Crime as a Social Construct No behavior is inherently evil bad malicious sinful immoral CRIMINAL No harm is inherently evil bad malicious sinful immoral CRIMINAL Meanings are constructed by the social audiences Behaviors The selling of cocaine has been socially constructed to be felony criminal behavior by those who have the power to construct that meaning The legality of cigarettes and the illegality of cocaine is a prime example that the behavior or harm associated with an act are NOT used to construct criminal meaning Cigarettes kill more per year than coke yet the sale of cigs is legal Charlie the Biker vs Coker Biker killed a guy in a jail cell with no intentions of harming anyone upon entering the cell The death occurred as a result of an altercation manslaughter Biker serves 10 years in prison Coker designed and sold Pinto fully knowing a certain number of people would die as a result of the location of the engine The cost to fix the engine location would have an estimated cost of 11 per vehicle People died yet no meaning of crime was assigned Rodney King vs Chiricos slap Brutally beaten use of excessive force by police He was stoned and inebriated unarmed on the ground the entire time No meaning of crime was ever assigned Chiricos slaps girl in front of class Will meaning of crime be assigned Possibly because that behavior is just not tolerated in our society The meanings that are constructed are meanings that exist in the abstract Meanings that exist in the concrete application are all the works of social audiences Symbolic Interactionism everything we do as humans is a result of the meaning we give to the world around us we organize our behavior on the basis of meaning Social Audience anyone who can or does who can construct meaning Formal SA exist for the purpose of assigning meaning EX legislature religious text pastors court CONCRETE meaning isn t assigned until there is a series of audiences such as witnesses or victims supporting the legislative s ABSTRACT meaning of crime Informal SA He tells the story of how he always gets caught behind soccer moms who drive slowly as hell down Old Bainbridge Then she slows down at green lights on Tharpe because you never know He follows the lady to the store and she waits until all her groceries have been rung up then she finally takes out a CHECK BOOK He s pissed because not only does she drive slow she hold up the line in the store As an informal SA he gives her the meaning of fucking asshole On the other hand his safe driving wife gives him the meaning of fucking asshole because he is such a horrible driver in her eyes Both are acting as an informal audience A trial is a context of meaning because there are so many different meanings being given by the social audiences present and their responses These meanings have been constructed by their circumstances experiences and interests We all vary in the meanings we attach to behaviors Example The premature termination of a human pregnancy by artificially imposed external means given the title abortion sinful woman s right murder depending on the audience Meanings Normative Evaluative 1 Normative judgment crappy marker implies action explicit expectation of action a Evaluative b Pre Proscriptive crime is normative proscriptive 2 Descriptive meaning without judgment red marker red shirt Syria is in a civil war Implies action given constructed meaning If I hate asparagus and I come over for dinner and you put asparagus on my plate my implicit action as a result of my loathing of asparagus would be to push it off to the side so it doesn t touch the rest of my food MEANING Asparagus is awful IMPLIED ACTION get asparagus away from my food If your roommate has the meaning of self centered creep you will probably stay away from him her 4 You thought Miley s behavior at VMA s was disastrous the implicit action is that you will boo and throw tomatoes or leave Implicit action does not ALWAYS occur but it is likely Normative Pre Proscriptive 1 2 3 5 1 Explicit expectation given constructed meaning 2 At yellow light you HAVE to slow down 3 During drivers exam you are expected to follow law and slow down at yellow light 4 Prescriptive Bar Mitzvah indicates you WILL practice Jewish faith 5 Necessary expected behavior Purpose of Normative meanings 1 Try to ensure that people will act as expected a Magazines make new fashion trends predicting you will go out and buy new clothes b We have green light they have red light they will predictably stop 2 Try to minimize threat a Physical threats to your body b Material threats to what you have c Social threats to what people understand about themselves and their relationships i Mutual respect father son relationship a child coming of age is a threat to parent of same sex within household ii The story of Chiricos father and brother How his brother defied everything his dad stood for and his dad was threatened went after his brother with a hammer on Thanksgiving Day d Symbolic a challenge of values i visible violations to the norm ii Muslims wanted to build a temple and community center about 4 or 5 blocks down the street from ground zero iii African American girl decided to go natural in a family wherein perms were the only acceptable way to wear their hair She stopped getting perms and went home on Thanksgiving with an afro and it violated and rejected the values which they had established for themselves and for their children Criminal law is a normative proscriptive meaning distinguished from other normative proscriptive meanings by SPECIFITY UNIFORMITY and POLITICALITY 1 Specificity 2 Uniformity A To overcome any discrepancy that may leave room for an appeal A Meaning applies to everyone however doesn t actually work that way 220 crimes 100 Known to Police 25 Arrests 5 Convictions less than 2 5 3 Politicality State Speaks A Crime is articulated by and for the state and the sanction is imposed in the state s name B State organized legit power with the authority to coerce compliance within a territorial unit C State presses charges against criminal for stealing laptop because grand larceny is a threat to everyone in the state political stance State articulated meanings who qualifies for programs taxes FCAT Enemy of the US The meaning Enemy of the US used to mean men were going to be drafted into war For Whom Does the State Speak 1 General consensus will of the people 2 Will of the Elites Religious Political Economic A Religious meaning of crime was
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