How Well Do You Know Your Neighbor?
I found chapter eight to be very eye-opening and alarming
with all of the interesting statistics, disparities and comments. Out of curiosity,
when I came across the website www.neighborhoodscan.com
mentioned in the text, I tried to visit the site only to have my computer flag
it as having a known threat, therefore, I was disappointed that I was not able
to look up sex offenders in my neighborhood. I began searching the web and came
up with probably a more safe website that was offered through the state's Department of Corrections. I
encourage you to go on this website http://www.doc.state.mn.us/level3/Search.asp
and enter your zip code to at least become aware of the listed offenders. Not
that I want them to be there, but if they are I do hope that they have not been
falsely convicted and forever labeled a deviant.
My zip code of Ham Lake came up with two sex offenders.
Interestingly, both of them are registered to be in the area of the trailer
park. Perhaps this is the only place they can afford after going through the
system and then have difficulty obtaining stable employment due to their felony
status.
Two people who live in my town are very deviant!
Brian Joiner
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| OID: 162341 | |||||||||||||||||
| Supervising Agent: Steil, Stacy | |||||||||||||||||
| Supervision Comments: | |||||||||||||||||
| Release Date: 8/23/2010 | |||||||||||||||||
| Offense Statute(s): 609.342 & 609.343 | |||||||||||||||||
| Offense Information: Offender has a history of sexual contact with juvenile male victims (age 9-13). The contact included fondling and penetration. Offender gained compliance through bribery. Offender gained access to victims as a friend of the family. Offender was known to victims. | |||||||||||||||||
| Address County: ANOKA | |||||||||||||||||
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Charles Henry Brown
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| OID: 205419 | |||||||||||||||||
| Supervising Agent: Steil, Stacy | |||||||||||||||||
| Supervision Comments: | |||||||||||||||||
| Release Date: 11/21/2011 | |||||||||||||||||
| Offense Statute(s): 609.344 | |||||||||||||||||
| Offense Information: Offender has a history of sexual contact with juvenile females and vulnerable juvenile females (ranging in age from 14-15). The contact includes penetration. The offender was known to victims. | |||||||||||||||||
| Address County: ANOKA | |||||||||||||||||
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In addition to looking up sex offenders, this website offers many interesting links that range from employment opportunities with the Department of Corrections to statistics on the minor and adult inmates. The following information that I thought was interesting regarding who are deviants, what are the like, and what did they do was found in various reports on the Department of Corrections website http://www.doc.state.mn.us/level3/Search.asp .
I never really thought about how many correctional facilities (societal institutions) existed in Minnesota. There are fourteen facilities located throughout the state in areas like Fairbault, Stillwater, Lino Lakes, Moose Lake, St. Cloud, and Rush City being the ones that house majority of the convicted deviants in Minnesota.
There is a total of 9,501 inmates. The typical deviant behaviors included drugs (1,646), criminal sexual conduct (1,607), homicides (1,335), assaults (1,116), traffic accidents (763), and burglary (699). Out of these 9,501 inmates, 566 of them are in for life and 102 inmates are serving life without parole. As Newman (2012) mentioned, there are things that we do in our society to deter deviant behavior. As you can see by the website these deterrents include incarceration, life without parole, and by labeling them as ex-cons or sex offenders when they are released. Sex offenders in the state of Minnesota also have to register where the live.
I was hoping that this website would of separated out the offenses committed by race to see if the disparities between white and blacks could be seen as it is in our textbook. According to the Department of Corrections 53.4% of the inmates were white and 35.1% were black.
The level of education did seem to be associated with deviant behavior. People with an education level of 9-11 grade made up of 25.6% of the inmates, 24.9% are high school graduates, and 25.8% had their GED. Only 17.1% of the inmates had a college degree or more. It is also evident that single people (3/4 of the inmates) were more deviant than married people.
In summary, with the hustle and bustle of our fast-paced lives, and in our individualistic societies, we are less likely to know who our neighbors are, it may not be a bad idea to research your neighborhood. This is definitely an example of how our culture and how we go about things change over time. In the past, we would invite the new neighbors over for coffee, or bring them baked goods, or even at the very least knock on their door and welcome them to the neighborhood and introduce yourself. Today, the "for sale" sign goes up, a truck moves out the old neighbor, the next day another truck comes and moves in the new one. Often times it is after quite some time, and distant waives across the yards, you may or may not every meet, let alone get to know your neighbors. So we resort to looking up our zip code just to make sure your neighbor is not on the sex offender list.
Times do change.
References
http://www.doc.state.mn.us/level3/Search.asp
Newman, D. (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: 9th Edition. SAGE Publications.
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