Should a non-violent, non-distributer drug possession arrest be considered a felony or result in prison sentences in general
Weediquette S1E03 – “The War on Weed” Discussion Board Worksheet
SOC 101 – Trident Technical College For this assignment, you must do the following:
-View the television show episode Weediquette S1E03 – “The War on Weed,” and select at least ten (10) of the following prompts to answer in the worksheet below. There are no specifically required questions for this assignment, just pick any ten.
-Copy the questions and your answers in this worksheet into a new thread on the Weediquette Film Discussion Board in our D2L course shell. Delete any unanswered questions, but leave them in the order they appear.
-Give your thread an awesome title that captures the essence of your complete response (in other words, give it the awesome title only after you\’ve completed the assignment).
-After posting your responses you will be able to see a thread of additional information I have provided, which you must review before posting other students’ responses as well. You are expected to chime in to at least 2 other students’ posts with questions or comments of a helpful and sociological nature for the class to discuss.
Good luck and Happy Debating! Prof. Fish
Should a non-violent, non-distributer drug possession arrest (that is, possessing an amount of illegal drugs for personal use only; aka a “user/possible addict/possible victim” as opposed to a “dealer”) be considered a felony or result in prison sentences in general? For marijuana in particular? For other illegal drugs? Should Bernard Noble be serving 13 years for 2.8 grams (2 joints) of marijuana possession? If not, why not? If so, why? Explain your answers.Student Response:
“Multi-Billing” or “Three Strikes Laws” disproportionately target the poor and minorities. They are also mostly attached to street crime (as opposed to “white collar” crimes like embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion, internet piracy, etc.). Again, street crime law enforcement mostly targets the poor and minority persons. Is multi-billing a form of institutional racism and/or classism? Why or why not? Explain.Student Response:
3. Refer to the Social Conflict Perspective of Crime and Deviance in your text to answer this prompt. Why do you think that street crime is primarily the target of multi-billing, instead of crimes like embezzlement or tax fraud, which tend to objectively do much more harm to society and indirectly cause more people to suffer and often die (loss of insurance, home, savings and investments, suicide, etc.)?
For example, an armed robbery stealing $300 from a convenience store with no physical harm averages a five-year prison sentence whereas multi-million dollar theft from a corporate holding by a CEO rarely, if ever, sees the perpetrator imprisoned; but employees lose their jobs and pensions, millions of dollars in taxes go unpaid, investors and stockholders lose their investments, etc.
Student Response:
4.
One argument against multi-billing and mandatory minimum sentencing in general isthat it takes discretion away from judges in assigning sentences appropriate to the circumstances of the crime. Which is more important in deciding sentencing for an offender – a judge’s discretion based upon the circumstances of each case, or the legislature’s decision to assign sentences to certain crimes irrespective of the circumstances? Why do you feel this way? If you were convicted of a felony and headed to prison, would you want the judge in your case to sentence you, or legislators whom you have never met before? Explain your answer.Student Response:
We saw the discussion of politics involving the New Orleans District Attorney bringing Bernard Noble’s case back to court 4 times to get his sentence increased. What do you think was his motive here? How does the pressure to convict and prosecute harshly play a role in re-election? How might this problem be compounded in Louisiana and some other states that repeatedly re-elect judges like politicians instead of appointing them for life (like most states and all federal judges and Supreme Court Justices)? What might happen if an elected judge handed down legal-but- unpopular decision in court? If you were charged with a felony, would you prefer an elected judge or an appointed judge deciding your future? Why?Student Response:
The New Orleans Police Department has a long, notorious history as one of the most corrupt police departments in the US. Note also that neither NOPD nor the New Orleans DA’s office would participate in the filming, so the filmmakers had to interview police officers in rural parishes (counties) instead.In 2008 (when I lived there), the US Dept. of Justice investigated the NOPD and nearly one-third of the top-ranking supervisory officers were fired, arrested/imprisoned, and — in at least one case — committed suicide with his service weapon to avoid justice. The vast majority of the disgraced officers were high-ranking, well-paid, long-serving white males. This US DOJ investigation was opened because two patrol officers and their sergeant had been ordered to cover up their 2nd-degree murder of an unarmed African American male by their supervisors during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The show suggests that there is systemic racism prevalent in the NOPD supporting a long-established framework of racial discrimination against New Orleans’ majority African American population. Beginning in the 2010s, more-recent developments documented many high-profile police-initiated shooting deaths of unarmed US citizens, often minorities. How do you feel about the show’s argument in this light? Is NOPD discriminating against African Americans in particular? Why do you feel this way? Does poverty, culture, and/or class differences between police and population play a factor here? If so, how? If not, why not? Explain your answers.
Requirements: 2 page
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