Deviant behavior and social norms. Deviant behavior and its types. Causes of deviant behavior Criminal with social deviations in behavior
Deviant human behavior is a variant of the individual’s interaction with other individuals in the process of socialization, that is, inclusion in society. Let's look at this concept in more detail.
What is behavior?
Behavior – this is a peculiar reaction to various stimuli, both external and internal (other people, information). Sometimes the behavior is meaningful, and sometimes it is not. A person acts meaningfully, trying to achieve some goals, instinctively - in some ordinary situations (for example, he looks in the direction of a loud sudden sound).
What is the norm?
A social norm regulates the behavior of people in society, their relationships with each other and with society as a whole.
There is an idea of normal behavior. This is a historically established option; it presupposes a kind of framework of permitted or obligatory behavior.
The norms can be divided into two groups: officially established (for example, norms of legal laws, various instructions, etc.) and actually established . These latter include traditions, norms of etiquette, morality, etc.
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Officially established and actually established norms may not coincide. For example, everywhere in cities they ignore the rules for walking dogs only in special areas. This norm is official, but in fact not established.
Sometimes it happens that an officially created norm has a disorganizing effect, that is, it is abnormal. This is possible in the case where there is voluntarism among legislators. One can cite as an example the anti-alcohol campaign in the USSR in the 80s, which led to the creation of a mass of underground enterprises for the production of alcoholic beverages.
The concept of deviant behavior
What is the relationship between social norms and deviant behavior?
Any norm is inherently conservative. However, the situation in the state and society is changing, and accordingly spontaneous deviations from the norm appear. After some time, this deviation itself becomes the norm.
Deviant or deviant behavior contradicts the generally accepted norm, but it must be borne in mind that in different societies the same behavior can be considered deviant or ordinary, cause or not cause condemnation, and after a while deviant behavior can begin to be perceived as normal.
Variants of deviant behavior
Traditionally, deviant behavior is considered to be that which poses a certain danger and even a threat to the established order. But social deviations can manifest themselves not only in the form of crime. The behavior of various outstanding people, for example, artists who create their works in some new style or direction, can be considered deviant. The behavior of an inventor, a scientist completing an amazing discovery, or people who hold radical views can be considered deviant.
Researcher Gilinsky proposed his own classification; he distinguished two types: negative, that is, harmful to society, and positive behavior. What illustrates positive deviant behavior? For example, various forms of social creativity. What is the negative? This is dangerous and antisocial behavior: beatings, insults, etc.
Reasons for deviant behavior
Let's find out what are the reasons for deviant behavior.
- The emergence of a new social system on the ruins of the old one.
- The process of developing a new system, which can lead to various distortions and imbalances.
- The needs of society (spiritual, economic, etc.) may outstrip the development of society, and this causes the need for deviant behavior.
- It might just be a random deviation.
There is no doubt that violation of even the most important norms accepted in society is associated with economic relations. This connection is not direct, but it is absolutely undeniable. As an example, we can cite the situation in our country in the mid-90s of the last century. The ensuing unemployment and lack of money led to the formation of a large number of groups with deviant behavior: these are criminal groups, companies of drug addicts, homeless people, etc.
Another reason is the contradiction between segments of the population. This is especially true of the relationship between those in power and ordinary people. The hypocritical behavior of government officials leads to social apathy on the part of the majority of the population. This also includes social injustice and the traditions of deviant behavior that have developed in society (a specific example is the lack of moral condemnation of petty theft).
Types of deviant behavior
What types of deviant behavior do sociologists identify? Three types can be distinguished:
- aggressive deviations ; they manifest themselves in actions against the individual: crime (for example, murder), insults, fights, etc.; they cause not only moral condemnation, but also legal prosecution;
- deviations of selfish orientation; These are actions that are associated with the desire to illegally obtain property benefits; this includes bribes, theft, fraud, etc.;
- socially passive deviations – these are various options for avoiding solving personal and social problems (reluctance to study, work, desire for vagrancy, various types of drug addiction and substance abuse; this can also include suicide).
Behavior of children and adolescents
Children and adolescents may be characterized by forms of deviant behavior of all groups: theft, fighting, begging, substance abuse and computer addiction, suicidal acts, etc.
In childhood and adolescence, the reason for such behavior is usually following group values. There are various methods for diagnosing the tendency of children and adolescents to deviant behavior and are widely used. Their main goal is to identify addiction tendencies.
Based on these techniques, various correction methods are used to protect children from the possible consequences of a tendency to deviant behavior, teach them to interact with society, instill the ability to smooth out conflicts, and respect the norms of behavior accepted in society.
Theories
There are several theories of an individual's deviation from social norms. In the 11th grade, during a social studies lesson, it is enough to get acquainted with their content briefly.
For example, biological theory states that some individuals have congenital personality defects, which lead to antisocial behavior, interfering with socialization. However, the biological theory is currently subject to significant criticism. Moreover, it cannot explain those crimes and actions that involve conscious choice.
Social psychological theory explains the presence of manifestations of deviant behavior by social upheavals, crises, unemployment, etc.
There is another theory, it is called the theory of stigma, or “labeling.” The essence of the theory is that certain groups of people initially cause distrust and condemnation of society; it is as if a person is branded as a criminal, and he behaves in accordance with the expectations of society. That is, behavior is secondary to an assessment that initially had no basis.
What have we learned?
Deviant behavior does not correspond to the social norms currently accepted in a given society. It can be positive or negative; Negative deviant behavior can be dangerous to the individual and others.
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Sociological studies of crime involve the study of phenomena close to this phenomenon or influencing it, so-called deviations, deviant behavior.
Socially negative phenomena (processes), social deviations in the activities of groups, asocial, immoral and antisocial behavior of the individual, types deviant behavior - concepts that represent violations of political, moral, legal and other social norms established by society and the state. Social deviation here is understood as a retreat, a departure from the requirements of an existing social norm (law, morality, rules of human society), a violation of it, which is not the only possible type of behavior.
For criminology, it is important that such phenomena are associated with crime and delinquency. They are also characterized by a certain mass character, stability and prevalence under similar conditions, which is why they differ from excesses - random, extraordinary actions, or certain types of behavior for which there are no corresponding norms (for example, creative activity).
It is known that E. Durkheim considered crime a natural deviation from the average norm of behavior. Crime is normal, he wrote, and in some cases beneficial. He considered deviant behavior as the engine of progress. “In order for progress to be possible, individuality must express itself” 69 .
So, deviations from the norm (legal, moral, political and other social) can be both for the better (positive) and for the worse (negative). Society not only establishes this fact, but also uses it in preventive activities, providing various forms of stimulation, encouragement of positive deviations and neutralization and punishment of negative ones.
The study of phenomena (deviations from the normal course of social processes) from all sides, taking into account historical development and the entire human experience of combating them, makes it possible to reveal their nature, causes and conditions (causal complex - causes of crime) that give rise to these phenomena, to identify the mechanism of their the occurrence and patterns of modification at various stages of the life of society associated with changes in socio-economic formations, carry out a forecast, develop measures to neutralize and overcome them, increase the effectiveness of the fight against antisocial phenomena.
The reasons for the emergence of negative phenomena are of a social nature, rooted in actually existing objective and subjective contradictions (socio-economic, cultural, ideological, etc.), in the problems and difficulties of the development of modern society.
The integrated use of economic, socio-cultural, educational and legal measures is the main condition for the effective prevention of these socially negative phenomena.
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MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF TRANSDNISTRIAN
OF THE MOLDAVAN REPUBLIC
TIRASPOL LAW INSTITUTE
NAMED AFTER M.I. KUTUZOVA
Department of Criminal Law, Procedure and Criminology
Course work
discipline: Criminology and crime prevention
Topic: Crime and social deviations
Completed:
4th year cadet, 1st platoon
Fanin S.E.
Tiraspol - 2015
Introduction
Conclusion
Literature
social deviation deviant crime
Introduction
Therefore, the ability to identify the causes of such deviations and find ways to overcome their negative forms should be characteristic of every modern person.
Determining the causes of deviations, their forms and consequences is an important tool for social control and management of society.
Therefore, the relevance of the topic of the course work is due to the fact that crime, which defines its main goal as extracting material and moral benefit in any way, in a situation where in modern society there is no ideology and the cult of profit and violence is propagated through the media, actually becomes, with moral point of view, on the same level as the state.
Fundamental problems of criminology, related both to the study of the basic properties of crime, characterized by a set of criminological concepts and categories, and to the study of the causes and conditions of crime, generally called determining or criminogenic factors, constantly remain relevant in science.
The study of the interactions of crime with factors allows us to better understand the patterns of the existence and development of crime in society, and determine the optimal ways to limit it.
The presence of a statistical connection between crime and factors indicates the existence of a dependence of crime on factors, which makes it possible to control crime parameters by regulating the values of factors.
For the effectiveness of such management, it is necessary to identify “formulas of connection” between crime and various factors. This provision seems especially important in connection with the general actualization of the problem of crime.
The state of crime shows the insufficiency of known practical measures to combat it. Undoubtedly, criminological science needs to search for new directions in crime prevention.
Thus, the main problem studied in the course work is social deviations in society, and first of all, crime, as a particularly dangerous type of social deviation.
The purpose of writing this work is the need to explain the term “social deviations”, to consider the main forms of negative social deviations and trends in the state of crime in the PMR and the Russian Federation.
Tasks for writing a paper:
1.Give the concept of social deviations;
2. Consider the main forms of social deviations;
3.Give the concept of crime, consider its main indicators;
4. Conduct an analysis of crime statistics in the PMR and Russia;
5. Consider measures to combat crime.
1. The essence of social deviations associated with crime
Social deviations, that is, deviations (deviato - deviation) are present in every social system.
Social deviations are violations of social norms that are characterized by a certain mass, stability and prevalence.
The main manifestations of deviant behavior are, according to sociologists, drunkenness, bribery, bureaucracy, abuse of official position, consumerism, crimes against the individual, cronyism, vagrancy, dishonest attitude towards work, towards one’s duties, violations of labor discipline, the desire to take more from society, than to give, irresponsible attitude towards marriage and family, mismanagement.
