Week 3: Deviance, Stratification, & Ethnic Inequality

6/21/2012

In the introduction of their book The Many Colors of Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America, Peterson, Krivo, and Hagan (2006) state:

"Race and ethnicity are infrequently given serious consideration as structural influences creating criminogenic [Producing or tending to produce crime or criminality. According to NYU law professor James B. Jacobs, for example, "Alcohol is the most criminogenic substance in America."] conditions; the responses of actors, groups, and institutions; and the consequences that flow from these . . . these dimensions of stratification condition the very laws that make certain behaviors criminal, the perception of crime and those who are criminalized, the distribution of criminogenic conditions and processes, the determination of who becomes a victim of crime under which circumstances, the responses to laws and crime that make some more likely to be defined as criminal [i.e., labeling theory], and the way individuals and communities are positioned and empowered to respond to crime" (p. 1).

Do you agree with Peterson et al. (2006) that ethnicity and race are often overlooked with regard to the various above-mentioned factors related to crime and victimization? If so, how so? If not, why not? What if stratification dimensions of age and gender were also taken into consideration? How are such dimensions of stratification (race/ethnicity, gender, age) understood in relation to crime and deviance? Please explain and support your responses.

Your response should be posted below via the "Add Comment" link below. Please also make sure to include your name and email address as prompted (Note: your email address will not be published online). Each student is expected to "reply" to at least two comments posted by his/her peers by the following Sunday (July 1, 2012).

This blog assignment is due: Monday, June 25, 2012, 5:30 p.m., EST

47 Comments

erik riley

6/21/2012 02:06:01 pm

I don't believe race and ethnicity are taken into consideration when it comes to someone commiting crime or deviant act. So much of the time when you hear about a public figure who has more money than those less fortunate you hear about them getting acquitted of charges or having a ridiculously easy sentence sent down and its quite frankly shameful. They get the best lawyers and literally "get way with murder" sometimes. Whereas minoritys who cant afford a decent lawyer get the maximum punishment for whatever crime they commit whether it be a victimless crime or not, its just sad. I do believe though that if you commit a crime regardless of your background that you should do the time, but i believe the time should be the same for everyone, a lawyer shouldn't be able to have a murderer get put on house arrest while another murderer gets the death penalty.

celine weladji

6/24/2012 04:12:03 am

is truth some one most pay for the crime that he/she has committed, but do not forget that lawyers are just doing their job for money and for good reputation; they are not working on putting all the criminals to jail.

Keeley Mahoney

7/1/2012 10:30:36 am

You make a good point: lawyers are just doing their job. Even if they think their client is guilty if they are defending them and trying to prove their innocence then that's what they do.

Money is definitely a huge factor when it comes to being tried. If you can afford a good lawyer then you will probably get a lesser sentence. It's like the character Billy Flynn says in the movie Chicago: "I didn't ask you if she was innocent. I didn't ask you if she was guilty. I only asked you if you had five thousand dollars!"

tmerella

6/24/2012 10:22:34 am

I do agree that a person's status does play a major role in what type of punishment a person receives, if any at all. It does seem as though some people are above the law because they have the money to buy their way out of it. An example of this are people involved in white collar crimes, which usually are crimes that involve embezzlement, etc are not portrayed as negatively as someone on the streets( in a poor neighborhood) robbing people.

feleisheia

6/24/2012 11:46:02 pm

I agree with your statement how the wealthy can commit crimes but recieve as little punishment whereas someone from a poor background receives more maximum punishment.

