Sociology 201: Criminology 2nd Meeting

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Hello, class. Please take a seat. I hope you are working on your reading for next Monday.

Grissom gives an introductory lecture, and hands out lecture notes

As a class exercise, I would like you to do the following -

Outlined in the lecture are 9 different types of crime. Please refer to the chart in the middle of the packet for more details. I would like for you to rank them in order of what you believe to be the worst type of crime, to the least.

Crimes against the state
Crimes against persons
Crimes against habitation
Crimes against property
Crimes against public order
Crimes against administration of justice
Crimes against public morals
Crimes against nature
Crimes against environment

Your participation will be noted, and discussion is anticipated.



Partner List for Class

lauraholt & _steele_
cameronmitchell & whitedeathpod
rosefern_todd & maias_notebook

chloe_sullivan, timothy_drake, darkchylde_, call_me_red_ac and emo_knight do not yet have partners. I will assign them randomly on Monday if you do not choose your own. If you are not on this list but want to take this class, let me know immediately and I will add you to the roster.

Comments

[lauraholt.livejournal.com]

*walks in, unhappy that _steele_ isn't there yet, sits down silently and begins to work*


Crimes against persons
Crimes against the state
Crimes against nature
Crimes against environment
Crimes against habitation
Crimes against property
Crimes against public order
Crimes against administration of justice
Crimes against public morals

I believe Ca persons and state are obvious: without a state, the people have no structure and without the people, there is no state. Sort of the chicken or the egg debate.

Ca nature and environment are similar in means of public health. A contaminated water supply could lead to thousands of sick people, clogging hospitals and becoming very costly for the state.

Habitation and property are ones own self: the means to separate ones self from another and the ability to feel safe in ones own environment. Whilst costly, it isn't (without intruding on other crimes) fatal, whereas the previous 4, are. Unfortunately it's hard to focus on anything else but the physical side of things, the emotional trauma experienced (as I myself have) far outweighs the actual loss.

I was going to put administration of justice last, with the seemingly petty crimes at the bottom. But it's linked with keeping public order. As I mentioned before, keeping the structure is critical in running a system/government. Without peace, there's war and conflict and looking at the past, no system ever runs smoothly during war. It would be like the domino effect, one slip and everything falls down.

Morals are important, just like everything, but there has to be a bottom of the list somewhere.

Like cameronmitchell said, it's difficult to group things accordingly and each crime needs its own punishment. Like trying to punish a class of 3rd graders when it's only a few in the back row who did anything wrong. And even though our system doesn't always get it right, there aren't any 100% full proof ones that will. Least to say its difficult to hold one crime higher than the other, because not everyone has experienced it all.

[drgrissom.livejournal.com]

Excellent work today, Ms. Holt. I can tell you will enjoy your participation in class, as I enjoy hearing your insights. I agree with a lot of your points, and it helps me find a direction for the lectures. Thank you.

[lauraholt.livejournal.com]

Thank you sir, I've really enjoyed it so far.