There are both objective reasons associated with the lag in the social, cultural, and technical development of society, and subjective reasons for deviant behavior (deficiencies in family education, mental disorders, etc.).
All manifestations of crime (that is, actions directed against human rights) are an extreme degree of deviant behavior when the interests of the individual, social institutions and society are threatened.
Of course, no society remained indifferent to what it meant by illegal behavior and what means and methods it used to combat them.
Therefore, many scientists pay close attention to studying the composition of crimes, their dynamics, and the criminals themselves.
General objective and subjective conditions determine only the possibility of deviant behavior, but are not their direct causes.
The transformation of possibility into reality through the actions of people depends on specific factors that are realized at the microenvironment level. In the same economic, socio-psychological conditions, one has to observe significant differences in people’s behavior.
They can be determined, firstly, by the situation in the family, i.e. shortcomings of family education. For example, blind parental love and faith in the sinlessness of their children, forgiving them of any unseemly acts adversely affects their upbringing.
Or, such “education methods” as shouting, swearing, beatings lead to alienation of the child, especially in adolescence, anger, resentment, and even aggressiveness appear, which becomes the basis for antisocial acts.
Secondly, deviations in people’s behavior may be due to the situation in the educational or work community.
Thus, a negative moral and psychological climate, a discrepancy between group norms and social norms, difficulties in adaptation, lack of proper demands in some groups, conflicts and tension in communication can cause deviant behavior.
In addition, a person is simultaneously a member of several teams, groups, the influence of which can lead to the accumulation of negative traits in a person’s behavior and lead to illegal actions, and can also be contradictory.
The sociology of deviant behavior is defined as a "cross-cutting" theory with a historically variable subject.
The very concept of “deviation” is characterized as an element of the mechanism of change, inherent in any system and having both negative and positive meanings. Social inequality is identified as a source of deviant behavior. At the individual level, such a source is “social disorder.” There is a constant connection between various forms of deviant behavior (including negative and positive).
So, deviant behavior is understood as:
Actions and actions of a person that do not correspond to officially established or actually established norms (stereotypes, patterns) in a given society;
A social phenomenon expressed in relatively common, mass forms of human activity that do not correspond to officially established or actually established norms in a given society (social deviations).
In the first meaning - as an individual behavioral act - deviant behavior is studied primarily by psychology, pedagogy, and psychiatry.
In the second meaning, it serves as an object of sociology.
It should be noted that between the two poles - “socially approved phenomena” and “social deviations” - lies a wide range of phenomena unregulated by social norms.
These can be both positive processes (for example, creativity) and phenomena with possible negative consequences (for example, mass smoking). At the same time, the variety of deviations exceeds the variety of norms.
The question of the consequences of social deviations is ambiguous.
The objective harm of a phenomenon and its subjective assessment in some cases do not coincide. For example, there is an opinion that crimes without a victim should be decriminalized, that is, excluded from criminal law.
It is especially difficult to assess the extent of damage from “borderline” forms of antisocial behavior and mild forms of addictive behavior, for example, prostitution, sexual addictions, and recreational drug use.
In every society there are supporters of both the legalization of these phenomena and their ban.
Social deviations have the following characteristics: historical determinism, negative consequences for society, relatively massive and relatively stable over time.
Social deviations are characterized by direction and content. Society opposes social deviations with organized ways to combat them: legal, economic, moral sanctions.
In some cases, social deviations are transitory.
Examples of transient social deviations: material speculation, arranged marriage, dissidence.
At present, the attitude of society towards the behavior of its members is becoming more and more liberal. One confirmation of radical changes is the abolition of the death penalty in many countries around the world.
2. Main forms of negative social phenomena
As already noted, social deviations are violations of social norms that are characterized by a certain mass, stability and prevalence.
The main forms of social deviations (deviant behavior), in modern conditions, include crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, prostitution, and addictive behavior.
Each form of deviation has its own specifics.
Crime. Sociological studies of crime and its causes originate in the works of the Russian statistician K.F. Herman (1824).
A powerful impetus to the development of the sociology of crime was given by the work of the French-Belgian scientist - mathematician and statistician L.A. Quetelet "Social Physics" (1835).
In it, based on statistical analysis, Quetelet comes to the conclusion that every social system presupposes a certain number and a certain order of crimes arising from its organization.
As crime problems are studied, an increasing number of factors affecting its dynamics come to the attention of researchers. These include: social status, occupation, education, poverty as an independent factor.
The special significance of declassing, that is, the destruction or weakening of ties between an individual and a social group, was also revealed.
Crime is a reflection of the vices of humanity.
And so far no society has been able to eradicate it.
At present, it is necessary to focus on the real task - reducing the growth rate and keeping crime under control at a socially tolerable level.
Alcoholism. Intoxicating drinks have been known to mankind for a long time. They were made from plants, and their consumption was part of the religious ritual that accompanied the festivals.
The discovery of an industrial method for producing ethyl alcohol made possible mass consumption of alcohol, and in the 18th century. drunkenness has become widespread in European countries such as England, Germany, Sweden, etc.
Around the same time, vodka quickly became popular in Russia.
We can say that the 19th century. gave birth to, and the 20th and 21st centuries. aggravated a very difficult problem for human civilization - the problem of alcoholism.
In fact, alcohol entered public life, becoming an element of social rituals, a prerequisite for official ceremonies, holidays, some ways of spending time, and solving personal problems.
However, this sociocultural situation comes at a high cost to society.
Statistics show that 90% of cases of hooliganism, 90% of aggravated rape, and almost 40% of other crimes are related to intoxication.
In Russia, in 2012, every fourth (25.1%) crime investigated was committed by persons under the influence of alcohol.
Murders, robberies, assaults, and infliction of grievous bodily harm in 70% of cases are committed by persons under the influence of alcohol; about 50% of all divorces are also related to drunkenness.
Studying various aspects of alcohol consumption and its consequences is very difficult.
As a rule, three groups of sociological indicators of the severity of the alcohol problem and the scale of drunkenness in the country are used: first, the level of alcohol consumption per capita and the structure of consumption; secondly, the characteristics of mass behavior resulting from alcohol consumption; third, the damage caused to the economy and society by drunkenness.
Alcohol consumption indicators only make sense when combined with data on consumption patterns.
A number of other characteristics should be taken into account, for example, regularity of consumption, duration, connection with food intake. The features of the distribution of the total volume of alcohol consumption among the population are also important: the number and composition of drinkers, non-drinkers, and moderate drinkers; distribution of alcohol consumption between men and women, by age and other socio-demographic characteristics.
Behavior at the same degree of intoxication and assessments of this behavior also differ significantly in sociocultural and ethnic groups.
All of these characteristics are included in the concept of alcohol consumption model.
In the history of society's struggle with alcoholism, two directions can be found.
Firstly, limiting the availability of alcoholic beverages, reducing their sales and production, increasing prices, and tightening punitive measures for violating prohibitions and restrictions.
Secondly, efforts aimed at reducing the need for alcohol, improving social and economic living conditions, the growth of general culture and spirituality, calm, balanced information about the dangers of alcohol, and the formation of alcohol-free behavioral stereotypes among the population.
The history of the fight against alcoholism also saw attempts to introduce “prohibition” on the territory of some countries (England, USA, Finland, Russia).
All of them did not achieve their goal, because the presence of alcohol is not the only and not the main reason for the existence of alcoholism.
The problem of overcoming drunkenness and alcoholism is a complex one, it includes economic, social, cultural, psychological, demographic, legal and medical aspects. Only by taking into account all these aspects can its successful solution be possible.
Addiction. The term comes from the Greek words narke - “numbness” and mania - “frenzy, madness”.
This is a disease that is expressed in physical and (or) mental dependence on drugs, gradually leading to profound depletion of the physical and mental functions of the body.
Drug addiction (narcotism) as a social phenomenon is characterized by the degree of prevalence of the use of drugs or equivalent substances without medical indications, which includes both drug abuse and painful (habitual) use.
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1977 considers as drugs substances that cause dependence (addiction) based on excitation or depression of the central nervous system, disturbances of motor functions, thinking, behavior, perception, the appearance of hallucinations or changes in mood.
In total, there are more than 240 types of narcotic substances of plant and chemical origin.
The vast majority of drug addicts (up to 70%) are young people under the age of 30. The ratio of men to women is approximately 10:1 (in the West - 2:1). More than 60% of drug addicts try drugs for the first time before the age of 19.
Thus, drug addiction is primarily a youth problem.
Moreover, a significant portion of drug addicts, especially those who use so-called “radical” drugs (opium poppy derivatives), do not live to adulthood.
Over the 12 months of 2012, in Transnistria, a total of 512 crimes in the field of drug trafficking were identified, including 143 criminal cases for the sale of narcotic drugs.
2,534 people were brought to administrative responsibility related to non-medical use and illegal drug trafficking.
During the reporting period, more than 25 kg were seized from illegal trafficking. marijuana, about 2 kg. poppy straw, 21 g of amphetamine, as well as acetylated opium, morphine, heroin and other narcotic substances of plant and synthetic origin.
Suicide. Suicide is the intention to take one's own life, an increased risk of committing suicide. This form of deviant behavior of the passive type is a way of avoiding insoluble problems, from life itself.
In different eras and in different cultures there were their own assessments of this phenomenon: suicide was often condemned (from the point of view of Christian morality, suicide is considered a grave sin), but sometimes it was tolerated and considered obligatory in certain situations (for example, self-immolation of widows in India, the custom of sati, or hara-kiri samurai).
When assessing specific suicidal acts, much depends on the motives and circumstances, on the characteristics of the individual.
World experience in suicide research reveals the main patterns of suicidal behavior. Suicides are more common in highly developed countries, and today there is a tendency for their number to increase.
Suicidal activity has certain time cycles. The fact of its spring-summer peak and autumn-winter decline was noted by E. Durkheim.
