GCSE Sociology Crime and Deviance

Deviance is best described as

• breaking the written laws of a particular society

• acting outside of the norms of a particular society

• deviating from a societies rules and regulations

• acting abnormally

an example of a crime not necessarily being deviant behaviour

• Murder

• Stealing

• Tax evasion

• taking stationary from work for personal use

According to your curriculum, which is not a factor in determining whether an act is considered deviant

• Time

• Place

• Social situation

• age

compiled by the police

• self-report survey

• Victim Survey

• Official crime statistics

• Census

An advantage of official crime stats

• Covers all crimes committed in society

• Data is always accurate

• paints the whole picture of crime in our society

• data is consistent and reliable

a disadvantage of Self-report surveys

• people may lie or exaggerate

• may uncover some of the hidden figures of crime

• detail of social factors involved

• useful way to find victimless crimes

Victim surveys are useful because

• includes crimes not reported to police

• victims memories may be inaccurate

• people may not know what is a crime

• people may not admit to certain crimes

According to your curriculum, what is considered deviant or criminal behaviour depends on

• location

• individual difference

• Group size

• Culture

evidence of crime as a social construction would include

• murder

• stealing

• Homosexuality

• Masculinity

which is not a sociological explanation of crime and deviance

• Peer group and sub-cultures

• Structural Explanations

• Status frustration

• Development of an Underclass