The Social Construction of Crime Theory

Is crime socially constructed? Explain and substantiate your response.

The social construction of crime theory argues that crimes are socially constructed with certain behaviours becoming criminalised through social construction and that this is illustrated by the ways in which different societies adopt different standards for similar behaviour with the same behaviour being constructed as criminal in one society but not in another society (Berger & Luckmann, 1967 ). This essay argues that this statement is true to a great extent because most criminal behaviours are constructed socially so as to show a differential approach in different societies. The social construction of crime theory is applicable to behaviours like homosexuality, drinking alcohol, drug addiction and even mental illnesses; some of these behaviours have been labelled deviance at one point but have now come to be accepted as non-deviant behaviours in most western countries. However, most of these behaviours are still considered to be deviant in many non-western countries.

The social constructivist point of view includes socially constructed attitudes reflects a specific subjective point of view and embedded social biases (Polizzi, 2015, p. 4). Through the history of criminal laws, there are many examples that suggest that the behaviour has been defined as criminal because of the social perception of such behaviour as criminally deviant; for example, the laws on blasphemy were allowed in an earlier time because the social construction of the behaviour that was seen to be blasphemous was criminal (Unsworth, 1995 ). The same trend is seen in other aspects of behaviours being criminalised as is discussed.

Social constructivist reflects in a number of behaviours that can be considered to be deviant where the social biases can play a role in how these crimes are constructed socially. An example can be seen with the issue of marital rape, which was recognised as a crime in the Sexual Offenses Act 2003. This can be considered to be an illustration of how changes in social biases towards a certain kind of behaviour can lead to the criminalisation of certain acts.

how attitudes towards drug consumption have changed and shifted over time and how these shifts have impacted the law. The first laws for restricting the drug use in England were first enacted in the form of Pharmacy Act 1868 and the Poisons and Pharmacy Act 1908, which regulated drug sales but did not prohibit the consumption of intoxicants like opium (Reuter & Stevens, 2007, p. 16). The fact is that drug addiction was not considered to be a major social problem till the early 20th century and consequently there was no social construction of drug addiction as a crime (Brownstein, 1993). How social construction of crime is impacted by public perception is exemplified by the ‘cocaine epidemic’ of 1916 and the resultant criminalisation of crime (Berridge, 1988). More recently, the perception of drug addiction as a deviant problem has also led to the new provisions of Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 which was aimed at clamping down on anti-social behaviour including rave parties. Furthermore, changes in the definition and social responses to mental illness and homosexuality have also led to the changes in how these behaviours are constructed as crimes (Conrad & Schneider, 1992)

There are however many behaviours that are not seen to be differently constructed as crimes in different nations or countries. Violent crimes like murders, rapes, and armed robberies are considered to be crimes in most societies of the world. Other crimes like theft, crimes against property, are also not socially constructed to be different. This is the reason why the argument can be made that construction of crimes is not always social in nature. While some crimes can be constructed socially, because criminalisation of the behaviour can be based on how society perceives the behaviour, this is not applicable to all kinds of deviant behaviour. This is the reason why it can be argued that not all crimes are socially constructed.

To conclude, to a great extent the social constructivist approach can explain how many behaviours are criminalised on the basis of the social construction of such behaviours as criminally deviant. This may also explain why there is difference in how various legal systems approach the same behaviour as either criminally deviant or not. This is relevant to behaviours like drug use and homosexuality. While there are behaviours that are not defined on social constructivism basis, there are many crimes that are constructed socially.

Bibliography

Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967 ). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY : Anchor.

Brownstein, M. J. (1993). A brief history of opiates, opioid peptides, and opioid receptors . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 90 , pp. 5391-5393.

Conrad, P., & Schneider, J. W. (1992). Deviance and medicalization: From badness to sickness. Expanded ed. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.

Polizzi, D. (2015). A philosophy of the social construction of crime. Policy Press.

Reuter, P., & Stevens, A. (2007). An Analysis of UK Drug Policy. London: United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission.

Unsworth, C. (1995 ). Blasphemy, cultural divergence and legal relativism. The Modern Law Review, 58(5), 658-677.

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