The number of suicides increases on Tuesday and decreases on Wednesday - Thursday. The end of the week is more “dangerous” for men. The ratio between men and women is approximately: 4:1 for successful suicides and 4:2 for attempted suicides, i.e. Suicidal behavior in men more often leads to a tragic outcome.
Finally, there is no doubt about the connection between suicidal behavior and other forms of social deviations, for example, drunkenness. A forensic examination found that 68% of men and 31% of women committed suicide while intoxicated.
12% of men who committed suicide and 20.2% of all those who attempted suicide were registered as chronic alcoholics.
Prostitution. The term “prostitution” itself comes from the Latin word “to exhibit publicly” (prostituere). Typically, prostitution refers to extramarital sexual relations for payment that are not based on sensual attraction.
In our society, prostitution was considered "non-existent". The long-term silencing of the real situation led to the fact that the publication of the fact of the existence of prostitution caused a “shock” effect for many.
Hence the unhealthy interest, angry demands, and some confusion.
Prostitution was actively studied in the first years of Soviet power, but later research was stopped and resumed only in the 60s, and the first research results began to be published in the open press quite recently.
Today there is a sharp expansion of the social and age base of prostitution. Among the prostitutes? students of schools, various educational institutions, including universities.
It is not hunger that pushes “bar girls” into the arms of clients, but more often the desire for speedy material well-being and a “beautiful life.”
Society has always looked for ways and means to combat prostitution.
In history, there have been three main forms of policy towards prostitution: prohibitionism (ban), regulation (registration and medical supervision), abolitionism (preventive, explanatory and educational work in the absence of prohibitions and registration).
Prohibitions turned out to be powerless; repression, in principle, was ineffective in the fight against prostitution.
Practice shows: only socio-spiritual transformations in society radically change the situation.
3. Crime. Key crime indicators
Crime in its manifestations is diverse and multifaceted, which creates enormous difficulties both for its theoretical understanding and for the practice of combating it.
At present, there are fundamentally different views on what crime is. Therefore, in-depth knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of crime and the concepts that reflect it remains an urgent task of criminology.
B.D. Ovchinnikov, for example, argues that crime as a social phenomenon is a process of committing socially dangerous acts, and not a set of crimes committed.
In domestic criminology, the concept of “crime” as a social phenomenon was introduced by its founders, representatives of the sociological school of criminal law.
They viewed crime not as a set of acts that have nothing in common with each other, but as something whole that has its own, special, independent existence, like other social phenomena.
N.F. Kuznetsova speaks not about the socio-legal, but about the criminal-legal nature of crime, about the unification in it of individual acts of violation of the prohibitions formulated in the criminal law.
Malkov V.D. notes that criminology studies crime as an objectively existing negative phenomenon in society, associated with other social phenomena, having its own patterns, requiring specific forms and methods of struggle.
That is why the concept of crime serves as the starting point for criminological science.
Being a core element of the subject of criminology, the concept of crime has always determined the scope and boundaries of scientific research in the complex criminological complex of diverse phenomena and processes of social life.
Crime is a collective concept. It is a social phenomenon that includes a set of various acts of individual criminal behavior. However, crime is characterized by overcoming these individual traits and the presence of characteristics common to all criminal acts, the totality of which defines its concept.
The above definition of crime expresses its essence from the point of view of the social and legal conditionality of this phenomenon.
The social nature and social conditioning of crime are manifested primarily in the fact that it arises from specific acts committed by people in society and against the interests of society, their special social behavior.
Crime is social also because the basis of the behavior of each individual is not biological, but social reasons, socio-economic laws, determined by the totality of existing social relations with their patterns and contradictions.
The current social tension in our society, crisis phenomena in the economy, politics, and social sphere, the decline in the authority of government and management bodies did not take long to affect the growth of crime and the increase in the degree of public danger of certain types of crimes. Organized crime, interethnic conflicts, and terrorism have become especially dangerous, accompanied by the death of innocent people and acts of vandalism and violence.
All this indicates that crime and its parameters are closely interconnected with all aspects of the social life of society, and primarily with those difficulties and social conflicts that oppose social progress.
Crime, as a historically variable phenomenon, is characterized by the fact that its occurrence is associated with the division of society into classes, the emergence of private property and the formation of state power.
Recognition of the historical conditionality of crime allows us to state with complete certainty that from the moment of its appearance in society, it has continuously changed, constantly transformed, the general criminological picture of crime and its criminal legal characteristics have looked different.
Crime is a set of individual illegal events, which in their entirety form a negative social phenomenon that has generalized statistical indicators and patterns characteristic of their entirety. At the same time, the quantitative characteristics of crime as a mass phenomenon show stability.
An important characteristic of crime is its criminal legal nature, the combination in it of individual acts of violation of the prohibitions formulated in the criminal law. This makes it possible to distinguish crime from other offenses and immoral acts.
However, crime is not just a set of crimes or even a statistical aggregate of them. By its nature, it is a specific systemic formation with diverse connections between crimes and criminals, crimes and types of crime, with the presence of its own patterns, i.e. objective, stable significant connections with various social phenomena and processes of society.
Crime is not a sum of crimes, but a massive, historically changing, relatively independent, social and legal phenomenon. It obeys certain laws, has its own reasons, conditions that contribute to it. It includes the totality of all crimes committed in a given society and in a given period of time, and is characterized by quantitative and qualitative indicators.
This approach to understanding crime is important, first of all, because it allows us to approach it as a complex manifestation of external and intrastructural connections, a product of the social environment, bearing the imprint of different spheres of social life and the life of various groups and social communities.
Criminology studies crime as an objectively existing negative phenomenon in society, associated with other social phenomena, having its own patterns, requiring specific forms and methods of struggle. That is why the concept of crime serves as the starting point for criminological science.
Crime in criminology is understood as a social, historically variable, massive, criminal-legal, systemic phenomenon of society, manifested in the totality of socially dangerous criminal acts and the persons who committed them, in a certain territory for a certain period of time.
In criminology, it is customary to distinguish between quantitative (volume, level, dynamics) and qualitative (character, structure, price) indicators of crime.
Each of them plays its own special role in assessing crime, but taken separately, cannot give an objective idea of it.
Only in interrelation with each other can crime indicators fulfill their criminological purpose from the point of view of deepening knowledge of its essential aspects.
Analysis of crime usually begins with an assessment of such an indicator as volume (state), which is determined by the total number of crimes committed, as well as the number of persons who committed them, in a certain territory for a specific period of time.
Thus, as of December 31, 2010, 6,135 crimes were registered by law enforcement agencies of the PMR, which is 4.6% more than in 2009.
Of these, 43.9% were committed by unemployed persons, 21.2% by those with previous convictions, 6.6% by minors, 11.2% by persons in a state of intoxication, and 13.0% by women.
In 2010, 1,714 serious crimes were registered on the territory of the Republic, which is 11.0% more than in the previous year (1,544 crimes in 2009).
There were also 484 particularly serious crimes registered, which is 10.0% more than in the previous year (440 in 2009).
It should be noted that out of 484 crimes classified as especially serious, 256 crimes or 53% of the total number were identified by law enforcement officers in the field of combating drug trafficking and bribery.
There was also an increase in crimes related to the criminal investigation by 7.0% (from 3479 to 3722), including such socially dangerous types as murders by 87.1% (from 31 to 58), attempted murders by 28.6% ( from 7 to 9).
There was also an increase in robbery attacks by 14.0% (from 43 to 49), theft of property of the owner by 35.5% (from 595 to 806), including from apartments by 31.4% (from 271 to 356), destruction property by 28.6% (from 77 to 99), hooliganism by 21.0% (from 176 to 213), bodily injury by 5.4% (from 112 to 118), theft by 15.0% (from 60 to 69).
At the same time, the number of crimes committed in public places decreased by 3.9% (from 515 to 495), including on the streets by 1.4% (from 432 to 426 crimes).
Of those registered, there was a decrease in such types of crimes as rape by 12.9% (from 31 to 27), attempted rape by 50.0% (from 2 to 1), robbery by 1.3% (from 237 to 234) , causing grievous bodily harm by 7.0% (from 71 to 66), fraud by 34.4% (from 128 to 84), extortion by 17.7% (from 62 to 51).
It should be noted that the total number of registered crimes decreased from 10,579 in 2002 to 6,135 in 2010:
The trend toward an increase in the total number of registered crimes in the PMR that has emerged since 2010 continued in 2011.
Thus, as of December 31, 2011, law enforcement agencies of the PMR registered 6,853 crimes (6,135 in 2010), which is 11.7% more.
Of these, 41.4% were committed by non-workers, 21.7% by those with previous convictions, 8.0% by minors, 11.4% by intoxicated persons, and 12.8% by women.
An increase in registered crimes was recorded in the service areas of almost all city district internal affairs agencies, with the exception of the Grigoriopol District Department of Internal Affairs (-1.7%).
At the same time, the number of crimes per 1 thousand people in 2011 was 13.3 crimes (11.8 crimes in 2010). In 2002, this figure was 16.7 crimes.
In 2011, 2,286 serious crimes were registered on the territory of the Republic, which is 33.2% more than in the previous year (1,716 crimes in 2010).
An increase in the number of serious crimes was recorded in all city and regional internal affairs agencies.
There were also 437 particularly serious crimes registered, which is 9.7% less than in the previous year (484 in 2010).
It should be noted that out of 437 crimes classified as especially serious, 227 crimes or 52% of the total number were identified by law enforcement officers in the fight against drug trafficking and bribery.
Also, the number of crimes committed in public places increased by 13.9% (from 495 to 564), including on the streets by 15.0% (from 426 to 490 crimes).
An increase in such crimes was recorded in the Department of Internal Affairs of Tiraspol and the Department of Internal Affairs of Bendery, i.e. in the service area of the largest city and regional internal affairs agencies
Along with this, there was a decrease in such types of crimes as murder by 31.0% (from 58 to 40), attempted murder by 44.4% (from 9 to 5), rape by 18.5% (from 27 to 5). 22), robbery by 10.2% (from 49 to 44), hooliganism by 4.2% (from 213 to 204), vehicle theft by 24.6% (from 69 to 52).
