Sociology 3260A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Selective Enforcement, Health Law, White Privilege
1 Jan 2020
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Week 13 - mind the gap: law-on-the-books vs. law-in-action. Today"s agenda: mind the gap: law-on-the-books vs. law-in-action, where do we see a gap, routine non-enforcement, selective enforcement, structural-institutional dilemmas, police work - discretion and corruption/misconduct, constitutional principles and their realization. Routine non-enforcement: historical example, vagrancy laws, first passed in mid 1300s, not enforced for most of 15th century, why do we have books on laws that are not being used, contemporary example: Environmental law: environmental laws are often not used, corporations and large companies are often the ones breaking the environmental laws, difficult to prosecute because they are large and powerful. Selective enforcement: the ability to enforce the law against some people and not others - often racial and/or class bias, historical example, vagrancy laws - motivated by class and race, contemporary example: Intended to remove certain type of people: aimed at particular types of people, on the surface, these laws seem neutral but they are not.
