FREE ESSAY ON CRIMINOLOGY

CRIMINOLOGY

person would be considered to be acting deviantly in society if they are violating what
the
significant social norm in that particular culture is. What causes humans to act certain
ways is a
disputed topic among researchers for some time now. There are three types of researchers
that have
tried to answer this question. There is the psychological answer, biological answer, and
the
sociological answer. With all of the studies that have been performed, no one group has
come up
with an exact reason to why people behave deviantly. Although, sociologists' theories
have not
been disproved as often as the psychologists' and biologists' theories because their
experiments
are too hard to define and no one definition for deviance is agreed upon by all
experimenters
(Pfuhl, 40). My own curiosity to find out what the influences are behind deviant behavior
is the
purpose for this paper. We have already discussed this topic during class in part two,
chapter four
of the textbook which explains deviance and crime. This section talks more about deviance
being a
learned behavior. I wanted to find out more information to see if biological factors are
also behind
this kind of behavior. The most knowledge acquired for why people act deviantly is from
the
sociological perspective. There is need for more research, if possible, in the
psychological and
biological perspectives, but there is a lot more known in the sociological viewpoint. The
reality that
the definition of deviant behavior is considered different by everyone makes it
complicated and
unknown if a truly accurate answer can ever be found (Pfuhl 18). This is why this topic
is
important to the study of sociology. Sociologists have more information, and therefore
may be
closer to finding the cause. For this reason, my main focus in this paper is at the
sociological stand
point of deviance with some explanations from psychologists and biologists. The family is
the link
to socialization in one's environment (Four Categories 1). In the family, divorce,
conflict within
family, neglect, abuse, and deviant parents are the main vindicates for the offspring's
actions. Early
researches first only thought parental absence affects girls and whites. Modern research
finds that
the lack of supervision, or support a child needs is a link to delinquency in any race.
It occurs more
in single parent homes because they have a harder time doing those things. Poverty is
also a reason
in the family for conflict because it can lead to both family breakups and delinquency.
Children
need close, supportive, relationships with parents. What promotes deviance in the home is
the
inhibition to talk to parents. The child may feel that they need to get attention
elsewhere, thus acting
deviantly if their parents are not there for them. Parents can prevent this by being
competent,
non-punitive (to a point), non-aggressive or violent, and teach their child high
self-confidence.
Family conflict has more damaging effects on children than divorce. Where as parental
death has
less impact than divorce (Four Categories 2). When a parent dies a child at least knows
that the
parent did not want to leave on his own terms and probably also did not inflict any abuse
to his or
her psyche before the parent passes away. Also, if a child still has contact with both
parents after a
divorce, the less likely they will feel neglected and react deviantly. Family size also
leaves an
adolescent without the necessary attention they need as an individual. Middle children
are more
likely to behave deviantly because they go unnoticed more than their younger or older
siblings. The
legal definitions of abuse and neglect varies from state to state but does, in any form,
create serious
consequences for behavior. It occurs in patterns and not just once, which causes stress,
poor
self-esteem, aggressiveness, lack of empathy, and fewer interactions with peers. Child
abuse is any
physical or emotional trauma to a child for which no reasonable explanation is found.
Neglect
refers to the deprivation that children suffer at the hands of parents (Devinace 1). Such
components
that comply to these definitions are non-accidental physical injury and neglect,
emotional abuse or
neglect, sexual abuse, and abandonment. Over one million of the youth in America are
subjected to
abuse a year. In terms of sexual abuse one in ten abused are boys and one in three of
them are
girls. It is really unknown how many cases go unreported in any area of abuse or neglect
a year.
From 1980 to 1986 reported cases did go up sixty percent. The most common reasons found
that
parents abuse their children is because this is a learned function they acquired from
their parents.
This tendency to pass down deviant behavior through generations is a cycle of family
violence
(Lemert 48). Parents are unable to separate childhood traumas from the relationships with
their
own kids. A group called Child Protective Services are created to remove abuse from the
sibling
that can cause more harm to the victim. This is not always the best option for a family
because
bigger problems may arise out of seeking protective services. The rest of the family
blames them
for the shame in their name and the main bread winner could go to prison. Another
unhealthy
thing to learn from a parent is the feeling of isolation from family and friends. This is
more
common is single parent families and lower classes. If a person is living in a lower
class,
single-parent environment, they are then at a real disadvantage. It may be because they
do not feel
they are good enough to belong in the realms of society. Delinquency is when a child acts
out their
hostility towards the parent or abuser in a deviant manner (Lemert 59). Parents need to
correctly
punish their child when they see deviant behavior and give them love, but the problem is
that some
parents do not see it. Other influences outside of the home can cause of person to act
deviantly.
Peers, media images, and other people in society set what the norm should be in a given
area. In the
South higher numbers of people commit hate crimes still today. This hatred for a race is
practiced
over one hundred years ago. The idea that one race should be inferior and hate another
race is
something a person is not born with, and must have learned. Men are taught that the norm
is to be
aggressive, and even violent. What is normal can be relatively different in various areas
of the
world. Some may even accept harsher offenses such as rape and murder. What is deviant can
be
changed over time once society as a whole feels more comfortable and accepting of the
certain type
of deviant behavior. Only certain people once got tattoos and now it is a current fad to
cover your
whole body with them. Media portrays models and famous figures who get unusual tattoos,
piercings, and have certain attitudes for people, mostly teenager, to follow. There are
more
devil-worshipers, or so they portray, in the music business. This says to children that
it is cool
to wear the black clothes and act somewhat gothic, like them. This is just one example.