In 2012, 5,417 crimes were registered on the territory of the Republic, which is 21% less than in 2011.
A decrease was recorded in almost all city district internal affairs agencies with the exception of the Rybnitsa Department of Internal Affairs, where the number of registered crimes increased from 803 to 841 (+ 4.7%), due to the increased number of thefts of the owner’s property (from 122 to 220 crimes).
Among those registered are 1,821 serious crimes and 346 especially serious ones, which is less than the previous year by 20.3% and 20.8%, respectively.
The share of grave crimes from the total number of registered crimes was 33.6%, especially grave crimes - 6.4%.
This figure remained almost at the level of 2011.
There was a decrease in such types of crimes as: murder with attempt by 4.4%; robberies by 24.4%; intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm by 14.7%; theft of property of the owner (including burglaries at 17.4%); fraud by 16.5%; extortion by 56.2%; hooliganism by 16.2%; bodily injury by 16.4%; thefts by 26.9%.
As of December 31, 2012, the crime rate per 1000 population was 10.6 crimes (in 2011 - 13.4 crimes).
On the territory of the Russian Federation in 2012, 2302.2 thousand crimes were registered, or 4.3% less than in the same period in 2011.
As a result of criminal attacks, 38.7 thousand people died (? 3.4%), the health of 50.6 thousand people was seriously harmed (+ 2.4%).
Rural areas account for 42.0% of the dead (16.3 thousand people), cities and towns that are not the centers of federal subjects account for 35.4% of people whose health was seriously harmed (17.9 thousand people). ).
The share of grave and especially grave crimes among those registered decreased from 25.3% in January - December 2011 to 24.8%.
Almost half of all registered crimes (48.7%) were thefts of other people's property, committed by: theft - 992.2 thousand (?4.5%), robbery - 110.1 thousand (?13.9%), robbery - 18.6 thousand (? 7.3%).
Almost every fourth theft (27.9%), every twenty-third robbery (4.4%), and every fourteenth robbery (7.2%) involved illegal entry into a home, premises or other storage facility.
Every twenty-fourth (4.2%) registered crime is burglary. In January - December 2012, their number decreased by 12.1% compared to the same period in 2011.
4. Anti-crime measures
In combating crime, the decisive role belongs to its prevention.
In modern conditions, crime prevention is a complex set of various preventive measures.
Crime prevention is a complex, multidimensional process that has certain signs of integrity, being a kind of unity in differences.
Hence, the importance of its comprehensive consideration, identification of constituent elements, their classification on various grounds, integrative assessment, i.e. much of what is inherent in systems analysis.
In criminology, it is customary to distinguish between general - social (or general) and special crime prevention.
In the case of general prevention, we are talking about the fact that the positive development of society, the improvement of its economic, political, social and other institutions, the elimination from life of crisis phenomena and imbalances that feed crime, objectively contribute to its prevention (by limiting the scope of action, reducing the level, reducing harmful consequences, etc.).
Unlike general ones, special preventive measures are carried out purposefully in the interests of crime prevention, i.e. they are designed to solve problems:
Elimination, neutralization, minimization of criminal factors;
Improving the social microenvironment, correcting the behavior of persons whose behavior is fraught with the threat of committing a crime, etc.
Depending on the scale of application, preventive measures are distinguished:
Nationwide, relating to large social groups;
Preventive measures related to individual objects or microgroups;
Individual.
National ones are, for example, crime prevention measures provided for by laws in force throughout the entire territory of the PMR.
Preventive measures related to large social groups are carried out within the framework of a sector of the economy, a region of the republic, and in relation to a certain contingent of people.
Crime prevention at a separate facility, in a microgroup, is the identification and elimination of circumstances conducive to crime at a specific enterprise, in a recreation area, a given educational group, or, for example, the reorientation of a youth group with antisocial behavior.
Individual measures are intended to provide a preventive impact on specific individuals and their immediate environment.
Saturating the market with goods of mass demand, increasing the level of income of the population, targeted allocations to improve work to eliminate circumstances that contribute to a certain type of crime, these are economic measures to prevent crime (of different types, levels and scales).
An example of political measures to prevent crime is the decision of authorities on the delimitation of powers in the field of public safety and law enforcement.
Social measures include, for example, protecting the interests of low-income groups of the population, the living conditions of refugees, internally displaced persons, and the unemployed.
As organizational and managerial measures for crime prevention, one can point to its programmatic and targeted planning or coordination of subjects of preventive activities.
Cultural and educational measures include various efforts to establish in the life of society the ideas of goodness and justice, the laws of high morality, to eliminate the phenomena of moral normlessness and degradation, to effectively counter the so-called mass culture, the propaganda of egocentrism, violence, cruelty, and sexual promiscuity.
By stages, it is customary to distinguish early, direct warning, prevention of relapse of crimes.
Early crime prevention. Preventive measures can be proactive in nature, developed and put into effect on the basis of forecasts predicting a possible increase in the criminogenicity of certain social factors.
Direct crime prevention is aimed at neutralizing criminogenic factors already operating in society.
General (general - social) crime prevention realizes the anti-criminogenic potential of society as a whole and all its institutions.
Thus, the targeted efforts of law enforcement officers and specialized public formations to organize leisure time for troubled teenagers registered with the police during the holidays can count on success only in conditions when society, the state, and its educational structures pay the necessary attention to issues of life support, development and socialization of the younger generation.
In the same way, special measures to prevent property crimes can be effective if they are carried out under conditions of normal operation of economic, financial, and control mechanisms.
General (general - social) warning covers large, long-term types of social practice in the broadest sense of the word.
For example, in the economic sphere, this is the development of production based on modern technologies, a well-thought-out structural and investment strategy, fair redistribution of property, strengthening the national currency and the entire financial system, reducing inflation and many other aspects of improving economic, as well as closely related distribution relations.
In the political sphere, this is the formation and development of a new statehood, the strengthening of democracy; strengthening all branches of government, implementing the political will to counter socially negative phenomena and processes.
In the social sphere, measures aimed at strengthening the social orientation of transformations are of great anti-criminogenic importance:
Elimination of sharp social stratification of society;
Support for low-income citizens; strengthening family foundations;
Providing appropriate conditions for the socialization of the individual, overcoming his social alienation;
Limiting the negative consequences of unemployment, forced migration of people, etc.
As for the spiritual sphere of life, morality always opposes crime, and immorality strengthens it.
In general, social warning also applies in the legal sphere.
Thus, measures of general social prevention have an extremely wide range; they affect almost all types, groups, varieties of causes, conditions and other determinants of crime.
General social prevention, special preventive measures that were purposefully implemented in the PMR in 2011 and 2012, allowed to reduce the total number of crimes from 6853 in 2011 to 5417 crimes in 2012.
At the same time, the overall crime detection rate in 2012 was 85.6%.
The detection rate of serious crimes was 75.5% (5% more), the detection rate of especially serious crimes was 87.5% (almost at the level of 2011).
In October 2012, the Department of Special Operations was formed within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which became part of the criminal police.
Among the main tasks of the unit: the fight against organized crime; carrying out operational-search activities to uncover robbery attacks, premeditated murders, including contract killings. The department is formed from the most experienced operatives.
During the short period of time the personnel worked, a number of high-profile crimes were solved. Among them are such particularly serious crimes as murder committed in the summer of 2012 in the village. Chobruchi, Slobodzeya district.
On the territory of the Russian Federation, divisions of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation identified 162.6 thousand economic crimes in 2012, their share in the total array of economic crimes amounted to 94.0%.
219 thousand crimes related to drug trafficking were also identified, which is 1.7% more than in the same period in 2011.
At the same time, drug control officers identified 78 thousand crimes (? 4.9%), employees of internal affairs bodies - 137.1 thousand crimes (+5.7%).
In January - December 2012, in Russia, 1252.8 thousand crimes were solved (? 4.5%), including 615.2 thousand - investigations for which are mandatory (? 5.5%) and 637.5 thousand - the investigation for which is not necessary (? 3.6%).
Employees of the internal affairs bodies preliminarily investigated 957.8 thousand crimes (? 7.3%), which is 76.5% of the total array of preliminarily investigated crimes, employees of the investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation - 146.3 thousand crimes (+16 .2%), which is 11.7% of the entire array, employees of drug control authorities are, respectively, 49.1 thousand (? 5.1%), bailiff services - 66.4 thousand (+ 3.5%).
In 2012, 1010.9 thousand persons who committed crimes were identified (? 2.9%), the proportion of persons without a permanent source of income increased from 66.4% in January - December 2011 to 66.7%, and the proportion previously convicted persons - from 28.7% to 32.3%.
Conclusion
Thus, in the course work, the concept of social deviations was given, the main forms of social deviations were considered, and the concept of crime was explored.
A description of the state of crime in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and the Russian Federation was also given, and an analysis of the state of crime prevention and prevention in the PMR and Russia was carried out.
Social deviations are violations of social norms that are characterized by a certain mass, stability and prevalence.
Traditionally, types or forms of deviant behavior include: criminality, alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, gambling, mental disorders, suicide, etc.
Crime is a particularly dangerous type of social deviation.
The criminal situation developing in the PMR and Russia in recent years continues to remain quite difficult.
This is largely explained by the fact that crime, which is closely connected with the entire way of life of society (economics, politics, culture, moral and psychological situation and other living conditions), is negatively affected by the contradictions that exist in it, leading to severe criminogenic consequences.
The socio-economic and political transformations that affected all aspects of public life, unfortunately, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, did not lead to practically tangible results in overcoming the social preconditions of crime and easing criminogenic tension.
Certain negative factors in the field of law enforcement could not but have a negative impact on crime.
The influence of these factors on the sphere of social relations has become systemic and manifested itself in an increase in the volume, level and growth rate of crime, in the preservation of its unfavorable structural characteristics, in the aggravation of the socially negative consequences of crime, in the growth of its latent manifestations.
