DEVIANCE AND CRIME (FROM DEVIANT BEHAVIOR - AN INTERACTIONIST APPROACH, 1978, BY ERICH GOODE - SEE NCJ-50615)

• NCJ Number: 50616
• Author(s): E GOODE
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 28 pages
• Corporate Author: North Carolina Board of Youth Development
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

DEFINITIONS OF CRIME, THE POLITICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC DYNAMICS OF LAWMAKING AND ENFORCEMENT, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THEORIES OF CRIME ARE DISCUSSED.

Abstract

THE FORMALISTIC, JURISTIC, AND PROBABALISTIC VIEWS OF CRIME ARE DELINEATED. THE FORMALISTIC VIEW DEFINES CRIME AS ANY ACT THAT VIOLATES THE LEGAL STATUTES, WHILE THE JURISTIC PERSPECTIVE SEES CRIME AS ONLY THAT BEHAVIOR WHICH HAS BEEN JUDGED BY THE COURTS IN SPECIFIC INSTANCES TO HAVE BEEN IN VIOLATION OF THE LAW. THE PROBABALISTIC VIEW, WHICH IS HELD BY THE AUTHOR, DEFINES CRIME AS BEHAVIOR WHICH STIMULATES A HIGH PROBABILITY OR LIKELIHOOD OF ARREST. FOUR THEORIES THAT INTERPRET THE PROCESS BY WHICH LAWS ARE PASSED ARE DISCUSSED. THE RATIONALISTIC MODEL, BELIEVED TO BE THE MOST WIDELY ACCEPTED OF THE THEORIES, PERCEIVES LAWS TO BE ESTABLISHED AS A MEANS OF PROTECTING CITIZENS FROM SOCIAL HARM, WHILE THE CONSENSUS MODEL HOLDS THAT LAWS ARE ENACTED AND ENFORCED BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. THE CONFLICT THEORY IS REPRESENTED IN TWO OTHER MODELS -THE CULTURE CONFLICT VIEW AND THE ECONOMIC CONFLICT SCHOOL. THE CULTURE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE CONSIDERS THAT LAW COMES INTO BEING AS A MEANS OF AFFIRMING THE LEGITIMACY AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE DOMINANT SOCIAL GROUP'S VIEW OF MORALITY; AND THE ECONOMIC CONFLICT THEORY HOLDS THAT LAW EVOLVES AS AN EFFORT TO CONTROL BEHAVIOR THREATENING TO DOMINANT ECONOMIC INTERESTS. WHILE THE AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGES THAT A BLEND OF THESE THEORIES MAY OPERATE IN THE PASSAGE OF A GIVEN LAW, HE BELIEVES THAT THE DOMINANT EFFECT OR INTENT OF LAWS IS NOT THE PROTECTION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC FROM HARM. LAW ENFORCEMENT IS DISCUSSED AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE TWO GENERAL VIEWS OF CRIME -- THE FUNCTIONALIST THEORY, WHICH EMPHASIZES LAW AS AN EXPRESSION OF CONSENSUS MORALITY, AND CONFLICT THEORY, WHICH SEES LAW AS A MEANS BY WHICH DOMINANT GROUPS CONTROL DIFFERING AND THREATENING GROUPS WITHIN THE SOCIOECONOMIC FABRIC. THE AUTHOR ADHERES TO THE CONFLICT THEORY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, WHICH MAINTAINS THAT THE HIGHER THE SOCIAL CLASS OF THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT A GIVEN ILLEGAL ACTION, THE LOWER THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THE LAW PROHIBITING IT WILL BE ENFORCED. (RCB)