Mariama Sandy

6/21/2012 08:51:53 pm

I agree to an extent but not 100% because it depends on the crime because it might be overlooked a little but i do think that the justice system could be unfair sometimes because they do not give two people of different race the same crime punishment. For some reason it seems to me that race has and will always be a factor depending on what state you find yourself or the judge that sentence you. So it all falls back on how do they come up with the punishment and is the "crime" really that serious. And even though crime is being frowned on in society, in rare occasions the law system should do a thorough investigation before punishing the offenders. I notice that rich people do not do as much time as poor or lower class people and it baffles me all the time because to me that's hyprocrisy on "the laws" side. In conclusion, we can never really have an extreme answer because we are just outsiders looking in.

erik

6/23/2012 01:26:51 am

I didn't even take into consideration the fact that the state you're in makes a difference. I to believe that crimes that are not that serious should not end up dishing out jail time.

dagim

6/23/2012 10:54:13 am

i also share your idea mariama because two people fro different background may not be treated equally on certain crimes that is law inforcers or interpreters problem on minority group.

Benard Azifack

6/23/2012 02:21:15 pm

I think we are in the same view Mariama. Nothing can be 100% not even justice. And believe me or not those same people you call rich will most of the time do way with crimes except otherwise while the popular side serve their term.

celine weladji

6/22/2012 02:15:27 am

I believe that the system even though talks about equality, still a lot of injustice is make on people in the minority group. in some point we ask our self if the law is made only for certain group of people because of their race, their ethnicity and some other people can get away from the law without problem. i remember a story that shock me few years ago. two students coming from different country was caught in the possession with illegal drug. one of them was a son of a powerful man in his country another one was just lucky to come to the U.S. the son of the powerful man was send back free to his country while the lucky one went to jail here in the U.S. because he did not have nobody to fifth for him. where is the equally? why some people have to decide unjustly for other?

Chim

6/23/2012 08:12:43 am

i agree with what you said. yes justice is not equal. some people get away with the crime they commited based on their race or money. but in some cases, it depends with the level of crime someone commited. for instance, one shoot someone while someone rob someones's house. they both commit a crime but its the degree of crime that will free one.

oumou

6/24/2012 05:58:20 am

i already heard about a similar story. Life is somtimes unfair for the minority group

Joseph

6/22/2012 02:26:47 am

Do you agree that ethnicity and race are often overlooked with regard to the various above-mentioned factors related to crime and victimization? Well first off, the term "victimless" is controversial. as laws are created with the intent to protect some people or some type of thing. A criminal act is usually claimed by some one or to cause a group or individual an adverse effect. Having stated that, I would say that Race and ethnicity are overlooked as far as the participant of the crime is concerned, I really don't think there's a biast as anyone can be affected by intangibles. Albeit statistics may show that one particular social group may be more suseptable to these abstract effects versus others. What if stratification dimensions of age and gender were also taken into consideration? How are such dimensions of stratification (race/ethnicity, gender, age) understood in relation to crime and deviance? I would tend to think something along the lines of Sociological imagination and maybe assimilation would be the factors that would promote stratification. Age would suggest that through intimidation, or a sociatal belief of presedence or state that one who is of a certain age may be inherintly entittled to make discissions good or bad, left with authoritive privaliges as society gives them enatley. Gender is quite the same as a dominate gender in a society may hold the power over the weaker one and because of sociological imagination, it is accepted. Hence there is a doorway for Victimless crimes to occur.

Joseph

6/22/2012 02:31:58 am

Oh yeah and through Assimilation possibly caused by a total cut off of previous cultral lifestyle ei moving to a new country alone. One might be more suseptable to victimless crimes as they try to survive and do what is in thier ability concerning a new state of enviroment to do.

Benard Azifack

6/23/2012 12:55:08 am

To me I think when it comes to this issue of ethnicity, race versus crime, it all depense on the situation at hand.To some extend i would say ethnicity and race are often overlooked while some time too they are not overlooked. Reason why i say so is because some times when people of certain races and ethnicity are involed in a crime no matter how small the crime may be ( thou no crime is small), it creates more tension in the society than when the revers is true. And some times people would say it really don't make a difference because the laws are there and the laws know no boundries but then some times too those laws know their boundrie. Reasons why you see some very rich people of certain race and ethnicity do away with certain crimes while the less fortunate ones perish in jail. And for gender in relation to crime and daviance, i think the gender gap in crime and deviance is universal for male to female. Women are always and everywhere less likely than men to committ criminal act.

erik

6/23/2012 07:53:27 am

I agree with you on the fact that women are less likely to commit a criminal act than men but one thing I'm wondering is if women get the same amount of time in prison as men do for certain crimes. For instance, say a male teacher sleeps with an underage female student, he going to jail for a long period of time. If the roles were reversed though and it was a female teacher and an underage male student I don't think the female teacher would get nearly the same amount of time in prison. I could be wrong on this?

