DISCUSSIONS

1. Hate Crimes
   The events of September 11, 2001, contributed to an increase in hate crimes against Muslims around the world and especially in the United States. In the first year after the September 11 attacks, anti-Islamic hate crimes in the United States rose more than 1,000%.
   After reading the required materials for this discussion, please address each of the following questions:
   1. How has post-9/11 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab backlash and discrimination affected local and global communities? Please provide examples.
   2. How are hate crimes related to fear and/or ignorance?
   3. Why do some individuals and groups believe that violence directed at Muslims, as a form of revenge, is acceptable more than a decade after 9/11?
   
   Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. 
2. Prisons and the War on Drugs 
   Drug abuse has been defined as a significant social problem. This discussion provides an opportunity to examine this problem as well as the consequences of our reliance on punishment as a solution to drug abuse.
   After viewing the required video for this discussion, please answer each of the following questions:
   1. Discuss the differences between a culture's folkways, mores, and taboos.
   2. Why are some deemed infractions of normative expectations termed criminal and others social?
   3. How does this definitional process lead us to incarcerate fellow citizens?
   4. What sociological factors contribute to the criminalization of individuals in society?  Explain your answer.
   5. Does the seriousness of drug abuse justify our reliance on the social consequences of incarceration?
   
   Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.