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How Far Down Do You Define Deviancy in Ferguson?

Published: 28 November 2014

The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s celebrated phrase “defining deviancy down” first appeared in aÌęÌęŸ±ČÔÌęThe American Scholar.Ìę“I proffer the thesis,” wrote Moynihan, “that, over the past generation
the amount of deviant behavior in American society has increased beyond the levels the community can ‘afford to recognize’ and that, accordingly, we have been re-defining deviancy so as to exempt much conduct previously stigmatized.”

...ÌęThe solution is stricter rather than looser enforcement of the laws. The borderline between individual criminal behavior and civil insurrection has become fuzzy. If American prisons become too full or too costly, outsource the incarceration of criminals to less expensive venues, as Prof.Ìęof ±«ÓăֱȄ proposed some years ago. Out of Moynihan’s and other’s work cameÌęÌęTheÌęfell from 747 when Moynihan’s article appeared in 1993 to 387 in 2012. If we abandon the rule of law we abandon America.

Read full article: , November 26, 2014

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