Folk Crime

Folk crimes are different from crimes that criminologists have typically focused on (e.g., murder, burglary), because they tend not to tarnish the identity of those who commit them (e.g., poaching and traffic violations). For instance, a poacher may remain in his community and remain valued by his peers while repeatedly killing deer in violation of the hunting laws. In contrast, a burglar cannot retain his good reputation while repeatedly victimizing people. Folk crimes are repeated by the perpetrator and tacitly approved of by not only the general public but also law enforcement agents. Folk crimes may simply be considered harmless by the general population.

There is a high degree of consensus that index crimes such as murder, robbery, and rape are wrong. This is not the case when it comes to folk crime. Sometimes folk crimes become crimes when a certain portion of the population is able to force its concept of the law on others (i.e., culture conflict). Then an activity that has previously been legal is deemed illegal even when a certain portion of the population still does not see the behavior as deviant. For instance, certain fish may be considered endangered and therefore catching those fish is made illegal by politicians who have been listening to a group of citizens concerned about the possible extinction of the fish due to overfishing. The problem is that another group of citizens, the Fisheaters, has a history of eating these fish that goes back generations. The fact that fishing these endangered fish has been made illegal does not change the values of the Fisheaters. Instead, the Fisheaters' culture still values catching and eating these fish despite the fact that doing so now violates the law. Changing laws does not automatically change cultural values. In the Fisheaters' community, violation of the law could occur without the risk of shame and embarrassment to the community, even if a Fisheater were arrested for violating the new law.

Below are listed four of the more common folk law violations: (1) speeding, (2) seat belt violations, (3) overhunting animals or overharvesting fish/sea life, and (4) littering and illegal waste disposal. The laws are often imposed on people who do not value the law. With each of these crimes, the offender tends to not suffer public humiliation and shame even if arrested.

[Page 283]Speeding. Speeding may be one of the most common forms of folk crimes. Many drivers exceed the posted speed limit. Most people who are ticketed or arrested for speeding (as is the case in extreme cases) are not ashamed, do not feel humiliation, and are only upset by the fact that they were caught, not by the fact that they engaged in speeding. The fact that many people purchase radar detectors and display them on their dashboards indicates that people are not ashamed about speeding but rather want to prevent getting pulled over by the police. People do not vote on speed limits or their changes; someone from a government office determines the speed limit and posts speeds on local roads. So local people might feel that speeding limits are imposed instead of developed from consensus. Speeding is even something that police officers may engage in legitimately as part of their job of catching speeders!

...