Criminological analysis of modern crime allows us to identify its main trends, i.e. directions of its change, forms of manifestation of its patterns in certain periods of development of society.
A dangerous trend in today's crime is the increase in its social danger. This is evidenced by the increase in the structure of crime in the number of grave and especially grave crimes, the share of which is currently approaching 60%.
In addition, the public danger of crime is increasing as a result of the constant increase in the number of violent crimes (premeditated murders, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, hostage-taking, robbery and robbery, hooliganism, rape), the share of which in the total volume of crime is about 15%.
One of the particularly dangerous trends in today's crime is the increase in its group nature and especially organization.
At the same time, professionalism is enhanced, technical equipment is improved, and the armament of criminals, their organized groups and criminal communities is increased.
A particularly dangerous trend of crime is its self-reproduction, associated with the criminalization of the country’s population, the increase in the number of people with an illegal attitude, and their psychological acceptance (justification) of crime.
According to criminological studies, about a third of the country's population has undergone a kind of “school” of criminal training in prison.
An analysis of the state of crime, its trends and prognostic assessments indicates that today it represents a qualitatively new phenomenon, both in its scale and in the degree of negative impact on the entire life of society, on ensuring reliable protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens.
Therefore, the task of strengthening the counteraction of the entire society to this negative phenomenon, using a complex set of economic, socio-political, educational, and law enforcement measures in order to decisively reverse the criminal situation is becoming increasingly urgent.
Only through the joint efforts of the law enforcement agencies of the PMR and the Russian Federation, with the support of all government structures, as well as the forces of the public, can the level of crime in all its manifestations be significantly reduced.
Literature
Regulations:
1. The Constitution of the PMR, adopted at a national referendum on December 24, 1995 and signed by the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic on January 17, 1996, with amendments and additions introduced by the constitutional laws of the PMR dated June 30, 2000 No. 310-KZID (Pridnestrovian newspaper dated July 12, 2000 , July 13, 2000 No. 132-133); dated July 13, 2005 No. 593-KZID-III (SAZ 05-29); dated February 10, 2006 No. 1-KZID-IV (SAZ 06-7); dated July 4, 2011 No. 94-K-ZID-V (SAZ 27-11).
2. Constitutional Law of the PMR: “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the PMR”. 31.07. 2006 66 - KZ - 1U (SAZ 06 - 32), with amendments and additions introduced by the laws of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic of May 25, 2011 No. 67-KZ-V (SAZ 11-21); dated July 17, 2012 No. 138-KZID-V (SAZ 12-30); dated October 8, 2012 No. 187-KZI-V (SAZ 12-42); dated October 26, 2012 No. 204-KZID-V (SAZ 12-44).
3. Constitutional Law of the PMR: “On the Supreme Court of the PMR” dated May 12, 2003 No. 274-KZD-III (SAZ 03-20) with amendments and additions introduced by the laws of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic dated June 2, 2003 No. 284-KZD-III (SAZ 03-23); dated November 8, 2005 No. 659-KZD-III (SAZ 05-46); dated July 27, 2007 No. 264-KZI-IV (SAZ 07-31).
4. Criminal Code of the PMR dated June 7, 2002 No. 138-Z-III (SAZ 02-23.1), with amendments and additions introduced by the laws of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic dated November 21, 2002 No. 207-Z-III (SAZ 02- 47); dated January 30, 2003 No. 229-ZI-III (SAZ 03-5); dated February 26, 2003 No. 247-ZID-III (SAZ 03-9); dated March 31, 2003 No. 257-ZID-III (SAZ 03-14); dated July 1, 2003 No. 302-ZID-III (SAZ 03-27); dated July 30, 2004 No. 450-ZID-III (SAZ 04-31); dated August 17, 2004 No. 466-ZID-III (SAZ 04-34); dated October 5, 2004 No. 475-ZID-III (SAZ 04-41); dated November 5, 2004 No. 490-ZID-III (SAZ 04-45); dated March 18, 2005 No. 548-ZID-III (SAZ 05-12); dated July 21, 2005 No. 598-ZID-III (SAZ 05-30); dated October 4, 2005 No. 636-ZID-III (SAZ 05-41); dated October 27, 2005 No. 652-ZD-III (SAZ 05-44); dated November 16, 2005 No. 664-ZD-III (SAZ 05-47); dated November 17, 2005 No. 666-ZI-III (SAZ 05-47); dated February 22, 2006 No. 4-ZD-IV (SAZ 06-9); dated April 19, 2006 No. 23-ZID-IV (SAZ 06-17); dated June 19, 2006 No. 47-ZID-IV (SAZ 06-26); dated August 7, 2006 No. 71-ZID-IV (SAZ 06-33); dated November 1, 2006 No. 116-ZID-IV (SAZ 06-45); dated March 26, 2007 No. 194-ZD-IV (SAZ 07-14); dated July 27, 2007 No. 262-ZID-IV (SAZ 07-31); dated July 31, 2007 No. 271-ZI-IV (SAZ 07-32); dated February 18, 2008 No. 398-ZI-IV (SAZ 08-7); dated March 28, 2008 No. 432-ZI-IV (SAZ 08-12); dated April 30, 2008 No. 456-ZD-IV (SAZ 08-17); dated May 14, 2008 No. 464-ZI-IV (SAZ 08-19); dated July 30, 2008 No. 513-ZID-IV (SAZ 08-30); dated February 17, 2009 No. 660-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-8); dated February 24, 2009 No. 669-ZID-IV (SAZ 09-9); dated March 2, 2009 No. 675-ZD-IV (SAZ 09-10); dated March 23, 2009 No. 689-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-13); dated March 24, 2009 No. 690-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-13); dated April 2, 2009 No. 697-ZD-IV (SAZ 09-14); dated April 3, 2009 No. 703-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-14); dated April 8, 2009 No. 713-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-15); dated April 22, 2009 No. 729-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-17); dated May 6, 2009 No. 749-ZD-IV (SAZ 09-19); dated July 6, 2009 No. 800-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-28); dated September 25, 2009 No. 870-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-39); dated October 19, 2009 No. 887-ZI-IV (SAZ 09-43); dated December 11, 2009 No. 913-ZD-IV (SAZ 09-50); dated January 11, 2010 No. 1-ZID-IV (SAZ 10-2); dated January 29, 2010 No. 12-ZI-IV (SAZ 10-4); dated April 14, 2010 No. 48-ZI-IV (SAZ 10-15); dated April 16, 2010 No. 51-ZID-IV (SAZ 10-15); dated May 26, 2010 No. 86-ZI-IV (SAZ 10-21); dated June 23, 2010 No. 107-ZD-IV (SAZ 10-25); dated June 30, 2010 No. 115-ZI-IV (SAZ 10-26); dated November 15, 2010 No. 208-ZID-IV (SAZ 10-46); dated May 11, 2011 No. 41-ZI-V (SAZ 11-19); dated May 11, 2011 No. 43-ZI-V (SAZ 11-19); dated May 11, 2011 No. 45-ZI-V (SAZ 11-19); dated May 13, 2011 No. 47-ZID-V (SAZ 11-19); dated May 24, 2011 No. 64-ZD-V (SAZ 11-21); dated July 12, 2011 No. 109-ZI-V (SAZ 11-28); dated July 27, 2011 No. 133-ZID-V (SAZ 11-30); dated July 29, 2011 No. 142-ZID-V (SAZ 11-30); dated September 30, 2011 No. 162-ZI-V (SAZ 11-39); dated October 19, 2011 No. 184-ZI-V (SAZ 11-42); dated November 24, 2011 No. 211-ZI-V (SAZ 11-47); dated February 20, 2012 No. 11-ZI-V (SAZ 12-9); dated March 5, 2012 No. 21-ZI-V (SAZ 12-11); dated April 2, 2012 No. 41-ZI-V (SAZ 12-15); dated July 5, 2012 No. 127-ZID-V (SAZ 12-28); dated July 5, 2012 No. 130-ZD-V (SAZ 12-28); dated October 8, 2012 No. 185-ZID-V (SAZ 12-42); dated March 19, 2013, No. 63-ZI-V (SAZ 13-11); dated June 13, 2013 No. 116-ZID-V (SAZ 13-23); dated June 28, 2013 No. 147-ZI-V (SAZ 13-25); dated October 3, 2013 No. 214-ZID-V (SAZ 13-39); dated December 5, 2013 No. 263-ZI-V (SAZ 13-48); dated February 4, 2014 No. 45-ZI-V.
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5.8. Deviant behavior and social control
Social behavior
Human behavior is the result of the interaction of his internal nature and the process of socialization, the constituent elements of which are other individuals. Consequently, we can say that a person’s social behavior manifests genetic and biological characteristics, as well as what he has mastered in the process of upbringing and his life experience.
Behavior can be defined as a person’s reaction to internal and external “stimuli,” which may include other individuals and various indirect information affecting a person’s interests. Behavior can be both meaningful and instinctive, when we, for example, look back at the sound of the steps of a person walking behind us. In order to highlight the actual social, conscious factor of behavior, in sociology it is customary to separate the concepts of social behavior and social action. The latter refers to a specific, meaningful system of actions, means and methods by which a person or group intends to change the behavior, attitudes or opinions of others. Hence, the category of social attitude acquires great importance as the formation of an individual’s orientation towards certain types of activity. Since our social actions are aimed at changing other people's attitudes and behavior, they lead to the satisfaction of certain needs, interests or aspirations of a person. However, society is not indifferent to what means, methods and actions a person (group, community) uses to achieve his goals.
Important determinants of the level of permitted, so to speak, sanctioned behavior by society are social norms enshrined in culture, the way of life of society, communities, groups and individuals; We consider deviations from them as pathology.
