Introduction
Crime and deviance are words often applied interchangeably despite elusive differences. A person who commits a crime breaches social laws, whereas an individual with deviant behavior violates social principles and norms. It may be minor as one picks another person’s nose in public. Deviant conduct may also tiptoe over the criminal conduct line. The essay demonstrates an understanding of deviance and crime and their association.
Formal Definitions of Deviance and Criminality
In a formal context, deviance is behavior that breaches social values, norms, or expectations in a specific group or society. It entails characteristics or actions that deviate from what is seen as acceptable or typical. However, criminality is defined as behavior that is prohibited by law and punishable by the legal system (Curra, 2016).
Some mannerisms are stigmatized and may lead to social disturbance. Furthermore, one’s genes might be an influential forecaster of whether a person deviates from a life of crime. The environment also plays a substantial role in the articulation of genetic tendencies.
There is a colleague of mine who was raised in a demanding setting in which most relatives in his life were members of gangs who had manipulative and competitive tendencies, living a life delimited by crimes. He decided to follow the society around him, even though he was the only person to change his life, remain in school, and emerge as the first college graduate in his family and community (Behl & Steverson, 2021). Despite his experiences and genetics, which have caused him to behave in a deviant way, he goes contrary to social standards.
Predictors Factor into Crime and Deviance
These terms are considered to be caused by predictor factors. Persistent statistics show that young people carry out disproportionate criminal activities (Curra, 2016). Criminologists have long noted a strong relationship between crime and age. It has been shown that criminal behaviors peak at the age of 17 years and then gradually decrease (Edwards, 2006). Therefore, age is among the most solid crime correlations (Kyneswood, 2019).
Typically, juveniles commit vandalism, theft, disorderly behavior, and alcohol offenses. Gender is the highest crime predictor in society; for example, females have lower rates of representation in serious crimes than males do (Rodas et al., 2020). Therefore, gender and age are factors that influence deviant behaviors.
Nevertheless, race and age are risk aspects; socioeconomic status is individualistically regarded as a risk influence. Economic status may contribute to high-stress levels that, in turn, can result in robbery, theft, or other violent behaviors. Consequently, youths born into low-income families have higher rates of crime than those born in families with high incomes (Curra, 2016).
Unemployment, inequality, and income are all factors that contribute to socio-economical aspects. It has been observed that higher crime rates reveal that youths are at a disadvantage, which depicts factors combined that may escalate their vulnerability to crime (Kyneswood, 2019). Social exclusion, poverty, income, and wage disparity are some predictors that lead to crimes.
Application in Contemporary Society
From this point of view, the societal response to deviant conduct in the modern-day world is featured by the predominance of correlations and how society operates. Crime and deviance were used differently in contemporary society compared to 25 and 50 years ago, as they were employed more conventionally.
During this era, crime and deviance were not the standards. The social model appears distinct over time and differs over cultures. However, the perceptions were used contrarily 25 or 50 years ago as they were used more conventionally (Plé & Demangeot, 2020). Beliefs and values support conformity; for instance, if ethical codes are internalized and people are linked to broader communities, they will restrict deviant behaviors.
Furthermore, an example of deviance considering religious context is tattoos being regarded as sinful by the church in 25 or 50 years. For instance, Curra asserts that a tattoo may be applied to spot social outcasts or a stigma (Curra, 2016). Further, in Japan, conventionally, criminals were typically spotted through tattoos. Additionally, tattoos are often perceived to be barbaric and lacking respectability. In today’s world, attitudes and perceptions of tattoos have reformed while the standpoint of it has changed and progressed over time as society sees them as a lifestyle.
Criminalization of Certain Behaviors
Criminalization implies that some society’s members are better capable than others to convince the state to enforce their moral sentiments. For example, American society has a large group, mostly a majority, that regards smoking marijuana as a deviant behavior. In contrast, a small group, mainly young adult males who use it, considers it harmless and, therefore, is possibly indignant at societal interference (Curra, 2016).
In another case on the application of deviance, consensus occurs that individuals who compel others to be involved reluctantly in sexual relations and those with body odor are wrong. Rape and body odor appears to be an incompatible combination, and both are strongly disapproved of by most Americans overwhelmingly. Where they contrast is only rape is a statutory crime that may lead to police arrest, trial, and sentence. Despite smelling bad being a deviant, society does not criminalize it (Behl & Steverson, 2021). When deviance is criminalized, the arranged collectively conduits the indignant response of people into public condemnation and, potentially, punishment.
One Crime and One Deviant Behavior
Deviant behavior can breach informal social standards or formally enacted rules; hence, laws are enforced to avoid deviances like murder. It is a behavior of deviance that violates the norms and law. I would regard murder to be the most heinous of criminalities. People are often never satisfied and always demand more in life. Human needs and desires, for instance, lust and greed, can lead individuals into deviance, offering a personal sense of belonging, purpose, and respect. The law enforcement field is demanding, whether in these modern days or 25 years ago (Curra, 2016). Accurately dealing with a person suspected of murder is beyond what one believes; thus, law enforcers must ensure community safety and not prosecute.
Furthermore, a person learns from society the way to articulate one’s sexuality, and it is under socialization. While homosexual marriages are the unions most typically marked against normative heterosexual marriages, it shows that any form of non-heterosexual correlation is deviant behavior (Edwards, 2006). Thus, people with same-sex marriages or sexual attractions are associated with deviant behavior and are mostly socially excluded from the wider heterosexual society.
Churches were the first to criticize the perception and were swift to condemn the same-sex act. Being a law enforcer, I would have no view over same-sex relationships in the community, and it would be the same today as it could be 25 years ago (Rodas et al., 2020). However, law enforcement leaders have been accused of discrimination across the nation.
Conclusion
Deviance is considered a divergence from the norms and standards accepted by the community. Crime, on the other hand, entails illegal acts for which somebody may be punished by the regime. As an acceptable deviance, marijuana use has emerged as a personal factor of lifestyle that is typically outside subcultural groups and viewed as practical utilization for medicinal and leisure purposes. Law enforcement professionals must serve and protect the community and the public.
References
Behl, J. D., & Steverson, L. A. (2021). Criminal theory profiles: Inside the minds of theorists of crime and deviance (7th ed.). Routledge.
Curra, J. (2016). The relativity of deviance (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:SAGE Publications.
Edwards, M. A. (2006). Law and the parameters of acceptable deviance. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 97(1), 49–100.
Kyneswood, N. (2019). Limits of law in ending impunity for state crime: Time to re-frame the International Criminal Court’s mandate?State Crime Journal, 8(2), 219-240. Web.
Plé, L., & Demangeot, C. (2020). Social contagion of online and offline deviant behaviors and its value outcomes: The case of tourism ecosystems. Journal of Business Research, 117, 886-896. Web.
Rodas, A., Simpson, M., Rawlinson, P., Kramer, R., Ryan, E., Walters, R., Taylor, E., Beckley, A., Gore, A., Cunneen, C., Porter, A., Poynting, S., & Russell, E. (2020). Crime, deviance and society: An introduction to sociological criminology (6th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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