In June 2006 Mr. McCollum was conditionally released from Sing Sing Prison where he was
serving a term for burglary and forgery to live with his parents in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. By November he had grown bored with North Carolina and disappeared, violating the
terms of his parole. Authorities believed it was likely that he would return to New York City and
the transit police were told be on the lookout for an imposter posing as a transit worker.
In August 2006 in response to a plea from police asking companies to be watchful for purchases
the might be used in terrorist activities, a public safety equipment company contacted the New
York police to advise them that a man was trying to buy a transit-style badge. The individual
was identified as Mr. McCollum, whose purchase attempt violated another condition of his
parole. Three months later the police were able to reach him on his cell phone, convinced him
to turn himself in and arrested him.
His latest offense is for criminal impersonation; when police arrested him he was in possession
of an official looking transit authority I.D. badge, construction hat and train conductor manuals,
which violated the terms of his parole for earlier offences. When he appeared in court after his
arrest Mr. McCollum admitted that he found trains irresistible and even though he knew that
the terms of his parole prohibited him from any involvement with transit trains in New York, he
still had an overwhelming desire to be in a train yard or train. Advocates for Mr. McCollum
argue that the legal system failed him because he is different in a way that is typically reflected
in obsessive behavior.
Assignment: Analyze this case using course concepts. Write an essay that contains answers to
these three questions: how deviance occurred, what kind(s) of deviance occurred and at least
one theoretical perspective on social control that you think has good explanatory power with
respect to this case.
If you use the text or external resources remember to use APA citations in the body of your
essay and in the corresponding References Cited section at the end of the essay. Reminder:
you cannot use Wikipedia or the websites of other universities;
Create a Microsoft Word document, using double-spacing, paragraphs and subheadings for
each component;
There is no set length for your essay although 750 words or more will probably be needed to
provide sound analysis;
Carefully edit your essay for grammar and spelling errors and for presentation style.