I believe that punishable deviance is a social construct because even the smallest infraction against the law is punishable by jail time. The system is very flawed. I think that it is avoidable because we can regulate the prison systems better to further prevent the social deviance and crime in this society.
What does our punishment/penitentiary system tell us as sociologists?
Our system tells us that people that do wrong things should and will be punished; however, the depressing lifestyle of jail for most crimes is only temporary. As Morgan Spurlock's video on 30 Days in Jail showed us, most criminals end up back in prison after they served their sentence. A lot of these crimes occur after the first couple of weeks after being released.
What issues are evident by looking at our court and jail system when you look at what deviance is criminal - who is usually arrested and then convicted - who is usually sentenced to jail - what do we do with deviants once they are in jail???????
The issues that our court system has is putting people behind bars and doing nothing to help them change. There are some jails that have a rehabilitation area but inmates can be released early for serving their time and not finishing the course. The people that are usually sent to jail are african americans who make up 46% of the prison system. Once they are in jail, they spend their time doing nothing but mind numbing activities like exercise and get tattoos and other things that do not help them change.
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