There are some great publications available for free download from the Chicago Urban League. Basically the study showed mass incarceration from only 5 zipcodes in Chicago and all the prisoners were sent downstate where funding for prisons has fueled an economy that is based around the "trade" in human lives. These ex-offenders are released back into the same zipcodes (which have the least economic rowth throughout the 1990s). One anecdote came from the Chicago Tribune which showed that mandatory sentencing laws designed to clean up public housing were sending poor minority residents to prison, but teens from affluent suburbs who were caught near the projects trying to buy heroin were sent home or had their parents called instead of doing time.
Here's a link to the research page of the Chicago Urban League CURL: http://www.cul-chicago.org/72329633112722/site/default.asp the "Vicious Circle" is a good place to start. Chris Salituro On Sep 16, 2006, at 11:59 AM, Michael Francis Johnston wrote: > > Dear Tina, > > I find your post very interesting. What do you teach about the > incarceration rates? Is it primarily a critique of the current > system? How > does the sociological analysis you offer resonate with students? > Is it as a > reaction against the unfairness of the system? How do students > find that > this matters concretely for their own lives -- do they see > themselves at > risk of being incarcerated? Do they have friends and family > incarcerated? > If the latter, do they see the sociological analysis as revealing > that the > incarcerated people are more victims of social forces than inherently > criminal? > > Yes, I agree that people do not have to "experience" something to be > interested in it. I think I can learn some very valuable things about > teaching this topic from you! > > Sincerely, > Michael > > -----Original Message----- > From: Tina Deshotels [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 11:35 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights > > A couple of thoughts: First, it depends on what kind of students > you teach > as to what will appeal to them. I teach at a predominately working > class > university with about 20% African American (more in sociology > classes) and > yes incarceration rates do very much resonate with them. > Especially with > regards to the racial make up of the prison population! But, > surely people > don't have to experience something for it to 'appeal' to them? I > would hope > not! > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf > Of Michael Francis Johnston > Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 11:51 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights > > > Hi, Del, > > Thanks for asking for the clarification. > > What I mean by non-trivial, time-tested sociological insights are > ideas that > have been produced by sociologists about the social world, were > published in > sociological outlets, are backed by a consensus on empirical > evidence, and > grab students attention (either because it directly matters for how > the > students live their lives or because students find that the idea > helps them > understand our social world in a new, interesting way). > > Some sociologists might argue that "the distribution of resources > remains > fairly constant from generation to generation" whereas others might > argue > that there is "growing inequality." To me, this could indicate a > lack of > consensus on this particular topic. > > I think that "growing incarceration rates" could legitimately be > claimed as > sociological (e.g. Bruce Western at Princeton) and there is a > consensus on > evidence. But does this matter to students? I think lots would > think that > they are not in danger of incarceration. At best, this would matter > indirectly in that lots of tax money is being spent on > incarceration. But > students have little control over how are tax money is spent. An > even less > direct argument would be that the US is becoming a more > authoritarian state, > which I think would have the potential to make some students "tune > out." > > Thanks for the postings so far, these have been very helpful to think > through this issue! > > Respectfully, > Michael > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf > Of Del Thomas Ph D > Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:17 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Time-tested sociological insights > > > Would you include science in this? What do you mean by matter to > students and consensus? > > Del > > Michael Francis Johnston wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> Could you let me know what you consider to be some non-trivial > sociological >> insights that matter to our students? Ideally, these would be >> results for >> which there is consensus that, yes the evidence really does show >> that this >> is true. >> >> Thanks in advance, >> Michael >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> >> >> > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
