Introduction
Deviance refers to behaviour that goes against various established societal norms, including formally enacted rules and regulations. Violation of rules amounts to crime whereby an individual would be punished according to the set laws. Moreover, deviance entails contravention of social norms, such as folklores and customs. The role of criminologists is to conduct thorough research to establish how these societal norms change over time (Hastings and O’Neil 290).
The Canadian criminal law should be extended in order to control the behaviour of individuals that might disturb social order. This means that what is illegal in the current society should never be made legal or be accepted in future. Homosexuality and prostitution are usually given as examples since they are viewed as unethical and unlawful in a number of global societies, but many countries have so far legalized these behaviours in their societies. Even though the society is changing socio-economically and culturally, these deviant behaviours should never be given room in the Canadian society.
This paper opposes the statement that the Canadian criminal law should be altered to reflect the new social and cultural dynamics. The paper contests the idea that socio-economic hardships force people to engage in crime, such as prostitution. In this case, an individual should never be allowed to engage in certain behaviour even if he or she attains a certain age. A number of theories suggest that social norms are violated because of a reason. These reasons will be discussed in this article.
Why Extend the Law
Howard Becker is of the view that social rules are the products of an individual’s effort. For someone to institute a law there must be a rule creator and a rule enforcer. The rule creator is usually interested in bringing about reforms whereby what matters is the content of the rules. Rule reformers believe that the current sets of rules are deformed since they do not convene their interests (Becker 147). The world is full of social and cultural problems implying that nothing can resolve them, apart from strong laws.
Everything that exists in this world is evil according to the rule creators. Therefore, the establishment of any law is justifiable since it would resolve part of the problem. These crusaders view their activities as holy since they aspire to save human beings from troubles. Therefore, moral crusaders should force their own morals on others without even considering the fact that people differ in terms of values and principles.
Even though what might be right to one person might be wrong to others, societal values must always be given priority. If their morals are adopted, crusaders believe that people would not encounter problems meaning that they aim at helping other people through their visionary ideas. Based on this analysis, the Canadian law should be expanded to prevent the implementation of views of those advocating for the legalization of prostitution and homosexuality. This would serve to resolve the many issues facing society. In the same way, those who advocated for the abolishment of slavery wanted to achieve economic benefits for the poor. Stricter laws had to be formed to contain the situation.
Moral crusaders believe that the end will always justify the means meaning that the outcomes of the stricter policies regarding prostitution would rationalize the process followed in designing them. Moreover, the views of experts are usually valued when instituting a law meaning that they are relied upon when making policies. Since experts are incorporated in the law making process, there would be no reason to deny the changes proposed regarding criminal law. As Becker (2) puts it, the committee is usually established whose major responsibility is to collect the views of citizens. The views of many Canadians suggest that prostitution should be illegalized.
Once a decision is made, it should be endorsed because it represents the views of all. Apart from rule crusaders, there are rule enforcers whose major role is to implement the designed policies. The crusade is usually institutionalized through the creation of formal organizations. This would govern the conduct of individuals engaged in certain behaviour. In this regard, prostitution would be easily regularized in case it is institutionalized. It would be difficult for a deviant behaviour to bread violence and other unwanted problems if it is illegalized and is supervised by a team of experts.
In conclusion, Becker underscored the fact that deviance is a wrongdoing, which is a result of enterprise. Behaviour cannot be labelled as deviant unless an individual or a group of people come up with laws illegalizing it. In this regard, social rules are not usually made automatically, but instead they take a long process of consultation. A particular behaviour cannot be termed as harmful yet its effects have not been identified. Therefore, any social behaviour should be weighted carefully before terming it deviant. In this regard, prostitution is illegal since it interferes with the social order.
Gomme is of the view that the police are unable to control deviant behaviour, such as prostitution, because of ineffective laws. Any charges of solicitation raised against a prostitute have never been fruitful in Canada due to lack of evidence. Gomme goes ahead to discuss two theories of prostitution, which suggest that the law should be amended to incorporate the stricter policies that would prevent prostitution. He starts by observing that prostitution, which is one of the deviant behaviours, is a social institution since it has survived for several years, even though societal members have never allowed it to flourish.
Many jurisdictions around the world have tried unsuccessfully to eradicate prostitution. Behaviour becomes a norm in case it is regularized and is considered ordinary in any given society. Prostitution cannot flourish in case societal members are opposed to it. Since a majority of societal members oppose it, the Canadian criminal law should be extended to prevent its occurrence prostitution.
Functionalists view prostitution as a necessary social action that maintains social order and stability. Functionalists suggest that men have powerful desires for sex hence prostitution should exist to satisfy their needs. In this regard, prostitution is a safety valve because it helps men in satisfying their sexual needs without necessarily disrupting the social order (Gomme 238). Feminists are opposed to this view because it only supports one gender.
The government should always interrupt the social order of any given society, particularly regarding the security issue. Even though the government should leave the market to operate according to its internal logics meaning that the customer should enter into any form of agreement with the seller, as long as no breach of contract is reported, the issue of prostitution should not be given any room. If the government prevents the prostitution, the health of citizens would be improved. State agencies need to provide enabling environment by designing appropriate laws that would encourage people to coexist peacefully while at the same time preventing the occurrence of antisocial behaviour.
Works Cited
Becker, Howard. Moral entrepreneurs: Outsiders, studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press, 1973. Print.
Gomme, Ian. The Shadow Line: Deviance and Crime in Canada. Toronto: Harcourt Brace, 1998. Print.
Hastings, Stephanie, and O’Neil, Thomas. “Predicting workplace deviance using broad versus narrow personality variables.” Personality & Individual Differences 47.1 (2009): 289–293. Print.