by amelia on
May 05, 2008 at 1:04 pm
The New York Sun recently reported on the release of a new study from sociologist Harry Levin of Queens College titled, “Marijuana Arrest Crusade.” The report claims that police have singled-out minorities during the drug crackdown in New York beginning in 1997. The study makes use of data from the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services which shows that between 1997 and 2007, of those arrested on drugs charges, 52% of the suspects were black, 31% Hispanic, and only 15% white.
Some blame laws…
“Laws were revised in the late 1970s to largely decriminalize carrying small, concealed stashes of marijuana, Mr. Levin said. But he claimed police routinely ‘manufacture’ arrests for possession in public view — still a misdemeanor — by stopping young black men on the street and goading them into emptying their pockets.”
Others blame the administration…
“According to the study, arrests for marijuana possession began skyrocketing in the late 1990s during the Giuliani administration — a trend that continued under Mayor Bloomberg at an estimated cost of between $50 and $90 million a year. There were 39,700 arrests last year alone, according to the study. The 2007 total makes the city ‘the marijuana arrest capital of the world,’ Ms. Lieberman [the Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union] said.”
by amelia on
Mar 31, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Follow this link to a fascinating interview by National Public Radio with Columbia sociologist Dana Fisher about the effectiveness of street protests in America.
by amelia on
Mar 18, 2008 at 2:11 pm
With the recent Spitzer scandal, media outlets have been discussing the issue of prostitution more frequently than usual. NPR interviewed sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh on the new form of this underground economy that has moved off the streets. Listen here.
by amelia on
Mar 03, 2008 at 1:16 pm
A recent article in The Boston Globe featured the current stalemate between the Greater Bowdoin-Geneva Neighborhood Association and the The Bibleway Christian Center over the relocation of a congregation. Pastor Willie James wants to bring the Bibleway Christian Center to an area where the neighborhood association would like to see a small business such as a bakery or a bank, or even a community center.
Sociologist Omar McRoberts weighs in…
“Associate sociology professor McRoberts argues that the neighborhoods and the religious groups need to avoid vilifying each other. Communities should recognize that churches can contribute to the civic needs of the neighborhood. And pastors, he said, should work to make their churches community institutions, not just places of worship a few hours a week.
“It’s not that churches have to be at odds with the goals of development,” McRoberts said, adding that he often heard Four Corners residents say they wanted more places to eat nearby.
“What better incentive for a family restaurant than the fact that every Sunday hundreds of people descend on your neighborhood to go to church?”" -Boston Globe
by amelia on
Feb 23, 2008 at 11:46 am
In the January issue of The Atlantic, sociologist Elijah Anderson comments on the television show, ‘The Wire.’ The HBO series has gained wide acclaim for its portrayal of the struggles of urban life in Baltimore.
The Atlantic’s Mark Bowen reports:
“I am struck by how dark the show is,” says Elijah Anderson, the Yale sociologist whose classic works Code of the Streets, Streetwise, and A Place on the Corner document black inner-city life with noted clarity and sympathy. Anderson would be the last person to gloss over the severe problems of the urban poor, but in The Wire he sees “a bottom-line cynicism” that is at odds with his own perception of real life. “The show is very good,” he says. “It resonates. It is powerful in its depiction of the codes of the streets, but it is an exaggeration. I get frustrated watching it, because it gives such a powerful appearance of reality, but it always seems to leave something important out. What they have left out are the decent people. Even in the worst drug-infested projects, there are many, many God-fearing, churchgoing, brave people who set themselves against the gangs and the addicts, often with remarkable heroism.”
Full Article
by amelia on
Feb 03, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Playbill recently announced that sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s 2002 book, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago will hit the stage on February 21st in at the Live Bait Theater featuring actors from the Pegasus Players.
Playbill writes: According to Pegasus, “this moving new play looks at the heat wave of 1995 which took the lives of 739 Chicagoans. Chicago playwright and published author, Steve Simoncic recreates the hot air that swirled between medical examiners, health officials, reporters, mayoral staff, and sweaty Chicagoans.” It “examines one of the country’s worst weather-related disasters from all perspectives, creating a vivid portrait of a city in crisis, but with its resources and humanity firmly intact.”