3 QUESTIONS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE and deviance - Coursework Example

1. To answer the question as to what are the similarities and the differences between US elite deviance and global elite deviance, it is easy to begin with the similarities. The main similarities appear to be a sense of impunity brought on by having power and a disdain for the rule of law and human rights. Simon (2008: 161) has given many examples of the forms of global deviance, whether in the form of military human rights violations, multinational corporations and the lack of respect for human rights, particularly the human rights of those who belong to developing countries, or acts of violence committed by “death squads” or police units.

In the United States, which supposedly has a better set of laws than states such as Colombia or Iran, there still are reprehensible violations and deviant behaviour. For example, Abu Ghraib, a former Iraqi prison, became a stellar example of the US military’s capacity for elite deviance. . There had been blatant violations of the rights of the prisoners as the photographs that leaked out of Abu Ghraib confirm. The report filed by Major General Taguba on his inspection of the institution was a graphic representation of how the prison was run (Hersh, 2004).

The pictures which started the whole controversy were proof enough of the culpability of the participants. A justification given is that “it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish insurgents from citizens within the population” (Lane: 2009, 3), however it still cannot justify the level of atrocities.The main difference would be that the United States aids and encourages these acts of deviance from the other states, but the other states do not do the same for it. To quote Simon:To the extent that US support for such regimes is based on arms rather than development, U.S. policy becomes a factor in exacerbating these wretched conditions.

By 1993, yearly U.S. weapons sales to foreign nations had reached $33billion. In 1983, the United States was the primary supplier to at least twenty of the world’s nations engaged in war at that time.Also, it would appear that elite deviance in the United States is motivated by money, whilst elite deviance elsewhere, or global elite deviance can be motivated by other things, such as religion or nationalism.2. There are impacts on the well-being of a person who have unjustified stigmatization and these impacts are deep and profound.

For example, the stigma against obese women. According to Thio, et. al., “the obese typically accept the denigration thin society dishes out to them because they feel for the most part that they deserve it. And they do not defend other fat people who are being criticized because they are a mirror of themselves; they mirror their own defects – the very defects that are so repugnant to them.(2008: 162)” Thio, et. al. also says that it affects relationships because a person would tend to hide from his or her intimates the details of his current situation, like for example bankruptcy.

(2008: 151). It can be said that bankruptcy is a justified stigma because one got into it after entering into so many debts. Overall, stigmatization, whether justified or unjustified causes feelings of anger, hurt, isolation, feeling discouraged and a lower self-esteem. (Couture and Penn, 2003: 291).3. Dunn’s article in Thio’s et. al.’s book (2008) talked about the labelling of teenage girls as sluts. The definition of it is basically the opposite of as she put it, the “nice girl stereotype of virtue and chastity (207).

” It means someone who is sexually aggressive, might have multiple partners and in general, is incapable of having a monogamous relationship. It is disturbing to note research showing that raped women’s responses after being raped is to say that she felt like a slut (Lebowitz and Roth, 2006: 363). The meaning of slut is of course constantly evolving. In high school, a slut already meant someone who slept around indiscriminately, but its original meaning actually has more to do with a prostitute, or a person who offers sex as a commodity with expectation of payment.

In the future, it is likely that the definition of slut will morph. Indeed, we have ‘slut walks’ being popularised all over the globe, where women dress scantily as protest to suggestions that rape victims were raped because they were “dressed as sluts.”ReferencesCouture, S. and Penn, D. (2003). “Interpersonal contact and the stigma of mental illness: a review of the literature.” Journal of Mental Health. Volume 12(3). Pp 291-305.Hersh, Seymour M. (2004). “Torture at Abu Ghraib”.

The New Yorker.Lane, G.M. (2011). “USMC’s Lack of Human Intelligence Doctrine.” United States Marine Corps.Lebowitz, R. and Roth, S. (1994). “I felt like a slut: The cultural context and women’s response to being raped.” Journal of Traumatic Stress. Volume 7(3). Pp. 363-390.Simon, D. (2008). Elite Deviance (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Thio, A., Calhoun, T. & Conyers, A. (2008). Readings in Deviant Behavior (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.Education,Inc.