Sociology 104 18 November 2013 Crack Panic Epidemic Notes expansion phase plateau phase cocaine was created in 1960 150000 pounds by 1986 Coca Cola made with cocaine Freud played a role in studies on cocaine self medication was the norm in the 60 s cocaine was marketed as a general tonic for fever sinus problems first snortable cocaine catarrh powder Oregon was the first to restrict the use of cocaine for non medical use pure food and drug act have to disclose the contents of the drug on the bottle somewhere when sold in the store 1903 Coca Cola took cocaine out of their product coca leaves amphetamines became the substitute for coca leaves Cocaine during the 1970 s primarily used among the upper classes because its expensive but as the decade progresses the demand begins to grow smuggled cocaine to the US 1974 cartel moved 20 30 kilos per week by early 80 s they were moving hundreds of kilos of cocaine because they smuggled so much of it the price of cocaine drops and becomes more of a middle class drug few people still smoked cocaine in 1981 free based it removed base of cocaine involves chemicals flammable took place at parties after hour clubs start to see early signs of the crack epidemic taking place free basing crack free basing using baking soda to create a paste that is dry and then smokable occurred in the Bahamas because there was a lot of cocaine knowledge about how to make crack cocaine begins to spread in the early 1980 s 1981 the publication of The Natural Process Base ic Instructions and the Baking Recipe sold next to pipes in stores freeway Rick Ross was apparently the first mass distributor of cocaine Hip hop artist Rick Ross named himself after Freeway Rick Ross incubation phase freebasing knowledge of how to make cocaine still inexpensive middle class drug expansion phase crack becomes the drug that addicts are using cocaine had a devastating effect on the areas it hit 1986 high point of crack cocaine in the US heart seizes when a hard hitting amphetamine is ingested Led Bias death was used as an example of how cocaine is bad 1986 house of representatives passed the Anti Drug Abuse Act instituted federal work place urine testing new funds for police to crack down on drug use funding going to treatment centers for drug abuse emphasis was clearly on punishment for drug abuse called for longer sentences increased fines elimination of probation crack babies weighed very little on incubators prenatal alcohol exposure has the same harms as cocaine and crack smoking during pregnancy mandatory minimums take away the power of the judge problem led to huge increase of incarceration rate in the US possession of 5 grams of cocaine brings a mandatory 5 year prison sentence latinos were much more likely to be caught smoking the drug than americans 20 November 2013 RCT Differential Association Notes RCT Rational Choice Theory people weigh costs and benefits and act we have Bounded Rationality we make shortcuts based on imperfect information recognizes that we don t have full information to weigh costs and benefits ex can see security guards but cant see security cameras rationality bounded by drunkness lack of seeing camera make cost benefit analysis Choice Structuring Properties things about criminal activity that make them more or less attractive ex cost benefit ex car thief deciding whether or not to take a few extra minutes to steal a car with the club on the wheel vs the car with no club on wheel availability of certain weaponry rational doesn t necessarily imply good ex Adam Lanza Newtown gunman had access to gun safe soft targets vs hard targets boston massacre essentially a soft target so many people cant survey the entire course of the race waited until there was a mass of people in order to inflict as much damage as possible involves some sense of rationality picked a place where there weren t a lot of police used careful planning with pressure cooker as bomb in backpack RCT can explain big and small crimes and can point to crime control policies differential association theory Edwin Sutherland 1883 1950 wrote about a new approach to understanding crime 1 Criminal behavior is learned 2 Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication 3 The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups 4 When criminal behavior is learned the learning includes a techniques of committing the crime which are sometimes very complicated and sometimes very simple b the specific direction of motives drives rationalizations and attitudes 5 The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of legal 6 A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to codes as favorable and unfavorable violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law 8 The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anticriminal patterns incorporates all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning inhalation learning with marijuana different from smoking a cigarette how long do you hold the smoke in learn to enjoy the experience unless you learn to enjoy the experience you wont continue to smoke marijuana 11 25 2013 Objectivist Rational choice Theory Differential Association D L Rosenhan being sane in insane places pretends to be insane in order to avoid prison time by going to a mental hospital insanity label is just as strong as the bars in jail once you re assigned a label others view you through that lens took pseudo patients and had them pretend they had a mental illness told nurses they heard voices etc they had to show their sanity and prove that they were sane in order to get released from the mental hospital all these patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia and stayed in the mental hospital for an average of 19 days represents a false positive a result that is a false result labels are sticky context dependent judge people based on where you find them labels come before the action Howard Becker Outsiders labels are powerful and deviance comes from the eye of the labeler ask why people view this behavior as criminal and why instead of asking why they have that behavior no deviant act no labeling conformists abide by the rules not deviant but get labeled that way anyway the falsely accused in wrong place at the wrong time deviant break the rules but are never caught secret labels true deviance break the rules caught and