Crime, Law, and Deviance
Chapter 7
LO 7-1 Examine the history of race, crime, and deviance
LO 7-2 Analyze stock theories of race, crime, and deviance
LO 7-3 Apply the matrix lens to the relationships among race, crime, and deviance
LO 7-4 Formulate transformative narratives of crime and deviance
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
A History of Race, Crime, and Punishment
Deviance – All actions or behaviors that defy social norms
Seriousness ranges from criminal activity to violating social expectations
Example: violating fashion “rules” vs. stealing
Deviance defines a significant portion of our national character
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Building a Foundation of Whiteness
English colonists arrived in America with notions of race and gender bias
All women typically received harsher punishments than their male counterparts for violating sexual or marriage taboos
White privilege – Refers to the laws, practices, and behaviors which preserve and (re)create societal benefits people indentified as white
White normative structures – Those norms and institutions that obscure the racial intent of such laws
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Legislating White Privilege
Racial consciousness – The awareness of race shared by members of a group and wider society
Colonial laws linked white racial consciousness to laws
Example: U.S. Naturalization Law of 1790
Slave Codes
Jim Crow Laws (1880s–1960s)
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
A Legacy of Racial Profiling
Racial profiling – Use of law enforcement to target people of color for extensive and invasive policing, often with no evidence of criminal activity
People of color are most likely to be profiled, imprisoned, and sentenced
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Sociological Stock Theories of Crime and Deviance
Fall into two broad categories
Biosocial theories of deviance
Ecological perspectives
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These standard stories have a common thread- they place the source of deviance at the micro, or personal, level. Therefore, either the individual, their community, culture, or environment are at odds with societal norms. And by implication if the individual, their community, culture or environment could just be reformed, fixed, adjusted or rehabilitated, then the deviance would be reduced or non-existent.
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Biosocial Theories of Deviance
Cesare Lombroso – Founder of modern criminology, 19th century
Believed biological indicators were associated with more primitive form of human being
Suggested that Africans, Asians, and Native Americans were especially prone to crime and deviance
Biological determinism – Holds that behavior is innately impacted by some component of a person’s physiology
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Ecological Perspectives on Crime
Ecological approach – Situates human behavior within the social structure external to the individual
Four derivatives of the ecological approach
Social disorganization
Culture of poverty
Cultural conflict
Broken windows
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Social Disorganization
Social disorganization links crime to neighborhood ecological patterns
Example: communities with large levels of immigration or migration produce rapid community changes that may lead to disruption
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Culture of Poverty
Culture of poverty approach – Poverty seen as a set of choices
Linked to unwed mothers who were blamed for perpetuating crime and deviance
Differential association theory – Differences in criminal involvement among groups resulted from their different definitions of criminality
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Broken Windows Theory
Broken windows theory – Argues that a significant way of decreasing crime was to halt vandalism
While fixing broken windows may increase community pride, researchers have not found that it sufficiently explains lower levels of crime and deviance
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Spaces and Places of Crime and Deviance
General strain theory – Racism produces stressful events and environments.
Leads to negative emotions, which leads to criminal activity
Systemic racism – Occurs when a system of inequality based upon race, often within institutional settings, is often associated with differential outcomes in crime and deviance
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These negative emotions may be buffered by factors such as coping mechanisms, family and peer support, as well as self-esteem
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Structure and Context of Crime and Deviance
Prison-industrial complex – Policies that target and greatly expand the U.S. inmate population
“Get tough on crime”
“War on Drugs”
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New interpretations of structural inequalities argue that racism, differential education funding, and a lack of opportunities may lead to a culture of poverty
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Structure and Context of Crime and Deviance
People of color are more likely than whites to be incarcerated
Girlfriend theory – Suggests that women are minor players caught up in criminal actions of their boyfriends
Black women are twice as likely to be incarcerated than their white counterparts
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Homicide is the leading cause of death for black males between the ages of 15-24 and the second leading cause of Hispanic males in the age group
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Structure and Context of Crime and Deviance
United States is the only industrialized western democracy that still sanctions the death penalty
Currently, 54% of those on death row are either black or Latino
Black men are eight times more likely to be homicide victims or offenders than their white counterparts
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Identifying Types of Crime
Differential labeling – Some individuals and groups are systematically declared deviant by virtue of being in that particular group
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Example: in the U.S., it is believed that blacks, Hispanics and other disadvantaged groups are more prone to crime, violence, disorder, welfare and likely to live in undesirable communities
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Identifying Types of Crime
Hate crimes – Use of violence and intimidation to further stigmatize and marginalize disenfranchised people
In 2014 the FBI reported a total of 5,479 hate crimes across the country
63% of these were against people; remaining target property
LGBT people of color are more likely to be victimized than their white counterparts
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Violence Against Women
Most common type of violent crime on college campuses is the rape of women
One in 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives
Poverty is correlated with rape victimization
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
White Collar Crime
White collar crime is “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his or her occupation”
Bernie Madoff stole $64.8 billion from investors
More examples include corporations such as Rite Aide, K-Mart, Xerox, and Tyco
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Transforming the Narrative of Race, Crime, and Deviance
In 2016 alone, 24,000 inmates in 12 states and 29 prisons held protests
Resistance – Conscious and unconscious attempt by individuals and groups to challenge the dominant values of society
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Scientific Advances
Scientific advances have aided current and past criminal investigations
Innocence Project has tracked 344 convictions have been overturned by new DNA evidence in 17 years
Of these, 215 were African American, 105 were white, 25 were Latinos and 2 were Asian Americans
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Alternatives to Incarceration
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juveniles in homicide cases to life without parole was both cruel and unusual
Community service
Clemency for non-violent drug offenses
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Coates, The Matrix of Race
SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Emphasizing Choice
Individual agency – For some people there is a “poverty of opportunities”
The prevalence of one type of crime is determined by the resources available within a particular community
This directly impacts the kind of choices that people make
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