Sociology 2260A/B Final: Microsoft Word - Sociology-of-Law-Finals-Notes (1)
22 Apr 2018
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After civil war in the us vagrancy arrests used in south to keep freed slaves in a state of agricultural servitude. Lasted into 1940s arrested on trumped up charges of vagrancy sold into bondage by highest bidders worked in coal mines, brickyards, plantations etc. captive labour. Windfall for private sector and for southern state treasuries. Just like slavery but under a different name vagrancy key to this: mainly for purposes of cheap labour, but also to assert white dominance, added to idea that blacks were predisposed to criminality o contemporary example. Downloading copyrighted material without paying: 1997 made federal felony to swap copyrighted materials fines up 250,000, no one is arrested for this. Selective enforcement o the ability to enforce the law against some people and not others often racial and/or class bias o historical example. Vagrancy laws motivated by class and race o contemporary example.
