CRMN 3060U Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Forces, Public Capital, Sociological Perspectives
5 Oct 2018
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Punishment can be physical or psychological, performed publicly or privately, formal or informal, and it can be the subject of legal sanction. However, most of us tend to think that punishment is carried out by the state. Thinking this, and also knowing that our government and its officials do perform acts of punishment, says a lot about our society and will also impact how we view punishment and why we punish. Punishment is invoked when someone has done something wrong. Happens when they have breached the rules --> whether this be law, social, organizational or moral. Society has done all of these at some point or another. Some rule-breaking gets defined as a crime, and some does not. Ex. changing stance on marijuana --> used to be considered bad when others were in charge, and due to the changing government who has different opinions, it is now considered okay/ legal. This also depends on who is the offender.
