Poverty may mean that crime is the only way that the working class can survive, as crime may e the only way that they can obtain the consumer goods encouraged by the capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes such as theft. However, it isn’t always utilitarian crime that the working class commit as sometimes the alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression which results in non-utilitarian crimes such as vandalism and violence. Marxist’s sometimes argue the state and law-making are a cause of crime because they believe that all laws serve the ruling class, most law is based on protecting private property. The crimes of the working class and ethnic minorities are punished harshly while crimes of the powerful go unnoticed. The ruling class also have the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests.
“Words from the basement: Markus Zusak's The Book Thief.” Notes on Contemporary Literature: From Literature Resource Center. 41.1 (Jan. 2011). This writer talks about the importance of the different roles that the Hubermann’s cellar/ basement plays in the novel. The basement is a refuge and a sanctuary for Liesel (with her books and words) as well as for Max (a Jew in hiding). The writer of this article talks about how the basement isn’t just a hiding place for a Jew or a refuge to learn but it is a place to rebel against authority when Max transforms it into a setting for creative/political activity by painting over Hitler’s Mein Kampf erasing Hitler’s authority and becoming his own authority.
Jessica McClenahan Sociology of Prisons Professor Ronald Lee Morris 12 March 2012 Prison: A Corrupt System “Prison will always be prison: Every society has to live with some level of institutional violence in the worlds it builds to confine its most dangerous elements, and there’s an inherent cruelty to incarceration that cannot be refined away. But there has to be a limit, as well. And what Americans have learned to tolerate (or rather, ignore) inside the walls of jails and prisons ought to churn our stomachs, shock our consciences, and produce not only outrage, but action.” (Douthat) The inherent cruelty to incarceration goes beyond the expected violence that occurs in prison. The corruption of the penal system this cruelty
Merton’s approach explains how both normal and deviant behaviour can stem from the same goals, however it clearly ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce laws, and is too deterministic as not all working class people deviate. A.K Cohen alternatively disagrees with the majority of the strain theory as he states deviance is an individual not group response to strain, and believes Merton only focuses on utilitarian crimes and not crimes with no economic motives. Cohen suggests working class boys are the anomie in the middle class education system, and as they lack the skills to achieve they develop status frustration and therefore group together with those of a similar mind-set which creates a subculture. A.K Cohens view overall does not support the suggestion that crime and deviance are
Some of the most common themes in Joseph Kafka's literature deal with justice and punishment. "In the Penal Colony" is a narrative which takes a critical look at totalitarian punishment and its faults. As the title suggests, it is set in a penal colony, on a small island where discipline and punishment are all-important. The story is told from the perspective of an explorer who, much like the reader, is an outsider of the penal colony, Western educated and liberal. He has come to evaluate the effectiveness of this machine, a device of punishment, torture, and execution.
WALKING WITH THE DEVIL 1 Walking With The Devil WALKING WITH THE DEVIL 2 Michael Quinn, in his book, Walking With the Devil, provides a vivid portrayal of the code of silence within the police sub-culture. He not only gives profound and impacting examples of the dire consequences which can ensue because of the police and their loyalty to the code, but provides the reader with the understanding that individuals working within the scope of law enforcement can move beyond and prove to be a leader by example and by breaking the code. Mr. Quinn comes from a long line family members, of whom, have worked within law enforcement. His father, in particular, was a police officer for over forty years and one must assume that Mr. Quinn gained valuable insight and was given a prime example of what it takes to be a productive and effective officer. It seems, as evidenced through his writing, that he whole-heartedly believes the police code of silence to be a detriment, not only to criminals, but to the officers themselves.
Life without parole: Living and Dying in Prison Today I. Intro I must first start by say, when reading Life without Parole, I could not help but to compare the book to Picking Cotton. Their overall tones and perspectives on the prison system were quite different. But, regardless, they both brought awareness to abuse and violence within the prison system, as well as the criminal justice system needing extreme change. I believe because of their novelistic writing style, it made it easier for us to understand the brutality of what happens behind bars.
Whether their money is inherited or earned, its inhabitant are morally decadent, living life in quest of cheap thrills and with no seeming moral purposes to their lives. Any person who attempts to move up through the social classes becomes corrupt in the process. * Fitzgerald explores much more than the failure of the American dream- he is more deeply concerned with its total corruption. * In the final pages of the novel, the sweep of American history is alluded to in the landscape itself, as Nick is about to leave the Long Island. The fresh, virginal country that “Dutch sailors” first saw is evoked, reinforcing the magic of American promise.
By looking at the wedding celebration at the beginning of the novel, one may see how the immigrant identity invites exploitation through its reliance on an unspoken code of conduct. The American identity is shown to be similarly problematic, because it encourages self-interest that ultimately only serves to further disempower the poor. The novel presents the socialist identity as the only sustainable identity out of these three, because it is the only one with the ability to directly and explicitly confront the ways in which capitalism is inherently stacked against the interests of the
The existence of prisoner brutality within correctional institutions is not only a reflection of the larger society as well as a byproduct of the prison subculture, but is also the cause of vast consequences and resulting great implications on inmates, officers, communities, the justice system, and society as a whole, making its increasing yet well-hidden prevalence an essential issue to be uncovered and addressed by the United States. Abusive behavior of inmates and correctional staff has been an essential aspect of prison culture since the founding of the American penal system. Housing a number of violent and non-violent convicted criminals in close confinements provides a logical explanation as to why prisons are subject to an environment