Final answer:
Deviance and crime are distinct concepts, with the former representing a violation of social norms and the latter involving breaches of legal statutes. Community standards heavily influence the perception and enforcement of certain behaviors, which can change over time. Historical shifts in attitudes towards LGBTQ rights and variations in laws across different societies exemplify the fluidity of these social judgments.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of deviance revolves around behavior that is outside social norms but not always punishable. It diverges from crime, which involves actions that break formal laws and are subject to legal sanctions. Exploring this distinction reveals that the judgment of what is considered a crime can reflect community standards, which vary across different societies and can change over time.
In Germany, for instance, laws prohibit support for the Nazi Party or Holocaust denial as per Section 130 of the German criminal code to prevent hate speech. These reflections of community standards underscore the complex interaction between law, morality, and social norms. The enforcement and perceptions of certain behaviors, whether it's same-sex relationships or environmentally costly activities, are often influenced by the prevailing societal values and can lead to the criminalization of what some people might see as private matters or political dissent.
Historically, attitudes towards what is considered deviant behavior or criminal have shifted, as seen in the eventual decriminalization of same-sex acts and the accompanying changes in how society regards LGBTQ rights. Moreover, universal condemnation of child exemplifies how some crimes are seen as inherently wrong, whereas others may be interpreted relative to contemporary community standards.
Both the ambiguity and the evolution in societal attitudes toward various behaviors illustrate the intricate relationship between individual actions, legal definitions of crime, and society's broad social standards.