Sociological Theories of Crime and Deviance: A Study of James Bulger Case

This report explains the concept of crime and deviance in relation with the sociological theories. Further, it also encompasses the social construction of crime and deviance. The case of James Bulger is used as a case study to apply the theories of functionalism, control, labelling, Marxism, and realism.

Crime and Deviance

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................3
Sociological theories of crime and explanation of Crime and Deviance-.......................................3
Social construction of crime and deviance-.....................................................................................5
Patterns / Trends related to crime-...................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION
Sociology can be defined as a study of human and societies, that how the human beings and their
communities are originated, developed. It basically states the functioning of the society. It is a
branch of science which provides the various postulates of social relations, customs and
establishments. It is a basis of understanding social command and social change. The concept of
crime and deviance are interrelated with each other. The study of these two thoughts in sociology
focuses on the criminal and the aberrant behaviour of the offenders in the society. Crime is a wrong
towards the society and deviance is the situation when the individual is not complying with the laws
or rules and regulations imposed by the authorities in the society. It is not important that the person
is violating any kind of norms while exercising any anti - social activity or
behaviour(MacManus,2020). Basically, it is related with the rule breaking action. This report will
explain the concept of crime and deviance in relation with the sociological theories. Further, it also
encompasses the social construction of crime and deviance.
MAIN BODY
The case of James Bulger shocked the whole England where a two year old boy was tormented and

murdered by two children of 10 years of age. The boys abducted the child from the sight of his
mother and took him away from the shopping mall in which Jame's mother Denise went for
shipping. After two subsequent days, the child was found dead on a railway line from the day of
abduction. Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are the names of the offenders. They brutally killed
the child by kicking him, throwing paint into the eyes and injured him by dropping a 10 kg iron
brick on the head. The question which arises out of this grievous act of murder is, that why Jon and
Robert killed James and what was going on in the minds of the two of them. What condition or
situation made them to perform such criminal activity at the early age of 10. what happened to the
values of the families, decent behaviour which is being taught in the schools and the other
educational institutions and the act of exercising control over the children so that they do not forgot
the norms and beliefs of the society in which they live in(Brookman and Copes, 2018).
Sociological theories of crime and explanation of Crime and Deviance-
Crime has a simple definition that is the unlawful activity done by an individual or group of
individuals which causes harm to the society as whole. The main ingredient of crime are actus reus
and mens rea that is the act which is done must be illegal and the act should be done in the
perseverance of some motive, that is the unlawful intention or the intention to harm some other
person. Whereas on the other hand deviance means, getting deviated from any socially
acknowledged norms, rules and regulation and conduct. It is not important every time that deviance
will always fall in the ambit of recognized laws and social values, instead of that, every conduct of
the person which is anti- social can be termed as deviance. So this argument supports the phrase
that, 'every crime is a deviance but it is not essential that every deviance holds the element of crime.
For example- if a group of boys and girls are drinking and smoking in a public park, that can be
stated as deviance but not an illegal act. The behaviour in context of morals and societal values, gets
violated, then it will be known as deviance. These norms, beliefs and values are varied from person
to person and their respective cultures. These two terms are interconnected with each other but does
not hold any similarity. For example- if any person commits an act of robbery with murder, then
that person would be punished and will necessarily be criticized for the commission of such act.
This example proves the involvement of deviance in crime. Deviance is not much severe if
compared with criminal acts. The aberrant behaviour of any person can be controlled by the various
organizations which are engaged in social work and the betterment of the public. But in case of
criminal acts, the police and the judicial system of the country is required to exercise control on
such commissions. A criminal act will always lead towards the punishment but there is no
punishment prescribed in the matter of deviance(Akrivos and Antoniou, 2019).
There are different sociological theories of crime which includes certain important perspectives

regarding deviance, they are-
 Functionalism theory- The theory of structural functionalism states that the element of
deviance in the society differentiates between what is right and what is wrong. There are
certain rules and regulations, norms, values and beliefs in the community which should be
followed by each and every individual so as to maintain a balance between the society and
the subjects living in that communal group. This theory also focuses on the various aspects
which play a very crucial role in the upbringing of any person such as schools, educational
institutions, parents, family members, friend circle, etc. that helps in social interaction
among the individuals in order to comply with the morals and beliefs of the society.
 Control theory- In the year 1969, Hirsch, a sociologist, explained that the delinquent
conduct can be understood by the absence or presence of the element of control in the
society. There are majorly 4 types of control, parents, family, friends, schools, colleges,
other educational institutions, because they are also a part of the society which functions
upon certain fundamental principles which is followed by the members of the society. The
people who are involved in the societal beliefs, norms and its culture, holds a strong stand
against the deviant behaviour which might get converted into a crime.
 Labelling theory- Labelling can be defined as a process in which the society give its
reactions against the conduct of an individual if in case it violates any of the norms and rules
of the society. The people use to become judgemental towards the person and label them as a
deviant. The negative conclusions drawn by the people lays an adverse effect on that person
who was labelled as a criminal or deviant or a delinquent. This acts as a social stigma in
which person held the society responsible for making that person a criminal. Then in order
to take revenge, they indulged in more criminal activities.
 Marxism theory- According to Karl Marx and William Chambliss, the main reason behind
the criminogenic society is the manner in which the crime is being treated by the social
groups of the community, that is on the basis of their social status. The element of inequality
among the authorities and misconduct or unfair treatment in the society results in the
commission of the criminal acts.
 Realism theory- It is divided into two parts, that is Right realists and the Left realists. The
former states that the criminal itself is accountable for the offence it has been committed.
The society, environment, economy cannot be held responsible for the same. Accordingly,
they consider that in order to prevent crime in the society, intensive methods must be used.
The main theories of the right realism are, rational choice theory, broken windows theory
and underclass theory given by Charles Murray. Whereas, the latter states that the main

