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9.5 Resources and References

Key Terms

Aboriginal sentencing circles: The involvement of Indigenous communities in the sentencing of Indigenous offenders.

community-based sentencing: Offenders serve a conditional sentence in the community, usually by performing some sort of community service.

compensatory social control: A means of social control that obliges an offender to pay a victim to compensate for a harm committed.

conciliatory social control: A means of social control that reconciles the parties of a dispute and mutually restores harmony to a social relationship that has been damaged.

consensus crimes: Serious acts of deviance about which there is near-unanimous public agreement.

conflict crimes: Acts of deviance that may be illegal but about which there is considerable public disagreement concerning their seriousness.

control theory: A theory that states social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and that deviance results from a feeling of disconnection from society.

corporate crime: Crime committed by white-collar workers in a business environment.

corrections system: The system tasked with supervising individuals who have been arrested, convicted, or sentenced for criminal offences.

court: A system that has the authority to make decisions about criminal responsibility and sentencing based on law.

crime: A behaviour that violates official law and is punishable through formal sanctions.

criminal justice system: An organization that exists to enforce a legal code.

deviance: A violation of contextual, cultural, or social norms.

differential association theory: A theory that states individuals learn deviant behaviour from those close to them.

disciplinary social control: Detailed continuous training, control, observation, correction and rehabilitation of individuals to improve their capabilities.

folkways: Norms based on everyday cultural customs like etiquette.

formal sanctions: Penalties for rule breaking that are officially recognized and enforced.

government: Practices by which individuals or organizations seek to govern the behaviour of others or themselves.

informal sanctions: Penalties for rule breaking that occur in face-to-face interactions.

labelling theory: The ascribing of a deviant identity to another person by members of society.

law: Norms that are specified in explicit codes and enforced by government bodies.

legal codes: Codes that maintain formal social control through laws.

looping effect: The interaction between scientific classifications and targeted “kinds of people,” which influences the behaviour of the people thus classified.

master status: A label that describes the chief characteristic of an individual.

moral entrepreneur: An individual or group who, in the service of its own interests,  publicizes and problematizes “wrongdoing” and has the power to promote, influence, create or enforce rules to penalize wrongdoing.

moral panic: An expanding cycle of deviance, media-generated public fears, and police reaction.

mores: Serious moral injunctions or taboos that are broadly recognized in a society.

negative sanctions: Punishments for violating norms.

new penology: Strategies of social control that identify, classify, and manage groupings of offenders by the degree of risk they represent to the general public.

nonviolent crimes: Crimes that involve the destruction or theft of property, but do not use force or the threat of force.

overrepresentation: The difference between the proportion of an identifiable group in a particular institution (like the correctional system) and their proportion in the general population.

penal social control: A means of social control that prohibits certain social behaviours and responds to violations with punishment.

penal-welfare complex: The network of institutions that create and exclude inter-generational, criminalized populations on a semi-permanent basis.

police: A civil force in charge of regulating laws and public order at a federal, provincial, or community level.

positive sanctions: Rewards given for conforming to norms.

primary deviance: A violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual’s self-image or interactions with others.

psychopathy: A personality disorder characterized by anti-social behaviour, diminished empathy, and lack of inhibitions.

recidivism: The tendency of offenders to reoffend.

restorative justice conferencing: A technique of conciliatory social control which focuses on establishing a direct, face-to-face connection between the offender and the victim.

risk management: (1) Interventions designed to reduce the likelihood of undesirable events occurring based on an assessment of probabilities of risk. (2) As a means of social control, the strategies to restructure the environment or context of problematic behaviour in order to minimize the risks to the general population.

sanctions: A means of enforcing rules through either rewards o punishments.

secondary deviance: A change in a person’s self-concept and behaviour after their actions are labelled as deviant by members of society.

situational crime control: Strategies of social control that redesign spaces where crimes or deviance could occur to minimize the risk of crimes occurring there.

social control: The regulation and enforcement of norms.

social deviations: Departures from normal behaviour that are not illegal but are widely regarded as harmful.

social disorganization theory: Theory that asserts crime occurs in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control.

social diversions: Acts that violate social norms but are generally regarded as harmless.

social order: An arrangement of regular, predictable practices and behaviours on which society’s members base their daily lives and expectations.

sociopathy: A personality disorder characterized by anti-social behaviour, diminished empathy, and lack of inhibitions.

strain theory: A theory that addresses the conflictual relationship between having socially acceptable goals while lacking socially acceptable means to reach those goals.

street crime: Crime committed by average people against other people or organizations, usually in public spaces.

therapeutic social control: A means of social control that uses therapy to return individuals to a normal state.

traditional Aboriginal justice: A system of justice centred on healing and building or re-establishing community rather than retribution and punishment.

victimless crime: Activities against the law that do not result in injury to any individual other than the person who engages in them.

violent crimes: Crimes based on the use of force or the threat of force against a person or persons.

white-collar crime: Crimes committed by high status or privileged members of society.

