Questions

CHAPTER 5 Law and Social Conrol 241 1

In some cases, however. firms that have a monopoly on their products, such as local gas and electric companies, are not likely to be hurt by adverse publicity. Agencies are, at

times, also reluctant to stigmatize firms. because adverse publicity is considered a form of

informal adjudication, although it is often used and justified by the notion that people have a righl to knorry-

SUMMARV

This chapter has considered law as a mechanism of formal social control. Law comes into

play whin other forms of social control are weak, ineffective, or unavailable' Individuals ina g.oupr are led to behave in acceptable ways through the processes of socialization and ixfernal pressures in the form of sanctions from others. Mechanisms of social control

through external pressures may be formal and informal, and include both tregative and

positive sanctions. Informal social controls are exemplified in the functions of folkways

and mores. Informal sosial controls tend to be effective when there is intense social inter' action on an intimate face-to-face basis, normative consensus. and surveillance of the be-

havior of members of the community (see, for example, Norris and Wilson, ZOOT)' Formal

social controls are characteristic of more complex societies with a greater division of Ia-

bor and different sets of mores, yalues. and ideologies Formal social controls arise when

informal controls are insufficient to maintain conformity to certain norms. Laws are one

type of formal social control, Other types of formal social controls rely on both penalties

and rewards. whereas conrrol through the law is exercised primarily. but not exclusively,

by the use of punishments to regulate behavior. The social control of criminal and delinquent behavior represents the most highly

structured formal system used by society to attempt to control deviant behavior (see, for

example. Brudner.2009). The concept legalization describes the process by which norms

are moved from the social to the legal level. It also entails the incorporation of specific punishments for special kinds of criminal law violators. The goals of punishment are ret-

ribution or social retaliation, incapacitation, and both specific and general deterrence- Punishment is a deterrent in situations that involve low-commitment individuals who en-

gage in instrumental crimes.The death penalty, as the most severe form of punishment,

remains controversial, and there is no agreement on its deterrent effect. Formal control of deviant behavior is not limited to criminal sanctions. The use of

civil commitm6nt as a mechanism of legal control is more widespread. In civil commit- ment, there are no procedural safeguards available for the defendant. Civil commitment operates through the process of rtefining deviant behavior as a mental disorder. and it in- cludes the involuntary commitmert of alcoholics, drug addicts, sex offenders, and trou-

blesome tgenagers. It allows mental heallh professionals, particularly psychiatrists, to exercise considerable judicial po\f,er by placing individuals in institutions without the guarantee of a trial.

The United States invests enoilnous resources in controlling victimless crimes.These

are crimes mala prohibita and are differentiated from other crimes by the element of consensual transaction or exchange. Those who are involved in these crimes are willing participants,who, as a rule,do not complain to the police that a crime has been commitled-

rr*rruk**Y**tso