Dealing With Crime and Deviance

Deviance and Crime: Acts that are regarded as deviant are not necessarily criminal acts since an act does not need to break the law to be considered deviant. Generally, a deviant act is merely any behavior that breaches the accepted norms of the community, regardless of whether it breaks the law. For instance, wearing a t-shirt with a curse word could considered deviant to some though the words on the t-shirt wouldn't be criminal due to the First Amendment.

Therefore, people who are motivated by deviant behavior have a tendency of committing acts that are viewed as breaking the norms of the society. The labeling of acts as deviant differs across places, cultures, social groups, and time ("Deviance, Crime, and Law," n.d.). Nonetheless, there is an ongoing debate on the role of law enforcement in dealing with deviance and crime.

One of the major ways of determining whether the role of law enforcements is to police deviant acts or focus on crimes against the society is to examine the various kinds of situations that may constitute deviance and crime. Some examples of such situations include committing suicide, letting your eight-year-old son go to school dressed as a girl, having a child at 14, being openly polygamous, stealing bread and milk for your hungry children, and getting married at 16 to a 70-year-old man.

Letting your eight-year-old son go to school dressed as a girl is a deviant behavior that does not constitute a crime. However, cross-dressing is a major controversial issue in schools because most schools have dress codes or policies on dressing. Similarly, getting married at 16 to a 70-year-old man is a deviant behavior though both individuals are adults while being openly polygamous is also deviant since there are no laws against polygamy.

Committing suicide, stealing bread and milk for your hungry children, and having a child at 14 are criminal offenses that law enforcements should address like any other crime. When dealing with these situations, law enforcements should police deviant behaviors and deal with the criminal acts in accordance with the law. As previously mentioned, there is a debate on whether the role of law enforcement agencies or personnel involves policing deviant acts or only focusing on crimes committed against the society.

In relation to crime, nearly one-third of offenses reported to law enforcement personnel results in an arrest. This means that most of these offenses are never labeled as deviant by the criminal justice system. According to Bond (2014), law enforcement officers often intentionally and unintentionally label a person as a deviant individual upon arrest. These attempts are usually geared to demonstrate that the individual's criminal acts were well calculated and pre-meditated.

While studies in the criminal justice field have been unable to determine the link between deviance and personality attributes, such labeling can actually perpetuate an individual's negative behavior. Nonetheless, these officers use labeling because their role involves policing deviant acts and dealing with crime committed against the society. The primary role of law enforcement agencies and officers is to maintain law and order and deal with criminal who commit offenses against the society.

Based on this function, it is important for these officers to address crime and deviance in equal measure. One of the major reasons for law enforcements.