Quiz Questions

Which of the following best describes how deviance is defined?

  1. Deviance is defined by federal, provincial, and local laws.
  2. Deviance is defined by moral philosophy and religious texts.
  3. Deviance is defined by acts that cause another harm.
  4. Deviance is defined by historical social processes.

According to social disorganization theory, where is crime most likely to occur?

  1. A transient community where neighbours do not know each other very well
  2. A neighbourhood with poor urban planning
  3. In unpatrolled streets or public spaces
  4. A class society with individuals who are under strain to be very competitive

Which of the following is an example of corporate crime?

  1. Embezzlement
  2. Larceny
  3. Exploitation
  4. Burglary

A moral panic is

  1. A stampede of ethicists to the lunch counter between conference sessions.
  2. Anxiety based on existential threats like climate change and system collapse.
  3. Anxiety based statistical crime rates.
  4. Anxiety based on the actions of folk devils

Future Research

9.1 Deviance and Social Control

Although people rarely think of it in this way, deviance can have a positive effect on society. Check out the Positive Deviance Initiative, a program initiated by Tufts University to promote social movements around the world that strive to improve people’s lives.

9.2 Theoretical Perspectives on Crime and Deviance

The Vancouver safe injection site is a controversial strategy to address the public health concerns associated with intravenous drug use. Read about the perspectives that promote and critique the safe injection site model at the following websites. Can you determine how the positions expressed by the different sides of the issue fit within the different sociological perspectives on deviance?  What is the best way to deal with the problems of addiction?

9.3 Crime and the Law

How is crime data collected in Canada? Read about the victimization survey used by Statistics Canada.

References

9.0 Introduction to Deviance, Crime and Social Control

Fallon, J. (2013). The psychopath inside: A neuroscientist’s personal journey into the dark side of the brain. Current.

Hacking, I. (2006, August 16/17). Making up people. London Review of Books, 28(16), 23-26. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n16/ian-hacking/making-up-people

Hare, R. D. (1999). Without conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. Guilford Press.

Rimke, H. (2011). The pathological approach to crime. In Kirstin Kramar (Ed.), Criminology: critical Canadian perspectives (pp. 79–92). Pearson.

9.1 Deviance and Control

Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. Free Press.

Black, D. (1976). The behavior of law. Academic Press.

Feely, M., & Simon, J. (1992). The new penology: Notes on the emerging strategy of corrections and its implications. Criminology, 30(4), 449–474. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1992.tb01112.x

Garland, D. (1996). The limits of the sovereign state: Strategies of crime control in contemporary society. British Journal of Criminology, 36(4), 445–471. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014105

Hagen, J. (1994). Crime and disrepute. Pine Forge Press.

Innes, M. (2003). Understanding social control: Deviance, crime and social order. Open University Press.

McDonough, J. (2002). Shakey: Neil Young’s biography. Random House.

O’Malley, P. (1998). Consuming risks: Harm minimization and the government of ‘drug-users.’ In Russell Smandych (Ed.), Governable places: Readings on governmentality and crime control. Ashgate.

Schoepflin, T. (2011, January 28). Deviant while driving? [Blog post]. Everyday Sociology Blog. http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/2011/01/deviant-while-driving.html.

Sumner, W. G. (1955/ 1906). Folkways. Dover.

9.2 Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance and Crime

Akers, Ronald L. 1991. “Self-control as a General Theory of Crime.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology:201–11.

Boyce, J. (2013, June 13). Adult criminal court statistics in Canada, 2011/2012. [PDF] Juristat. Statistics Canada catalogue no. 85-002-X. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11804-eng.pdf.

