Discuss the Problems of Defining Crime and Deviance

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

is not. Has a girl who lives in Ireland and then travels to England to have an abortion committed a crime?
As the Oxford English Dictionary states it is a crime to cause injury to public welfare, so is the army, when at war committing a crime according to that definition? During the Second World War (6th August and 9th August 1945) America dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing over 200,000 innocent Japanese civilians. The people responsible were not punished for this crime of genocide but instead commended for their actions by the state that is supposed to uphold the law.
The problem with defining crime is that there is no definitive answer and we need to examine the cultural, social, economical, religious and political factors that influence and shape the definition of crime. Until 1967 it was illegal to engage in homosexual activity in England but after much social pressure it became decriminalized even though many restrictions still ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

Deviancy when an illegal act is committed is called formal deviancy but when no criminal act is committed then it is called informal deviancy.
According to Howard Becker what is classed a deviant varies across time, across society and by who commits the act. For example rules of dress vary according to time, society, person and place. In African societies it is quite normal for women to walk around with their breasts showing but if a woman in England was to go out into the street with her breasts uncovered it would be classed as deviant behaviour. A man taking his shirt off and showing his naked chest however is not considered deviant at all. It is not the nakedness that is the ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: