Deviant Behavior 

About: Deviant Behavior is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Poison control & Deviance (sociology). It has an ISSN identifier of 0163-9625. Over the lifetime, 1748 publications have been published receiving 40150 citations.

Cyberbullying: An exploratory analysis of factors related to offending and victimization.

Abstract: Victimization on the Internet through what has been termed cyberbullying has attracted increased attention from scholars and practitioners. Defined as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text” (Patchin and Hinduja 2006:152), this negative experience not only undermines a youth's freedom to use and explore valuable on-line resources, but also can result in severe functional and physical ramifications. Research involving the specific phenomenon—as well as Internet harassment in general—is still in its infancy, and the current work seeks to serve as a foundational piece in understanding its substance and salience. On-line survey data from 1,378 adolescent Internet-users are analyzed for the purposes of identifying characteristics of typical cyberbullying victims and offenders. Although gender and race did not significantly differentiate respondent victimization or offending, computer proficiency and time spent on-line were positively related to both cyberbullying victimizati...

Examining the Applicability of Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory for Cybercrime Victimization

Abstract: A great deal of criminological research has attempted to understand and identify the causes of victimization using the lifestyle-routine activities theory. Recent researchers have argued that the lifestyle-routine activities theory may be able to explain the increasingly significant phenomenon of computer and cybercrime. This claim has been contested by Yar (2005), however, who argues that routine activities theory is limited in explaining cybercrime. Few empirical tests exist to address this important issue. Thus, this study attempts to explore this gap in the research literature by examining a specific form of cybercrime, on-line harassment. Using a sample of students at a southeastern university, this analysis found some support for elements of lifestyle-routine activities theory. Individual and peer involvement in computer crime and deviance also significantly increased the risk of victimization. The implications of these findings for theorists and researchers are also explored.

Academic dishonesty and low self‐control: An empirical test of a general theory of crime

Abstract: This study uses academic dishonesty as a unique type of fraudulent behavior upon which to test Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime. The study utilizes self‐report data from a survey of undergraduate students enrolled in sociology courses at a large southwestern university. With these data, the authors examine a number of the core theoretical propositions of Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory. That is, we test issues concerning the dimensionality of low self‐control, the influence of parenting on the development of self‐control, the association between levels of self‐control and involvement in academic dishonesty, and the interactive effects of low self‐control and opportunity on the frequency of academic dishonesty. The results of our analyses, although rather mixed, do provide qualified support for the theory.

child pornography and the internet: perpetuating a cycle of abuse

Abstract: Thirteen men convicted of downloading child pornography were interviewed with a view to understanding how these men talked about the photographs and the function such talk played in their accounts. The interviews were informed by earlier work with defended subjects and were analyzed within a discursive framework. Quotations are used from the interviews to illustrate the analysis. Six principal discourses emerged within these accounts in relation to child pornography: sexual arousal; as collectibles; facilitating social relationships; as a way of avoiding real life; as therapy; and in relation to the Internet. These are discussed in the context of previous research. The analysis illustrates the important role that the Internet plays in increasing sexual arousal to child pornography and highlights individual differences in whether this serves as a substitute or as a blueprint for contact offenses. It also draws our attention to the important role that community plays in the Internet and how collecting facil...

societal reaction to sex offenders: a review of the origins and results of the myths surrounding their crimes and treatment amenability

Abstract: Examination of societal reaction to sexual offenders reveals a history of harshness exemplified by the sexual psychopath laws of the 1930s. The latest round of legal attempts to control sex offenders uses Severe sentencing laws, civil commitment procedures and community notification statutes to confine and shame sex offenders. This paper shows these laws to be based on popular beliefs about the predatory nature of these men, the probability of their re-offense and their amenability to treatment rather than the facts about the sex offenses and offenders. The severe reaction to sexual offenders is a vindictive one based on myth and misunderstanding that serves many interests. The paper exposes the contradictory myths and skewed emotions that guide our view of sex crimes and compares these with the facts about re-offense rates and the effects of treatment.