SOCI 2250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Crack Epidemic, Gun Control
11 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
The acts we think of as crime, the actors and actions we treat as criminal are created: it is an image shaped by decisions as to what will be called crime and who will be treated as a criminal. The criminal justice system is simply a mirror, prosecutors simply react to real dangers in society. The shape of the reality we see in the criminal justice mirror is created by all these decisions. The criminal justice system does not simply re ect the reality of crime; it has a hand in creating the reality we see. Image of crime: the image that serious crime -- and therefore the greatest danger to society -- is the work of the poor. Decisions as to what to label and treat as crime are not compelled by objective dangers, and thus that, to understand the reality of crime, we must look to the social processes that shape those decisions.
