rmation files were not connected to any of the other databases, such as the credit card company. While Amercians would certainly chafe at the idea of the government monitoring their credit card purchases, such monitoring could almost certainly have prevented the terrorist disaster.
Privacy is the foremost issue when it comes to how an individual relates to the power of the state (Woolley, 46). While the act of terrorism could have been prevented by monitoring credit card purchases, is the loss of privacy worth the lives saved? What is the next step once the government is given the authority to monitor such aspects of our lives without suspicion of criminal behavior?
Deviant behavior refers to behavior that does not conform to norms, does not meet with the expectations of a group or of society as a whole. Besides internal controls, conformity is induced through external mechanisms pressures to meet the expectations of others. Each role carries with it a set of rights as well as duties to be carried out in our relationships with others. The state represents the final authority within society and possesses a monopoly over the use of coercion to maintain order, to apply a variety of penalties for behavior that violates societyÆs laws. Reliance on formal authority for the maintenance of order and social control tends to increase as societies become larger, more industrialized, and more urbanized (Athanasiou, et al, 39-40).
A 1995 survey by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reported a total of 23,388 gangs and 664,906 gang members in the United States. Forty nine percent of the law enforcement agencies reporting gang activity reported that the gang problem was "getting worse," while only ten percent reported that the problem was improving. Around the country, there is an increased awareness of the worsening of the juvenile crime problem, especially in the area of juvenile gangs (Lahey, et al, 2...