Purchase Solution

Deviance, Crime & Law Enforcement in American Society

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

I have to identify major forms of crime in the United States. Provide a concrete example of deviance and crime from a recent news article. Critically analyze the media coverage of the article. Discuss how the media covered the story, and address the following:

* Did the media focus on the suspect?
* Did the media focus on the victim?
* Was the suspectâ??s or victimâ??s race, class, or gender included in the story?
* Are crime statistics reliable social data? Why or why not?

Use a minimum of 2 credible academic sources to support your paper, citing resources in APA format.

NO wikipedia paraphase material no copy and pasting.

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

The solution provides an extensive 1,782-word essay on the topic of deviance and crime in American society. Deviancy and deviant behavior is defined and discussed side by side with the purpose of law enforcement in keeping society secure from the threat of deviancy, Examples are provided including the recent events and elements of terrorism in the US (i.e. the failed car-bombing attempt in NY by naturalized American Faisal Shahzad. References are listed. A word version of the solution is attached for easy printing.

Solution Preview

Dear Student,
Hello. I am going to make an assumption from your post that aside from discussing the influence of deviance and crime on society, as an example, you need to make a review of an article, preferably web-based and analyse it for the listed points given. The solution below does just that. If you have any questions on this solution, please feel free to leave it as comments in the feedback section and I'll see what I can do in terms of updating it with changes. Thank you for using Brainmass.

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones

-------------------------------

Deviance & Crime in American Society

What is Deviant Behaviour? That is the first question that we need to answer. Deviancy is the manner of acting contrary to the expected norm, rebelling against what is expected of every member of a society or a social group. In sociology 'deviancy' is a constructed concept, differing in meaning or what it represents in every culture and ethnic/social groupings across the globe. The legalized violation of norms is a formal criminal deviancy while the informal ones, like walking backward are nothing more than an act that could be influenced by cultural differences or personal preferences. Formal deviancy that are a serious breach of law are social problems that have always been a part of any social network and structures have always been in place from primary (families) to secondary groupings to combat them (corporations, churches, communities). The Police & Federal Agencies in place to counter criminal deviant behaviour are active in their official government mandate to impose the rule of law. The Justice system prosecutes the 'Deviant' under due process expected of the rule of law while the Legislative body of the government enacts the law that formalizes what is legally accepted and what is not. Deviancy and it's opposite, accepted behaviour has had its roots in the very beginnings of any social group and in American History, it is highly influenced by History, social situations and accepted widespread morals heavily influenced by Religion in an acceptance of what is right. Criminologist Steven Barkan (2006) proposes that crime and deviance are among the most important social problems/phenomenon affecting society but also least understood, hence, it proliferation. As terrorism dominate headlines since 9/11, street crimes, illegal drugs crime, domestic violence, blue collar crimes and much more have not taken a backseat - they continue to happen despite the presence of other threats. At some point, for example, during the Hurricane Katrina Catastrophe in New Orleans, widespread looting heavily disrupted rescue operations and complicated law enforcement priorities. Why is this so? Barkan (2006) further explains -
"Most of our knowledge about crime comes from what we read in newspapers, watch on TV, or see in movie theaters. From all these sources we get a distorted picture of crime and hear about solutions ...

Solution provided by:
Education
  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
Recent Feedback
  • "Thank you!:)"
  • "Excellent, thank you!:)"
  • "Thank you for your timely help. I have submitted another posting (656038) and assigned it directly to you. Please help."
  • "Thank you so much for your timely help. Much appreciated."
  • "Thanks so much for your support."
Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Research Methods for Data Collection

This quiz is designed for students to help them gain a better understanding of the different types of research and when to appropriately use them.

Sociology: Socialization & Social Groups

A refresher quiz on socialization.