My Conclusions....

Through this course, and my research on these topics, I have learned that things are not always black and white.  I think that because my husband is an officer I have seen the bad guy as the enemy.  As I have taken a deeper look, I have seen that there are many reasons why people make the choice to join a gang or live a life of crime.  Many seek a place to belong, some need a way out of their current situation, and others simply do it to survive.  If we take a deeper look we are able to be more open minded and have more empathy for the person and their situation.  Maybe if we are able to do that, we can come up with better solutions to fight the gang problem and prison over crowding.

Prison Overcrowding

Prison overcrowding is a very interesting topic to me.  There is a definite increase in gangs in our area. Every time I turn on the news is see more and more acts of violence.  The more acts of violence that occur, the more room we need to house the criminals.  When prisons run out of room, they are sometimes forced to reduce prisoners sentences to free up room for incoming convicts.  Since my husband is a police officer, I worry about what happens when these prisoners are released before their sentences are served, and how that will effect his safety on the streets.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.  We have 2.3 million people behind bars, which is 1 out of every 100 adults.  What has caused this increase?  Prison overcrowding is caused by a variety of issues, such as not enough room in prisons, fluctuating crime rates, changes to laws and improvements to law enforcement tactics. There are also harsher penalties for criminal activities, changes to laws that make new actions illegal, high incidences of repeat offender rates and improvements to the penal system itself.

I found this article on the internet.  It discusses the causes of prison overcrowding and the dangers that the overcrowding can cause.  Not only can it pose health and safety risks for the inmates, but it can cause safety risks for the corrections officers as well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/prison-overcrowding-report_n_1883919.html


These are some eye opening images of prison overcrowding I found.....

This is a great video on the causes of prison overcrowding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-lq1zAuCK2U

This is a very informative website on prison overcrowding.

http://www.jailovercrowding.com/index/the-problem

I included this link on how we can improve overcrowding conditions.

http://www.pfi.org/cjr/downloads/ten-keys-to-improving-conditions-in-overcrowded-prisons


I love this quote by Nelson Mandella...

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

REFERENCES:

Prison Overcrowding is a Concern in the U.S. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://online.ccj.pdx.edu/ccj-careers-resources/criminal-justice-resources/news/prison-overcrowding-is-a-growing-concern-in-the-u-s-800675443/

Deviant Behavior and Gangs

I chose the topic of deviant behavior and gangs for a couple reasons.  The first reason is my husband is a police officer in Coeur d'Alene.  Although it is a relatively safe area, gang violence is on the rise.  The other reason is I have a teenager, and work with teenagers every day.  It was very a topic that I felt could be very beneficial for me to research further and find the warning signs to be able to possibly prevent this from happening or even just help the children around me.

According to Mosby's Medical Dictionary, deviant behavior is defined as actions that exceed the usual limits of accepted behavior and involve failure to comply with the social norm of the group.  In our textbook, it states that it goes farther then simply not conforming to society, that it is behavior that dramatically differs from expectations (Anderson, 144).  It goes on to say that there are 4 defining characteristics in the sociological perspective:

• Deviance not only applies to the person's behavior, but to the group's judgments of that person by the group.
• Not all behaviors are seen as deviant in all groups. What is deemed deviant in one group, may not be seen as deviant in another.
• The rules and norms of a group are socially established, not morally decided upon by group members.
• Deviance also includes the group members reactions and behaviors towards the deviant behavior.

So, what happens when individuals are rejected by their social group?  Those individuals will look elsewhere for acceptance.  They seek a family structure if they don't have one, and the love and support from others if they don't feel it from those around them.

This is a great article about why and how teens join gangs.
http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/gangcolor/paloalto.htm

When I thought about gangs, this is the image I saw.....

However, after looking a little deeper, this image seems more realistic...

It is a family.

Here is a link to a Fox News segment on gangs

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4311069/transnational-gangs-terrorizing-american-cities/

I love this documentary because it gives not only a back story on Crips and Bloods, but a lot of information about joining gangs, how they started, what they do, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl3QhUHDM90

This is a great article/site about teens and gangs and how to get them out.

http://youthservicesslc.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/why-teens-join-gangs/

This is a very informative website about gangs

http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/

I found this quote that I believe sums up gangs...

I believe that I understand gangs better than others. Because they're formed out of necessity. They're formed by people to keep from being suppressed.

 Jack Bowman 

REFERENCES

Deviant Behavior (n.d.) Retrieved from
Mosby's Medical Dictionary

Deviance (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviance_(sociology)

Gang (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs