Sociology of Law Take Home Exam
Question #2 - Morgentaler
Based on the documentary “Democracy on Trial” the response that the Canadian legal system had to the issues that had been presented to them because of the illegal actions of Henry Morgentaler were the following. The court system responded to the actions of Henry Morgentaler by charging him on multiple occasions for the performing of abortions that had been illegal at the time. While some police responded differently because they were able to acknowledge that abortions were against the law because they had seen the negative effects of botched abortions. Finally, the jury system responded to Morgentaler by having him found not guilty for his acts on multiple occasions. How the interest groups with differing perspectives on abortion were addressed in the documentary was by stating how much support Morgentaler had at the beginning of his charges in comparison to during his acquittals. During the beginning of the series of Morgentaler cases, the majority of society were opposed to abortion and were protesting against Henry Morgentaler. However, as the case progressed more people began to side …show more content…
This chapter makes reference to a concept call interest group thesis which states that laws are created and changed because of the interests that certain groups in society have. This can be applied to Stonewall because the gay community had a common goal as a collective group in society and were able to impact the law in some way. This can then be applied to the analysis of how things were for gay people before and after Stonewall. Prior to Stonewall, gay people were forced to remain silent about their sexual orientation and were forced to remain oppressed. While after the Stonewall Riots people became more tolerant of the LGBT community because of the support they gathered, this can be seen in annual pride
Question #2 - Morgentaler
Based on the documentary “Democracy on Trial” the response that the Canadian legal system had to the issues that had been presented to them because of the illegal actions of Henry Morgentaler were the following. The court system responded to the actions of Henry Morgentaler by charging him on multiple occasions for the performing of abortions that had been illegal at the time. While some police responded differently because they were able to acknowledge that abortions were against the law because they had seen the negative effects of botched abortions. Finally, the jury system responded to Morgentaler by having him found not guilty for his acts on multiple occasions. How the interest groups with differing perspectives on abortion were addressed in the documentary was by stating how much support Morgentaler had at the beginning of his charges in comparison to during his acquittals. During the beginning of the series of Morgentaler cases, the majority of society were opposed to abortion and were protesting against Henry Morgentaler. However, as the case progressed more people began to side …show more content…
This chapter makes reference to a concept call interest group thesis which states that laws are created and changed because of the interests that certain groups in society have. This can be applied to Stonewall because the gay community had a common goal as a collective group in society and were able to impact the law in some way. This can then be applied to the analysis of how things were for gay people before and after Stonewall. Prior to Stonewall, gay people were forced to remain silent about their sexual orientation and were forced to remain oppressed. While after the Stonewall Riots people became more tolerant of the LGBT community because of the support they gathered, this can be seen in annual pride