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Chapter 7: Crime and Deviance

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Deviance: violation of social norms

Agents of social control: informal and formal groups that control the behavior of members of society

Informal social control: individuals and groups that unofficially reinforce social norms

Formal social control: groups and organizations whose specific function is to control the behavior of members of societies and reinforce social norms

Social stigma: a label associating an individual with set of unwanted characteristics that form a sterotype

Labeling theory: the idea that individuals labeled as deviant are more likely to act on the label

Primary deviance: violations of norms that do not result in being labeled as deviant

Secondary deviance: norm violations that result in being publicly labeled as a deviant and outsider

Tertiary deviance: normalizing deviant behavior by labeling it as non-deviant

Differential association theory: a process by which individuals learn deviant and criminal behavior from associating with deviants and criminals

Crime: an offense in violation of public law

Social control theory: states that individuals who do not have strong enough social bonds are more likely to feel disconnected from society and engage in deviance and crime

Containment theory: individuals have various social controls(containments) that provide a protective barrier to help them to resist engaging in deviant and criminal behavior

Structural strain theory: social structures can promote crime and deviance among individuals within a society

White collar crime: nonviolent and financially motives crime

Incarceration rate: the number of people in state and federal prisons 

Criminal justice system: formal institutions designed to enforce, arbitrate, and carry out the laws of society

Violent crime: a crime in which a person is physically harmed or threatened by the forceful behavior of another (murder, assault, rape, kidnapping & harassment)

Property crime: the taking or destruction of another person’s property without the use or threat of violence (burglary, arson, shoplifting & vandalism)

Public order crime: crimes that violate the norms and standards of a community or impair a person’s abolition to function (prostitution, pornography, alcohol and drug use)

Corporate crime: a crime committed by a business or an individual on behalf of the business (false advertising, stock fraud, bribery & money laundering)

Organized crime: crimes or illegal activities committed by members of a gang, the mafia or the mob

Political crime: action or the absence of action that influences the political process (voter fraud, the misuse of government funds, bribery, treason)

Cybercrime: a crime that targets the computer systems of an individual or group

Hate crime: criminal behavior directed at individual or groups bases on their race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or religion

Terrorism: use of violence or the threat of violence to influence the political process

Crime rate: a statistical count of different categories of crime complied by federal, state, and local agencies. 

Differential justice: difference in how groups are treated in the criminal justice system

Plea bargains: agreement in which the accused pleads guilty to the crime in exchange for a lesser sentence

Collective conscience: a set of shared attitudes, beliefs and ideas about how things should be in society

Capital punishment: penalty for criminal behavior that results in the perpetrators death

Index crimes: the right forms of criminal behavior to creat the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report

Transnational crime: crime that crosses interstate or international borders

Counterfeiting: the manufacturing and selling of illegally copied products

Surveillance: the use of technology to monitor the action and behavior others