Theoretical Explanations of Crime and Deviance

The idea of crime and deviance is not fixed, but a social construction changing over time and varies across cultures and societies.
Crime is formally defined by legal codes and laws, which encapsulate society’s norms and values at a given time.
Deviance is wider than crime, encompassing actions that simply differ from the socially accepted behaviours without necessarily being illegal.

Functionalist Perspective on Crime and Deviance

Functionalist theorists propose that crime and deviance serve a number of purposes in society. They see crime as inevitable and universal, with every society having some form of crime.
Crime can lead to social change by challenging existing norms and values, prompting society to reconsider and potentially alter them.
Crime serves to reinforce social cohesive by uniting people in their shared disapproval of criminal behaviour.
However, too much crime can lead to social disintegration, a situation where shared norms and values break down.

Marxists argue that crime is a response to the capitalist system, which is characterised by economic inequalities.
They postulate that the laws are tools of the ruling class to control the working class. Laws are selectively enforced to benefit the capitalist system. Hence, crime rates are higher among the lower social classes.
White-collar crimes committed by the privileged classes are often ignored or treated leniently compared to the crimes committed by the working class.

Interactionists focus on the processes that lead to the labelling of certain behaviours as deviant or criminal.
Key concept is the labelling theory, which describes how the reaction of others can define certain behaviours as deviant, and the effects of such labels on an individual’s self-concept and subsequent behaviour.
The process of labelling can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, where the labelled individual begins to act in line with the ascribed label of ‘deviant’.

Feminist theorists focus on gender inequalities in crime and deviance, highlighting the lower rates of female criminality and the ways society responds to female offenders.
They argue that societal perception of women as passive and nurturing often means that when women commit crime, they are judged more harshly than their male counterparts.
Feminist theorists also emphasise on the role of patriarchal society in shaping women’s criminal behaviour, such as the connection between domestic abuse and female criminality.

Realists have a practical approach to crime. They distinguish between right realists, who focus on the control and punishment aspects of crime, and left realists, who focus on the underlying social issues driving crime.
Right realists argue for measures like enhanced policing and stricter sentences to deter criminals, whereas left realists promote preventative measures to address factors such as poverty and lack of opportunity, which they see as root causes of crime.