Deviance Behind Bars

Deviance in general is a unique societal construct. In some cultures it would be considered deviant to walk around the house naked, but in American society this is the norm and is even encouraged in some households. This means that punishable deviance also is different in each society. In the United States, drug-related sanctions are far more severe than in say.. Columbia. Taboos can be a large part of these deviant societal constructs. Drinking in a dry county is no different than underage drinking on a college campus, but for the fact that alcohol is a taboo in one place and glorified in the other. Getting caught drinking in the dry county will get'cho ass in the clinker, while getting caught drinking in college usually results in looser consequences.

I don't believe these societal constructs are avoidable because they are a part of culture and one cannot simply change a single aspect of culture and keep it consistent with the rest of the world. Religion plays a key role in what kind of activities are considered deviant, and people can't just change their religious views on a whim. Euthanasia is unacceptable with a Christian belief system and is a punishable offense in most states. Shintoism in Japan has few qualms with assisted suicide, and therefor does not result in a court case by furious religious fanatics.

The U.S. court and jail system needs quite a few touch-ups. In 30 Days, Morgan Spurlock gets to experience living in two very different jail environments. The first jail kept the inmates inside for 24 hours a day and had basically no rehabilitation programs, for drugs or otherwise. The criminals were living in an environment where no reform was possible since all they did was sit around and do "nothing" for the duration of their sentence. I'd say this is a huge waste of taxpayer's money because the majority of jail inmates are repeat offenders, meaning our penitentiaries do not teach its residents how to live lives without crime. Morgan then visited the drug rehabilitation portion of the prison which was a completely different environment, where people actually got help for their problems in a positively-reinforcing system. It's amazing to me how two parts of the same jail can be so drastically different, and it makes it obvious that not all U.S. jails are made equal.

With the recent advent of the "War on Drugs," more people than ever before (Nearly 1/3) are in prison for having drug-related offenses. Keeping these people in prison is extremely costly, especially if no rehabilitation steps are taken. This is a big issue because more often than not, the prisoners arrested for drug abuse need psychiatric help, not to be behind bars.

Unfortunately, a person's social class, gender, and skin color make a difference in his or her chances of being convicted of any crime in general. People in poor neighborhoods are far more likely to sell drugs as a get-rich-quick scheme to escape the ghettos. Minorities tend to live in the poorer areas of town, where police activity is much higher, making it more likely for them to be arrested. Like we read in the "Saints and Roughnecks" article, people in the lower-class do not have as ready-access to a car, which makes crime very local, where the police expect there to be problems. 93% of all prisoners are male, showing how much better females are at escaping the long ride to the station with their tears and assets (Such as jewelery, doughnuts, a roast, etc..) with which to bribe the police officer with. Over 57% of prisoners are single, which is understandable because those in a relationship have others who depend on them, and therefor would be less likely to commit an offense which would hinder giving support to their families. The U.S. penitentiary system punishes people for society's defined deviance, yet we punish many for stereotypical reasons or those who should be given a second chance.