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Tag Archives: criminals
Searching For Illness
It may not be brain scans, but it seems just as ridiculous. Jared Loughner, the man behind the January 8th shootings in Arizona that left 6 dead and 13 injured, is seeking the insanity plea in order to avoid trial. In May, he was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and was placed in a psych ward, and now his lawyers are seeking a similar decision. In order to establish this, they have taken to digging deep into the lives of Mr. Loughner’s ancestors. They have subpoenaed the records of 22 of his relatives, dating back to 1893. Although two psychiatrists have diagnosed Mr. Loughner with schizophrenia, it would help the insanity plea if it could be established that mental illness runs in the Loughner family.
I have no issues with someone using the insanity plea. If someone is suffering from mental illness, a distinction should be made in their sentencing (ie. psych ward vs. prison). It seems to be a fact that Mr. Loughner has a troubled past, and from the media coverage it seems that he does in fact suffer from schizophrenia. However, I completely disagree with the use of deceased people’s medical records to prove mental illness in the family. It just seems too farfetched. I understand that mental illness is a viable defense in a criminal case but this just seems unnecessary and a violation of privacy. In the article, a law professor from Vanderbilt actually mentions that this is the most effective way of proving mental illness aside from having a “brain scan showing mental defect.” I think this is quite ironic being that both these options, in my opinion, are anything but effective.
Psychopaths. A successful adaptation?
Psychopathic behavior is hard to think about in any other way but deviant. If we forget about the socially constructed ideas which Psychopaths deviate from, we can see that this difference in behavior may be beneficial to the individuals themselves. This article highlights the idea that Psychopaths may have physically adapted In order to survive in a world where manipulation and lack of loyalty can give them an advantage. A lack of devotion to one’s partner will allow a psychopath to have many mates in one lifetime, thus carrying on their traits. The lack of empathy and an extremely narcissistic attitude can also allow psychopaths to become successful.
The article also points out that a disorder is defined as something which inhibits the ability for a human to adhere to its most basic nature, which, at its heart, is the ability to reproduce. Therefore, psychopathy should not be defined as a disorder, but a reproductive advantage. It’s interesting to think of psychopathy from this standpoint because if we look at how psychopaths function, it seems beneficial to them. In reality, the forces which inhibit a psychopath’s success are social norms and more importantly, laws. But, without these laws, a psychopath would truly thrive.
This psychopathic behavior is beneficial for the individual rather than the group and can only exist if the majority of people are empathetic and trusting of others. Therefore, it begs the question, would a society where only psychopaths (or what we define as psychopaths) exist be functional?
Posted in Assignment 3
Tagged crime, criminals, psychopaths, social construction of illness, sociopaths
14 Comments
Football Behind Bars
This video is a trailer to the UK six part series that was aired on Sky1 channel in 2009. Ian Wright, soccer star, former Arsenal player and prominent TV host created a show. He himself, according to his interview for the show’s description on Sky 1 official website, spent 14 days in jail for driving without “tax or insurance”. During the show he was coaching young prisoners for the big final game. According to the same Sky 1 channel’s website, young prisoners had to go through a lot of training with strict discipline and those who didn’t work hard were excluded from the team. They were also participating in life coaching sessions, like anger management training, and were giving positive examples and encouragement to break out of criminal life cycle. As show’s page claims: “As well as nurturing football talents, the series will also show how organisation, communication, trust and team work play a vital part in the rehabilitation and social integration of young offenders on their release.”
In the end of the show prison got funding for it’s own Football Academy. As for Ian Wright, he was palnning to attract government’s atention to the problem of young criminal’s rehabilitation and hoped to encourage creation of Football Academies in Juvenal prisons across the UK. How succesfull he was in that I don’t know. I will try to find out and will post it in comments to this post.
In Ian Wright’s model of rehabilitation through football we can see reflection of Merton’s theory of goals and institutionalized means of achievement. Football Behind Bars prophecy popular concept that sport fosters discipline and improves one’s morals. It also works on giving young criminals new model for success- becoming successful athlete. Moreover, through Ian Wright’s personal example it shows institutionalized way for them to achieve goals of success and even wealth.
Posted in Assignment 2
Tagged criminal youth, criminals, cultural goals, football, institutionalized means, prison, soccer, young criminals
12 Comments
Socially Acceptable Tattoos
Some people would say that this phrase is an oxymoron, that any tattoo or bodily ink is an indication of some sort of deviant behavior, may it be criminal or something out of the norm. Lambroso believed that the more tattoos a person had, the less sensitive to pain that person was, which in turn made them less developed and more inclined to the criminal lifestyle and the more tattoos a person had the more correlation to crime they also had,
“tattooing is practiced by them to a far larger extent than by normal persons….whether thieves or murderers, show the highest percentage of tattooing…another fact worth mentioning is the extent to which criminals are tattooed” (Lambroso, pg 244).
This discussion of tattoos reminded me of this clip from one of my favorite shows MSNBC LOCKUP which is a documentary about Americas Prisons. Lockup Tattoo Clip.
This clip shows two prisoners with had their eyeballs filled with color ink. I believe that certain places on a body to get tattoos on are more socially acceptable then others. If you see somebody with a tattoo on their forearm for example you are going to assume that they were/are a sailor or had some sort of affiliation with the Navy. If you see a tattoo of someones name on a persons upper arm, its generally their parents, someone who was close to them that passed away, maybe even a significant others name. My point is that certain tattoos most people will see and will barely have a reaction to, because they are socially acceptable to an extent. Me personally if I see a person with a tattoo above their neckline I automatically have preconceived notions about that person, usually with negative connotations, mainly because a person with a big skull on his forehead is not going to be working a nice corporate job but will probably be selling drugs on the corner, now although that is not always the case, that is the impression that they project.
