How Does The Tales Of The Grim Sleeper Relate To Sociology

The film Tales of the Grim Sleeper ties into the topics we’ve discussed in sociology by covering topics such as race, class, drug usage, crime and justice and deviance. The film goes goes into detail concerning the story of the serial killer Lonnie Franklin and multiple topics come into view as the story progresses. Lonnie lived in a poverty ridden community with his wife and son. Lonnie and his wife were not very close and were never seen together. Lonnie was very close to his son Chris; Chris’ DNA is later used to convict his father and Chris will feel guilty three years after the conviction. Chris Franklin claimed “[He] lost his best friend’ and that “[He] tries to be there for him” the day that his father was taken into custody. Lonnie

It is very common for acts of deviance to go on in these types of places. Lonnie was notorious for stealing cars and employing his friends and other members of his community to get rid of his evidence. Lonnie provided crack to the women he raped and murdered so he portrayed deviance in the act of drug dealing as well as murder and rape. The women he picked up were prostitutes and therefore instigated participation in illegal activities. The lack of education within the community can lead to deviance in the sense that criminals don’t have a chance to excel and escape their current class system. Lonnie Franklin lived in a very close knit community where everyone looked out for one another no matter what. His son Chris even stated himself that “[He] comes from a line where we don’t have snitches” and Gary, Lonnie’s best friend, says the generations go way back. This is why Chris was in a way “excommunicated” from his family; they were under the impression that Chris gave his dad away to the cops. When the narrator of the documentary first arrives in Lonnie’s town you can hear his friends getting rowdy in the background. When the narrator speaks to them they countlessly defend Lonnie’s name and tells him that Lonnie was a great guy. Despite the secrets that they spilled concerning his deviant actions they still tried to contradict the actions with “positive” traits. Within Lonnie’s community ⅓ of black males

The relationship between Lonnie’s community and the police was quite untrusting. The entire community felt as if there was a lack of concern within the department for black people. Police officers would arrive if someone called and wouldn’t even ask about what they witnessed. They would immediately ask if the witness as used drugs recently and ask questions irrelevant to the situation at hand and that’s why nobody ever reported to them. The LA Police department was a victim of corruption. The police officers involved with this specific case didn’t interview Gary even though he was an obvious witness and an insider on Lonnie’s personal life that could have been very beneficial to evidence. The survivors refused to go to the police as well as anyone else because they believed the police themselves were involved with the murders. The only survivor who went to the police was deemed unreliable even when she gave very specific details which would have easily lead the officers straight to Lonnie way faster than it took without her. Aside from the LAPD not taking valuable witness statements, they also didn’t alert the community that there was an active serial killer in the neighborhood and when they did, they didn’t release the 911 call so someone could possibly identify Lonnie’s voice. They also proceeded to disrespect the victims family and didn’t do any booking, fingerprints,