Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
gang violence sociology
sociological impacts on the criminal justice system
how has sociology influenced criminology essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: gang violence sociology
Social status can affect a person greatly, even in criminal cases. An event pertaining an impact of social status is the case of Patricia Hearst and the Symboinese Liberation Army. Patricia Hearst (Patty) is an American socialite and best know to be the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, who founded the Hearst media empire. While attending the University of Berkeley, in California, she was abducted by a terrorist group called the Symboinese Liberation Army (SLA) on February 24th, 1974. The group first attempted to claim a large sum of ransom from the Hearst family. The Marxist group of terrorists was formed at the University of Berkeley and believed in the union of all the races and classes. Donald Defreeze an escaped convict who referred to himself as Cinque led the SLA. Although kidnapped, in a strange turn of events, Patty joined the SLA and was later tried, very publically, for her actions and stated that it was brainwashing that caused her to join the rebels. How did Patricia Hearst's social status affect her cooperation with the SLA? The fact that Patricia Hearst had a wealthy and well-known family background gave credibility to her claim that brainwashing caused her to cooperate with the SLA.
Patricia Hearst made it clear to the world that she had transitioned from victim to accomplice in the SLA through audio recordings and aided in a crime. Soon after Hearst was kidnapped, a series of audiotapes were released to the press, stating that she had now become a member of the group. In these tapes, she was denouncing her family and their choice of lifestyle and announced that she had joined “self-styled urban guerillas”. Shortly after the tapes were released, Hearst started to also participate in illegal activ...
... middle of paper ...
...Hearst would not have been commuted nor pardoned if she was not well known. Her social status allowed her to escape her punishments for the crimes that she had committed. Although Hearst was convicted for her crime, she was excused of it because of her social status and wealthy background.
Patricia Hearst was initially convicted for her cooperation with the SLA but was later commuted and pardoned for her illegal activity because of her social status and wealth. Hearst pleaded that she was brainwashed and was only able to say this because of her social status. Her notoriety gave credibility to her claim because someone who possessed such intelligence was unable to, in their right mind, join such a group. Brainwashing and Stockholm syndrome were the basis of her defense. Many still believe that Hearst got away with the crime she committed because of her wealth.
Martha Stewart did not get stigmatized for her crime. Usually high profile people who commit a
Often considered America’s first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos was neither first nor the worst. She had been suspected of committing at least seven murders and was sentenced to four of cases she had confessed to police. All the while, she maintained her innocence claiming that some or all of the killings were in self-defense.
On a sweltering 1892 August day in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew and Abby Borden were violently murdered in their home on Second Street. The subsequent police investigation and trial of Lizzie Borden gained national attention and rightfully so considering a female murder defendant on trial was and is to this day an extremely rare proceeding. The Lizzie Borden Trial held in 1893 attracted attention from nearly the entire United States with newspapers in New York City, Providence, and Boston publishing articles at a frenzied pace. The trial was the most sensational murder trial of the nineteenth century (excluding the Lincoln assassination) and despite an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence Lizzie was acquitted by a jury of twelve men. Several exceptional factors surrounding the case including the actions of key figures during trial, police investigation, and the fact a female was facing double murder charges make the case truly significant when looking at American legal history.
