Crime and deviance

Crime and deviance is a core topic in OCR A-Level Sociology, exploring why certain behaviours are labelled as criminal or deviant, how societies define and respond to rule-breaking, and the social distribution of crime. This topic challenges students to move beyond common-sense assumptions and examine crime as a social construct shaped by power, inequality, and cultural norms. It is essential for understanding broader sociological debates about social control, justice, and the role of the state.

The topic is divided into key areas: definitions of crime and deviance, sociological theories (functionalism, Marxism, interactionism, feminism, and postmodernism), patterns of crime by class, gender, ethnicity, and age, and the criminal justice system including policing, courts, and punishment. Students must also engage with contemporary issues such as cybercrime, green crime, state crime, and globalisation. Mastery of this topic enables students to critically evaluate media representations of crime and assess the effectiveness of crime prevention strategies.

Crime and deviance connects directly to other OCR topics like social stratification, global development, and research methods. For example, understanding how crime statistics are constructed requires knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods. This topic also encourages students to apply sociological perspectives to real-world issues, such as the over-representation of Black males in the prison system or the impact of austerity on crime rates. By the end of this unit, students should be able to analyse crime as a product of social structures and processes, not just individual pathology.