SOC227 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Reverse Onus, Legal Personality, Insanity Defense
8 Apr 2014
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Norms- established rules of behaviors or standards of conducts. Edwin sutherland argued that focusing only on violations of the criminal law presented a misleading picture of crime. 1. the degree of consensus that an act is wrong. Most people feel that mass murder is wrong but less feel like weed is wrong. 2. the severity of the society"s response to the act. Murder is punishable by death in some societies and by life imprisonment in others. On the other hand, possession of small amount of weed is ignored. 3. the assessment of the degree of harm of the act. Drug use and prostitution are considered victimless crimes that harm only the offender, while serious crimes of violence are considered harmful. The consensus approach believe that laws represent the consensus of people law is simply a codification of the values shared by most members of a society.
