Submitted by: Samantha Mesa
Deviance is anything that violates socially established norms or rules set by society. Norms are a set of standards that people follow that has been generally written or understood by society. Deviance can be a tricky matter because sometimes one thing can be seen as normal in one culture and deviant in another. An example would be getting a tattoo. In some cultures, it can be viewed as a sign that you’re of low class or have been to prison. In others, it can show tribal lineage, political/social status, or even personal strength. One of the most popular examples of deviance could be murder.
In December of 2009, Susan Powell went missing from her home in Utah. Police had been investigating her disappearance for a few months, and even had a prime suspect, her husband, Josh Powell. While enduring countless interviews and interrogations, Powell continued to deny any involvement in his wife’s disappearance. He eventually lost custody of his two children to Susan’s parents, and the children seemed to be happy about the decision. One day when a social worker was on her way to bring the boys to their father’s, the boys decided to run away of her and went into of Powell’s house. He immediately locked the door and wouldn’t let the social worker inside of the house. What happened after would disturb anyone with children. Powell proceeded to attempt to murder his children with a nearby hatchet and then lit his house on fire. Authorities later found that Powell had planned the entire thing and had even left numerous voice mails to family members stating that he couldn’t live without his boys and said, “sorry, goodbye” at the end of all his messages. There is no word yet of whether or not Susan Powell is considered dead but investigators say the case is still open.
What Josh Powell did was extremely deviant. Not only did he kill his sons, and possibly kill his wife, he killed himself. Murder is seen as a deviant act and so is suicide. Killing a person from your own family is also something that is deviant because family members are part of you. Powell committed formal deviance, which is when laws are involved and he violated them. It's hard to say what will eventually happen with this case but hopefully some kind of justice is served.
Raymond Trinh
ReplyDeleteIn speaking of deviance, murder is definitely one of the most extreme (if not worst) types. It is, for the most part, universally known that murder is wrong. It is a type of formal deviance, but if it was not, I believe it would still be universally accepted as very deviant. I find it very interesting that in the video, mostly everybody uses "evil" and "horrific" to describe this "tragedy". I think these opinions on a situation like this should be acknowledged in talking about how deviance is viewed in society.
Ashleigh Niemiec - Murder is murder, it not accepted in any society. Josh Powell is a deviant but is a true murderer. How can you kill your own children. They need to check into his actions before the murders to truly understand what he was thinking at the time.
ReplyDeleteMurder is not wrong.. animal rape, drugs, inbred, etc is wrong because it is damaging our genes and everything involved to mutate, cripple,even to form murderes but also suffer and extinct organism.. just like rape is not wrong because it's not genetic damaging..
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