Abstract.

Donald Black in his papers titled The boundaries of legal sociology and The
Behaviour of Law sets up the foundations of his positivist approach to the study of
sociology of law as well as providing a general theory of the functioning of law and
its impacts on society. Further, Blacks approach is purely sociological viz, purely
concerned with sociological factors The paper seeks to analyze this general theory
of the behavior of law in context of crime as a means of social control.

Introduction
Donald Black in his essays informs the readers right from the beginning that his
perspective to the subject is purely sociological, i.e. he uses sociological factors to
represent the macro level features and dimensions along which societies are
organized. To put Blacks model into a rough casual model, these features of
society act as predictors and behavior of law is the outcome.
Sociological Factors -> How law Behaves (The outcome)
The Outcome According to Black is how the law behaves in society. He further,
defines law as Governmental Social Control and explains the concept of law as A
quantitative variable i.e the quantity and to a lesser extent the type of law applied
to a given situation in time and space is what Blacks general theory of law seeks to
explain. This perspective of Law puts Blacks idea within the socio-legal framework
which considers law, as it is delivered on the ground by policemen, judges etc,
rather than how it is perceived and intended by the legislators.
Black in his essay the behavior of law provides a novel idea that the quantity of
law applied varies inversely with the level of social control available. By this Black
seems to implicate that in situations when there are very limited or scarce modes of
social control available, more law is applied.
For example, let us consider a neighbourhood where adolescent teens are allowed
to drive vehicles at high speeds. The neighbours on complaints are told to mind
their own business, In such a case, the low level of social control by the family
would lead to higher degree of intervention by justice agencies such as the police to
keep a check on such deviant behavior.
Another example would be an intra-family dispute between two brothers, even if the
altercation causes minor hurt, the high level of social control within the family would
limit the intervention of the justice agencies such as the police to actually apply the
law.
Hence Black sees the operations of law as nested within the broader operations
of social control. It is only when social control fails, that law must be applied.

The Dimensions Of Social Life:

Before any further analysis of Blacks theory on the behavior of law, it is pertinent to
understand the various dimensions in which the society is organized in. These
dimensions can be perceived as various planes on which the society is organized,
and the law consequently behaves differently depending on the varying factors of
each of these dimensions. The dimensions of interest to this particular study are :

VERTICAL DIMENSION: This corresponds to the socio economic status of

the individuals.
HORIZONTAL DIMENSION : This corresponds to the race, ethnicity and
general integration of a particular group of individuals or a community into
the mainstream society
ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION: This refers to the degree of organization of
the perpetrators as well as victims of a crime.
SOCIAL CONTROL: This corresponds to the degree to which people may get
others to act in certain way without having to involve the law enforcement
agencies.

Each of these dimensions would be analyzed in reference to how law behaves along
the perceived planes. Further, from a sociological point of view it is further
necessary to understand the relational or relative distance in the said planes of the
perpetrators and the victims of the crime. This helps in explaining the varying
degrees of law that may be applied in a given situation. Also, It must be noted that
the law applied also varies with perceived seriousness of the crime in society.
According to Black, the perceived seriousness of a crime too, can be understood by
the locational indicators of the perpetrators and the victims of crime on any of the
aforementioned planes in which the law functions.

Law in The vertical dimension of society :

The vertical dimension of society according to Donald black refers to the socioeconomic status (Or SES) of an individual. But to put it so simply is misleading.
Careful reading between the lines shows the Blacks focus is not on the individual
SES of the offender or the victim, Rather he focuses on the the relational distance
between the SES of the offender and the victims. It is the relative positions vis a vis
another that structures how the rest of the society defines and interprets the
events. This relative distance between the offender and the victim in the vertical
dimension is what Black terms as vertical distance.

