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Social Deviance

Section A.

1.         Deviance describes committing actions or behaviors that act as violators of norms set by the society. These norms include rules that are formally enacted by a political state such as its laws. Legal deviance describes the activities and behaviors that are not acceptable by society but do not break the law of the land. Illegal deviance on the other hand refers to the activities and behaviors that are not acceptable by the society and at the same time are also not acceptable by the law.

2.         Deviance is relative. This is because it is not possible to declare certain acts universally unacceptable by all societies. Deviant acts are, moreover, relative to different times and places. A case scenario is South Africa. It is one of the most liberal democracies in the world. However it is located in a continent where one of its practices is not accepted. Homosexuality in South Africa is widely accepted and same-sex marriages are legal. However, in other countries in Africa such as Nigeria it is illegal and regarded as a taboo.

3.         Two factors that affect the reporting of crime are notable. First, the mistrust directed to the police from the public. This can be attributed to the inaction witnessed on part of the police after a crime is reported. A good example is slow response. The second notable factor is the favoritism in application of the law due to corruption. Most citizens have very little confidence in the ability of the judiciary and executive arms of government to apply the law with no regard to social-economic status of individuals and hence do not report crime.

4.         One alternative means of gathering crime information is uniform crime reporting. It involves the police units and all other law enforcement agencies reporting all crimes to the MI5 which acts as the central data collection agency. It has the advantage of creating the ability to develop and track possible crime patterns. It main disadvantage however is that it covers a large scope and exhausting the high demands is impossible thus some crimes go unpunished.

Section B.

Social class and crime are believed to be related in some schools of thought. The police also believe that the two are highly related. The social class of a person and their academic qualifications are also believed to be greatly related to crime. Social class is related to crime in the sense that people from lower classes tend to be the highest percentage involved in crime. It is believed that in the desire to rise in social class, these people do whatever is necessary which includes committing crimes. Social class dictates the kind of education that one receives and thus the higher the class, the higher the level of education. Therefore the social class directly dictates the thinking capacity of a person. This thinking capacity dictates the decisions one makes and hence their moral thoughts are influenced in the process. Social class and crime are therefore greatly related since social class dictates highly a person’s way of life.