Sociology of Crime

On Monday, we reviewed the theories of crime/delinquency/deviance that learned in other classes.  We briefly discussed some of the other possible causes of crime.  The ideas discussed in class were

-in some communities, what is defined as criminal may actually be normal behavior (such as the underground economy you read about in the Venkatesh piece)

-bordem

-passion

-perhaps we should try to combine explanations

-desperation

I’d like to know what other ideas you have about what causes crime.

First off, here are links I promised.  

-This American Life: Giant Pool of Money – This episode details how the mortgage crisis happened.  I found this episode particularly interesting (and terrifying) because the correspondents effectively argue that the source of the problem was bigger than Wall Street.

http://www.thislife.org/radio_episode.aspx?episode=355

-The Katrina Myth – this short video details the levee system in New Orleans and argues that the disaster that residents of New Orleans experienced was anything but inevitable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln_iq5bc8k

Now that we’ve done some talking in class about the “gray area” of crime, I am curious to know if any of your ideas about what makes an action a crime have changed?  Also, based on our class activity, I would like to know more about why you thought some of the behaviors were mala in se/mala prohibita/no crime at all.  Here are the examples we used:

Drug possession (we limited this option to cocaine and heroin, would your response be different if you were thinking of marijuana or something that is legal like Adderall?)

Vandalism

Drunk driving

Collaborating with the enemy

Sale of alcohol to minors

Spouse abuse

Adult having sex with an under-aged person (consensual or non-consesnual/wide age gap or narrow age gap)

Prostitution

This website will be updated regularly with information on our class.