Describing crime and deviance is varied across different cultures; history; social situations and place. It will look at the bodies that measure crime and look at the reasons why they are not accurate. There are several differences between crime and deviance, deviance is a violation of the social norms whereas crime is a violation of the laws of the land. Society has no power for deviance but the government can punish with crime. Much behaviour that was seen as deviant in the past has today become a criminal offence, as with crime behaviour seen as criminal is now seen as deviant.
Further, because most hate-crime legislation puts added effort into prosecuting crimes against certain individuals or groups, what about the same crimes committed against someone who doesn't fit into one of those groups? Will the crime be prosecuted to the same extent? If not, you're making things worse for the majority, who are likely to feel underprotected. If the problem is that too many people (of any group) are being mugged, or assaulted, or their belongings vandalized, you should put more effort into prosecuting muggings, assaults, or vandalism. Not to protect any one group, but to protect all
They have the ability to affect how much crime is recorded, based on how they record their activities. Some crimes are not accounted for because depending on the consequence and who is doing the offending, particularly minors, they may be under counted for because the officer is either overloaded with cases and
According to Tappan’s (1947 p.100, quoted in Muncie et al 2010 p.4) “crime is an intentional act in violation of criminal law (statutory or case law), committed without defence or excuse and penalised by the state as a felony or misdemeanour”. In other words crime may be known as an act deliberately committed which breaches legal conduct punishable by state. This is a common understanding of crime today but unfortunately crime is not as simple as being a breach of law. The study of crime is vast and under constant debate. Crime is ever changing varying culturally, globally and historically.
There are many theories relating to deviance and crime with each theory illustrating a different aspect of the procedure by which people break rules and are classed as deviants or criminals. (New texts pg 138) which highlights the problems in defining crime or deviance. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRIME AND DEVIANCE Many believe crime and deviance has developed on separate tracks over the years as criminologist serve only for legality, crime and crime-related phenomena. The study of deviance however serves for a wider range of behaviours that are not necessarily illegal for example suicide, alcoholism, homosexuality, mentally disordered behaviours. (Bader et al) The main difference between crime and deviance is deviant behaviour is when a social norm has been broken whereas a crime is where a formal and social norm is broken.
These laws are useful because they establish levels of various crimes -- differentiating, for example, between killing a person by neglect (involuntary manslaughter), killing without intent (voluntary manslaughter), killing on impulse (second-degree murder) and premeditated, planned killing (first degree murder). The nature of these crimes is different one from another, even though the consequence is the same -- unwarranted death of another human being. Because there are the (and other) differences, the penalties are different although there is often considerable overlap of the penalty scales (such as years in prison). Your term "natural crime" is rather troublesome. In the natural world, we do not define crime -- even though predators may take the lives of other creatures on a daily basis, and may employ cunning traps and ambushes to do so.
A civil case is when the plaintiff decides to sue another person, organization, or a business, the individual being sued is also called the defendant. In a criminal case, the crime is based on offenses against the state, with the prosecutor charging the suspect for the crime and not the actual victim charging the suspect. (The Differences between a Criminal Case and a Civil Case, n.d) Many fundamental distinctions between a civil and criminal case separate them from one another in our court system, which include but are not limited to; the standard of proof required in a criminal case compared to that of a civil case, the terms and forms of punishment, and also whether or not you are entitled to an attorney. “In general, because criminal cases have greater consequences - the possibility of jail and even death - criminal cases have many more protections in place and are harder to prove.” (The Differences between a Criminal Case and a Civil Case, n.d) A duty placed upon a civil or criminal defendant to prove or disprove a disputed fact is known as standard of proof. (Standard of proof.
Natural crimes are crimes that are committed intentionally, negligently, recklessly, and knowingly. Natural crimes cause the most harm, occur more frequently and are more widespread. Legal crimes are an act that violates the law in itself but is considered legal given the situation. For example; killing someone in self defense violates the law, however; murder in itself is a crime, but protecting one's life if threatening by bodily harm or injury is legal. Therefore, killing in self defense is a legal crime.
(Hallam et al. 2005: 56) Some crimes however are not reported because the victim may be intimidated by the person responsible for the crime, or they may not have faith in the police to pursue the crime if they do report it. Other victims of crime may not report it as they feel that the crime is too minor, or that the police will think it is too minor to pursue. A large amount of sexual crime goes unreported because the victim is either too shocked, afraid or embarrassed. Police can use their discretion as to whether or not an incident is worth reporting, they have to decide if the incident is serious
Criminal Wrong Doings Jennifer Hyler CRJ 201 Ginger Jarvis July 24, 2011 Criminal Wrong Doings The criminal laws control criminal acts and channel human behaviors. Criminal laws also orchestrate punishments and sentences to the ones who commit wrong doings crimes towards someone’s person or personal property. A criminal law assumes that wrong doings not only damage the surrounding people, but society as well. All violators that commit a crime such as murder or rape must be punished. Criminal laws also have two written laws that are split up into two different categories.