Chim

6/23/2012 08:27:29 am

yes no crime is small, and men are likely to commit crime than women. but some wemen can go beyond the limit and commit a crime that can never get away with it. for example a wife kill her husband because he was abusing her. that is something a woman can barery get away with it.

feleisheia

6/24/2012 11:50:00 pm

I agree with you on this because this is basically what I said in regards to tennagers raping the other sex how one would be more overlooked thatn the other because of gender

dagim

6/23/2012 10:40:26 am

it is true that some times it may not be overlooked why because it depends on the awerness level of that society to that issue.

Thomas

6/24/2012 03:51:06 am

It does seem like when women do commit crimes, especially as of recent, they commit terrible, personal crimes due to postpartum depression. Women may not do the common robbery or 'street' murder, but due to this rise is postpartum depression, women commit hanus crimes like drowing thier own children. $#!t cray!

Irene Washington

6/23/2012 09:09:51 am

No, I do not agree that race is overlooked when it comes to the above mentioned factors. I believe that it's greatly taken into consideration when it comes down to who is classified as a criminal and/or victim. For example, George Zimmerman was not arrested immediately after shooting and killing Trayvon Martin, though he should have been. It took several weeks of out cries and protesting from his parents to even get the media's full attention. Only after intense media coverage, millions of people rallying, and Trayvon's parents advocating several times at the Nation's Capital to have a proper investigation conducted, was Zimmerman finally charged and arrested. To me, the "labeling theory" was instantly applied to this case which is what led to this promising young boy's untimely death.

As for age and gender, I think it plays a bigger role. I believe if a twenty-one year old female commits the same exact crime as a thirty-five year old male, the charges and penalties would be different. The younger female would more likely receive a lighter sentence, if any at all.

Benard Azifack

6/23/2012 02:32:11 pm

Irene happy you did mention this point I though of it too when I first saw race and ethnicity. Had it been what happen was the reverse then action would have been effected. On the part of age and gender I strongly agree that they play a part and charges may varry according to age and gender.

dagim

6/23/2012 10:32:02 am

I do agree the issue of ethnicity,race,and crime were overlooked because the study shows race and ethnicity were given special attention.but it depends on the level of crime and who commit crime.also social status should be considered on the gender issue male and famel are equal in receiving penalty but age factor

Keeley Mahoney

7/1/2012 10:36:51 am

Yes, social status should definitely be taken into consideration. Look at Nixon, look at Clinton, look at celebrities. Famous people often get light sentences or no sentences at all just because of their influence and social status. Even if they do get jail time they are sent to special prisons and get a room to themselves and usually don't spend much time there.

dagim

6/23/2012 11:21:40 am

ethnicity and race were overlooked but disparity in their penalty treatment of the crime committed by particular group is not equal.the practice of racial profiling in which people are identified as criminal suspects is on basis of race.

Yodit

6/23/2012 12:50:32 pm

I don’t agree with Peterson’s idea because ethnicity and race are reflected in many events e associated to crime. Although government always publicizes there should be justice in the country, but there is often happens unfair judgment. Crime is a challenge to the government; however, people who are responsible to control crime are biased by ethnicity and race in the social realities crime and justice. When we come to gender and age related to crime, it depends to the situation and the community where the person raised. Regarding gender male is close to be violent, because female in general categorized as violated.

oumou

6/24/2012 06:07:16 am

i do agree with you because i remembered a crime committed in New York city few years ago by some police officer.I was in Africa and everyone was outraged how something like this can happen in the USA and at that time i couldnt imagine myself here or even thing someone can be killed just because of the labeling theory.The officers saw this guy like a suspect because he was black and was living in the black neighborhood so he was suspected because of the stratification of race

