Assess the view that crime and deviance are the products of labelling processes. Crime is an illegal act that is punishable by law such as stealing and deviance is an act which goes against society’s norms and values such as talking loudly in a library. Interactionists like Becker argue that Crime and Deviance is socially constructed and is therefore a product id labelling. However not al sociologists hold the same view. Becker argued that it is not a certain behaviour or act that is deviant but it is how we react to it that makes it deviant.
Thinking about it more, I realized that hate-crimes legislation doesn't aim to punish the actual crime, but rather the motive (or thoughts) behind it. That's smacks of being more than a little Orwellian to me, besides being something that's very difficult to prove. If someone is continually spouting hateful speech, there's a pretty good chance you can figure out that their motive for a crime might be related to that hate. But what about someone who doesn't give any
They believe this was a right that they were given by our Four Fathers, which is clearly not true. Yes, they have the freedom of speech but when should the freedom be taken away? What about the rights of the innocent victims and their families? Hate crimes, because of their nature will always lead to violence and this is not a freedom that people should have. In my opinion, the penalties for hate crimes should continue to be more severe than that of a regular crime because so many innocent people are injured and even killed simply because they are different.
This soon spirals out of control and ends up with Ricky getting shot at the train station towards the end of the film. The director is trying to show how difficult it is for young people to get out of the never ending circle of gun crime. The message of the film is anti gun crime, trying to show young people living in the poorer communities who are more vulnerable to violence or gun crime will sooner or later pay the price unless they have the strength that Ricky didn’t have in-order to step out. Gun crime is often made into a big fuss by the media and glamorised as such. It is important that violence and gun crime are talked about in films and that young people are made to see the real side of it, because people are getting killed often in events where youths are carrying guns, this often appears on the news.
Labeling a particular crime as special or different does not deter criminals from their true intention. If we place a "special" label on certain types of murder, rape or vandalism we are not preventing the hate that is the motive for such crimes. This is not the true goal of society. Helen Dodge makes a compelling argument to shun the members of such hateful communities in her article "Special Crimes Need Special Laws", when she says that the public should band together against such forces (Dodge 140). However, even she had to admit that these special laws won't deter the criminals who practice these violent acts.
This legislation, however, proved to have many loopholes around it for illegal immigrants to obtain drivers’ licenses regardless of their illegal status because the states were not obliged to conform to the standards. Therefore, states like Washington and Oregon that did not conform to the national standards until later in 2008 when the federal government made it that non-conforming licenses were no longer accepted in any federal agency, became a sort of a safe haven for a lot of illegal immigrants from various states to obtain drivers’
The Theories as to why Crimes Happen There are many reasons behind an individual wanting to commit a crime. It could have something to do with, what happened in their past. They may also be in some type of financial turmoil or they want to do it just so they can get a high from it. Whatever the reason may be, we need to understand why these crimes happen. Many people believe that crimes are committed because people have mental issues, however that is not the case.
When someone is robbed and you hear about it on the news most people specifically wait to hear what was stolen rather than how safe the victim feels after the attack. Fear can be a bad thing. Fear can prevent people from going about their daily lives and living and fear can make or break people. Fear is not always a bad thing though. In this article, several there were examples of fear making victims rethink their daily routines and activities and to take extra pre-cautions to be safer.
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.
Opportunity theorists reject the notion that criminals are pushed and pulled into criminal behavior. Rather, these theorists assert that criminal offenders are consciously thinking individuals who actively choose to partake in criminal activities in their everyday normal lives. Opportunity theorists seek to explain why criminals choose to commit a crime in one situation and not another. This perspective is what they call an “opportunity theory” Opportunity theories wager that no crime would be committed unless there was an open and present opportunity to commit the criminal act. One approach that opportunity theorists seek in preventing crime is what is known as the routine activity theory.