The main social institution that promotes compliance with social norms is social control. Its system includes all ways of public opinion reacting to certain specific actions of a person, all means of public pressure in order to place his behavior within a certain social framework, and finally, all types of direct and feedback communication between the individual and society (or institution, organizations , speaking on his behalf) - from visual observation to preventive social measures and the educational process itself. During periods of social stability in society, the social control system successfully copes with the emerging disorganization of people’s normative behavior, i.e. social pathology does not exceed a certain norm. However, during periods of revolutionary transformations of society and the loss of ideals and values by the majority of the population, the system of social control in society cannot cope with the growing disorganization and social pathology, which leads to a social crisis or the collapse of the social system.
Norm and pathology
We are already familiar with the concept of norm. In a broad sense, it means a rule, a guiding principle. However, not all rules can be considered as social norms, but only those that regulate the social behavior of people and their relationships with society. This behavior reveals the social essence of the individual, reflecting social existence and the requirements imposed by society (or other groups) on the behavior of an individual or social group.
The sources of maintaining normative behavior, according to the Russian lawyer, sociologist L.I. Petrazhitsky (1867-1931), there may be: - “social instinct”, which is associated with a person’s inclination to follow without thinking some general rules of action;
- “positive moral disposition” - a sense of duty;
- fear of external coercion, punishment;
- a reminder of divine power.
All these factors operate when social control and laws are effective, an educational system that instills a sense of duty in people, and members of society have a high level of religiosity. If the effect of these factors weakens, the number of people in society whose behavior does not correspond to social or even legal norms increases. A person who violates a norm must necessarily be subjected to one or another type of social punishment, since impunity produces a further increase in social deviations. In this case, we have the right to talk about deviant behavior. The latter can take various forms of social danger. In this regard, along with moral condemnation (sanctions), legal norms and coercive institutions appeared in society: court, prison, etc.
Thus, legal norms arose as a result of the need of society to curb the spread of deviant forms of behavior that are especially dangerous to other people. Consequently, they are aimed at introducing into the social system not only elements of consent, but also order, which maintains the state of “normal society”.
According to the famous Russian scientist V.N. Kudryavtsev, such a society is characterized by high vitality, flexibility, and adaptability to changing conditions. It is characterized by integrity, stability of social systems, constant impetus for development, openness, pluralism, receptivity and controllability in its social stratification and mobility.
As for the problem of “deviation,” which is understood as any kind of deviation from existing norms in society (both moral and legal), it can have both a positive and negative direction. For example, we can evaluate heroism and self-sacrifice as behavior that deviates from everyday moral life, since it is not prescribed by social norms and acts as the personal position of the individual. Since in society there are always people who violate not only moral, but also legal principles, there is a need to apply various kinds of sanctions to them. Scientists claim that a normally developing society consists of approximately 10-12% “heroes” and the same 10-12% “violators”.
The most holistic view of the problem of deviations is given in the works of R. Merton, in the concept of anomie, by which he understood a situation when a particular person shows insufficient respect for the basic social norms of a given social system or seeks to see in these norms a certain loss of their bindingness for himself. Consequently, anomie does not mean the absence of norms, but only states that a particular subject has a negative or indifferent attitude towards social norms. The fact that the main structural element of the concept of anomie is the conflict of norms and understanding of the individual allows us to emphasize the nature of the resolution of this contradiction in social interaction.
When assessing deviant behavior, there are two concepts: relative and absolute. Supporters of the first believe that moral and even some legal norms can only be analyzed in connection with a specific society, its social organization and culture. What would be the norm for a savage cannot be the norm for a civilized person. Supporters of the absolute position argue that universal human moral values and norms must be found and recorded.
An extreme form of social deviation is criminal behavior.
Sociological approaches to explaining crime
The main aspect of the sociological study of deviant behavior is the search for the causes of crime as an extreme form of social deviation. The most prominent followers of this trend are R. Merton and E. Durkheim. Scientists believe that the causes of social deviations are contradictions between the values and sociocultural norms prevailing in society, as well as between the goals of society and socially approved means of achieving them.
In the light of this formulation of the problem, the emergence of deviant (deviant) behavior is also considered, manifesting itself as a crisis between the interests and needs of a person and the impossibility (in his opinion) of realizing them in any other way than deviating from moral and legal norms.
The study of the causes of crime is based on the definition of the concepts of “crime” and “criminal”. These concepts are the subject of traditional criminology and are formulated by jurisprudence. However, we will not be able to carry out empirical studies of crime unless we have some basis for distinguishing criminal behavior from other types of deviant behavior, and criminals from other individuals. so as not to confuse these phenomena in our observations.
The precise and least ambiguous definition of a crime is one that defines conduct as prohibited by the criminal code as criminal. The differences in the criminal codes of different countries allow us to assert their relative, subjective interpretation of crime. However, E. Durkheim believes that crime as a social phenomenon is characteristic of any human community and has a natural nature. Therefore, there are no societies that do not face this problem. In his work “Rules of Sociological Method” (I950), he notes that if crime reaches the level characteristic of a society of a certain type, but does not exceed it, then this is a normal phenomenon. Crime and other social ills are rooted in specific social conditions. The negative consequences of crimes are neutralized by society through punishment, and in fact, crime does not cause much harm to society as such: the social organism continues to exist and function. Durkheim believed that norm and pathology cannot be defined abstractly and absolutely outside the public face. Although Durkheim failed to fully substantiate the understanding of the normal, it is important to emphasize the principle he formulated of the correspondence of this phenomenon to the social conditions of public life. Therefore, in the conditions of a transition period, as he considered modern society, the criterion of normal as general is not applicable. During rapid social changes, the conditions for the functioning of society change, therefore, the consequences also change, i.e. normal or pathological social phenomena. The main value of Durkheim's sociological theory is that he represented the social environment (conditions) as a factor that determines both normal and pathological phenomena.
An equally authoritative concept of deviant behavior is the theory of differentiated connection of the famous Western lawyer E. Sutherland. He believed that criminal or delinquent behavior is associated with the assimilation, firstly, of technical techniques for committing crimes and, secondly, motives, motivations, rational explanations and attitudes favorable to breaking the law. The most fruitful in this concept is the idea of a delinquent subculture, which provides corresponding pathological socialization to a person located in this environment.
The main characteristic of a delinquent subculture is a system of values that are opposite to the values of a law-abiding, respectable society. The world of delinquency is a world of those who obey their own laws, and its social norms constitute a force directed against the existing social order. Unlike E. Durkheim, E. Cohen does not accept delinquent culture as something given, natural, but, on the contrary, believes that the functions of delinquent values are a way to resolve social problems facing adolescents. Cohen views the process of development of a delinquent culture as the creation, maintenance and strengthening of a code of norms of behavior that exists on the principle of opposition and denial of prevailing values - and especially the values of the middle class.
So, delinquent behavior is a phenomenon caused by the presence of a system of values and norms that deviate from the dominant ones in society, while the individual who perceived the delinquent culture defines his behavior as correct. Despite all the differences between the two sociological concepts of deviant behavior (Durkheim-Sutherland and Cohen), they have something in common - the external mediation of the emergence and existence of social deviations. This means that the leading factor in the reproduction of crime in society is the same social relations, or, more precisely, their imperfection. The latter is due to the fact that human social behavior is determined by a huge number of factors, which today no social system is capable of controlling and correcting. Socio-economic imperfection of systems, stimulating social inequality, leads to an aggravation and increase in the number of conflicts between society and the individual, which also increases the chances of delinquent behavior.
Biological direction in explaining the nature of crimes
In 1897, psychiatrist, criminologist, anthropologist C. Lombroso (1835-1909) appeared in print with his theory of the “born criminal.” Among the main factors originating from the biology of the subject were atavism, degeneration, and epilepsy, which he defined by the concept of “mental disability.” This theory was received ambiguously by the scientific community. Marxism, which denies any biological determinacy of criminal behavior, was especially critical of it. At the same time, data from psychiatric and criminological studies of criminal behavior that manifests itself in early childhood indicate that it is most likely not criminal, but normal behavior that is learned in the social environment.
Psychological research shows that in early attempts to express oneself and form one’s own “I,” an ill-mannered and untrained child who does not have the skills of social behavior resorts to lies, cunning, subterfuge, anger, hatred, theft, aggression, violence and other forms of antisocial behavior. A change in a child’s behavior associated with the establishment of social norms of community life, altruism, and abstinence from violence is precisely the result of upbringing and socialization, during which the child realizes that it is possible to obtain the approval of adults only if the behavior complies with generally accepted social norms.
Thus, it can be argued that the formation of a law-abiding personality is associated with the effectiveness of the process of socialization and education.
However, a one-sided negative assessment of a biological concept is also very dangerous. Research conducted by Russian sociologists and criminologists, in particular M.V. Lupandin and V.N. Kudryavtsev, prove that mental retardation, which also has hereditary origins, is characteristic in one form or another for almost one third of people who have committed various crimes, especially those related to violence against the individual.
The biological direction was further developed in the works of modern American scientists who connect deviant behavior with the nature of the body structure and explain criminal behavior by an anomaly of sex chromosomes. For now, it can be argued that all existing concepts of this kind are at the level of scientific hypotheses that require additional research.
If we consider the influence of biological factors proper on the occurrence of criminal behavior, then we can only talk about persons who have a pronounced pathology, a deforming ability to objectively perceive reality, self-control, and introspection. Consequently, the congenital pathology of the biopsychological system of the individual is a serious objective prerequisite for the formation of an individual’s criminal behavior.
Psychoanalytic theory of motivation for criminal behavior
The psychoanalytic theory of motivation for personal behavior is associated with the names of Z. Freud, A. Adler and others. This theory has already been discussed above, but to expand on this topic, let us recall some of the main points.
Sigmund Freud built his theory of motivation for human behavior on the basis of absolutizing the role of sexual and aggressive impulses. To substantiate the primary role of such impulses in human behavior, S. Freud used a huge amount of empirical material, which is the result of his observations. Freud introduces the concept of “plasticity” of motives, which implies a variety of ways to satisfy needs. This is what makes it possible to give the motivation of human behavior a more or less acceptable form.
