TOWARD A TRANSNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE

• NCJ Number: 31634
• Journal: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (SEPTEMBER 1975) Pages: 297-315
• Author(s): G R NEWMAN
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 19 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: State University of New York at Albany; Ford Foundation; United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)
• Corporate Author: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A NORM RESISTANCE SCALE WAS DEVISED TO MEASURE FOUR MAIN ASPECTS OF DEVIANCE PERCEPTION - THE RESPONDENT'S DEFINITION OF THE ACT AS CRIMINAL, HIS INTENSITY, AND HIS PREFERRED PUNISHMENT AND OPINION ON DECRIMINALIZATION.

Abstract

THE SCALE WAS ADMINISTERED TO URBAN AND RURAL SAMPLES FROM FIVE COUNTRIES SELECTED TO REPRESENT A DIVERSE ARRAY OF POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL FACTORS. EVIDENCE WAS FOUND FOR GENERAL AGREEMENT CONCERNING THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE CONTROL OF A WIDE VARIETY OF DEVIANT ACTS MIGHT BE RESISTED. HOWEVER, WHEN CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS WERE MADE FOR SPECIFIC ACTS, WIDE DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND BOTH ACROSS COUNTRIES AND WITHIN COUNTRIES, AND THE CROSS-COUNTY DIFFERENCES WERE GREATER. FACTOR ANALYSIS WAS USED TO INVESTIGATE SIMILARITY IN UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF DEVIANCE PERCEPTION ACROSS COUNTRIES. ALTHOUGH THE DATA WERE NOT CONCLUSIVE, THEY DID SUGGEST THAT TWO IMPORTANT FACTORS - DEVIANCE PROTEST AND MORAL INDIGNATION - WERE OPERATING ON DIFFERENT LEVELS ACROSS ALL COUNTRIES.