Eugenics and crime: Biological Basis for Crime???  Lombroso

SOCIOLOGY not biology:  SOCIOLOGY explains deviance not in terms of the individual, but rather how the society reacts to the person or event

Deviance defined:  Deviance (violation of norms) and crime (violation of norms written into law) is socially constructed, which means it varies across time and place  But it is not the act itself that makes it deviant, but the reaction of the society to the act!!!  Deviance is always relative (different people define different acts as deviant)

Case study: Deviance and Drugs  Criminalization of a drug is a function of:  Norms  Time  Place  Actor  Audience  How do you see each of these playing a role in “ Hooked: Illegal Drugs ” ?

Case study: Deviance and Drugs  Labeling is relative and affected by assumptions about class, race, and gender  Why do some drugs remain legal while others not?  Who benefits from legal drugs?  “ Those drugs that are considered the most deviant are likely to be those most used among less powerful groups … including lower-class individuals, those in socially marginal occupations, students, and those not fully assimilated to the United States ” (pg. 210)

For example …  African Americans 12% of population but 50% of those in jail or prison  Why??? Class, racial profiling, types of crimes committed and link to profiling, visibility, perception of harm, and media focus  ERPA still pending  16% in the population with less than a high school education, 43% of them are in jail or prison

Questions to answer on a piece of paper in pairs: 1) When you think of crime, what specific crimes come to mind? Why are these the crimes you think of first? 2) When you think of a criminal, what mental picture comes to mind? Describe that mental picture. Why is that the picture you have in your mind?  ALL TOGETHER:  How would you describe the images of crime and criminals that come to mind looking at the images from all groups in class?  In terms of cost and loss of life, what types of crime are the most harmful?

The image versus the reality:  Harm of elite crime (pg. 206)  Intra-racial crime statistics  WHY do we have such a distorted image of criminals?  Are media representations of crime accurate???  Compare sentencing (pg. 207)

Ethical Dilemma: Ford Motors Pinto Memo, 1968  What would you do???

Deviance in Families  Domestic violence and abuse in families is often overlooked, but one of the greatest sources of violence in our society  Origins of the phrase “ Rule of Thumb ” (pg. 210)

Reactions to deviance include:  Imprisonment  We have the highest incarceration rates (see Figure 8.2 on page 218), but incarceration has little to do with reducing crime  What invisible punishments help us understand high rates (67%) of recidivism? (pg. 218)

Creative Sentencing?  Given high rates of recidivism, is creative sentencing (pg. 219) an option?  What types of sentences would you recommend for various crimes?  Are there instances in which you would not use creative sentencing?  Do you approve of the use of creative sentencing in the 3 cases in your book?