A distinctive feature of Freud's psychoanalytic theory is that in the individual's imagination, events do not always seem to be as they are in reality. They often seem to individuals to be contrary to this social reality. The true meaning of events can only be revealed if we discover how the underlying sexual and aggressive needs have been transformed. Such a transformation is rarely complete, and sometimes does not occur at all, so infantile needs (for example, for aggressiveness) take the form of the subconscious - a state that favors their fixation. In this case we can
but talk about the so-called pathological socialization of the individual. Ideas pushed into the subconscious remain unchanged and continue to exist according to their own laws, influencing our consciousness and, consequently, behavior.
Freud and his followers put forward a number of concepts to explain how subconscious processes manifest themselves in conscious behavior; how their transformation or disguise is combined with conscious aspirations; how the most conscious control systems of the personality protect themselves, protect themselves from subconscious processes, pacify, direct and assimilate them.
The psychoanalytic concept of Freud and his followers represented aggressiveness as an innate, inherent quality of a person, not removed in the process of socialization and manifested in the form of the command of the Id (“It”), i.e. subconscious, while in the Ego (“I”) rational aspirations must be realized. With their conclusions, psychoanalysts provide a very solid scientific basis for the importance of the socialization process for removing a person’s natural (innate) aggressiveness, since in some unfavorable situation innate aggressiveness can become a source of criminal behavior.
Identity of the criminal
The concept of “personality of a criminal” is interconnected with the general sociological understanding of personality as the social essence of a person, manifested in his status in the system of social relations. In order to define the concept of “personality of the criminal,” it is probably necessary to clarify the essence of the category of crime.
Criminologists note that there is still confusion and ambiguity in the definition of this concept. This position is largely a manifestation of the belief existing among sociologists that not all types of antisocial behavior are prohibited by legal laws, and therefore, not all are crimes. Hence, the traditional definition of crime as a violation of the law seems very conditional and inaccurate. In addition, even legal laws are dynamic and relative in nature, and this in turn hinders the development of a system of scientific hypotheses that have universal value.
A number of scientists object to the traditional definition of crime given above and due to the fact that they want to identify and study the absolute and eternal content of the concept of crime, and not just a violation of the norms of status or case law, varying depending on time and place.
Finally, protests against orthodox concepts of crime and the criminal have recently emerged from a variety of positions. What they have in common is the fact that they reject the formal legal and arbitrary doctrine, according to which persons convicted under criminal law are criminals. Such doctrines add to the difficulty of defining the boundaries of the field of criminological research.
Thus, a certain part of scientists argue that the fact of violation of the criminal code is a relative (artificial) indicator, and therefore does not meet the requirements of science, since it is “random” in nature and “does not arise organically.”
If we assume that any types of antisocial behavior are contrary to the interests of society, then a very specific question arises: what are these interests? Which ones are so damaged that trespassing on them could be considered criminal behavior?
All standards of social behavior, in accordance with which social norms are established, are the “fruit” of the historical development of society and its institutions, and therefore are relative and changeable. Therefore, the relationship between public interests and social norms will always be specific, characteristic only of a given stage of social development.
However, society has not only laws, but also social institutions that monitor their implementation, and if they are violated, they punish a person. Such coercive institutions are the court and prison. This means that it is these institutions that establish a person’s guilt before society and determine the nature of punishment. On behalf of these institutions, people perform the corresponding social roles: judges, prosecutors, investigators, etc. The relationship between the nature of the crime and the nature of the punishment is one of the most serious problems that must be solved not only by science, but also by social practice. So far, despite all the scientific significance of this problem and various innovative concepts, it is believed that criminals are people recognized as such in court. This concept of a criminal (and therefore criminal behavior) is closer to the sociological understanding of social control, which also exercises sanctions against violators of social norms.
The personality of a criminal as a type of the concept of personality includes, first of all, the general characteristics of the latter. For both a sociologist and a criminologist, these general characteristics are important, since in the structure of the criminal’s personality they acquire special content and meaning and become in one way or another connected with a person’s antisocial behavior.
The personality structure of a criminal is also characterized by characteristics specific to such a person, which determine and express his social danger, the nature and degree of the latter. Thus, the characteristics of a criminal’s personality represent a structure of qualities that, in their totality, determine the person committing a particular crime, various aspects and manifestations of his social existence and life practice. These indicators are directly or indirectly related to a person’s antisocial behavior, cause or facilitate the commission of a crime, or make it possible to understand its causes. At the same time, the structure of the criminal’s personality reflects not only the diversity of the characteristics that form it, their role in the etiology of criminal behavior, but at the same time their interrelation and interaction.
In a sociological analysis of crime, it seems important to highlight the following indicators.
1. Socio-demographic and criminal-legal characteristics.
2. Social behavior in various spheres of the subject’s social life.
3. Moral properties of the subject.
4. Psychological characteristics of the subject.
The first block includes: gender, age, education, social and family status, occupation, belonging to an urban or rural population, financial situation, living conditions, etc. These signs characterize each person, any group of people, the entire population as a whole. However, taken in specific terms in relation to people who have committed a crime, they indicate significant “shifts” in the characteristics of this particular contingent, i.e. provide sociological information of important scientific and practical importance. The information allows you to analyze data on the gender composition of criminals, the proportion of different age categories, professional groups and build a social typology of the criminal’s personality.
To characterize a criminal, intellectual, emotional and volitional properties are of great importance. Intellectual properties include: level of mental development, volume of knowledge, breadth or narrowness of views, content and variety of interests. Emotional properties of a person are the balance or mobility of nervous processes (temperament), the dynamism of feelings, the degree of emotional excitability, the strength and pace of reaction to various stimuli and situations, the constancy or variability of experiences, etc. The volitional properties of a person are considered to be: the ability to regulate one’s behavior, the ability to make decisions and implement them, and achieve the intended goal.
An indicator of the moral development of an individual is the direction of his behavior, which is reflected in general in the way of life of a person (group, society). The interaction of all these aspects of the personality structure is quite clearly manifested in cases of criminal behavior. Various ratios of indicators suggest that a person can become a criminal both under the influence of unfavorable external conditions (social environment) and as a result of internal factors, pathological personality structures, for example due to intellectual underdevelopment, mental illness, etc.
The question of the role of acquired (social) and congenital (biological) in human criminal behavior is of fundamental scientific and practical importance. For a sociologist-researcher, it is important to state the fact: in the behavior of a criminal (during the formation of criminal intent and the commission of a crime), two groups of personal factors most often interact: biopsychological and social, since the motive of criminal behavior is a reflection in the human mind of really existing (or imaginary) needs. As a rule, these needs are socially conditioned; the means of satisfying them are always chosen by a person in accordance with his life experience, attitudes, and value orientations.
Classification of criminals
In the domestic legal literature, the issue of classification of the personality of criminals is considered mainly in connection with the tasks of punishment and execution of sentences, i.e. in criminal procedural and correctional labor aspects.
For example, the famous domestic criminal lawyer M.D. Shargorodsky proposes to include the following group of indicators as the basis for the classification of criminals:
— physiological criteria: gender, age, disease;
— social criteria: persistent repeat offenders, first-time offenders;
- differentiation of criminals depending on the nature of the crime committed: its goals, motives, means and methods of action.
This classification was improved by N.A. Belyaev, who supplemented it with such characteristics as:
- especially dangerous state criminals;
- those who have committed all other crimes.
In the second group, he distinguishes between persons who committed intentional crimes and those who committed them through negligence. He proposes to subdivide the group of intentional criminals into selfish criminals, criminals against the individual, hooligans, and unselfish criminals who have committed unintentional crimes.
Of particular interest to sociologists is the following socio-psychological classification of criminals.
1. Global criminal type, which is characterized by “full criminal charge.” It includes bandits, especially dangerous repeat offenders, etc.
2. Partial type, i.e. with “partial criminal charges”. These individuals are morally “bifurcated,” in which the traits of a normal personality type and a criminal personality type coexist. For example, people who systematically commit theft at work.
3. The pre-criminal type is characteristic of persons who are characterized by high emotional excitability, insufficient self-control, etc. In a conflict situation, they are capable of crime, hooliganism, murder out of jealousy, etc. Consequently, depending on the goals and objectives of the study, the classification of criminals may be different. Knowledge of this classification is necessary, firstly, to conduct sociological research on such a social phenomenon as crime, and secondly, to carry out a comparative analysis of empirical data from criminologists and sociologists.
Social correction of criminal behavior
Currently, increasing importance is being attached to such a new scientific direction of sociology as social work. Training specialists in this field requires knowledge in the field of not only the theory and practice of sociology, but also social therapy (J. Moreno’s term). In this regard, familiarity with the problems of correcting social behavior is a necessary part of knowledge, especially for those who will specialize in social work.
Criminal behavior, condemned by society and its social institutions, is subject to social correction. Firstly, it is necessary because society must protect itself from elements that bring disorganization into social relations (at different levels: from interpersonal and group to more universal). Secondly, such social correction allows society to rehabilitate persons who have returned from prison, i.e. give them back the opportunity to lead a normal life.
Depending on the type of personality of the criminal, existing laws and courts choose punishments, which in different societies provide for different types of coercion. The highest penalty is the death penalty, which is recognized as adequate to the crime as such (irrespective of the assessment of severity and consequences) only by some countries.
Prison (penitentiary) systems in one form or another are used by all countries without exception and are defined as places of deprivation of liberty of persons recognized as criminals by law. Different societies have different penitentiary systems with their own tasks and goals, which provide not only social but also psychological assistance.
The humanization of social relations, the collapse of totalitarian regimes, including in former socialist countries, lead to the search for new forms and ways of rehabilitation of persons who have committed criminal acts.
A significant place in rehabilitation and crime prevention is given to social work; it is carried out not only with pre-criminal individuals and groups, but also with persons who have already committed crimes. For example, currently in large cities in the United States, the method of integrating social workers into delinquent gangs of adolescents who are directly involved in the socialization of their deviant behavior is used. The social worker comes into contact with the gang (in an environment familiar to them) and tries to reorient the teenagers’ activities, transferring them from a delinquent basis to a constructive one. Working with such groups requires special professional training, for example, knowledge of the “intermediate group theory” of the famous Western psychologist L. Yablonsky, since delinquents cannot be approached as normal groups and social organizations. Hence the frequent failures.