reason behind the commission of any crime is the unequal treatment of the marginalised
groups in the society and the relative impoverishment. In the opinion of the left realists, the
causation of crime can be controlled by maintaining an equilibrium between the society and
the authorities. The major theories of left realism are, relative deprivation, marginalisation
and subculture.
The functionalism theory and the control theory could be perfectly applied to the case of James
Bulger. The former theory talks about the role of the society, educational institutions, family
background, parenting, schools in socialization of an individual. It also concentrates on the societal
factors mentioned above in the process of raising the child. The crime of murder is being committed
by the 10 year old children, who themselves are not aware of the act which they have performed.
The society is based upon certain principles which are required to be taught to the existing as well
as the future generations. In the above case, the parents of both the children are living separately,
and the offence committed by the two of them can be termed as the consequence of this detachment.
They are failed to raise their children with required values as they were engaged in parting their
ways from each other. Because, only parents of the children could make them aware about their
limits and how to draw a distinction between what is appropriate and what is
inappropriate(Desmond, Rorie and Sohoni, 2022).
The latter theory talks about the controlling elements of the society which can administer the
conduct of the individual that is the education, schools, teachers, elder people, parents, etc. are
unable to perform their function. In the above case study, the parents are separated due to which
they were failed to exercise any kind of control over the immoral activities of their children which
got converted into criminal act. The word 'control' does not mean dominance, rather it means that
there should be someone in the family who takes the responsibility of fostering the moral values,
religious beliefs, positive thoughts among the children.
Labelling theory could be applied to the James Bulger case. The offenders that is the 10 year old
boys must not be labelled as criminals by the society. This will directly affects the thought process
of criminals specially to the first time offenders and they will hold negative image of the society
and would be at risk of committing more criminal acts in the future age. In this case, the
community's judgements made those boys a deviant and they were continue to perform the criminal
activities like uploading child sexual abuse images on his system, violation of the parole licence,
etc.
Marxism theory states that the society relates the offence with the social status of the criminals. The
social status does not always be connected with money or financial conditions of a person, it also
involves the reputation of that person. In this case, when the parents of the children started living
separately, laid an adverse effect on the status of the family. The respect and reputation was not the

same. That is why the community relates the offence committed by the children with the social
position of the family.
Realism theory is divided into right realism and left realism. Right realism states that the criminal is
itself responsible for the offence. According to this case, the manner in which they have tortured
and killed James, it is difficult to believe that the crime has been committed by the 10 year old
children. The murder was brutal. They can understand the their act as well as the consequences of
the same. And this much knowledge is enough to make them accountable for their act. On the other
hand, left realism states that the society, circumstances, family environment, etc. are responsible for
the commission of the crime. The children have seen their parents fighting and abusing each other.
There was no element of respect, care and love between them which they can teach to their
children. All this violence and arguments of not to live with each other disturbed the minds of the
children which created a feeling of anger and envy their minds. It might be possible that they are
angry on the situation of their family and parents and are jealous from the other families as they all
are living happily without hating each other.
Social construction of crime and deviance-
The concept of social construction in crime and deviance states that the social procedures ascertain
that whether an act committed by an individual is a crime or not. At present, the laws made by the
legislative authority that is the parliament can be termed as the social process which adjudicates that
the act done by the person should be considered as an offence or not according to the various
legislations. And it could be seen that the activities which are not categorized as a criminal offence,
they are also considered as unlawful act in today's date. For example- in the year 1973, not wearing
the helmets while riding the motorcycle was made illegal, smoking at public places or transports
was made illegal in 2007, the British parliament is now planning to prohibit parents from smacking
their children. Basically the crux of the social construction in crime is that the act will be
categorized as a criminal offence only when it involves any law controlling body. The social
construction of deviance consists of various unclear concepts. That is deviance could be both
offensive and non- offensive but it is difficult to mark the behaviour or conduct of the person as
deviant or not, and if deviant then in what sense. Does it involves any element of crime or not. A
sociologist in this field named Plummer, provided two constituents in social construction of
deviance, that is societal deviance and situation deviance. Societal deviance is one in which
majority people of the society categorize the particular behaviour as a deviant because they posses
same opinions and views regarding authorized and unauthorized behaviour. Situation deviance on
the other hand, is the one in which the consideration of deviance depends upon the situation or
circumstances under which the particular act or conduct is being performed by a person(Jeffery,

