SOC102H1 Lecture Notes - Edwin Sutherland, Erving Goffman, Resocialization
Document Summary
Sociology lecture 8: consequences of inequality 2: crime and punishment. Higher inequality leads to higher crimes and victimization by crime. Criminal behavior is not just a result of criminal opportunities or low self-control. Need to understand the society that gives rise to it. Crime and punishment are important indicators of how a society is working. Crime rates fluctuate over time from one society to another. There is no intelligent relation between amount of crime and punishment though. Societies simply vary in how they handle crime. Punishment symbolizes society"s commitment to reinforce code of rules. Shows a culture of both good and bad. Many factors, other than inequality, affect likelihood of crime. Long recognized association between alcohol consumption with violent/aggressive behavior. Violence occurs in order to buy drugs or maintain control over drug distribution. Substance abuse is particularly a big problem in our society. These people already have a greater risk in tendency towards substance abuse.
