Ben

Thoughts on Deviance and Social Control

[Ben @DSChutch]

My question geared more towards academics would be: how do we shift people's mindsets from retributive to restorative? I wonder if there's a better way to spread these ideas especially in the political sphere that acknowledges the struggles with crime people face. #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

Furthermore, I think to see a change from a youth control complex to a youth support complex requires a lot of people to change their minds on how we label and react to "delinquent/criminal" behavior. #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

It was interesting to observe how Rios delivers his message in a restricted timeframe. I think the youth control complex and the school to prison pipeline are important concepts to understand and much of the educating relies on proper messaging and getting people to care. #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

It was interesting to observe how Rios delivers his message in a restricted timeframe. I think the youth control complex and the school to prison pipeline are important concepts to understand and much of the educating relies on proper messaging and getting people to care. #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

a person is a delinquent they are criminalized as in the case of Paul who even after moving to a new city faced unwanted interactions with police. 3/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

I found the excerpt on Acting Lawful to be particularly interesting especially with our class having studied how folks in LA's skid row had to do pretty much the same thing. It also relates to the study of how people in low-income high crime areas 1/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

interact with police on a daily base. The article by Forrest Stuart discusses how "acting lawful" as Rios would put it is not enough to avoid unwanted interaction with the police. Rios highlights this fact extensively with the case of J.T. Regardless of whether or not 2/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

Rios alludes to it somewhat, but the culture that police are brought up in is a big reason why they exhibit this behavior. Not only is it embraced in training, but the informal structures at play also reinforce this behavior by the police. 3/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

Strain theory features prominently in Ch. 6 of Rios. He points out that the inability to achieve traditional masculine traits such as status leads to hypermasculinity which I see as a way for the boys in this case to compensate for the dissonance they are experiencing. 1/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

This hypermasculinity is reinforced by legitimizing forces in the community such as police and probation officers. They play into this by consistently trying to emasculate the boys they interact with. These gendered interactions are another big explanation for this. 2/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

But it also can be more implicit. Many of the examples that Rios brought up, small disruptions or rule breaking, are not understood by the authority figures they go against. You could see this confusion with the probation officer that Rios interviewed, Ms. Lawrence #so345 3/3

[Ben @DSChutch]

The everyday interactions between youth and police work very similarly to the overall system of criminalization. He emphasizes that interactions between youth and police were like chess matches which I found to be a very apt analogy. For me it almost seems like war. #so345 1/3

[Ben @DSChutch]

The resistance mindset that youth embody forms as a result of the punitive system they live with in. Each action taken in defiance of an authority is a statement against the conditions they deal with. This was very explicit in the situation where Mike stole the chips. #so345 2/3

[Ben @DSChutch]

self control. So instead of the probation officers trying to put them in positions to succeed, there is almost an expectation that they will violate probation or reoffend. This creates an adversarial relationship. Ex. Slick's response to his probation officer showing up #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

Rios points out that the role probation officers play only teaches boys to conform when the officer is present. Many of the boys end up violating probation, not only because the goals being set are unrealistic, but the boys also have not been shown how to employ any #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

The notion of selective policing feeds into Rios' point about unpredictability and lack of structure that exists in the street environment. This leads to some of the youth preferring the rigid structure of juvenile detention. #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

Rios outlines some of the consequences he observes as a result of the selective policing in regards to individuals and different locations. When police draw their line of "demarcation," it tells a certain part of the population where they should and where they should not #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

prey on others. Furthermore, Rios points out that those that prey on the community and those who don't become difficult to differentiate because of the way they view most young males as some sort of drug dealer or gang member. #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

These examples serve to reinforce this notion that a young person is not expected to be anything less than a criminal. 3/3 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

I think Rios' emphasis on the impact of subtle circumstantial factors contributes to our understanding of the point of view of youth in the outlined communities. Growing up around a culture that is familiar with the prison system can lead to many youth 1/2 #so345

[Ben @DSChutch]

believing that they have a high chance of going to prison. The micro-aggressions that permeate everyday interaction with school counselors, teachers, and police officers are another example that may not seem like much, but accumulate as a person grows up. 2/3 #so345