Clickitticket.com, 2019. “A Complete List (with Statistics) of the NFL Players Arrested For Domestic Abuse in the 21st Century.” Retrieved January 3, 2021. (https://www.clickitticket.com/nfl-domestic-violence/)

Durkheim, Émile. 1997 [1893]. The Division of Labor in Society New York, NY: Free Press.

Hirschi, Travis. 1969. Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

John Howard Society of Ontario. (2014, January 1). Poverty and Crime: Is There a Connection. Retrieved from: https://johnhoward.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/counter-point-1-poverty-and-crime-is-there-a-connection.pdf

Lally, J.R., Mangione, P.L., and Honig, A.S. 1987. “The Syracuse University Family development Research Program: Long-Range Impact of an Early Intervention with Low-Income Children and Their Families.”

Laub, John H. 2006. “Edwin H. Sutherland and the Michael-Adler Report: Searching for the Soul of Criminology Seventy Years Later.” Criminology 44:235–57.

McKenna, B. (2014, February 24). White-collar crime hits more than a third of Canadian organizations. The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/white-collar-crime-rises-in-canada/article17058885/

Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.

Schrotenboer, Brent. 2020. “NFL player arrests database: Records since 2000” Gannett, USA Today. Retrieved January 3, 2021. (https://databases.usatoday.com/nfl-arrests/).

Sutherland, E. (1949). White collar crime. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

Sutherland, Edwin H., and Donald R. Cressey. “A Theory of Differential Association.” (1960) Criminological Theory: Past to Present. Ed. Francis T. Cullen and Robert Agnew. Los Angeles: Roxbury Company, 2006. 122-125.

Sampson, Robert J. and Lydia Bean. 2006. “Cultural Mechanisms and Killing Fields: A Revised Theory of Community-Level Racial Inequality.” The Many Colors of Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity and Crime in America, edited by R. Peterson, L. Krivo and J. Hagan. New York: New York University Press.

Sampson, Robert J. and W. Byron Graves. 1989. “Community Structure and Crimes: Testing Social-Disorganization Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 94:774-802.

Todd, Roger and Louise Jury. 1996. “Children Follow Convicted Parents into Crime.” The Independent, February 27. Retrieved February 10, 2012 (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/children-follow-convicted-parents-into-crime-1321272.html).

9.3 Crime and the Law

Correctional Investigator Canada. (2013). Annual report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator: 2012-2013 [PDF]. http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/rpt/pdf/annrpt/annrpt20122013-eng.pdf.

Department of Justice Canada, Aboriginal Justice Directorate. (2005, December). Aboriginal justice strategy annual activities report 2002-2005 [PDF]. http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/aj-ja/0205/rep-rap.pdf.

Department of Justice Canada. (2013, April 30). Community-based sentencing: The perspectives of crime victims. http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr04_vic1/p1.html

Government of Canada. (2023). Parliamentary Committee Notes; Overrepresentation (Indigenous Offenders). Retrieved from: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20230720/12-en.aspx

Government of Canada. (2024, June 11). Understanding Women’s Experiences with the Criminal Justice System as Accesed and Offenders. Retrieved from: https://www.justice.gc.ca/socjs-esjp/en/women-femmes/ao-ad

Moreau, G., B. Jaffray and A. Armstrong. (2020). Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2019. Jurisdat. (Statistics Canada catalogue no. 85-002-X). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00010-eng.htm

Nagin, D., Cullen, F., and Lero Jonson, C. (2009). Imprisonment and reoffending. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, 38. University of Chicago Press

Nieuwbeerta, P., Nagin, D., & Blokland, A. (2009). Assessing the impact of first-time imprisonment on offenders’ subsequent criminal career development: A matched sample comparison. [PDF]  Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 25, 227–257. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2004004-eng.pdf

Ouimet, M. (2004). Explaining the American and Canadian crime drop in the 1990’s. Champ pénal/Penal field (Vol. 1).  https://doi.org/10.4000/champpenal.448

Pottie Bunge, V., Johnson, H., and Baldé, T. (2005). Exploring crime patterns in Canada. Canadian centre for justice statistics and time series research and analysis centre, Statistics Canada. (Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-561-MIE — No. 005). http://publications.gc.ca/Collection/Statcan/85-561-MIE/85-561-MIE2005005.pdf

Pratt, T. and F. Cullen. (2005). Assessing macro-level predictors and theories of crime: A meta-analysis. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice, volume 32: A review of research (pp. 373−450). University of Chicago Press.

