Example: drug laws in canada
Lawyers worry about if the police work under the law
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Sociologist cares about:
Who uses the drugs, and why
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How does it change over time
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Drug offence rates
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Drug relationships with crime
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Why are laws changed? Ex. Social movements, people press for them to
change
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Think outside our borders
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How do people understand law? When things go from illegal to legal
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When do we feel that law is fair? Unfair?
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The funnel of crime/law
Law is not just about crime
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We report a lot of things to the police - 2 million
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Of the 2 million things - 246,000 found guilty
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Of 246,000 found guilty - 86,000 sentenced
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Of 86,000 sentenced - 5,000 federal sentencing
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Think about all of the times that something related to law happens but never
gets formally invoked
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Three different kinds of law
1 Law on the books
What is legal vs illegal
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Not just about crime, civil law, regulation
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2 Law in action
Police, courts, sentencing, prisons
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3 The gap between the two
Example of auto insurance adjusters
Rear end collision = backs fault
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A lot of norms and habits and informal understandings that
influence how agents of the law rely on to make a case
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Is law anywhere? Is law everywhere?
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Intro -January 8th -Week 1
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
11:08 AM