What is the difference between crime and deviance?

Crime is behaviour that breaks the law and can be punished by the state, such as theft. Deviance is behaviour that breaks the norms of society but is not always against the law, such as queue-jumping. Some acts are both; what counts as crime and deviance varies by time and place.

How is crime measured?

Crime is measured through official statistics, based on crimes recorded by the police and courts, and through victim surveys, which ask the public whether they have been a victim. Official statistics miss the dark figure of unreported and unrecorded crime.

What is the 'dark figure' of crime?

The dark figure is the large amount of crime that does not appear in official statistics, because many crimes are not reported to the police and some reported crimes are not recorded. It means official statistics understate the true level of crime.

What patterns appear in crime statistics?

The statistics show that more recorded offenders are young and male, that recorded street crime tends to be higher in poorer areas while white-collar crime is often hidden, and that some ethnic groups appear more often. These are patterns in the data that must be explained carefully, not facts about individuals.

How do sociologists explain crime and deviance?

Sociological explanations include inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures that approve of offending, and labelling that creates a deviant career. These are set against biological and psychological explanations, but sociologists stress social causes.

WalesSociety and Culture

Crime and deviance: a complete overview for WJEC GCSE Sociology (Component 2)

A complete overview of the crime and deviance topic in WJEC GCSE Sociology Component 2, covering the definitions of crime and deviance, the measurement of crime and the dark figure, the patterns of crime, and the sociological explanations of crime and deviance.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.814 min readC200QS-component-2Updated 2026-06-15

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

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What this covers
Crime, deviance and measurement
Patterns of crime
Explanations
Check your knowledge

What this covers

The crime and deviance topic is one of the main strands of Component 2 of WJEC GCSE Sociology, and it is where the theme of social control is studied most directly. This overview ties the dot points together: the definitions of crime and deviance, the measurement of crime and the dark figure, the patterns of crime, and the explanations of crime and deviance. The topic asks what crime is, how much there is, who is involved and why it happens.

Crime, deviance and measurement

Crime breaks the law; deviance breaks the norms of society and is not always illegal. Both vary by time and place, showing crime is socially defined. Crime is measured by official statistics and victim surveys, but official statistics miss the dark figure of unreported and unrecorded crime, so they must be treated with caution.

Patterns of crime

Crime statistics show patterns: more recorded offenders are young and male, recorded street crime tends to be higher in poorer areas while white-collar crime is often hidden, and some ethnic groups appear more often. These are patterns in the data that must be explained carefully, shaped by how crime is policed and recorded, and never used to label whole groups.

Explanations

Sociological explanations include inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures, and labelling leading to a deviant career. These are set against biological and psychological explanations, but sociologists stress social causes that often interact.

The crime and deviance topic is one of the main strands of WJEC GCSE Sociology Component 2 and is where the theme of social control is studied most directly. Crime breaks the law and can be punished by the state; deviance breaks the norms of society and is not always illegal. Both vary by time and place, showing crime is socially defined. Crime is measured by official statistics, based on recorded crime, and by victim surveys, but official statistics miss the dark figure of unreported and unrecorded crime, so they must be treated with caution. Crime statistics show patterns: more recorded offenders are young and male, recorded street crime tends to be higher in poorer areas while white-collar crime is often hidden, and some ethnic groups appear more often. These are patterns in the data, shaped by how crime is policed and recorded, that must be explained carefully and never used to label whole groups. Sociological explanations include inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures that approve of offending, and labelling leading to a deviant career, set against biological and psychological explanations, with sociologists stressing social causes that often interact.

Check your knowledge

Explain the difference between crime and deviance. (2 marks)
Give one example of an act that is deviant but not criminal. (1 mark)
How is crime measured? (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by the dark figure of crime. (3 marks)
Describe one pattern shown in crime statistics. (2 marks)
Why must crime statistics about ethnicity be treated with caution? (3 marks)
Identify two sociological explanations of crime. (2 marks)
Explain how labelling can lead to further crime. (4 marks)

Solutions

Q1: Crime breaks the law and can be punished by the state; deviance breaks the norms of society and is not always against the law.
Q2: Any deviant-but-legal act, such as queue-jumping or talking loudly in a library.
Q3: Through official statistics (crimes recorded by the police and courts) and victim surveys (asking the public whether they have been victims).
Q4: The dark figure is the hidden crime missing from official statistics, because many crimes are not reported and some reported crimes are not recorded, so statistics understate crime.
Q5: Any accurate pattern, such as more recorded offenders being male than female, or a large share being young. Present it as a pattern in the data.
Q6: Some ethnic groups appear more often in certain statistics, but this may reflect how heavily they are policed and labelled rather than how much they offend, so the figures may be misleading.
Q7: Any two of: inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures that approve of offending, and labelling.
Q8: Once a person is labelled a criminal, others react to the label, the person may accept it, and this can lead to a deviant career of repeat offending because the label is hard to escape.

Sources & how we know this

WJEC GCSE Sociology (Wales) specification (C200QS) — WJEC (2017)