Criminal Deviancy in the U.S.

This paper presents a discussion of criminal deviancy in the United States. As used in this study, criminal deviancy refers to criminal antisocial behavior.

Criminal antisocial behavior in the United States in the 1990s is shockingly high and increasing in frequency (Steffensmeier and Streifel, 1991, pp. 869894). A wide variety of explanations are offered for this phenomenon. Unfortunately, these explanations are all too often offered in support of some pet prejudice of the proponent. Advocates of prayer in public school, as example, cite declining moral values as the cause of the increase in crime (Dunaway and Cullen, 1991, pp. 536554). The solution, according to these people, is to improve moral values by reintroducing prayer in public schools. The real agenda in such instances, of course, is the pursuit of a particular brand of religion, not the reduction of crime. Civil rights groups often contend that socioeconomic deprivation and discrimination are the underlying causes of criminal behavior, and that, to reduce crime, a more equitable society must be constructed (Phillips, 1991, pp. 555574). The real agenda in these instances is income redistribution, not the reduction of crime. Then, of course, there is the lobby for the application of harsh justice on all criminal offenders as a means of reducing the crime rate (Cohn, 1991, pp. 287296). The proponents of this action, however, are very

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t in the development of societal attitudes toward victims and perpetrators. People tend to rebel at the notion that something must be wrong in a society in which one gender is responsible for almost all murders. Therefore, society seeks to rationalize these acts. When women are the murder victims, there is a strong tendency in the United States to cast most or all of the blame for the act on the victim (Magee, 1983, p. 24). In the "Preppie Murder" case, the defense counsel, as well as many members of the press, attempted to assign guilt for the act to Jennifer Levinthe victim (Wolfe, 1989, p. 54). There are strong societal tendencies in the United States to blame women victims for violence perpetrated against them. The sorry example of the treatment of rape victims in the United States is a powerful example (Bouton, 1990, pp. 2021). Robert Chambers was to claim in his trial that Jennifer Levin's refusal to stop socalled rough sex, which was causing him pain, led to his actions which resulted in her death (Wolfe, 1989, p. 71). The defense counsel and many stories in the press painted an unflattering picture of Jennifer Levin, as a young woman whose own actions, if not causing her own death, certainly contributed to it (

Category: Government - C