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

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