John F. Galliher

The Puzzle of the Social Origins of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937

Several recent studies of the origins of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, while analyzing the same data sources, have surprisingly come to differing conclusions. Contrary to the results of most of these studies, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that there was a major effort by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to generate a public marihuana crisis to create pressure for this legislation. Indeed a review of newspapers as well as the Congressional Record does not demonstrate a nationwide marihuana crisis. Moreover, this legislation is not the important legislative change implied by these studies, but merely a symbolic gesture involving a Bureau promise of no increased funding required by this laws passage.

Dissonance and contradictions in the origins of marihuana decriminalization

Le mouvement pour le retrait des peines criminelles devant sanctionner la possession de Marijuana aux Etats-Unis constitue un cas tres interessant pour etudier les causes et le processus de depenalisation. Entre 1973 et 1978, 11 Etats reduisirent les peines criminelles pour la possession de petites quantites de Marijuana, mais ce mouvement de reforme fut fragile, bref et limite a quelques Etats. A la fin des annees 1970, alors meme que ce mouvement de reforme etait acheve, une certaine ambivalence de la morale rendit la penalisation symbolique et les arrestations pour possession de Marijuana ne furent considerees comme prioritaires par la police

The need for thin description

Qualitative researchers tout the distinctive character of their work as thickly descriptive of the subject matter. They evaluate published results in the same terms, giving high marks to the richness of the best research. This article unpacks this universal standard and discusses the influence of preinvestigative empirical purview, analytic aims, and available data in addressing the question of why there is a need for thin as well as thick description in the enterprise. Laud Humphreys’s book Tearoom Trade, its research project, and unpublished observational notes are used as case material for considering the relative effects of the latter two influences on richness. The purpose is not to devalue thick description but to turn critical attention to the various influences at play in the realization of richness.

Symbolic Severity in the Land of Easy Virtue: Nevada's High Marihuana Penalty

Nevada is the only state where first-offense possession of the slightest amount of marihuana is a felony, punishable by up to six years imprisonment; ironically the state permits casino gambling and prostitution. News reports, government records, and interviews with public officials show that in Nevada marihuana and other drug use is continually, but incorrectly, blamed on tourists, and high penalties are thought necessary to control these outsiders. While it is recognized that the high penalties are seldom enforced, respondents said that their existence gives the state a more respectable image.

Prohibition of Beer in Iceland: An International Test of Symbolic Politics

Beer has been prohibited in Iceland since 1915, but wine has been legally imported since 1922, as have all other alcoholic beverages since 1934. Since 1932, ten unsuccessful attempts have been made to repeal the beer prohibition. Using the records of parliamentary debates, newspaper reports, opinion poll results, and interviews, we examine the degree of fit between this legislation and Gusfields model of linkage between status politics and symbolic legislation (Gusfield, 1955, 1963, 1967). We also identify the type of demographic and economic settings that appear to create an environment that encourages symbolic politics.

Drug Globalization: Eventual Legalization of Beer in Iceland and Marihuana Decriminalization in the USA

Beer was banned in Iceland for the most part of the twentieth century, 1915–1989. Using records of parliamentary debates, law enforcement records, surveys of public attitudes, and census data, the main arguments used for and against the law in Parliament show that it was largely unenforced, or symbolic law. An attempt will be made to illustrate why beer prohibition was abolished in 1989 and what effects liberalized alcohol policies have had on the consumption of alcohol in society. Finally, similarities of prohibition of alcohol and the current prohibition of drugs will be deliberated. The main arguments for the prohibition of beer were that beer was particularly hazardous to young people and workers. However, advocates of legal beer believed it to be a peculiar arrangement to ban beer while allowing hard liquor. External and internal changes, opening of the society and its changed conditions, gradually led to liberal views regarding alcohol policies which eventually led to the abolition of the beer prohibition in 1989. The past and current challenges in the USA, with both alcohol and marihuana, will be compared to Iceland in the current economic crisis. Evidence of policy change towards use of drugs can be detected in Europe, surprisingly led by Portugal, which decriminalized all drug use in 2001, which might suggest a possible policy shift in the future. Globalization and economic interests provide a significant basis for legal change in Iceland and the USA.

Deja vu all over again : The recurring life and death of capital punishment legislation in Kansas

After the U.S. Supreme Courts 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia banning the use of capital punishment as then practiced, American states immediately began rewriting their death penalty laws. While most states rushed to enact new death penalty legislation, Kansas was not successful in these attempts until recently. Although a restricted death penalty bill became law in 1994, concerted efforts directed toward reinstatement occurred in 18 of 22 legislative sessions with consideration of 48 bills. This case study examines the Kansas legislative experience with death penalty politics. We describe an ambivalent history and tradition toward capital punishment, document the triggering events that affected the eventual passage after 22 years of debate, and discuss the legislations symbolic nature for both supporters and opponents of capital punishment and how passage of a very restricted death bill was consistent with the cultural tradition of normative ambivalence in Kansas.

Professional ethics, personal moral commitment, and the law

The following article by Sjoberg et al. challenges sociologists to concern them selves with issues of human rights if our discipline is to address defining events of the twentieth century such as the Holocaust. One must remember, of course, that Nazi genocide was performed by representatives of the German government and was technically legal under German law. These events apparently were not lost on University of Chicago sociologists trained during and after the rise of National Socialism. The moral commitment of these University of Chicago soci ologists was such that they often decided that they were on the side of the law violators, as opposed to lawmakers and enforcers. For example, Lindesmith (1965), Becker (1963), Finestone (1957), and Gusfield (1963) clearly placed themselves on the side of those violating substance abuse laws. Troy Dusters essay is consistent with such a commitment in that he convinc ingly demonstrates that the war on drugs of the 1980s and 1990s is misnamed and is really a war against African-American males. While the drug abuse of affluent whites goes largely ignored the numbers of young African-American males incarcerated spirals ever upward. His outrage regarding these patterns clearly reflects the traditional underdog perspective of Howard Becker (1963) and the late Alfred Lindesmith (1965). In contrast to Duster, Farrell and Koch describe the perspective of the numer ous vocationally oriented criminal justice programs that have popped up across the country in regional and community colleges within the past 25 years empha sizing police training. Farrell and Koch argue that, unlike the humanist-sociologi

Making a difference : the practice of sociology

Emphasis on measurement techniques can interfere with understanding how well particular social programs in their field work. In Making a Difference: The Practice of Socioloy, Irwin Deutscher links traditional sociological concerns with applied sociology in an effort to overcome this problem. He contributes to the debate over the extent to which health, educational, and social programs initiated by the Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations have been successful in intimate, human terms. Deutscher believes that the introduction of a sociological perspective can provide a positive element to interdisciplinary pursuits. This belief, as well as his fresh perspectives on both the strengths and limitations inherent in applied sociology, offer the field a revitalising lift. As such, this highly informative, thought-provoking volume will be of interest to sociologists and policy makers in health, education, crime, welfare, and housing.

L. L. Bernard and the original American sociologist

The original version of The American Sociologist (TAS) has been overlooked by contemporary sociologists. L. L. Bernard edited the publication from 1938 to 1947. This article describes the contents of this publication and places these materials in historical context. While there were profound differences between Bernard’s publication and the later TAS, both publications dealt with issues in the sociology of sociology.