Chim

6/23/2012 05:05:30 pm

Race and ethnicity does not play a role when it comes to crime. It depends what kind of crime one has committed. i think justice is served equally no matter how rich or poor one can be. there is a number of example that describes how justice is serves when it comes to crime. one can get a $100,000 bail but if evidence is there, you are likely to go to jail. One example is about Jerry Sandusky, He try to get away from all the 43 crimes he committed but justice was served on him and looking at his charges....!! Yes, that is what we call equal justice.

When it comes to gender, the chances of female committing crimes like that are very slim. But if their is a female who can do that, i believe the justice will be their just as equal as a man. The woman's sentence will look light, but because women are weak and are likely not to come out of prison.

Irene Washington

6/28/2012 12:34:14 am

First, I would like to say that your last comment is VERY degrading to women. In NO shape, form, or fashion is a woman weak! Remember, women are pregnant for 9 months and give birth to 6-10 pound humans daily, amongst of a whole lot of other things. What a man can do BEST BELIEVE a woman can do too!!

As well, I think the media and the response from America played a big role in Sandusky's guilty verdict. Though I believe it was a correct verdict, there may have been a different outcome if those two factors weren't included.

Thomas Smith

6/24/2012 03:43:14 am

Race and ethinicity I feel will be forever looked at in a criminal case or investigation. Even if the authorites are completely unbias on these types of characterisitics (race and ethinicity) during an investigation it does not matter, because the media will focus on the criminals race and ethnicity. the media will normally try to sway the audience to believe that such injustices are taking place or that crime itself happened due to race. It is inaccurate to think this way, but with the past history of the judicial system being so un fair it will be hard to break the trend of the mindset that race and ethinicty are everything to do with a crime. When it comes to age and gender stratification, there are some social double standards. For example, the man who calls the police because his wife is physically abusive to him. The police would respond to the call in a completely different manner than if it were the woman who was being abused by the husband. Also, older people tend to play on their age to excuse why they have committed crimes and society tends to be more lenient towards this age group. For example, the old man who wanders into the ladies restroom on purpose but will blame it on senility or something of that sort.

celine weladji

6/24/2012 04:21:59 am

It is a very good point that you raise about the gender and the age because women today are not that innocent you will not believe what we woman can do and play the victim later.

Yodit

6/26/2012 03:31:49 am

Nowadays, everything is changed like a weather. Today's women are completly different from earlier women. I believed that women do not make crime as men, but now, I often see on TV when women make crime . I think women who use drugs or who are with mental problem like depression did illegal activities.

oumou

6/24/2012 06:18:03 am

i do believe race and ehtnicity are taken into consideration.It depends of which crimes. For example, recently the Pen State sex abuse trial has not taking in consideration of race because jerry sandusky was found guilty and he will spend the rest of his life in prison.I can say he was a powerful man but sometimes all crimes cannot stay unpunished.At some point doesnt matter who you are or your race,ethnicity stratification.

tmerella

6/24/2012 10:15:03 am

In that case I agree that race/ethnicity had nothing to do with it, but age played a major factor. Because there was sexual abuse against young (innocent) boys.

