If one is religious think of something taboo in that specific religion? How about a sports team in college? Band? 
Any ideas? 
Lastly, and most important to the study of crime and criminal justice, our laws. Remember, a social norm is 
an obligation to society that can lead to sanctions if one violates them. Therefore, laws are social norms that 
have become formally inscribed at the state or federal level and can laws can result in formal punishment for 
violations, such as fines, incarceration, or even death. Laws are a form of social control that outlines rules, 
habits, and customs a society uses to enforce conformity to its norms. 
Law Example 
Let us go back to our example of having multiple wives for a moment. It is illegal, a violation of law, to have 
multiple wives in American culture. It has not always been this way, and it is not true in every country, but in the 
United States, it was viewed as so taboo, morally and ethically wrong, that there are laws that can punish people 
for marrying more than one person at a time. However, there may be some people that do not think it is wrong or 
some groups, but regardless, it is still illegal. 
The following link is for Oregon statue ORS 163.515 Bigamy https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/163.515 
Remember our previous discussion on being the new person to Oregon and trying to figure out if it is 
allowed to be nude at an ultimate frisbee practice, but they do not feel morally or ethically wrong. The first 
thing one may do is go home and look up some rules and see if they are violating ultimate frisbee rules. 
Next, one may check out Oregon laws governing clothing to see if they are violating laws by being nude. 
In the end, one finds out that it is not ‘illegal,’ so you cannot call the cops, but you certainly did find a case 
in Eugene, Oregon that determined not wearing clothes can be a violation of rules on the college campus. 
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/uo_board_says_no_clothes_no_ul.html 
However, this is a recreational league, and it does not appear to have any formal rules established. Now one 
has to make a decision that is hard: Does one want to be part of a subculture that endorses nudity? Does this 
go against one’s morals and ethics? Alternatively, is one willing to be part of the team and encourage 
acceptance of a new norm? The criminal justice system cannot act for merely violating norms, but at times, 
what feels like a norm can lead to criminal justice involvement. For example, walk a town or city, and 
many may be found jaywalking because it may be safer, faster, or more accessible. A person can get a ticket 
for it in most communities because it is technically violating a law. That is the thing with the line between 
deviance, rule violations, and criminality—it does not allow mean we agree. There are many examples of 
laws that are not deviant and things that are deviant some subcultures may wish to be illegal. Most, but not 
all crimes are deviant, and not all deviant acts are criminal. The question then becomes: well, how then do 
we as a society decide who does and does not have the opportunity to make law? 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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