REACTIONS TO DEVIANCE Chapter 7 – Deviance and Social Control

Street Crimes and Prison  America has more people in prison and a larger percentage of its population in prison than any other nation in the world

Street Crimes in Prison  Who goes to prison?  About 50% are younger than 35  93% are male  38% are African American (even though African Americans are only 12.8% of the population)  Almost 60% have never married  88% have no college education

Street Crimes in Prison  “Three Strikes” Laws  State laws that provide mandatory sentences to anyone who is convicted of a third felony  Not limited to violent crimes

Decline in Violent Crime  The crime rate dropped sharply when three-strikes laws became prominent  Some sociologists wonder whether the drop could be due to other factors, such as a decline in drug use

Recidivism  Recidivism Rate: The percentage of released convicts who are rearrested  “For people sent to prison for crimes of violence, within just three years of their release, 62% are rearrested, and 52% are back in jail.” (Henslin 210)  Lesson: Prisons do not teach people that crime doesn’t pay

The Death Penalty and Bias  Take the Death Penalty Information Center’s Death Penalty QuizDeath Penalty Quiz

The Death Penalty and Bias  Capital Punishment: The death penalty  The death penalty is not administered evenly:  Geography: Where people commit murder affects their chances of being executed  Social Class: Half of the prisoners on death row have not finished high school

The Death Penalty and Bias  The death penalty is not administered evenly:  Gender: Women commit 9.6% of murder, but only make up 1.8% of death row inmates  Race and Ethnicity: Partington Study: 2,798 men were convicted for rape and attempted rape in Virginia between 1908 and % were white, 44% were black 54 men were executed – all of them were black

The Church and the Death Penalty  “All people and Christians of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty…but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty…” Pope Francis Has Called For the Abolition of the Death Penalty and Life Imprisonment Pope Francis Has Called For the Abolition of the Death Penalty and Life Imprisonment

The Church and the Death Penalty  “The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro- life… A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”