American police

American Police
Name
Institute Affiliation
American Police
Deviance is conduct that infringes the set rules and norms of society. On the other hand, medicalization involves turning something that was previously non-medical aspect of life into a medical matter. Various phenomena have been medicalized such as birth, menstruation, aging, sexual difficulties among others. Medicalization of deviance is, therefore, a process whereby morally condemned belief, conduct or appearance is put under the medical jurisdiction (McGann & Conrad, 2007). With the medicalization of deviance, the American police end up not being involved in a matter that was initially under their authority. For instance, a criminal might have been arrested for walking naked but ones found to have a mental illness he is delegated to a different agency (Chalfant, 2010). The police do a background check up on their inmates before taking them to court.
The involvement of police in medicalization has been of great aid in ensuring justice is served. When a person is found to have committed a felony out of a mental disorder, arresting him or her is not the best course of action to take. But by presenting the person to a psychiatric rehab facility, the individual is more likely to be assisted. Also involving the police in these types of programs will help identify the cause of some crimes, and therefore advise on the appropriate preventive measures to take. The leading cause of road accidents is reckless driving which is often a result of drinking and driving.

Some people suffer from alcoholism and cannot do without taking alcohol. When such people are arrested, seeing them through to a rehabilitation center is much better than sending them to court. Therefore the American police should be more involved in the medicalization of deviance for a better society.
References
Chalfant, H. P. (2010, February 24). Professionalization and the Medicalization of Deviance. Offender Rehabilitation, 2(1), 77-85.
McGann, P., & Conrad, P. (2007). Deviance, Medicalization of. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. doi:10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosd049