Secret Deviance

The study of deviant behavior has focused primarily on types of behaviors that are controversial with respect to their causes, extent of harm, and concerns for what, if anything, should be done about them. Such behaviors generally fall outside the realm of traditionally criminally deviant behaviors such as [Page 615]those represented in the Uniform Crime Reports: murder, aggravated assault, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, automobile theft, arson, and kidnapping. Some deviant behaviors may be illegal, but unlike more serious criminal behaviors, they do not generate strong public consensus about whether, or even how, to control them.

In many cases, deviance is a matter of degree and cannot be easily labeled. Edwin Schur identifies behavior as deviant to the extent that it is viewed as involving an individual whose departure from social norms or laws is deemed discreditable, eliciting either interpersonal or collective reactions that isolate, treat, punish, or correct. Any given act can be more or less deviant, depending on numerous factors, such as whether or not that act is noticed—and if so, whether the act is taken seriously as a violation of norms, whether it is attributable to the individual committing the deviant act, and whether sanctions, informal or formal (police or courts), are assigned.

Occasionally, a behavior is definitely against the rules but is so well hidden that no one sees it, or, if seen, no one does anything about it. Howard Becker refers to these behaviors as secret deviance. Such behaviors occur frequently but usually are conducted in private and without the attention of nonparticipants. Although the behavior is considered deviant, because nonparticipants are unaware of it, there are no outside sanctions and no deviant labels are applied. Some behaviors considered to be secretly deviant include certain sexual activities, such as swinging, fetishism, sodomy, online pornography, and autoerotic asphyxiation.

Maintaining secrecy about deviant behavior depends largely on the ability of the individual to hide the transgression. Therefore, secret deviance is often committed and controlled by persons with power and the means and ability to hide. Examples include the physician who is cited for driving while intoxicated and is able to have it “fixed” or the high-level corporate executive who defrauds clients but is not convicted of corporate crime. Such individuals are unlikely to experience the full impact of the legal system, as they have the financial means to avoid full prosecution or public humiliation. Such power, associated with high social status, allows the doctor and the business executive to transcend the stigmatizing label of deviant.

Closely related to secret deviance are “victimless crimes.” This term, coined by Edwin Schur, refers to the willing exchange of strongly demanded, but legally prohibited, goods and services between consenting adults. In a victimless crime, a transaction occurs between two parties who desire to enter into an exchange relationship that violates laws. However, as with secret deviance, the laws are relatively unenforceable because neither party complains to the authorities—in this case, usually the vice squad. Thus, most of these behaviors continue unabated. Examples of victimless crimes are prostitution, illegal gambling, and drug addiction.

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