Similar to Durkheim, Robert Merton proposed that central to understanding deviance was the influence of norms on behavior. Differing from Durkheim, Merton viewed anomie as .

In the case of furman v. georgia (1972), the united states supreme court ruled that the death penalty- in specific cases- being arbitrarily and inconsistently imposed, often in a discriminatory manner. as a result, the imposition of the death penalty as a punishment was stopped throughout the united states.