tmerella

6/24/2012 10:09:18 am

I do believe that Race/Ethnicity are sometimes overlooked in relation to crime and victimization. In the Trayvon Martin case race was overlooked initially, and I don’t even really want to use the word overlooked, but I believe Zimmerman was shown favor because of his race/status( being part of neighborhood watch), and was not arrested right away. And Trayvon was overlooked because he was a young black male which in their eyes probably was doing something wrong. Once the story really hit the media, and people started protesting, race was definitely not overlooked but a major component in the case. The news choose to use age and race to portray the story in a certain light, with outdated pictures of both Trayvon and Zimmerman, and portraying Zimmerman as a white male. If this case had nothing to do with Zimmerman, and it had to do with a black teen that shot Trayvon (black on black crime), I believe that the case would have then been greatly overlooked, and seen as less important. Black on black crime is something that happens all of the time, and because it happens so often I think it is starting to be seen as just the way it is in certain communities, and therefore overlooked. As far as age and gender I believe that it depends on what type of crime it is. In the Chris Brown/Rihanna case where Chris Brown beat up Rihanna, gender was not overlooked because this was considered domestic violence, and it is usually assumed that the man beat up the woman and not the other way around. Had it been the other way around where Rihanna beat up Chris Brown( without using a weapon), this story might not have never made it to the news, or if it did it wouldn’t have been in the news nearly as long, and Rihanna wouldn’t be labeled as a man beater. Because of her gender it would have probably been overlooked and people would probably assume that Chris Brown did something to deserve the beating.

nathalie rivera

6/25/2012 06:05:23 am

Why is it that the concept of a woman over powering a man is so foreign to society and if she does over power him she is given manly qualities. In the film " Enough" the main character suffers at the hand of an abusive husband till she confronts him but in the end of this film she is given a very masculine appearance to face him. Although I applause how the film celebrates a woman defending herself and her child I dislike how they give her few options and very much so defeminized her. It only reminds me of a show called The Honeymooners a 1950s sitcom famous for the quote " pow right in the kisser " and how social media portrays domestic violence and a woman's role in it.

Chihiro Minning

6/24/2012 10:59:07 am

I would say that race and ethnicity are definitely not overlooked especially when widely-publicized news like Rodney King and Trayvon Martin happen. Those things make us think about how race and ethnicity influence our perceptions of who is criminal, who is a victim, and so on. But, it might be true that when we think about our legal and justice system, their are subtle influences of race and ethnicity that we overlook.
I think we tend to overlook gender and age.

Keeley Mahoney

6/24/2012 01:59:03 pm

I think that they are sometimes overlooked but forcibly so. I feel like it can strongly be considered a faux pas or at least taboo to take race and ethnicity into a heavy account when considering a crime that has been committed. Society very much doesn't want to be considered racist anymore so some people take great care in making sure people are not persecuted based largely on race. In order to avoid any accusations of racism I feel that police and such try not to focus on ethnicity and race when dealing with crimes aside from descriptions from witnesses on what the perpetrator looked like.

I'm not sure about stratifications of gender and age. I mean, I remember studying in psychology that certain crimes have a higher rate of one sex committing them than another (like with rape there tends to be more males who are the rapers as opposed to females who are the rapers), but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with stratification of race/ethnicity. I do think that age and gender are taken into account with crimes more openly than race/ethnicity though.

Yana

6/24/2012 11:36:29 pm

This reminds me a lot of the "social constructionist perspective" for examining deviance: it's not someone's behavior that is deviant, it's that society labels it as such. And, of course, it's the dominant group that determines what deviant means.

The same seems true for what is criminal. It's the group on top that decides what a crime is and how much time a crime "deserves." So, naturally, we are made to believe that white collar crimes (stealing lots of money from lots of people) are somehow not as bad as robbing a convenience store at gunpoint (stealing less money from fewer people).

feleisheia

6/24/2012 11:43:11 pm

I do believe race and ethnitcity is overlooked when commiting a crime because I believe if two people of a different race was to commit a crime of smoking marijuana one white and black and the causian guy came from a wealthy family and was doing it for attention I feel as though he would get less time because of where he came from and the family he has whereas the black male wouldnt because he had dreads tattos etc. and was always in and out of trouble. Wheras one race would get more attention that the other and that is not fair a crime is a crime and should be acknowledged equaully. And if stratification of age and gender were taken into consideration I believe it would be overlooked too because for instance if a girl was to rape a guy it would be overlooked because in society its look at its cool if a girl takes sexually advantage of a guy if there the same age and if they were teenagers she probably is misunderstood they would think. However if it was the other way around the guy teenager would probably be sentenced to juvenile and more.

