Response to "The Vicious Cycle"

   This article is very interesting. I think it's disturbing that the majority of those in jail are minorities. I mean, 99.2% is a large amount of people and there is no way that Caucasian don't commit close to the same amount of crimes as minorities (as much as the general population would like to believe so). It makes me think that our officers are somewhat stereotypical or racist when searching for or accusing others of committing crimes. I also found it interesting that people as young as age 15 have been caught selling drugs.
   Most of these acts of deviance are probably acts of secondary deviance where they commit a crime and continue to commit it after being caught once. I think that because many of these people likely to commit the crimes again, society should focus on helping them not want to act deviantly again, rather than putting them in jail for a while or impounding their cars. Prisons are only good to keep a dangerous person out of society, but are clearly not successful in preventing other crimes after prisoners are released..Recidivism is too common!

Response to Article

    When I read this article, I thought about how much emphasis our society places on separating aspects of our culture by gender (specifically, clothing). The boy in the article wanted to dress as a princess for Halloween rather than a costume usually associated with boys. This issue was that the parents didn't care what the boy wore, but they feared what others in society might think about the costume. Anyone who has ever gone Halloween-costume shopping can relate to this article because the costumes are very gender-specific. In society, it is considered a deviant act when a boy doesn't wear a "boy costume" or a girl doesn't wear a "girl costume". Society needs to end gender stereotypes because it has gotten to the point where an innocent 3-year-old boy can't wear what he wants for Halloween simply because of his fear of other's judgements towards him.

Thinking Sociologically

     This week, we went on a field trip to the Dupage jails. While there, I realized that the people in jail needed to be desocialized and resocialized to adapt to the new and completely different environment. The people in jail are all put in small areas with only the essentials needed to live (toilet, sink, bed, food, etc.). They no longer have any privacy and must obey the officers. People put in jail are cut off from most of society and no longer have many of the freedoms they had previous to entering jail. Many, when first entering their cells, need to be put on suicide watch because they are frantic about the new environment they have been placed in. However, after time, they get used to their situation and become completely resocialized.
     Also while in jail, I thought about the reasons behind acts of deviance. I remembered the idea that people act deviantly because of a label they feel is put upon them, as if to act a certain way because society expects that of them. This can be applied to those in jail because many who leave jail end up coming back because of another crime. After being in jail and returning to society, the person has the label of being a criminal and so they act the way a criminal would act.