Excutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Excutions - Essay Example Keeping in view this social condition, the sociologists try to explore crime, crime control and the administration of criminal justice from the point of social constructionism. They view 'crime' and 'criminals' a product of social and political interests and where besides other, the most dominating factor are class, race and gender. They also take into consideration the historical and contemporary practices of criminal justice which is shaped and experienced by the racial and ethnic minorities and majorities, the rich and poor and by men and women, so as to help us understand the numerous social realities of justice in the United States; as this essay will try to examine the pattern of execution based on race, gender and class. The study of social inequalities has always been the central focus of sociologists. They are not only interested in issues related to race/ethnicity, gender and class but also the intersections of these dimensions by employing a wide variety of methods from the ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews to multilevel social and networks methods and statistical models. According to The ABA Kennedy Commission Report (June 23, 2004), the United States puts more people behind bars than any other country in the world and needs to eradicate the disproportionate impact 'tough on crime' laws it has for minorities. This is not because of higher criminal behavior among blacks, but because as compared to non-whites, they are more likely to be imprisoned especially as drug users. Though white drug dealers outnumber the black ones but 86.8% of those imprisoned for drug charges are blacks. In the 1980s, the media talked about drug-addicted mothers, perpetuating the racial stereotypes of African American women who trading sex for drugs rather than a white middle class woman snorting the more expensive cocaine powder. While the poor black pregnant women became targets of the criminal justice system, the middle and the upper class women escaped scrutiny of the criminal justice agents into the private facilities of detoxification. Similarly, most studies on crime take a narrow approach to the subject by treating a crime as simply a violation of legalized social norm that carries a penal sanction. The figure among black males was 3,405. Much of the history of sentencing reform both in capital and non-capital punishment has been influenced by implicit concerns about racial disparities and discriminatory decision making in the criminal justice system. In a study carried out to find whether the four delinquency theories, strain, social learning, low self-control and control theories could better explain juvenile offending in comparison to gender, race and class impact on delinquency. The findings suggested that the quantitative analysis is an effective tool for detecting intersectional differences resulting from gender, race and class to support feminist assertions that general theories are less universal than claimed by their proponents. Based on the unfair racial disparities in federal sentencing, a report released in 1984 by the United States Sentencing Commission confirmed, that the average federal prison sentence for black offenders was about five months longer than for whit es. By 2001, the average sentence

Midterm exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Midterm exam - Essay Example These are examples of cultural relativism and these examples also would say that one culture cannot be better than another culture because of what they practice and believe. Ethical relativism on the other hand would say that due to the fact that there are several varying ethical norms one’s belief cannot be more good than another. Ethical norms are normally based on one’s culture such that one cannot separate ethics and culture. Two versions of utilitarianism – act and rule – would both consider the consequences of one’s action to determine which is the right action to do based on which will generate the most pleasure. Unfortunately, we can never foretell or conclude with utmost certainty that the end of the action we decide to do will in reality produce the greatest good or the greatest happiness. Good and happiness, after all are constructs of society and thus changes from one period to another or one person to another. At the same time, the view of what we think may produce the greater happiness may be viewed differently. For example, in the industrial age, it was made to believe that burning coal produces the necessary energy to fuel machineries that aid production of textile and the like. It was believed to be producing the greatest happiness for the greater number because it gave jobs to people and it gave them better level of existence with electricity and other implements in the household. However, at this time, the consequences of coal burning is being felt worldwide due to the greenhouse gases emitted by the coal burning. This is not making the people happy rather they are suffering and feeling the negative consequences. This is a true proof that even when we believe that the consequence of the action would result to our own happiness as well as the rest of the population, we are still not guaranteed about it. It would be best if we were to know everything and foresee every thing that our