2. SOC212- Lectures Notes 9/19/2012 12:04:00 PM
Class Video
A Hidden Life from Frontline
Behind the scandal
Spokane, Washington—homosexuals were to live in secrecy
With the internet, people connected and they weren’t alone
2003: cobra82 was the town republic mayor (JIM WEST), grabbed the attention of a
reported BILL MORLIN
1970, wave of sexual abuse swept thru the most trusted institution (School, Church,
Boys Scouts), people knew what was going on but never said anything
June 2003, focused on three men previously sexually abused by David Halm, Halm
(1981) shot himself once he was accused
Halm’s close friend was Jim West, people were wondering how Jim west was blind
sided to the fact
This guy (unknown) said Jim West was met after the chat room, and had consensual
sex—this young man brought the idea that Jim West might be using the internet to
have sexual encounters with younger boys
Newspaper and consultant created a account on the web chat to try to figure out if it
was Mayor West
Abusive office & official corruption- reward benefits for Sexual Favors (from Mayor
West) {This was the whole story}
6 months into the operation, they decided to confront the Mayor
West was tied to 1970s sexual abuse, the guy who accused Halm, also accused West
Steven Smith Suburban home, Jim West contacted him stating the living of dual life
West’s Press Conference: saying he is capable of his job and personal life is no one’s
issues
West grew up in a conventional life, lived in a community where sex was never
talked about, attitude of intolerance can produce a very lonely life
There was no one who came forward accusing West of Sexual abuse
Robert Gallenger, 1981 Gallenger family reported Halm’s abuse, they claim for
damages and they never mentioned West, it was never until 2005 that he accused
West
No more report of sexual abuse from West
Acceptance of a conservative town was not successful, many believe that it would
backfire and would be scared and some had been angry
o West went out of his way to destroy GAY community and to keep his
homosexuality in the dark 1986- West introduced a bill that will prevent Gays from teaching in school, it was
later defeated
State legislator- West opposed gay marriage and other more, West said it was
overstated in his 20 years in politics
1990, West proposed to Ginger Marshall on floor of Legislation, West was pushing to
have children while Ginger was the one focusing on her career, the latter miscarriage
caused the marriage to fall apart
Jim West died 10 months after the incident, cause is the cancer he was being treated
Deviance – Who Defines it?
The reactive approach—clearly a reaction by number of different people
Legalistic Approach—allegation of him using his public office in inappropriate way
o Because he waited for people to turn 18—might not make legal issues
Group Approach—Real group response, community showed as having discussion
reacting what was going on
o Group reaction of gay community—they were really angry because it was
damaging their path of coming out to the society
Dark Figure of Crime, self-report surveys (done on youth primarily, white collar or prison
inmates)
Unofficial – Denton & Rock, most deviance do not engage in things that are visible that
make their deviance known
Youthful defending--- they usually do it together
Political group—German extremist, Nazi
Prostitution Study—Participant, Observation, snowball sampling (trying to get prostitutes to
introduce you to others)
Observation--- Only available for crimes people do in public (tattoos, extreme political
groups, soliciting)
Snowball Sampling: Start with one prostitute, form of networking, critical for hard to reach
population and there are situations where you cannot advertise due to the worry of
incriminations (drug dealers, prostitute and etc)
Advantage- contact people, some can never be reached
Disadvantage- people you talk to might not be able to represent the group you’re
interested in, snowball chain can end (some might not want to participate, contacts
can dry up), number of social network can be unreal because there are a lot of
contacts
Case Study: Study one example and go into details with preexisting information
Might involve a small community group of Neography Peter & Admir did study for upper level addicts, they found out in grad school that
people on top of their house was dealing drugs—small number of group exemplify
how upper level deals get done
One of the most popular designs
Michael Charles—interested in electronic sampling, they can track what you are
doing, conducted in depth interview with guardians, juveniles, parole officers. He got
close to juvenile, the bracelet on them was not anticipated at all, they use the bracelet
as an excuse to never hang out with the friends again. They youth offenders knew that
if they hang out again, they will fall back into the same mistakes. New meaning of the
use of electronic bracelet
Case study can be obtained thru surveys and Questionnaires
Relative inexpensive, can be used to test theories, can be do
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