Statistics Canada. (2024a). Police Reported Crime in Canada, 2023. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2024030-eng.pdf?st=0DS7d4fG

Statistics Canada. (2024b, August 21). Chart 1: Police-reported Crime Severity Indexes, 1998-2023. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240725/cg-b001-eng.htm

Statistics Canada. (2024c). Understanding and Using the Crime Severity Index. Retrieved from: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/statistical-programs/document/3302_D17_V1-eng.pdf

Statistics Canada. (2025a).  Table 35-10-0154-01  Average counts of adults in provincial and territorial correctional programs Retrieved from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510015401

Statistics Canada. (2025b). Correctional services statistics: Interactive dashboard. Retrieved from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2019018-eng.htm#moreinfo

Strang, H., Sherman, L. W.,  Mayo-Wilson, E., Woods, D., and Ariel, B. (2013, November 11). Restorative justice conferencing (RJC) using face-to-face meetings of offenders and victims: Effects on offender recidivism and victim satisfaction. A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews. http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/63/

Wildeman, C. (2010). Paternal incarceration and children’s physically aggressive behaviors: Evidence from the fragile families and child wellbeing study. Social Forces, 89(1), 285–309. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40927563

9.4 Public Policy Debates on Crime

Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. Free Press.

Boyd, S., and Carter, C. (2014). Killer weed: Marijuana grow ops, media, and justice. University of Toronto Press.

Canadian Journalism Foundation. (2019, April). News Consumption Survey. Canadian Journalism Foundation. 

https://cjffjc.ca/sites/default/files/CJF%20News%20Consumption%20Survey.pdf

Cohen, S. (1972). Folk devils and moral panics. MacGibbon & Kee.

Czerny, M. and J. Swift. (1988). Getting started on social analysis in Canada (2nd Edition).Between the Lines Press.

Department of Justice Canada. (2013, April 30). Community-based sentencing: The perspectives of crime victims. http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr04_vic1/p1.html

Department of Justice Canada. (2021, February 18). Bill C-22: Mandatory minimum penalties to be repealed. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2021/02/bill-c-22-mandatory-minimum-penalties-to-be-repealed.html

Galloway, G. (2011, July 21). Crime falls to 1973 levels as Tories push for sentencing reform. The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/crime-falls-to-1973-levels-as-tories-push-for-sentencing-reform/article600886.

Hacking, I. (2006, August). Making up people. London Review of Books, 28(16/17), 23–26. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n16/ian-hacking/making-up-people

Kramer, A., Guillory, J. and Hancock, J. (2014). Experimental evidence of massive–scale emotional contagion through social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111 (24), 8788–8790. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320040111

Miljan, L. (2001, March). Murder, mayhem, and television news. Fraser Forum, 17–18.

Moreau, G., Jaffray, B. and Armstrong, A. (2020). Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2019. Jurisdat. (Statistics Canada catalogue no. 85-002-X). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00010-eng.htm

Murphy, E. (1973/ 1922). The black candle. Coles Publishing.

O’ Grady, W. (2014). Crime, fear and risk. In Crime in Canadian Context: Debates and Controversies (3rd ed., pp. 11–31). Oxford University Press.

Oh, O., Agrawal, M. and Raghav Rao, H. (2013, June). Community intelligence and social media services: A rumor theoretic analysis of tweets during social crises. MIS Quarterly, 37(2),407–426. https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2013/37.2.05

Pröllochs, N., Bär, D. and Feuerriegel, S. (2021, November 22). Emotions explain differences in the diffusion of true vs. false social media rumors. Scientific Reports, 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01813-2

Ray JV, Jones S. Aging Out of Crime and Personality Development: A Review of the Research Examining the Role of Impulsiveness on Offending in Middle and Late Adulthood. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023 May 2;16:1587-1596. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S391406. PMID: 37159648; PMCID: PMC10163877.

Stieglitz, S. and Dang–Xuan, L. (2013). Emotions and information diffusion in social media—sentiment of microblogs and sharing behavior. Journal of Management Information Systems,29(4), 217–248. https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222290408

Stockwell, T., Sturge, J., Jones, W., Fischer, B., and Carter, C. (2006, September). Cannabis use in British Columbia [PDF]. Centre for Addictions Research of BC: Bulletin 2. http://carbc.ca/portals/0/propertyagent/558/files/19/carbcbulletin2.pdf

Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., and Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146–1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559

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