowd , whether that means attending a basketball game , studying abroad , or going to a party because your friends do , is a form of conformity . Obedience , on the other hand , is a vertical form of social control that involves doing what a person in a position of authority over you says you should . In this form social control , the social status of a person whose authority we respect , whether as a teacher , religious leader , or coach , gives them power over us . We are inclined to do what they ask because we trust them and defer to their presumed knowledge and wisdom .

ORGANIZED CRIME

When it comes to organized crime , images of pop culture gangsters , such as Tony Soprano from HBO's classic series The Sopranos , often come to mind . In real life , examples of organized crime groups go beyond the Mafia to include the Japanese Yakuza , the Russian Organization , Colombian drug cartels , and many other international crime syndicates . Organized crime is the work a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities including prostitution , gambling , and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs ( National Institute of Justice 2007 ) .

Formal social control

involves the imposition of sanctions , whether positive or negative , by officially recognized authorities in order to enforce norms . Examples of authorized agents are police officers , judges , school administrators , managers , and military . officers . Their task is to ensure that people adhere to the official policies of the organizations to which they belong . Formal social control can serve as a last resort when socialization and informal sanctions do not bring about desired behavior

Labeling theory is also called the societal - reaction approach

reminding us that it is the response to an act , not the act itself , that determines deviance . Traditionally , research on deviance has focused on people who violate social norms . In contrast labeling theory focuses on police , probation officers , psychiatrists , judges , teachers , employers , school officials , and other regulators of social control . These agents , it is argued , play a significant role in creating the deviant identity by designating certain people ( and not others ) as deviant ( Bernburg , Krohn , and Rivera 2006 ) . An important aspect of labeling theory is the recognition that some individuals or groups have the power to define labels and apply them to others . This view ties into the conflict perspective's emphasis on the social significance of power .

Crime rates vary over time , and sociologists seek to explain factors that contribute to these changes . In the past 10 years , as indicated by the percentage change in rate column in the " FBI Uniform Crime Reports Data " figure , crime rates have fallen in most major categories . Violent crimes , for example , have declined 10.6 percent since 2008 ( U.S. Department of Justice 2018a : Table 1a ) . To explain these trends , sociologists seek to identify possible causal factors , including the potential effects of

● The overall aging of the population , because people are more likely to commit crimes when they are young . ● Changes in the economy , including the economic downturn starting in 2008 and the recovery that followed . ● The expansion of community - oriented policing and crime prevention programs . ● Increased incarceration rates , removing potential offenders from the streets . . New prison education programs designed to reduce the number of repeat offenders .