It may
just depend on the person to how much their peers and media influence them to go against
the
norms. Although, once a person is labeled deviant they continue to respond to society as
if they
are. This aspect of deviance is called the Labeling Theory. They are sociologists who
seek to find
why certain acts are defined as criminal, and others are not. They also question how and
why
certain people become defined as a criminal or deviant. The acts that they perform, in
this idea, are
not significant to the criminals, but it is the social reaction to them that is (Overview
1). The
response and label from other individuals in society, such as peers, are how the
individuals view
themselves. When a person does a deviant act they are then labeled by society and
separated from
the normal people. Such labels in today's society are whore, abuser, loser, and etc.
These
people are then outsiders and associate with other people who have been cast out of
society.
When more and more people think of these people as deviant they, themselves think they
are too.
The Labeling Theory says that once they feel this way they will continue to behave in the
way
society now expects them to. The biological answer is found in heredity and genetic
testing. This is
where the argument of nature vs. nurture comes up. Not in sociology, but in psychology
because
the social causes are not being investigated. The question is, are humans genetically
predisposed at
birth with the characteristics that make them act deviantly, or do the people around them
influence
them to act this way. The early studies of Phrenology was used by experimenters to
determine if an
area of the brain had the properties to predispose a person the deviant behavior. They
had more
severe deviant behavior in mind such as sex crimes, rape, theft, assault, murder,
treason, and fraud.
They figure that they do not have the right controlling power for that area of the brain
if they are
acting abnormal. This theory, like many biological studies trying to find factors of
deviance, is
short-lived, but leads to another field of study, anthropology. Anthropologists say that
crime is
rooted at heredity. Their studies do not go far either because when they were measuring
physical
characteristics they found few differences to support their hypothesis. Johannes Lange
and other
later experimenters used twin studies to attempt to prove the biological theory. They
looked at
twins with criminal records to see if both of the siblings are more likely to commit a
crime than just
one of the siblings in a set of twins. This is also a contestable topic. The biological
argument would
say that delinquents are inferior and inferiority is inherited. Sociologists would
counter act by
saying that the person simply learned inferiority from their parents at a young age and
is not
inherited. The XYY Controversy disputes that males can have an extra Y chromosome that
makes
them extra aggressive. The YY sperm unites with and X ovum and creates an XYY male. They
can
not prove that it is not just the pressures from society that makes a person more easily
inclined to
act criminally. As is shown from all of the disproved theories, biologists probably will
never be
able to defend their research in trying to discover whether or not inherited
characteristics
predispose a child to acting deviant (Berg, 34). The psychological perspective is popular
amongst
many crime committers in the United States today. What is meant by this statement is that
a person
can plead insanity for defense and get out of the crime they committed, but the difficult
part may be
that psychiatric support is needed. The psychological answer for deviance is the
relationship
between crime and mental defectiveness. In the Irresistible Impulse Rule insanity is
emotional
rather than an intellectual condition (Pfuhl 45). Mental illnesses can also either be
caused or helped
become worse from drugs and alcohol. The test done by psychologists were those to find
out the
mental characteristics found in offenders and non-offenders such as emotions, moods, and
temperament. This explanation also is not accurate because it can be disproved by taking
a circular
form. For example, they ask a person why he did what he did? The answer to that is
because he is
ill. It is then asked how do we know he is ill? The answer to that is because he did what
he did.
Finally, we come to the third perspective of how deviant behavior is created. The
sociological
perspective is the factor that has been the least questioned explanation of the three,
even though it
does not also give the exact justification for where deviant behavior comes from.
Sociologists learn
from culture's influences, other than a biological or psychological bias. It is an
emergence of a
person's character (Pfuhl 50). Rather than concern with behavior from certain people,
sociologists
view deviance as a behavior engaged in a person by having a common socioculture or the
same
experiences within a culture. Edwin H. Sutherland explains that deviant and non-deviant
behavior
are learned in the same ways through his Differential Association Theory. Sutherland
demonstrates
that criminal behavior is learned from intimate groups by the means of communication.
When they
learn how to act deviantly they then know what is involved in what drives a person to
commit a
crime. This does vary in people who have different characteristics in concerns of how
much a
person will learn if they learn anything at all. This is the most popular among
sociological theories
because it has not yet been disproved. This is due to the enormity and difficulty
measuring
differential associations in one with criminal or non-criminal patterns. Whatever the
cause is for
deviant behavior is, it is still a problem in society. Although, behavior that was once
thought of as
deviant is no longer thought of in that way anymore. More people are starting to accept
differences
in people such as gays, tattoos, and piercings. It is even being taught to children that
it is okay if
they want to be different, or feel that they are because everyone is unique and should
not be
ashamed of that. The harsher acts of deviance are still looked extremely upon as horrid,
and will
hopefully never change. What causes a person to act a certain way is, the least to say a
controversial topic. It may be from inherited traits, learned from society and family, or
even a
combination of both. In this case, an exact answer will probably never be known.
REFERNCE
PAGE 1. Becker, Howard S. Overview of Labeling Theories. http://home.ici.net/~
ddemelo/crime/labeling.html. 2. Berg, Irwin A. and Bass, Bernard M. (1961). Conformity
and
Deviation. New York: Harper and Brothers. 3. Deviance: Behavior that Violates Norms.
Http://www.elco.pa.us./ Academics/Social_Studies/Care/ITTP_2/Chap.8.html. 4. Four
Categories
of Family Functions that Seem to Promote Delinquent Behavior.
http://www.mpcc.cc.ne.us/aseffles/delcrslides/ch.09/tsld012. Htm. 5. Lemert, Edwin M.
(1972).
Human Deviance, Social Problems, and Social Control. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 6.
Pfuhl,
Erdwin H. Jr. (1980). The Deviance Process. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.