Lecture 2

SOCC30 Criminal Behaviour Lecture 2 20 September 2012 Norm violating behaviour comes in degrees of seriousness. It can be defined as a continuum of seriousness. As you move along the continuum you are moving from more serious types of crime to least serious crime. The difference from 2-3 is that there is a difference between crime from deviance. There are a number of acts and conditions that are not illegal or regarded as diligent Types of Crime and Deviance 1. Consensus Crime Very high levels of agreement with the act of the crime. It is painful for not only the victim but the wider community as well. These are the types of act that have severe consequences. People are sent away to jail for these types of crimes. Talking about murder, burglary with assaults of weapons, mass killing, child killing. Legal status used to call it “Crime mala in se (wrong in themselves)” Acts which are inherently or intrinsically wrong. 2. Conflict Crime Large amount of behaviours that we say are conflict crime. Most important point it is not referring to interpersonal crimes or assault. The use of the term is to suggest that it is a kind of crime that is loaded with controversy. Ex. Euthanasia, Some people regard it as a little more than legalize killing, others say that it is mercy killing. In Canada, there is a case of “Latimer to join U.K. debate. There was a Saskatchewan farmer who had a daughter that suffered very badly from a disease. He ended up killing his daughter because she was suffering so badly. He argues that people shouldn’t have to be tortured to maintain life. That he had a legitimate reason for killing his daughter. There are some people that support him and others that say that the law clearly states that you shouldn’t kill. Another example of this type of crime is the use of marijuana. Some people especially young people say that they should legalize it while others are in disagreement. Pornography is another example, we have laws against pornography. However there are extensive dispute over this topic. 3. Social Deviance In the legal textbook you will define it as “Crime mala prohibition (it is wrong by definition)”. . Although these acts are not currently criminal, they might have been criminal in the past. The point is that it is not a crime to be mentally ill, however there is a lot of stigma and shame associated with mentally ill. Suicide is another example, it is not illegal to kill yourself, however those who do so, are stigmatized with a certain degree of shame associated with it. There are studies done with ex convicts trying to get a job and those people that are known to be institutionalized. It is not surprise that trying to secure legitimate employment is harder when you have a criminal conviction. In addition those people that have mental illness also have a lack of opportunities in finding secure employment. 4. Social Diversions First type of social diversion; They are minority sexual practices. They entail such things as bondage SMS, Phone Sex, Internet Sex. Second type of social diversion; they quite often involve young people. Involves forms of cultural expression. Can be referred to as symbolic expressiong, things such as the clothes you wear, the hairstyle you have, the music you listen to. These types tend to attract some sort of ridicule of condemnation. Dying your hair green, listening to mental rock or wearing your pants low. Lead singer of Green day was removed from the airline in the US because of the type of pants he was wearing. There are occasions where these actions are labelled as deviant behaviour. These types of crimes and deviance are not carved in stone, things change. In other words there would be some examples of what we would not regard as conflict crime being not to long ago described as consensus crime. Ex. Marijuana, for much of the 20 century, throughout North America, Marijuana use was regarded as a serious offense. Those people that broke this law, received very serious offenses. One thing is that the legal state of the drug is determined by who uses it. During the 20 Century Marijuana was illegal because it was used by a racial minority, they were at the bottom of the hierarchy. However by the 1960’s the use of Marijuana became more popular, especially around college people. Marijuana use has shifted from consensus crime to more conflict crime. Thus the debates of whether it should be legal or not. These days, the p