Overview
Short essay 1 for sociology of deviant behavior or deviance :
In a short essay (800 words minimum, no maximum), respond to the following prompt/question(s):
What would you argue would be an optimal relationship between criminality and drug use? That is, should any drug-related activities be criminalized? If so, what should the criminal justice response be? Note that you are not necessarily limited to thinking about “criminalized” or “drug related activities” in conventional terms. For instance, you might propose criminalizing corrupt or deceptive medication advertising practices by pharmaceutical companies. Or you might discuss whether drug activities of all kinds should be decriminalized, or whether the implications and meanings of “crime” should be changed. You might begin with the conception of a society you would consider good, or healthy, most just, or most functional, and stretch your “sociological imagination”, in order to contemplate how drugs and crime would or would not exist as concepts, how your conception compares to our current social order in the U.S. and how drugs and criminality could be organized in contrast. Within your discussion, you should incorporate at least four of the five course materials indicated here: the reading by Davis, the reading by Rothe and Medley, the reading by Roberts, the reading by Peretti-Watel & Moati, and the film “Big Bucks, Big Pharma”
For written assignments, please use double-spacing, 12-point font, and insert page numbers. When citing materials, use citation style, MLA. You may use footnotes, endnotes, or a bibliography, as you prefer. You must cite all sources you use.