What if the United States court system were to institute a "Deviance Court?"

Question

 What types of behaviors do you think they would would criminalized?

What would be the consequences of this court?

Answer 1

Hi Mitchell,

I took a course on deviance in graduate school, so I'm happy to help you with this one. As a society we tend to view things that aren't 'normal' or make us uncomfortable as deviant. Mental illness is perhaps one of the greatest examples of a group that has been labeled as deviant, and would likely be criminalized in a deviant court. Other things such as homelessness, obesity, and even tattoos can be viewed as deviant because they don't fit the model we have for a 'successful' member of society. What would the consequences of this be? Well, just think about it- a lot of deviant behaviors are at no fault of the person being labeled. Imagine if we were criminalizing people just for being who they are, or the victims of bad circumstances.

If you're interested in discussing this further, please let me know and we could set up a lesson.

-Chelsea