SOCIOL 1A06 Chapter 14: NS - Chapter 14 – Deviance and Crime.docx
11 Apr 2012
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Document Summary
One way of conceptualizing crime or deviance is to emphasize its rule-breaking qualities, focusing in particular on its behavioral dimensions. Sociologists refer to the rules in question as norms: generally accepted ways of doing things. The most important are laws, which are regulated by a criminal justice system that includes, police, courts, prisons, etc. The cjs responds to law violators in legally prescribed ways. Many of the norms that control everyday life do not require legal intervention. John hagan suggested that norm violations can be differentiated by how serious they are, how much agreement there is that the behavior is wrong and the severity of the sanction, or punishment, imposed on that behavior. Hagan employs his conception of seriousness to identify different kinds of deviance. He designates a small group of offences as consensus crime: acts that are felt to be very harmful and wrong, and for which the harshest criminal sanctions are reserved.