Black argues that the same event, with the same victim, involving exactly the same
criminal behavior and consequences will be perceived very differently by others in
society as well as justice agencies which server the society as the sociological
relationship between the offender and the victim shifts.
Further, Black also points out that the amount of law applied differs between
societies. This can be noted from the various different societies and how they
function within their scope of morality. In the rural middle east, the lack of
governmental social control is due to the high level of social control that is guided
by the prevailing religious beliefs. Whereas in for example, the Nordic countries not
only is the style of law applied different, but also quantity of it.
Directional relationship between crimes and law :
Black, in his paper implies the direction of a crime can be understood by assessing
the relative positions of the offenders and the victims in a crime. For example, In a
situation where a theft is committed at a victims house who is high SES (Say a
wealthy CEO of a company) by someone who is low SES (a daily wage laborer), the
crime has an upward direction. Here, the crime was initiated by a person of low SES
against the property of one who is high SES.
Further, Black also considers the aspect of direction in terms of the law applied. This
Upward law or Downward Law is seen as a reaction to Downward crimes and
Upwards Crimes respectively. To put it simply, Law acts on behalf of the victim.
Here, the victim may be an individual, a state agency or even the government. As a
result Law moves in the direction opposite to crime to counter its effect.
It must also be noted that it is this directional aspect of crime and law that shapes
the seriousness of an offence. According to Blacks studies, a downward crime is
construed to less serious than an upward crime. As an implication of this, the
amount of law applied is higher in the latter than the former.
This differs from the traditional view of the seriousness of crimes which seems to
suggest that the factors indicating the seriousness of a crime are :
1. The offender intended the harm
2. Degree of harm caused or vulnerability of the victim
3. Previous criminal history of the offender.
It is pertinent to mention here that Black doesnt completely disregard this
traditional view. Rather, he suggests, that the direction of the crime, along with the
aforementioned points shapes the seriousness of the crime. By adding the
sociological variable of relative positions of the offender and the victim, Black
assumes a radical sociological position; His argument that the sociological attribute
of a crime the degree and the difference of the relative positions of the parties in
the vertical plane of organization of society, shapes how a crime is perceived and

consequently helps indicate the quantity and to a lesser degree the style of law
applied.
To put in terms of the behavioral theory of law as put forward by Black, It is this
perceived seriousness the determines how law behaves. Since an upward crime is
perceived as more serious than a downward crime, there is considerably greater
downward law applied relative to Upward law. This may manifest itself by way of
giving longer sentences*, etc.

The Organizational Dimension Of Social Life :

Black describes Organization as the corporate aspect of social life, the capacity of
collective action. This idea is firmly embedded in the sociological framework
eminent sociologists such as max weber and others. This power of formal or
recognized groups of society and the implications of differences between groups, or
groups and individuals, too is an important sociological factor that helps determine
or indicate how law behaves.
Black analyses these difference at multiple levels, ranging from individuals or small
political groups on the low end to the justice agencies at the local, state and central
levels at the high end of the scale. This scale quantitatively depicting organization
is based on a number of factors which determine the scale of organization. Few of
the factors cited by Black, are :

Presence and number of administrative officers : The sheer size of the

organization in terms of participating administrative member is considered an
important indicator. In sociological terms, this also implies the gross number
of people such an organization may affect.
Centralization and continuity of decision making: Centralization and
continuity of the organizational structure is an equally relevant factor. This
not only indicates the unhindered impact such an organizational structure has
on the community but also indicates a sense of stability.
Quantity of collective action : By this Black is not only referring to the
structure of different organizations but also to the outputs of the said
different organizations.

The sociological interest herein lies in contrasting the differences in the levels of
organizations.
Organization and law :

As stated earlier, Organization plays an important role as an indicator to how law

behaves. Black identifies the points of intersection of Law and organization as :

The organization and its environment

Its direction in relation to differences in organization
With the organization of law itself

Like it was done with the case of varying SES of individuals or groups, Black
assesses the differences in the degree of organization into a direction which he calls
organization direction. Just as Law may have a vertical direction in relation to
differences in rank, It may also have an organization direction in relation to the
organizational structure.
The Highest level of organization may be accorded to multi-national companies
(MNCs) or other such international agencies while the lowest level of organization
may be an individual, who is not in a group or may have even lesser power than a
small group.