'Criminology Coursework – Assessing the riots Essay\r'

'Criminology is foc utilise on the attempt to s domiciliate the meanings gnarly in kindly inter meetion. Theorists defy es avow to explain sociological behaviour by aspect at the patterns reachd by man-to-mans that lodge plague. The horrible 2011 riots atomic number 18 pivotal in explaining criminological behaviour since authorised statistics show that 865 individuals were put in prison house by the 9th common peopleember 2011 for offences related to the dis come in in the midst of sixth and 9th fantastic 2011. This is non to say that others were non involved, to a greater extentover that they encounter simply not been identified to appoint custodyt and w te atomic number 1eighthorn never be identified, that the depict we do concur ab break with the recent riots let outs us plenty to talk about. This essay go out come through a basis for causes of the 2011 riots by applying the ‘Labelling hypothesis’ and the ‘anomie speculationâ€℠¢ to events that led to such behaviour. patsy Duggan was whirl by a constabulary force force of nature ships officer from the specializer firearms com human organismd team and as life-taking errors were do on behalf of the jurisprudence force, such events that led up to the riots counsel that the legal philosophy service could be to blame.\r\nIt was on the sixth horrible that relatives sparked the riots by setting fire to police vehicles as they demanded information about Duggan’s stopping point, except the British Prime Minister David Cameron rejected a causal relationship amidst the death of Mark Duggan and the subsequent looting. Some say labelling is not a ‘ hypothesis’ because it does not give an explanation of law, still questions why we oblige such rules. For Labelling theorists there is no such thing as umbrage, as we create the laws and punishments by defining certain acts to be pervert. degenerate style to depart from usual or re liable standards. Leading theorist Kitsuse said â€Å"it is the chemical reactions of the conventional and correcting members of hostel which call and interpret behaviour as deviant which sociology transforms persons into deviants”.\r\nThis gist that it is not the actions themselves that argon crimes but the affectionate response to such actions that the majority of community deem to be unacceptable and so these actions constitute been made crimes. This is how we label individuals to be fells as they do not conform to the behaviour of the ideal majority. This pile be un fresh to minority groups since they whitethorn not deem their actions to be criminal but do not have a choice, for example the intro of the nefarious evaluator Act which criminalised previously closely-mannered offences such as air division 63 which gives police the indicators to remove persons attending or preparing for a rave. The aspire of the act was to give greater penalties for anti -social behaviour; nevertheless such activities same raves whitethorn be anti-social in behaviour from some perspectives but is merely a form of entertainment to others and so this is discriminatory against ravers as their recreational activity has been barred.\r\nCommentators have seen the Act as a draconian piece of legislation which was explicitly aimed at suppressing the activities of certain strands of alternative culture. In response to this Bill, the band ‘Dreadz star’ released a single called ‘Fight the office’ which have-to doe withs into the Anomie theory (see anomie below) as the band were taking action to rebel the budge in the law by acquire the kernel across through their music. This also reflects Tannenbaum’s stance of labelling; that the process of defining somevirtuoso as a delinquent is collectible to conflict over token activities, which ends in tagging in which the person becomes the thing he is described as being and that the lone(prenominal) centering out is through a refusal to dramatize the grievous. This drive out be applied to the recent riots the passel involved were in conflict with the rest of caller. Official statistics have sh take that 73 per cent of those that appe ard before the courts for the carks involved in the riots had a previous caution or assent and so this fits in with Tannenbaum’s debate that one date a person is labelled to be ‘ openhanded’ they will continue in that manner.\r\nHowever, this data is notwithstanding reliable to a certain extent as we do not know what sort of condemnations the rioters already had and so they have been labelled as criminals due to aberrance. According to Becker aberrancy is ‘a consequence of the performance by others of rules and sanctions to an offender’. Becker came to the conclusion that mountain ar criminalised through the process of negotiation, known to be social constructionism for e xample the Crown Prosecution Service may cast away the charge of murder to manslaughter if there is not enough evidence to convict for murder. By doing this the suspect becomes labelled for the crime of manslaughter even though he may truly be guilty of murder. By introducing what could be regarded as ‘petty’ legislation to a greater extent sight will be labelled criminals, which in repeal may lead the offender to act advance on this basis. Lemert referred to this as secondary deviance as when a person is labelled criminal they change their view of themselves and this then becomes their ‘master status’.\r\nOn the other hand primary deviance is when someone violates a social code, but does not get labelled. Therefore a person is only labelled a criminal if he is caught and since cultural minorities are case to practically more examen than the white population this puts lightlessness people at an automatic disadvantage. Following the inquiry into t he death of Stephen legalityrence it was bring out that the police are institutionally racist. Institutional racialism can be specify as ‘the bodied failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and superior service to the people because of their colour, culture or social origin’. This can be seen where police failed to nominate the attack on Stephen Lawrence as being racially aggravated and presumed it was gang related. This is due to the labels devoted to coloured people that they are all associated with b deprivation on black heavy weapon crime.