2021).
Murder is a type of violent crime which was committed by Jon and Robert. And according to the
social construction of crime and deviance, the act of killing another human being or taking
someone's life is considered as an offence in the country. The parliament or the law making body
consider it as an illegal act. The criminal law that is the Homicide Act, 1957 of the UK specifies
murder as an offence. Accordingly, in the case of social construction of deviance, it could be clearly
observed that the act of murder is an offensive deviance. Killing someone is against the social
values, beliefs and norms of the society. It further categorized as a societal deviance, in which
maximum people of the society considered it as a deviant(Akrivos and Antoniou, 2019).
Patterns / Trends related to crime-
There are various types of crime including violent crime, property crime, white collar crime,
organized crime and consensual or victimless crime. Violent crime affects the individual in
terms of any harm or any bodily injury. The property crimes are the crime against the private
property of an individual and excludes bodily injury or harm, such as, burglary, theft, etc.
White collar crimes are those crimes which are done by the person who posses any position or
power in an organization or an institution, like, director of a company, officer class personnel,
etc. It is also known as high profile crimes. Organized crimes can be defined as the offences
which are being done by some kind of group of persons on national as well as international
level like human trafficking, terrorism, drug smuggling, money laundering, etc. Last but not the
least, consensual crime are known as victimless crimes because this type of criminal acts do not
harm any other person, instead of that, the person itself opt to join such crimes which is
unlawful in the eyes of law(Wilson, 2019). This might holds different positions in different
countries according to their laws. For example- prostitution, obscenity, etc.
The type of crime in the above case comes under the category of violent crime. It is a high volume
crime. It is termed as ‘homicide’ in the English common law. The trends followed in England
and Wales by homicide crime is as follows, according to the data gathered in several years of
study about the patterns / trends of homicide crime, from the year 1860 to 1960, the rate of
homicide crime was decreased, and it was increased in the year 1960 and continued to be on
the same footing till 2002. The diminution in the crime rate was observed in 2014. After that
the crime rate in terms of homicide hiked between 2014 and 2018. But the crime ratio in
England and Wales till the year 2018 was low that is 12 per million as compared to the global
average rate which is calculated as 61 per million. The crime of homicide was equally divided
in terms of ratio of exploitation between male and female from 1860 – 1980, but after that, the
trend was changed and it showed much inclination towards male victimization (age group of

15-44 years) (Gottschalk and Hamerton, 2021).
According to the statistics of crime and poverty in UK, it can be observed that the crime ratio in the
marginalized and remote groups are 80% higher than the posh areas of various cities in UK.
The commission of the violent offences among the disadvantaged sections is much higher that
is 10% more than the urban areas. The violent crimes here includes sexual crimes, murders,
robberies, drug trafficking and smuggling of arms and ammunitions(Ward, 2019).
CONCLUSION
The conclusion drawn from the above report is that the concept of crime and deviance is
interchangeably related to each other, where crime describes an act which is unlawful and
deviance is the act of non compliance of the norms, values, beliefs, principles set by the
society or the community. Further it explains the concept of sociological theories of crime in
context of the case study. It also discuss about the social construction of crime and deviance
and also about the trends related to the crime that is homicide or murder.
REFERENCES
MacManus, T., 2020. State Crime. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal
Justice.
Brookman, F. and Copes, H., 2018. Visualizing Crime and Deviance: Editors Introduction. Deviant
Behavior, 39(4), pp.417-420.
Akrivos, D. and Antoniou, A.K., 2019. Introduction: Crime and Deviance through the Lens of
Popular Culture. In Crime, Deviance and Popular Culture (pp. 1-9). Palgrave Macmillan,
Cham.
Desmond, S.A., Rorie, M. and Sohoni, T., 2022. Working for God: Religion and Occupational
Crime and Deviance. Deviant Behavior, pp.1-16.
Akrivos, D. and Antoniou, A.K. eds., 2019. Crime, deviance and popular culture: International and
multidisciplinary perspectives. Springer.
Wilson, J.Q., 2019. Deviance and Human Nature. In Populations at Risk in America (pp. 91-103).
Routledge.
Gottschalk, P. and Hamerton, C., 2021. White-collar Crime Online: Deviance, Organizational
Behaviour and Risk. Springer Nature.
Ward, J.T., 2019. Developmental and life-course theories of crime and deviance. Handbook on
crime and deviance, pp.283-308.
Jeffery, C.R., 2021. Crime Prevention. Through Environmental Design (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1971).