Summary

In this module, you learned about deviant behavior and how society decides what is deviant, and how deviance may change over time. You also learned about ways that society works to prevent deviance and implement social control. Specifically, you learned about crime in the United States and about the Criminal Justice System.

The Criminal Justice System, specifically the police force, has come under severe criticism in recent years for unnecessary use of force, racial profiling, and brutality (you can read more about police misconduct at the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project). Tensions between citizens and police officers rose to extreme heights following videos that circulated the internet of police shootings of unarmed two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in July 2016. A few days latter, at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and fired upon a group of police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five officers and injuring nine others. Less than two weeks later, on July 17th, three police offices were targeted and assassinated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Consider the theoretical perspectives on deviance that you learned about in this module—strain theory, social disorganization theory, cultural deviance theory, conflict theory, differential association theory, and control theory. Which one do you think best accounts for the tensions between citizens and the police force? With your newfound knowledge, what do you recommend as the solutions for reducing police brutality?

What you learned to do:

• Define deviance and methods of social control
• Contrast the varying theoretical perspectives on deviance
• Describe the criminal justice system and types of crimes