Relation of Deviant Behavior with Crime

Relation of Deviant Behavior with Crime

Introduction

Every society has its share of individuals who are different from their peers in their approach towards people and different things and society do not get ready to accept their presence. Thus, they are treated as aliens in their own homes which further encourage them to live their life on their own without any concern for others around them. The lack of attention and some sociological, psychological, and biological factors did not let them learn the moral implications of certain behaviors making them insensitive and indifferent to the harm they cause. Such behaviors are termed as deviant because they are different from the normal standards of behavior.

Discussion

Deviance has to be operationally defined for the purpose of differentiating the term with criminal behavior. Deviance is a violation of the norms and values set by the society. This could have different meanings for different people. Every violation of norms is not necessarily a deviance because sometimes it is necessary to bring a change in the norms for the benefit of a vast population because the former norms become obsolete with time. Therefore, not every deviant act is criminal. On the contrary, crime is behavior which violates the law and punishments are issued for their acts. Crime occurs at the society who could not conform to the societal obligations and agreement on the rules of behavior. However, when the norms and laws are broken at the same time, it is termed as both deviant and criminal behavior (http://freebooks.uvu.edu).

There are different theories regarding deviance in individuals. The first one is the 'Anomie theory' that deals with individuals' lack of conformity with the social norms and values of the society. Moreover, labeling theory posits that giving labels to certain people for their deviance derives similar actions in return. However, control theory points out that when the bonding of an individual is weakened with his society on different levels including the attachment styles, commitment, involvement and beliefs, the person is tend to commit crimes to fit in or to take revenge. Another theory suggests that deviant individuals share certain characteristics as not abiding by the laws and regulations. The reason for such an attitude is the lack of self control, and thus, the theory is named 'theory of low self control'. The lack of self control at an early age progresses to serious issues in adolescent and the person succumbs to whatever opportunity he gets to commit a deviant act (ww2.valdosta.edu).

Though deviant behavior is comprised of several types, but in the present study, we would specifically target the risk behavior in the individuals resulting in delinquency. Teenagers and adolescents are particularly attracted by actions involving risk because of all the fun that seems to be related, but suffer serious complications later. The risk behavior can be exercised whether in the face of unsafe sexual intercourse, indulgence in substance abuse for the sake of experiencing ecstasy and in extreme cases, could involve ...