L. Yablonsky, who studied the structures of 30 groups of delinquents, identified three levels. The first is the center of the gang, represented by the leaders. These are the young men who need the gang the most. This “core” of unstable teenagers represents the main cementing force within the gang. They rally the gang and force them to act. The second level is teenagers who have announced their participation in the activities of the gang in accordance with their emotional needs at a given time. The third level is the peripheral members of the group, participating in its activities from time to time, and even then rarely identifying themselves with it.
Yablonsky believes that social work on the rehabilitation of “intermediate groups” is most effective, i.e. on the second and third levels. The concept of the intermediate group is important not only for criminological, but also for the sociological study of criminal behavior and the rehabilitation of criminals. Active social work with persons with borderline forms of behavior allows society to significantly reduce the number of criminals.
The fight against behavioral deviations is not limited to these measures. State social security authorities, as well as private organizations existing in various countries, are engaged in a wide range of social activities: they pay special attention to helping poor families, children raised without parents, and are actively involved in solving the problems of social control, which carries out the function of coordinating behavior individual (group, community) with the social whole. These bodies and institutions are formed from workers who provide social patronage (social workers); they represent a large specialized profession with a well-defined philosophy, professional language, and work methods that have developed under the strong influence of pathopsychology and psychiatry.
Social care workers, as a rule, consider problems of deviant behavior as problems of an individual’s mental pathology or problems of educational defects, requiring sympathy, patience, support and advice, and sometimes psychiatric and psychological intervention. This approach to the problems of deviant behavior is most pronounced in the United States, especially among highly educated people who consider the problems of social deviations not so much legal as medical or psychological.
This position also defines social therapy (treatment) of deviations, which are considered as the result of disappointment, hopelessness, despair, and alienation from the social institutions that exist in a given society. An example of such a social program (social therapy) is the crime prevention experiment in New York, called “Mobilization for Youth.” The program is funded primarily by the federal government and costs many millions of dollars.
Social work is also actively developing in Russia. In particular, social work departments have been created in the country's universities to train social patronage workers (social workers) who will work with various social groups of the population: youth, prisoners, women, drug addicts, alcoholics, etc.
Many of the domestic social work programs are based on sociological concepts of the nature of behavioral deviations, according to which most deviations are not so much an individual pathology as a fact of social interaction between individuals, contributing to negative socialization.
The role of the social environment in the formation of social deviations, including criminal behavior, is also recognized by Western scientists. Therefore, there must be new social programs to combat deviations. They should contribute to the social therapy of the entire society, improving its physical health, culture and well-being. Only by changing the organizational culture of society can we reach higher levels of social relations, which will contribute to the growth of social forms of behavior of the population.
So, any behavior that causes disapproval of public opinion is called deviant. This is an extremely wide range of phenomena - from ticketless travel to the murder of a person. In a broad sense, a deviant is any person who has gone astray or deviated from the norm of behavior.
The concept of a deviant career serves as a kind of bridge between simple violation of the norm and crime (violation of the law). It can explain both deviant and criminal careers. Moreover, many scientists note that crime should be considered simultaneously and in connection with other socially harmful phenomena (alcoholism, suicide, immorality, etc.).
Various types of social deviations can be classified on a number of grounds:
Depending on the type of norm being violated(law, morality, rules of community, work, etc.);
Social deviations differ in the nature of the norms violated national And international scale(violation of the norms and principles of international law: aggressive war, racial discrimination, genocide, terrorism);
Depending on the elements internal structure: by subject, object, objective side and subjective side;
By target focus corresponding deviant behavior and its motivation (selfish orientation, aggressive orientation, social-passive), etc.
The variety of bases for classifying social deviations naturally makes it difficult to choose any one of them for presenting the material. The main difficulty is that, as can be seen from the above, many types of antisocial acts “intersect” with each other in volume and content.
Traditionally, types or forms of deviant behavior include: criminality, alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, homosexuality, gambling, mental disorders, suicide.
Thus, in a narrow sense, deviant behavior means deviations that do not entail criminal punishment, in other words, are not offenses, are not illegal. The totality of illegal acts (violations of the law) received a special name in sociology - delinquent(literally criminal) behavior.
Violations of social norms can be serious or frivolous, conscious or unconscious. All serious violations, whether conscious or not, that fall under the category of unlawful act are considered delinquent behavior. Alcoholism is a typical type of delinquent behavior. An alcoholic is not only a sick person, but also a deviant; he is not able to normally fulfill social roles. A drug addict is a criminal, since drug use is classified by law as a criminal act. Suicide, i.e. freely and intentionally ending one’s life is a deviation. But killing another person is a crime.
Deviant and delinquent behavior can be distinguished as follows: first - relatively, and the second – absolutely. What is a deviation for one person or group may be a habit for others. The upper class considers its behavior to be the norm, and the behavior of representatives of other classes, especially lower ones, to be a deviation. Deviant behavior is relative because it relates only to the cultural norms of a given group. But delinquent behavior is absolute in relation to the laws of the country. Street robbery by representatives of the lower social classes can, from their point of view, be considered a normal form of income or a way of establishing social justice. But this is not a deviation, but a crime, since there is an absolute norm - a legal law that qualifies robbery as robbery.
Crime is the most dangerous deviation from social norms (laws). Crime is defined as a relatively massive, historically variable social and legal phenomenon of society, consisting of the entire set of crimes committed in a given community in a certain period of time. The structure and dynamics of crime very fully characterize the socio-political, economic, moral state of society, its inherent contradictions and conflicts.
Every now and then there are reports in the media about an increase in the crime rate, then about its decrease. However, when arguing about crime based on these data, some caution must be exercised. A crime occurs when criminal laws are violated. But nothing is known about many crimes, since they are reliably hidden. Other crimes are not taken into account either because the relevant laws are not universally accepted or because breaking these laws is not considered a serious act. Sociologists and criminologists who study crime are interested in how and what laws come into being, how they are implemented, who commits crimes and why.
In modern legal systems, crimes are classified on the following basis:
By degree of severity: serious, less serious and not posing a great public danger;
By object of encroachment: against property and against the person;
According to the forms of guilt: intentional and careless;
According to the goals and motives of the criminals;
On socio-demographic and criminological grounds: crimes of adults and youth, minors; primary, repeated and recidivism;
Legal classification of crimes according to chapters and articles of criminal codes.
Among the modern main problems of this type of social deviations such as crime, the following problems should be included:
1. The problem of official statistics and its interpretation. Published crime data allows us to identify the main trends in deviant behavior not only in frequency, but also in quality. At the same time, it is known that not all crimes are recorded by official statistics and social control bodies. Experts note a significant gap between the levels of registered crime and latent, i.e. hidden crime. Conducted sample studies show that of the total number of mercenary-violent crimes, crimes against health and sexual integrity, approximately 50% are registered, and economic crimes (theft, bribery, abuse, etc.) - no more than 10%. Moreover, official statistics do not allow a sufficiently complete reflection of the state of crime in the country also because the newly adopted laws have not found universal recognition not only from citizens, but also from the authorities implementing law and order. Official statistics “suffer” from incompleteness and unreliability due to widespread legal nihilism in the country, when citizens do not perceive legal authorities and the law as an effective form of protection against attacks on their property and person.
2. Increase in female crime. Against the backdrop of a general increase in the crime rate, special attention is drawn to the increase in female crime, and according to some data, women are not inferior to men in official and economic crimes. Traditionally, it was believed that women commit crimes much less frequently due to natural differences with men (various innate physiological and psychological characteristics). Others saw the reasons for the differences in male and female criminality in education (boys and girls learn different roles, have different social opportunities, and are perceived differently by agents of social control). Meanwhile, the increase in the number of female offenders continues and is likely to continue for some time due to profound changes in the social role of women and the living conditions of the entire society.
3. Crimes without victims. Crimes in which both the “victim” and the “criminal” willingly participate, and which do not involve either the loss of property or personal harm, are called “victimless crimes.”
4. Damage caused to victims. A significant part of crimes is associated with actual losses for the victims, losses that, as a rule, are not returned or compensated to the victims. Moreover, sometimes victims of crime also suffer because the blame for becoming a victim of crime is placed on them. This phenomenon is known as victim blaming.
5. Intervention by eyewitnesses. Sociologists have long noticed that in cases where a crime is committed in front of a large number of people, none of them tries to help the victim. Research and experiments in this area have made it possible to understand why people do not intervene, and when and why they seek to help. It was found that the presence of a large number of people observing a crime is less likely to help the victim than in the case where one person is the only eyewitness to the crime. This phenomenon is called diffusion of responsibility, because none of those present feels a personal duty to intervene. Of course, there are other reasons for non-intervention: fear, indifference, “no matter what happens,” “it’s none of my business, let them figure it out themselves,” etc.
6. “White collar crime” is a term used to describe the types of criminal activity that occur in organizations. The essence of the problem is the contradiction between minimizing risk, which is what the bureaucracy of a particular organization, company, or corporation is interested in, and the uncertainty of market conditions. These types of crimes are most clearly presented in the protection of consumer rights. H. Farberman (1975) drew attention to a number of difficulties arising in connection with establishing who exactly in the organization is guilty of a crime and who deserves punishment. During the analysis, he introduced the concept of “criminogenic market structure.” Economic policies formed at the top levels of industrial production, which are characterized by a high degree of concentration (for example, in the automobile industry), push participants at the lower level to activities that conflict with existing laws. Those at the top have not violated any laws, but by creating harsh economic conditions for those affected by the decisions they make, they push their subordinates to illegal actions.
Controversial issues:
1. In what case is a particular act criminal?
2. Policy and decriminalization of drug use.
3. Compensation to the crime victim.
4. Who should own a weapon?
5. Death penalty: for or against?
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