The causes of crimes Essay

Today, the problem of the accurate definition of deviance and understanding of the causes of crimes being committed in the society is one of the primary concerns of criminologists, sociologists, and other professionals involved in the solution of this problem. At the same time, in spite of the tremendous progress of the modern science, there is still no unanimous view on the essence of deviance and causes of crime as well as factors influencing the deviant behavior of offenders. In actuality, views on deviance and theoretical interpretations explaining the deviant behavior of individuals may vary consistently but still there is not a single theory that would explain the essence of crime and its causes as well as behavior of offenders. In such a context, it is important to understand the essence of deviance, which is often considered to be relevant, as well as overview major theoretical frameworks within which views on deviance are developed and criminal behavior is explained. In such a way, it is possible to understand different views on the problem of deviance and possible factors that contribute to the deviant behavior of individuals.
Today, the problem of the definition of deviance raises heat debates among specialists, because they have quite different views on deviance and its interpretation. At the same time, it is possible to trace a strong trend to view deviance as not just a mere deviation from a norm but as a relative concept. In fact, some specialists suggest that deviance is relative (). What is meant here is the fact that the concept of deviance was traditionally defined as socially unacceptable behavior that violates existing social norms and rules. However, today, specialists argue that such a view on deviance is superficial and it fails to explain the essence of deviance to the full extent. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that the relativity of deviance is closely intertwined with the relativity of existing social norms and rules.
At this point, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that modern society keeps progressing and changing. Today, changes occur too fast at the unparalleled rate. As a result, the social life changes fast and the society attempts to change its social norms and rules respectively to the changes that have already occurred in the life of people. In such a situation, the very concept of norm is vulnerable to consistent changes and, what is more important, the concept of norm becomes relative. To put it more precisely, the concept of norm has to change fast respectively to the changing environment and social rules because the change of the social life leads to the change of the concept of norm. As a result, what is a norm today may be a deviation tomorrow. Hence, the relativity of the norm naturally leads to the relativity of the deviation. In fact, the deviation becomes relative because the concept of norm has become to changeable and changes occur too fast so that the society fails to catch up with the clear definition of the concept of norm and deviation. Hence, people often fail to define accurately what is deviation, at the moment, because deviation could have been a norm recently, whereas the norm could have been a deviation recently.
In such a context, different theories attempt to explain the essence of crime and deviation as well as the essence of criminal behavior and factors that influence criminal behavior. At this point, it is possible to refer to the social control system, which implies the existence of the social control over the behavior of individuals and the deviation from the norm and from existing social standards lead to the deviation and crimes being committed in the society. In this regard, individuals are normally under the control of the existing social norms and standards. People live according to norms and rules established within the society. The society, in its turn, conditions individuals to live according to its norms. However, if individuals differ from others and are bold enough to violate the existing social norms than they go out of the social control. In such a situation, the society attempts to regain the control over such individuals through imposing on them certain limitations, including imprisonment to isolate from the rest of the society.
Another theory on deviance has emerged recently under the impact of the science and technology. This theory holds the premise that deviance is a sort of sickness because people are not bad a priori or deviant but they just suffer from the sickness and they need the assistance of the society and professionals, who can help them to return to the norm. Hence, the idea of the medicalization of deviance has emerged. The medicalization of deviance stands on the ground that deviance is a sickness and people needs the medical and psychological aid. They should learn to act according to existing social norms and standards and prevent any manifestation of deviation. However, this theory apparently has substantial limitations because it prevents the adequate explanation of the essence of crime, which is determined not by individual inclinations but by the pressure of the social group, for instance. For example, a crime may be viewed as an illness when an individual suffers from kleptomania, but deviance cannot be viewed as illness, if an individual grows up in a criminal environment and views theft and murder as a norm.
On the other hand, it is possible to speak about deviance at the upper-level of the society, which is normally defined as the white collar crime. In fact, the white collar crime are crimes committed by representatives of the political and economic elite, which hold the dominant position in the society. For example, the Enron scandal is one of the most notorious cases of the white collar crime, when owners of Enron misled the public and provided incorrect information on the financial position of the company, deceiving stakeholders and earning exorbitant profits.
At this point, it is possible to discuss the main concepts and processes of the following sociological theories of deviance, and provide examples showing how they work. First of all, it is possible to refer to Merton’s strain theory, which holds the premise that each individual has social strains, which prevent him or her from deviant behavior. An individual cannot violate the existing taboos and social norms, whereas their violation is a deviation and crime that leads to the respective punishment of the individual. Therefore, an individual can act only within a socially approved framework of goals and means. For instance, an individual cannot consume drugs publicly, because it is illegal and it is considered to be socially wrong.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the differential association theory, which stands on the ground that an individual learns diverse patterns of behavior from his or her social environment. Therefore, the deviant behavior is also learned and the younger is the “learner” the more significant is the impact of the deviant “teacher” (Sociological Theories to Explain Deviance). For example, a young person can commit crime being guided by a recidivist, whom he views as the highest authority.
Finally, the labeling theory views the deviation as mere label imposed on certain actions and patterns of behavior. On the other hand, individuals being labeled as offenders are vulnerable to the negative attitude to them from the part of the society and should change the public attitude through following existing social norms and standards.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that deviation is still a subject to debate because the concept of deviation has become relative and there is no universal theory that can explain this concept adequately.