They included strawman, appeal to fear, appeal to pity, and transfer. One strawman could have been “You’re saying Lizzie wouldn’t want to be rich”, and “Lizzie’s dad wasn’t always so nice, though”. These both could have created a distraction(s), and would have made Lizzie appear guilty. Another emotional appeal was appeal to fear, which was that Lizzie showed little emotion at the discovery of her father’s dead body and in the days following the murder; she was the only one around and/or in the house, too, so she would have been thought guilty of both of those. Appeal to pity was that she was just a poor, little, somewhat older woman, so “she must have been not guilty.” Lastly, Lizzie Borden was transferred to be hateful and the wanting-to-quickly-inherit-riches daughter, making her
In early May of 1959 four white men made the decision to rape a young woman named Betty Jean Owens on the way to a school event with a few of her friends (McGuire, 160). Owen was forced to a smear campaign when she faced her attackers in court, but it payed off when she won her case and her rapists were sent to jail (McGuire, 181-183). While her rapists didn't spend as long as many African-American men had when accused of raping women in years past, allowing one of the rapists to kill another women in an attempt at revenge, it was a victory that had been unprecedented in years past (McGuire, 184). Also, not only did this case work as a victory for allowing African-American rape victims to finally be able to prosecute their attackers, but it
Generally, class means where a person is ranked in society. If Brock Turner was poor and was a minority, his sentence would have been more severe and wouldn’t have been able to get off so easily. Same goes with the Central Park Five case where if the kids were in a higher class, the accused wouldn’t have been treated so harshly and trialed unfairly especially since they didn’t even the do the crime. Looking at the articles, “Teaching Literature at the County Jail” by Christina Boufis shows individuals who things because they had no control over situations and this might be due to their class. The women in jail in the “Teaching Literature at the County Jail” were in jail because of their backgrounds and their particular circumstances like class. In the article Christina Boufis says “Many were homeless before incarceration; few had support from parents, friends or partners. For Tanya and some of the others, Sula has become a talisman of security, something they can rely on in a constantly shifting world.” The girls here came from poor families making them from a lower class. Class is a huge a factor that show stereotyping in a criminal justice
At first Patty Hearst refused the fact that she was being both physically and psychologically abused by the SLA group. She announced the fact that she became part of the SLA group in her free will. The journalist Paul Krassner had an interview with Patty Hearst before Patty Hearst was captured by the FBI. Patty Hearst explained that she joined the SLA because she felt that the SLA could secure her freedom. She insisted that she was not being brainwashed; everything was only to find out who she really is.”She understood that she betrayed the society’s expectation on her ,but she does not regret any of it because she thinks she should not go against what she really is. She felt like the whole life before she became a part of SLA had been wasted.
One of the most famous cases of the mid-nineties (and possibly one of the most controversial) of the wealthy being above the law is the O.J. Simpson trial, who fatally stabbed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. Being accused of murder, the court had sufficient biological and psychological evidence to prove Simpson’s act of murder. However, Simpson was found not guilty by the jury and lives as a fre...
Reiman, Jeffrey. 2000. The Rich Gets Richer And the Poor Gets Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice. Washington, D.C: Allyn & Bacon.
White-collar crime is the financially motivated illegal acts that are committed by the middle and upper class through their legitimate business or government activities. This form of crime was first coined by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” (Linden, 2016). Crime has often been associated with the lower class due to economic reasons. However, Sutherland stressed that the Criminal Justice System needed to acknowledge illegal business activity as crime due to the repercussions they caused and the damage they can cause to society (Linden, 2016). Crime was prevalently thought to only be
On April 19th, 1989, Trisha Meili was the victim of violent assault, rape, and sodomy. The vicious attack left her in a coma for 12 days and The New York Times described it as “one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980’s.” The documentary, The Central Park Five, reveals the truth about what happened the night of April 19th, and how the subordinate group of young black boys were wrongly convicted. Analyzing the conflict theory of crime in association to the case of the central park five, understanding the way they were treated based on setting, why it was so easy for the law enforcement to pin the crime on the young black boys, and how wrongly convicting someone has great consequences along with relating it
Although many of her actions were parallel with fellow manager in General Accounting Troy Nordmand’s, he did not receive a prison sentence due to the fact that he attempted to leave the company (although Vinson did initially plan to resign). Conversely, Vinson was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home detention. One particularly interesting aspect of Betty Vinson’s case is the inclusion of her concerns over taking home pay and having health insurance, in addition to the fact that she had a positive reputation and was known for doing “anything you told her”. While it is normal to have concerns over job security, the emotional appeals in her situation add a different side to the story. One could argue that she is a victim -- she could have been targeted due to her reputation, or that fear drove her to do things she otherwise would not have considered. The issue here, however, is that she facilitated the fulfillment of Sullivan’s requests and pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. As far as the case specifies, despite any superior’s knowledge of Vinson’s tendencies, she was not absolutely forced to do or not do anything. Because she committed the crime and pleaded accordingly, the criminal charges and consequent sentencing was both expected and
Mayella Ewell falsely accused a black man of raping her because she knew she could get away with it. "Tom Robinson's a colored man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world's going to say 'We think you're guilty, but not very' on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal
Al Capone led a life of crime and seemed impervious to the law. He could not be convicted of crime. It was
Crime and criminalization are dependent on social inequality Social inequality there are four major forms of inequality, class gender race and age, all of which influence crime. In looking at social classes and relationship to crime, studies have shown that citizens of the lower class are more likely to commit crimes of property and violence than upper-class citizens: who generally commit political and economic crimes. In 2007 the National Crime Victimization Survey showed that families with an income of $15000 or less had a greater chance of being victimized; recalling that lower classes commit a majority of those crimes. We can conclude that crime generally happens within classes.