\r\nOfficial figures show that black people in England and Wales are six propagation more probably to be stopped and faceed by police in comparison with their white counterparts. The power given to police to stop and search is immemorial under the Criminal justness Act and requires the police to anticipate craze. For the Mark Duggan case although the officer may have reasonably believed the suspect had a gun this was due to the label bring togethered to him because of the colour of his fur and so such an assumption was not as a result of any proper intelligence. This reflects institutional racism as it is hard to believe that a white person would have been treated in the same way. Despite many an(prenominal) black deaths in police custody there has been no conviction of a police officer. This is because of assumptions made that the victim moldiness(prenominal) have been at fault because of the stigma that is attached to black people. This suggests an element of layer because the lower class would most likely be punished when caught, whereas many officials manage to escape minor crimes and so the bass and powerful are protected.\r\nThe Brixton and Toxteth riots were also in response to such disagreement as at this while the police thought they were ‘the law’ and so used brute force against many individuals for mere question when in matter of fact they had done nada wrong. Goffman referred to stigma as ‘spoiled identities’ which he defined as ‘an attribute that is deeply discrediting deep knock down a particular social interaction’. Referring back to the riots this intend that certain people, in particular black people cannot rid themselves of such ‘spoiled identities’ and as a result are some(prenominal) more likely to be subject to assumptions that they are deviant. It was Schur that outlined that a person employs deviant behaviour as a means of defence. This is relevant to the recent riots since one man declared that he only joined in after being stopped and searched several clock while trying to fabricate his way class from the disturbances in the city centre. This suggests that the riot was escalated by individual retirement account towards the police as they inherit discrimination in carrying out their duties. Although racism is rooted in astray divided attitudes, values and beliefs, discrimination can march on irrespective of the intent of the individuals who carry out the activities of the institution.\r\nThis means that the police may not even be aware that they are being racist, but the labels they attach to certain individuals are present regardless of whether it is intentional. This could be because of the small number of ethnic minority police officers and so the force is not representative, which in number reflects the ignorance to the modern, multi-cultural partnership that we live in. So is it fair to say that the police are to blame for the break out of the riots or that they did not carry out their duties efficiently enough to prevent them? The telegraph has cited that Mark Duggan was well known to the police. They had assumed that Duggan had a gun and further misleading information leaked to the humans that the victim had real fired bullets at the police first. Both assumptions made by the police turned out to be false and so this created an outburst of peevishness since it appeared that such assumptions were ground on the fact that Duggan was black.\r\nLabelling is a problem that cannot be reversed easily and was conceded by Sir Paul Condon where he stated â€Å"I acknowledge the danger of institutionalisation of racism. However, labels can cause more problems than they solve.” Deviancy Amplication, as Leslie Wilkins pointed out is the process where the reaction by agents or agencies of social control may lead to an escalation, quite an than a diminution of deviancy. The riots reflect this as the deviant behaviour spirals out of control as more acts are defined as crimes which leads to more restraints against deviants which in turn leaves them feeling as outsiders and so pushes them into the environs of other criminals which again leads to more deviant acts. The 1981 Brixton riots produced the Scarman cut across which emphasised the duty of police to apply the law firmly and sensitively without differing standards and although many measures were introduced to improve effrontery and pick uping between the police and ethnic minority communities, the Macpherson inquiry in 2000 said the Metropolitan police still pay backed from institutional racism.\r\nAlthough it is evident that labelling causes many problems that cannot be reverted, it would not have been diplomatic to keep the faithfulness substructure the institutional racism a private from the worldly concern and so on its emergence it is fair to say that this caused the beginning of the riots. As a result of this the police have now too been labelled and because much trust has been lost in the eyes of the public. The Anomie theory was established in the aftermath of the industrial revolution where ordering had been subject to a social transformation, which precept a drop in the ability to maintain order. Durkheim said crime is normal in any society and is usable in 2 ways. The first being an adaptational function that ensures change in society by introducing new ideas and practices and the second type is the boundary caution function that reinforces social values and norms through incarnate action against deviance. He then progressed by outlining two typical social formations; organic solidarity and mechanical solidarity. thorough solidarity is organised around rest, whereas mechanical solidarity displays identical and shared values and so sanctioning is served here to identify and exclude offenders.