According to Cohen the spiral starts with some "deviant" act.

At night I would go stand on the corner with the guys and get involved in all kinds of deviant acts.

It informed me crisply that there were extra charges for specific enumerated deviant acts.

Now, they're looking out for every kid who may have something to prove through some deviant aggressive act.

I'm getting permission to act from someone else who is engaging in a deviant act.

He'd consider it a deviant act, and Odin didn't tolerate rebels, at least not in his rank.

The people that do not have a job or income will commit deviant acts in order to get what they need to survive.

A deviant act is based on a criminals own self-control of themselves.

If the motivations to deviant acts are strong and containment is weak, then crime is highly likely to follow.

It is used for describing certain deviant acts aimed at minor social disruption.