Nestor Ruano

6/25/2012 05:15:55 am

I agree to a certain extent that ethnicity and race are overlooked in regard to the various above-mentioned factors related to crime and victimization because I feel like assumptions based on race and gender is inevitable for SOME out there. To this day, media still in a subtle way portrays the entire "hate crimes" bit and SOME people still buy into it regardless of the generalization the authorities may have used.

nathalie rivera

6/25/2012 05:45:37 am

Personally I feel that race and ethnicity are taken into account in some crimes even if there are other factors involved. Substances although many claim influence the offender into committing a crime is not what will cause the offender to be trailed guilty. Shafer describes this as differential justice in chapter 7 of the book. This suggests some groups are put at a disadvantage then others This can also be said for gender and how it effects the outcome in law. Even some domestic violence crimes are dismissed because the very idea that a woman could physically abuse her husband isn’t something that is socially accepted simply because a man is supposed to be stronger than a woman. It can even be said that based on the income of a defendant whether or not they be trialed as guilty or not. Ultimately I do not agree with the statement taken from Peterson. I believe the social conditions of the offender and the defendant will influence the outcome of the court case although the concept is negativity looked upon it still occurs.

Kebah

6/25/2012 06:19:35 am

Wether or not ethnicity and race is overlooked or magnified depend on where you are. In an area like montgomery county you feel almost a sense of pressure to not look at ethnicity and race. Because it's such a diverse society you are socialized to "not be bias" toward someone because of the ethnicity or race. Whereas in area's of the South and midwest I'm sure race and ethnicity is magnified in criminogenic conditions. Like ethnicity and race, age and gender have stigmas and norms associated with them, so the same would apply. Depending on what a norm is in a particular society and if its broken, an act can early be label deviant. Some culture elders and woman are held at high esteem and vise versa.

Irene Washington

6/28/2012 01:22:23 am

I understand and agree with your point of view. Though I think race and ethnicity plays a role in every state's criminal system, the depths of it is heavily dependent on the area where the crime takes place. Furthermore, in majority of all crimes where a child or an elder is a victim, I think that gender and age of the assailant is overlooked. In a nutshell, I would have to sum it up with saying it also heavily depends on who the victim is.

Rich D.

6/25/2012 06:20:28 am

Depending on the local culture I would disagree with Peterson. In some states/localities, I think that the lawmakers /will/ use Race/ethnicity as structural factors when deciding how to write laws. The meaning here being that I think that some laws are written to be slanted to criminalize/victimize some people over others. I dont think that this is right, and I dont think that this happens everywhere. I feel the same about the Age/Gender aspects. The principal that using the ascribed statuses of a person (Race/Ethnicity/Age/Gender) as a method for determining an individuals likeliness to become criminally deviant, is seemingly absurd. As stated above, I do think that it happens, depending on the locality. It was certainly more obvious previously, though would be more inferred now.

David Perez

6/25/2012 07:14:53 am

Race and ethnicity are indeed huge factors that create criminogenic conditions. Discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes have long played a role in society to help us point fingers towards one another. For example, an Arab male with a backpack in the subway could be considered a bomb threat, whereas a black male with the same backpack could easily be selling bootleg CDs. Stereotypes within crimes also exist, associating a black male more to an armed robbery versus a white male to embezzlement or other white collar crime. Why can't it be the other way around? Racial profiling from law enforcement also influences these conditions by assuming that a Hispanic or African American male driving slow at night probably has bad intentions however an Asian male performing the same action is most likely just lost or needs directions.

Age and gender also play a big part. Kids and young adults are more reckless and delinquent and likely to commit acts of crime. Men are more aggressive than females and are likely to be the one responsible for the domestic abuse. These are all ideas that have been created simply by the stratification and beliefs of society instead of truth and facts.

Yodit

6/26/2012 04:01:38 am

You are right, I don't know when this generalization can stops. It is not only here, these steriotyps exists allover the world. But how can we change this thought. I feel, if this generation can't stops,the future generation should work on it.

Week 3: Deviance, Stratification, & Ethnic Inequality

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