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For this week’s journal assignment, we will consider how the definitions of mala in se crimes and mala prohibita crimes relate to the social construction of deviance.

In sociology we separate two ways of looking at crime and deviance: objective and subjective. The objective perspective views deviance as a reality that is absolute and essentialistic – wrong in and of itself, inherently bad, evil, immoral, and pathological. In the criminal justice system, these behaviors are call mala in se crimes. Murder, rape, and robbery are considered three of the most serious instances of inherent wrongs. For the most part, they are considered wrong everywhere and throughout human history. But most instances of deviance are wrong not because the violate an absolute or eternal law, but specifically because they are violations of the criminal code. These are called mala prohibita crimes. Examples include fornication, public drunkenness, use of illicit drugs, illegal immigration, and statutory rape (Goode, 1978).

For this journal assignment, find and summarize one example each of a mala in se and a mala prohibita crime in the news currently (past year). Compare them, and discuss them in terms of the social construction of crime and deviance.

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