Category: Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Immigration and the Limits of the Criminal Justice System

Candidate Barack Obama promised to enact immigration reform in his first term.  That promise is almost certain to go unfulfilled.  The result of years of heated debate has been deadlock between two seemingly irreconcilable positions.  On one hand, many in congress support a “path to citizenship” for undocumented workers and increased legal immigration.  On the other, a substantial number argue for greater border enforcement, mass deportation, and decreased immigration.  While the status quo has virtually no vocal support, systems create...

Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Video Abstract

First Video Abstract Available! – “Isn’t Every Crime a Hate Crime?: The Case for Hate Crime Laws”

Isn’t Every Crime a Hate Crime?: The Case for Hate Crime Laws Randy Blazak VIDEO ABSTRACT: ARTICLE ABSTRACT: The process to create hate crime laws in the United States has wrestled with the core issues of freedom of speech and greater harm. This article looks at the evolution of bias crime laws, culminating with President Obama’s signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. The constitutionality of the laws is ‘discussed and suggestions...

Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Sexting and the Criminalization of Teen Desire

The New York Times recently ran an expose on teen “sexting” as a part of a slew of recent articles on the topic. Unfortunately, this article failed to take into account the fact that teens, especially girls, have sexual desire. A couple of quotes from the article: “Having a naked picture of your significant other on your cellphone is an advertisement that you’re sexually active to a degree that gives you status,” said Rick Peters, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Problem Solving Courts

In mid February 2011 The Guardian newspaper published an edited version of David Faulkner’s contribution to the United Kingdom’s Centre for Crime and Justice Studies’ report “Lessons for the Coalition” which was written in response to the first report of the National Preventative Mechanism – a new body set up under the optional protocol to the UN convention against torture. The National Preventative Mechanism’s report highlighted problem areas in the UK’s approach to mental health, resources, vulnerable groups such as...

Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Lara Logan, agenda-setting, and the politics of sexual assault coverage in mainstream media

After CBS released a statement (15 February) that their chief foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, had been, “surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers,” news of the unfortunate event (which occurred on 11  February, the day Mubarak stepped down) instantly spread to various mainstream news media outlets, including BBC News (“CBS’s Lara Logan attacked by Egyptian mob in Cairo”) to The Huffington Post...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

The Push and Pull of Multiculturalism in Western States

Saturday, February 5th, British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at a security conference in Munich. In light of the growing evidence that the United Kingdom has become a “safe haven” for Islamic militants, Mr. Cameron’s remarks strongly criticized Britain’s multicultural approach to the nation’s immigrants. The policy, initiated in the 1960s, recognizes the right of all people in Britain to live by their own traditional values. Many argue that this strategy is responsible for the fractured sense of British identity and lack...

Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Professor gives away course…for free

Nathan Palmer, creator and author of SociologySource.com, has recently launched the Soc101 Class Pack, an entire set of introductory sociology course material including syllabus, PowerPoint presentations, class activities, and assignments in an easily customizable, freely downloadable file. Why would anyone give away something like this for free? What does he hope his site accomplishes? And where did he get all these great ideas for the classroom?  I had Nathan sit down for an interview to get some answers. “I believe...

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Identifying "play" as normalizing practice: Connecting LEGO's Prison Transport Vehicle to the prison-industrial complex

By Rachael Liberman In a recent critique posted on The Huffington Post (18 January), Bestselling Author and Speaker Rebecca Walker (note that this “title” introduction comes from The Huffington Post and fails to include her work as a prolific feminist) poses the following question, which also serves as the title of her article; “Does This Lego Toy Send the Wrong Message to Children?” Stemming from her concern over the possible normalization of the prison-industrial complex,” Walker points out that one...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Science & Technology / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

New issue of Sociology Compass out now! (Vol 4, Issue 12)

Sociology Compass © Blackwell Publishing Ltd Volume 4, Issue 12 Page 999 – 1078 The latest issue of Sociology Compass is available on Wiley Online Library Crime & Deviance Parole Revocation in the Era of Mass Incarceration (pages 999–1010) Jeffrey Lin Article first published online: 1 DEC 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00335.x Gender Men and Erotic Oases (pages 1011–1019) Richard Tewksbury Article first published online: 1 DEC 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00343.x Science & Medicine Fat Studies: Mapping the Field (pages 1020–1034)...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Seeking Refuge: the battle for stability and support in times of economic hardship

A recent Seattle Times report shed light on the growing, but often invisible, problems faced by the United States’ refugee population. Approximately 80,000 refugees will resettle in the U.S. this year, hailing from war-torn countries such as Somalia, Myanmar (Burma), Iraq, and Bhutan. These individuals leave desperate situations- some living in camps in borderlands for ten years- with the hope of making a new life. However, refugees are warned before they decide to depart their native region that the U.S....

Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Social Media: Have We Built a Society without Closets?

Today, we are all familiar with with what it means to be closeted. In fact, coming out has become among our most widely recognized cultural narratives. No doubt, large swaths of the American landscape still present environments hostile to sexual preferences that deviate from prevailing hetero-patriarchical norms, but progressive circles, and increasingly, society writ large, have embraced the belief that coming out (i.e., rending oneself visible) is the road to empowerment. If this is true, the queer community should be...

Class & Stratification / Feminist Theory / Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Black Feminist Thought: Nearly twenty years on

Current policy that puts black men behind bars keeps black women in confines of their own. According to a recent Economist editorial, “between the ages of 20 and 29, one black man in nine is behind bars. For black women of the same age, the figure is about one in 150.” The author pointed to this statistic to demonstrate the decreasing dating pool for black women who are looking to start a family with black men. As incarceration rates rose...

Class & Stratification / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Social Media: Documentation as Stratification

The new norms of exhibitionism and copious self-documentation have been regular talking points on Sociology Lens over the past year.  Consider Nathan Jurgenson’s posts, our digital culture of narcissism and facebook, youtube, twitter: mass exhibitionism online, as well as my own recent post, The Queer Politics of Chatroulette. It now seems truer than ever for many social media users (particularly, teenagers and young adults) that “If you’re not on MySpace [and/or other social media sites], you don’t exist.” Moreover, the...

Science & Technology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

NHS Heroin: A “Cure” for Crime?

The General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing [RCN], Peter Carter, has called for the prescription of the (currently illegal) drug heroin to be prescribed on the National Health Service [NHS]. Although, not the first to suggest this radical approach to problematic drug (mis)use, his intervention at this particular juncture raises questions. Given the upcoming UK General Election (6 May 2010), as well as the recent controversies surrounding the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs [ACMD], Carter’s comments appear...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Science & Technology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Queer Politics of Chatroulette

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/9669721[/vimeo] Chatroulette has swept the the nation.  I say “swept” because, like many things on the Internet, the novelty and hype surrounding chatroulette is proving ephemeral.  That’s not to say that chatroulette is going away any time soon.  In fact, we should expect Internet culture to continue to produce new opportunities for the random interactions at the heart of the chatroulette experience.  Fellow Sociology Lens commentator Nathan Jurgenson not unfairly described chatroulette as a “downright capricious and aleatory experience.” Perhaps...

Political & Economic Sociology / Science & Technology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Scientific Research or Illegal Operation?

Scientists used genetic analyses to connect meat from sushi restaurants in the United States and South Korea to whales captured under the Japanese whaling program. According to the scientists, the Japanese engaged in illegal trade of endangered species. Although an international moratorium prohibiting commercial whaling was established in 1986, an exception enabled Japan to slaughter hundreds of whales per year for the purposes of “scientific research”. Using the disguise of “scientific research”, the Japanese captured whales that were in danger...