What is deviance? How are crime and deviance similar? How do they differ?

What will be an ideal response?


Deviance is defined as human activity that violates social norms. While the concepts of crime and deviance overlap, they are not identical; some forms of deviance are not violations of the criminal law, while some crimes are not considered deviant behaviors. Deviance is a broad area whose boundaries include many (but not all) types of crime as well as many noncriminal behaviors.

The concept of crime changes over time as society's interpretation of behaviors changes. A behavior that was in the past considered unacceptable and which was against the law may over time come to be seen as acceptable behavior, and the laws may be changed to reflect this. Similarly, a formerly acceptable behavior may become seen as deviant and eventually the laws may be changed to criminalize the behavior.

Criminal Justice

You might also like to view...

The website DISSOMASTER would be useful for a paralegal working in a state with complex equations used to calculate support, such as:

A. Wisconsin. B. California. C. New York. D. Illinois.

Criminal Justice

A goal of electronic monitoring is to increase the number of juveniles safely released into existing home confinement programs

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Criminal Justice

Why do life course theorists believe the key to criminal offending lies in childhood?

What will be an ideal response?

Criminal Justice

In general, officers who display a _________________ will have a favorable impression with the public.

A. sense of pride B. professional appearance C. positive attitude D. "we are equals" attitude

Criminal Justice