\r\nThe two latter formations were used to understand the rates of suicide. Durkheim said that the suicide rates are down to social solidarity; that is the integration into social groups and the jurisprudence of social norms. His findings showed that anomic suicide occurred where the degree of ordinance was insufficient because individuals feel a sense of ‘normlessness’. This can be shown through the amount of suicides within prisons, namely Kilmarnock’s private prison, wher e six suicides have occurred since the prison opened in 1999 until 2005. In the BBC Panorama create mentally investigating Kilmarnock prison a riot within the prison was described, where officers recall witnessing inmates setting fires, flooding and shattering televisions. This can be compared to the riots outside the prisons as the time at which they occur is when individuals are subject to sparing and social change. In times of rapid social change, such as that from mechanical to organic solidarity systems of regulations may be insufficient to effectively limit individual desires and so what emerges is a state of anomie.\r\nThis theory is therefore applicable as the Toxteth outburst, that followed the Brixton riot reflects a civilian knowledge against the social change because during this time Toxteth had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The citizens of Toxteth felt let down by the Government as the city hit a right and they were given little aid to be able to survive and so could not fit in with society. This is also the same for the more recent capital of the United Kingdom riots as society exertions through the recession where high unemployment and high crime is also present. Durkheim also related organic solidarity to the sexual difference between men and women. He outlined that men are much more likely to commit crime due to the higher impact social change has upon males. This can be reflected through the 2011 riots as statistics show that out of all offenders brought before the courts10% were effeminate and 90% were male. Whereas Durkheim’s work related crime to insufficient normative regulation, Merton’s Anomie theory was a result of the absence of alignment between socially- sought after aspirations, such as wealth, and the means available to people to pass on such objectives.\r\nAccording to Merton every society has cultural goals in which to strive for throughout one’s lifetime and it was the â₠¬ËœAmerican fantasy’ that this theory derived from. Although Martin Luther King, Jr. strived for racial equality, few will retract that American’s are focused on the ‘almighty dollar’. It was the idea that prosperity and mastery were available to all those that worked hard, however Merton argued that the cultural demands on persons to achieve wealth brought about the use of motherfucker means, where they are denied effective opportunities to do so institutionally. Although this is based on American culture it can be applied to the UK as our society today aims for satisfying success. This is reflected throughout the looting that transpired out of the 2011 riots as much of the disorder was in aid of stealing goods and electrical products.\r\nThe BBC referred to this in headlines as ‘greed and criminality’, however others argue that the subsequent looting was due to the lack of help from the Government, which has left many people in a state of desperation. Merton recognised that the majority of society will conform even though they suffer the strain of anomie, however those that do not conform can be categorised into four types of deviants. These four human adaptions are known as the Innovator, the Ritualist, the Retreatist and the sedition. In the UK the typical ‘drug dealer’ would be an pioneer as they accept the cultural goals, but do not use the standard institutionalised means. This could be for reasons such as previous convictions preventing them from achieving a value job and therefore other means are used in order to reach the desired material success. Ritualism in contrast refers to those that still have the attachment to the institutional means, however the cultural goals have been lost. Here could fall the single parent working(a) hard at all costs and not actually achieving the goal. Retreatism is where both the objectives and means have been rejected.\r\nMerton says that Retreatism conce rns people who ‘are in society but not of it’, for example a typical British tramp. The Rebellion refers to the behaviour of many young individuals in Britain as they replace the cultural goals and the institutional means with their own rules to cope with anomic strain. The recession is a prime example of an economic break down in Britain, which would result in some members of society number to illegitimate means in order to achieve goals where society has made the end goal much harder to achieve. So, for the offenders involved there is a display of origination as they have the goals but not the means to achieve them and so have jumped on the fortune of crisis in order to gain material success. Merton went on to argue that non-conformity resulted from differential access to opportunities, such as education and employment. From this there is a clear link to labelling as it is societies label that holds back the individual and prevents them from being able to achieve th e end goals legitimately.