Lecture 4: Punishment and System Flashcards
Deviance
breaking a norm
crime
deviance against the law (enforced by gov. time and date specific)
law
enforced gov. rule
punishment
controlled by historical and cultural/ geographical context
formal punishment
penalization by judicial system for breaking law
moral panic
widespread fear that occurs when many people believe when a form of deviance or crime is detrimental to society
measuring crime
crime statistics of different levels (more property crimes, then violent)
criminal profiles
different systemic separations of age, race, and gender in the justice system
race
overrepresentation of certain minority groups
gender
differences between men and women being in court. Men are 3x more likely to get arrested
white collar/business
all individuals, including middle class who use the market place for their criminal activity (tax evasion, credit card fraud)
violent crime
killing or violently harming a person
street crime
(robbery, burglary) involves crime from lower status backgrounds
social control
everyone would engage in deviance and crime if they could get away with it
gender differences
men are 3x more likely to be arrested and make up 1/3rd of the court cases, (start later, end later)
labelling theory
actions + responses from others. Judgements that we’re constantly and mutually created
strain theory
Merton:
1. acceptance (x2) = conformity
2. Acceptance + reject = innovation
3. reject + accept = ritualism
4. reject (x2) = retreatism
5. new goals + new means = rebellion
sanctions
deviant acts that go unnoticed or trivial
negative sanctions
Action: indicating disapproval
formal punishment
punishment through judicial system
legalization / decriminalization goal
pose less harm to society than existing laws and too boost economy
decriminalization and legalization consist of…
- less harmful to society than existing laws
- puts criminals out of business
- shrinks size of prison population
- creates legit business’/employment opp.
- boost economy
informal punishment
mild sanctions imposed during face-to-face interaction
Medicalization
proliferation of mental disorders and diagnoses
example of medicalization
- idiocy/insanity (mid 19th century) present 294 listed in DSM-5
- ADHD/ADD and PTSD
deviance according to DSM-5
- homosexuality (1973)
- Hysteria (1980)
Incarceration
deny prisoners their freedom
1. more humane then torture
goals of incarceration
- rehabilitation
- deterrence
- incapacitation
- revenge (??)
deterrence
less want to commit crimes
Incapacitation
keep criminals out of society
what happens when rehabilitated?
become productive members once released
rehabilitation consists of…
- education
- individual and group therapy
- substance abuse counselling
- behaviour modification
capital punishment
extreme uses of punishment (death penalty) and have an “eye-for-an-eye” mentality
alternatives to punishment
- Rehabilitations
- Legalization/
decriminalization - Diversion
rehabilitation goal
treat prisoners with dignity and undo bad behaviour through job training, therapy, counselling, and behaviour modification
diversion
form of restorative justice. Holds perpetrators accountable and victims get closer
Diverting
incarcerated individuals from court and prison systems
diverting is a…
form of restorative justice
forms of restorative justice
- holds offender accountable
- addresses harm caused by crime
- all parties can articulate their needs
cons and pros of incarceration
P: introduced to incapacitate punish, deter and reform offenders
C: Fails to rehabilitate
C: Emphasizes suppression
Indigenous Overrepresentation
- poverty
- age
- street vs white collar
- discrimination
- colonialism
Hush money
use money to manipulate sentences and criminal charges
affects of hush money
- tend to view victims as less creditable/manipulative
/greedy if they chose to pursue civil trial
