To answer this question it is necessary to clarify what deviance is. A person who’s acts are deviant is a person who breaks away from the norms and trends of their society. This could mean someone who steals is deviant as it is not the traditional way to behave and stealing is a crime. However if there was a classroom with thirty school children in and one girl wears a skirt in the winter whereas the other girls wear trousers this is also deviant. She would be breaking the norms, not doing as the other girls do, so would this be a crime?

In society the deviants even from a young age may be the ones who are assumed to be law breakers when they are older. The children that misbehave in class, the children who make trouble on their street but until they commit a crime they are not criminals yet are still deviants.

By classing deviants and criminals in the same group society would be increasing the likeliness that the deviants will turn into criminals. The criminological theory ‘labelling theory’ by Lemert and Becker shows how labelling a person as a criminal will change their life so that they are more likely to become and stay a criminal. If a child steals from a shop once, they will be labelled a criminal and could be banned from the shop they stole from and surrounding shops. If the child had simply stolen a chocolate bar, it may have been due to peer pressure and of been a one off so with discipline it may not have happened again, however once labelled a criminal the child can not shop freely anywhere so decides that next time he wants a chocolate bar the only way he will be able to get one is to steal one. This theory shows how labels can lead to further crime. If a child is deviant, they should not be labelled as more than that.

Society should not begin to label deviance as a crime because society is what it is because people are different. if peoples sexuality, appearance, and attitudes can be classed as deviant when they differ from the norms then with deviance being a crime these things could all be labelled as a crime too. Society needs people to dress differently to others. Society needs some people working in a variety of jobs, we need bus drivers and we need doctors so if everyone acts the same, society will go to ruin. Deviance is about some people breaking the rules. It is not about people being criminogenic. Deviance is different to crime. Society needs diversity therefore it needs some deviance.