Deviance_and_Society

Name: Daisy Aceves Fall 2010 Course Time: 8:30am Assignment DUE: Nov 3rd, 2010 Essay #2: Deviance and Society 1. How does our society define deviant acts (use text to help you)' Can you give examples of 2 deviant acts' Explain if the deviant acts you give as examples have always been deviant or if they are recently considered deviant acts' Our society defines deviant acts as the violation of social norms, breaking the law. Two examples of deviant acts are smoking marijuana and stealing anything. Smoking marijuana has not always been deviant and if passed in the election it will not longer be deviant whereas stealing had always been deviant. 2. The text refutes four misconceptions about deviance. Name two of the common misconceptions, and explain why those assumptions are incorrect. Two of the common misconceptions about deviance are: 1) Those who deviate are socially recognized, this assumption is incorrect because many crimes go unnoticed for example small crimes like stealing or stealing towels from hotel rooms. 2) Deviants break the law purposefully; this assumption is incorrect because deviance is often performed under emotion, disagreement or situational condition. 3. What are the functions of prisons according to our text' Pick two functions and explain if they are functioning. The functions of prisons according to the text are the desire for revenge and retribution, removing dangerous people from society, deterring would be deviants, and rehabilitation. Removing dangerous people from society is working because it puts them in jail and they cannot commit crimes in society from jail. Deterring would be deviants is not working because even if they are put in jail they can still do deviant acts in jail, they are exposed to more deviant behavior in jail. 4. Recall, the Frontline Video “When Kids Get Life.” What do these boys’ stories (and the stories of those like them) tell us about how well the juvenile justice system is serving the four functions of prisons' You can find the video to refresh your memory at (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/whenkidsgetlife/view/). These boys’ stories tell us that the juvenile justice system is not serving the four functions of prison well. The boys’ are serving life for crimes that they clearly regret and some of them didn’t even commit the crimes and although a law passed that gave juveniles better treatments and rights it doesn’t affect those who were committed before the law passed. 5. Do you believe the current criminal justice system is effective' What evidence do you have to support your conclusion' If you were asked to reform the current system, how would you reform it and why would you choose that means of reform' I do not believe the current criminal justice system is effective for certain crimes. I believe it fails in the releasing of people who have been committed for sexual assault. Evidence to this is the recent crime that occurred when a man committed for sexual assault was released from jail and later on went on and sexually assaulted and murdered a young woman. It is obvious that the punishment did not work because he went out and did the same thing. If I were to reform the current system I would have mental evaluations for all who committed sexual assaults along with murders, have them paroled more scrutinized, and for those states remove the death penalty and have them serve life in jail instead.