Chapter 21 - Crime and Deviance - Polity

Crime and Deviance
Patterns of crime and crime statistics are notoriously difficult to interpret, as not all
crimes are reported, not all reported crimes recorded and the basis on which figures are
collated and presented are not stable. Using the UK as a case study, it can be said that
from the 1950s to the mid-1990s there was a steady increase both in levels of recorded
crime and in public anxiety about crime. Victimization surveys such as the BCS reveal
higher levels of crime than officially gathered statistics but still may under-record crimes
such as domestic violence, which people may be unwilling or fell unable to report. Both
official figures and victimization studies recorded from the mid-1990s onward reveal a
general downward trend though levels of anxiety and fear of crime do not reflect this
reduction.
The sociology of deviance has tended to concentrate on men, in part reflecting the
lower levels of recorded criminality among women and in part the processes of labelling
which are less likely to name female behaviour as deviant. This pattern can be seen as
the outcome of both the processes by which a crime becomes recorded and the real
social conditions of women’s lives. Women have fewer opportunities than men to
engage in many criminal activities, as all aspects of their behaviour in the public sphere
remain controlled and contained in a way that men’s are not. Women in some
circumstances also escape being labelled as deviant or criminal by evoking the ‘gender
contract’, under which they accept the definition of themselves as erratic and in need of
male protection. The extent to which women’s criminal behaviour will change along
with wider changes in their social position remains unclear.
The impact of changing gender patterns in society has also been invoked as an
explanation of apparent increases in male criminality. High levels of male
unemployment produce a crisis for young men in their transition to an adult masculinity.
Criminal behaviour can offer a possible source of adult masculine identity.
The crimes of domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape are
overwhelmingly crimes committed by men against women. Only a small proportion of
rapes come to the attention of the authorities, although the number has increased as
police and courts have been made more aware of, and more sensitive to, these issues.
Rape is not about sexual desire but about violence, power and control in a sexualized
way. All women are affected by rape as fear of it limits freedom on the streets and can
even create anxiety when home alone. Just as all women are expected to modify their
behaviour, or risk being seen as ‘asking for it’, so too are gay men and lesbians who are
publicly open about their sexuality. Youth crime, as Cohen and others have argued, is an
area which crystallizes wider social concerns and the introduction of Anti-Social
Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and similar initiatives can be seen to criminalize low-level
deviance.
The chapter now turns to consider middle-class crimes, which run counter to popular
perceptions of both crime and criminality. White-collar crime covers a range of illegal
activities open to those with professional occupations, notably in the financial sector,
and refers to offences which are not sanctioned by companies and may harm them, such
as fraud and embezzlement. Corporate crime covers all of those harmful activities by
corporations in pursuit of their own interests such as pollution, mislabelling and
violations of health and safety legislation. In these cases, the gap between the
perpetrator and the victim of crime is large, but these are not victimless crimes and the
victims are often the most vulnerable in society.
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