Is Killing Wrong?: A Study in Pure Sociology

6. The Normative Dimension

Bob worked at the weekend in the garden of a wealthy 80-yearold lady named Mrs. Smith. Lately, a man named Danny had started to live with Bob and his wife. one Friday afternoon, as Danny was painting Bob’s front porch, Bob approached him with a proposition. He knew that Mrs. Smith had money and jewelry in her house. If he kept the old lady busy, Danny could search for and take her valuables; they would split the proceeds fifty-fifty. Danny agreed to the plan. The two men drove to Mrs. Smith’s house, with Danny concealing himself by lying down on the back seat. Bob went in the front door to talk to Mrs. Smith. Five minutes later, as agreed, Danny entered the house through the garage. He searched two rooms but found nothing. While searching another, he heard Mrs. Smith and Bob coming close and had to jump under the bed until they left the room. When he emerged, Danny saw that Mrs. Smith had left her pocketbook. Danny grabbed it, exited the house, and hid in the car. Several minutes later, Bob emerged with Mrs. Smith, discussing the yard. Bob drove off with Danny concealed from sight. Disappointingly, the pocketbook contained only $9. Bob said he knew there was money still in the house. The two drove around for a while, consumed a six-pack of beer, and decided to try again. as Danny lay on the back seat, Bob told him that if Mrs. Smith found him searching the house, he was to grab her and lock her into a closet. When they arrived back, Bob went into the house and talked to Mrs. Smith, who was upset about not being able to find her pocketbook. Bob told her that she must have misplaced it and offered to help her find it. Danny once again went in to the house 6 THE NORMATIVE DIMENSION 110 Is Killing Wrong? through the garage, but this time Mrs. Smith saw him and asked him what he wanted. Danny told her he had lost his dog. Seeming to accept this explanation, Mrs. Smith told him that she had not seen a dog. Danny thanked her, and began to walk away. after Mrs. Smith and Bob went back into the house, Bob was able to block Mrs. Smith’s vision of the door. Danny slipped back inside and began to search the house, moving from room to room. Intent on his search, he failed to hear Mrs. Smith approaching. Seeing him, she screamed. Danny grabbed her by the throat—to quiet her, he said—and they struggled. Mrs. Smith fell, and did not get up. Danny felt her pulse and then ran downstairs to tell Bob that he thought Mrs. Smith was dead. The two quickly searched the house, took some jewelry, and then packed Mrs. Smith’s body into the trunk of their car. They drove to an old well and pushed Mrs. Smith’s body down it. Several days later, the police arrested the two men and charged them with murder and robbery. Both pleaded not guilty. They were tried separately. Both were convicted. Given the facts of this case (from my Virginia study), surely Danny would receive the more severe sentence. after all, it was he who actually killed the elderly lady. Bob came up with the plan, participated in the theft, and helped dispose of the body, but he never struck or injured anyone. In fact, Bob was sentenced to sixty years in prison while Danny received only twenty years. But the surprise soon disappears on learning of the criminal history of both defendants. Bob had a string of prior convictions to his name and had twice served time in prison. Danny’s record was comparatively clean: he had been convicted of several minor property offenses, and had even spent thirty days in a local jail, but had never done any prison time. When it came to the murder, Bob was, in effect, punished not just for this crime, but for a lifetime of criminal behavior. In Blackian terms, Bob was handicapped by low “normative status.” normative status or respectability refers to a person’s reputation for good and evil. It is known by the amount of social control to which social actors have been subject (Black 1976: 111). The more social control the normative dimension 111 people have experienced, the more unrespectable...