13TH made me think about how harmful our prison system truly is. We put people away who do non-violent crimes like it is nothing and then let any billionaire walk just because they can pay their bail while destroying any chance for those below them to ever succeed. We punish people for being poor and needing to simply get something for their family who has been struggling for years and yet we never help them enough. I don't quite get this. #so345

13TH argues that mass incarceration isn’t a broken system, it is a deliberately constructed one, rooted in America’s racial history and sustained by our political and economic mindset. This is why we have a 1/4 of the world's incarcerated people in our prisons while 5% of the world population lives in the U.S. Why would we decide to have such a horrible system otherwise than to oppress people. The system is made to produce racial oppression. #so345

I also found it interesting that Stuart tells us that the residents change their entire way of thinking, walking, and talking just to avoid the chance of being stopped by the police. This just goes to show how informal social control can take place when more is done within an area. #so345

Stuart tells us about this frame called "cop wise/wisdom" where it actually guides people to behave and act a different way due to the increased police presence. I always have thought the police would be doing good by maybe increasing their presence, but truthfully after reading this article I understand that to be a figment of my imagination that actually led to more deviance against the system, not less. #so345

Hunt's article talks about how the police make sense of their actions across their careers. I found it interesting that the police use of force is governed less by the laws set in place and the policy also set for them, but more by the occupational culture that sounds them. It was also interesting how their use of force was governed by emotional dynamics and also informal peer norms. It helps to explain why excessive force persists and why internal accountability is inconsistent. #so345

The conclusion helps tell us just how deviance plays into our everyday lives. We all do deviant acts, whether behind closed doors or out in public, that others judge us off of. This shows just how our society works with every person being small factor within a massive system that helps to create rules that we consider "the norm" on how to live and go about life. #so345

Chapter 9 talks about how media helps to spread misinformation and beliefs that are not constructive or even based in any degree. Media plays a major role in perpetuating beliefs across cultures, especially by adding to stereotypes and spreading misinformation. While discrimination existed long before modern media, today’s media systems help to intensify and normalize certain prejudiced ideas, allowing them to spread faster and reach wider audiences. #so345

Chapter 8 talks about how people deal with stigma, and I found this to be very interesting. Their example of Staci Wood, a girl who struggled with cystic fibrosis causing her to see herself as different from everyone else. I found it to be a good example; it goes to show that stigma even when it is insurmountable can be overcome by changing your ideals about your situation and fighting against the norm of you being considered different from others. #so345

I like the idea that Chapter 8 talks about those who are discreditable and discredited & how the only distinction between them is if their deviant acts are known or not. This idea that someone could be deviant, yet never show it is super interesting! I feel like some people think everyone else is perfect and then you add this distinction into the equation and now you never can truly know if someone is deviant behind closed doors or not. #so345