Deviance

When we went to see the court case, I noticed that a lot of what was going on connected back to what we were learning about in class.  Gary was obviously deviant seeing as he committed a violent crime against his mother and the escort tha he hired. Gary was also punished through formal social sanctions because the police arrested him and he was going through a fomal hearing to get his sentence. Not only that, we as an audience served as a mode of informal social sanctions. We served that role because we all judged him for what he did, and many of us addressed him as a murder and looked down upon his actions. Not only that we got to witness part of the legal funnel system because Gary's case had to go through all the initial steps to reach an actual trial.You could also apply the functionalist theory to what happened with Gary and his mother because people can take what Gary did and see all the consequences he is going through and it will help prevent people from following in the same path that Gary chose. Another theory that would apply would be the lableing theory because we as a society have deemed murder and the solicitation of escorty as deviant behavior and have made it an official issue by making it a law. So because Gary committed murder and solicted escorts, he committed a crime and had to go through the legal code. Gary will also be paying retribution to society by serving his time in prison.