\r\nThis refers to the majority of the rioters since 73% of the offenders involved had previous convictions, and so although the desired goals are still prominent the label restricts the hazard of getting a decent job which in turn stops them achieving this ideology of material success. Even without a criminal conviction ethnic minority groups struggle to get the same opportunities in terms of employment. feeling at the UK as a whole, ethnic minorities make up about 7% of the population, yet in police forces across England and Wales, just 2% of their officers are non-white. It is also much harder for a police officer from an ethnic minority background to reach the outrank of superintendent and so after much rejection they finally ‘give up’. Following the Brixton riots the Scarman accounting recommended efforts to parent more ethnic minorities into the police force, and changes in gentility and law enforcement.\r\nThe Macpherson report som ewhat 17 long time later showed that nothing has changed. The main problem with this theory is that it looks to assess financial crimes and ignores mindless crimes such as vandalism. However, as the riots are mainly concerned with burglary and thieving (statistics show 13% of disorder was due to theft and 44% was assigned to burglary) this theory is applicable. Looking at the overall causes of the riots it is fair to say that the police have discriminated on the way a person looks and although this may have provoked further crime as deviancy amplication suggests, it is the Anomie theory that best explains the reasoning behind the riots. In order to prevent such trade atrocities occurring again, discrimination in any form must be eliminated from the Criminal Justice System. It was George Orwell that explained how society will become a ‘police state’ and although watchfulness programmes and more police powers have been enforced to give greater security to citizens muc h freedom is later on lost.\r\nTechnology has been put in place in order to secure convictions, however in order for this to work the police must also be subject to the same kind of control. This would prevent discrimination on their part and also cure the public’s trust in the police. The lack of opportunity from the Government has led to a proportion of society to ignore the law, which in turn creates disturbance between the law enforcers i.e. the police and the public.\r\nAs the recent 2011 riots saw a more ‘stand back’ address by the police, they argued that they did not have the proper resources to do due to ‘cut backs’ from the Government, however much of the police fund is spent on the wrong resources and so this must also be addressed for society to be controlled effectively. After the Brixton and Toxteth riots the British public managed to regain police trust, however since the UK returned to an economic state like of that time it was ev ident that some form of protest would also reoccur. As this has happened, equal opportunities must be available to give everybody in society a chance to succeed, which in turn would lose the freshness that is held towards the Government and police.\r\nBibliography\r\nTextbooks:\r\nBowling, B., Violent Racism: Victimisation, Policing and amicable Context, 1998, Clarendon force Gilbert, J., Discographies: leaping Music, Culture, and the Politics of Sound, 1999, Routledge Newburn, T., Criminology, 2009, first edition, Willian Publishing Orwell, G., 1984, 1949, beginning(a) edition, London:\r\nSecker and Warburg diarys:\r\nBowling, B. and Phillips C., (2007) â€Å" disproportional and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence on Police wear and Search”. Modern Law Review. 70(6) Dicristina, B., (2006), â€Å"Durkheims latent theory of sexual urge and homicide”. British Journal of Criminology. 46(2) Reports:\r\nBell, I., 2011, Statistical air on the public disorder of sixth to 9th August 2011 King, M.L., Jr., (1968) â€Å"The American Dream,” Negro report Bulletin 31 (5) Macpherson, W., 1998, The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry, London: piazza side Scarman, Lord J., 1981, ‘The Brixton disorders 10-12 April 1981’, London: HMSO Legislation:\r\nCriminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33)\r\nWebsites:\r\nBBC, December 2011, ‘Toxteth riots: Howe proposed managed reject for the city’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ parole/uk-england-merseyside-16355281 BBC, 11th August 2011, ‘riots: David Cameron’s commons statement in full’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ watchword/uk-politics-14492789 BBC News London, ‘London riots: looting and violence continues’, 8th August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14439970 Cached BBC, ‘On this day: 1981 Brixton riots report blames racial focus’, http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25 Guardian, T., 6th December 2011, ‘Reading the Riots: humble stop and search a key fixings in anger towards police’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/06/stop-and-search rotating shaft Gould, BBC News online radix affairs, ‘Changing face of nicety’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/ side of meat/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/changing_face_of_justice.stm Kerry Townsend, ‘Frank Tannenbaum: Dramatization of curse’, http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/tannenbaum.htm Cached †Similar CachedOxford Dictionary, ‘definition for deviant’, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com Scottish Government, ‘HM Inspectorate of prisons Report on HM Prison Kilmarnock: January 2005’, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/14103535 Cached Warshauer, M., Liverpool arse Moores University, ‘Who wants to be a millionaire:\r\nChanging conceptions of the American Dream’ (2002), http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/American_Dream.htm Wheatle, A., Evenin g Standard, 9th August 2011, ‘We pack answers about the death of Mark Duggan’ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23976405 Television Programmes:\r\nBBC One, 2005, â€Å"Panorama: Kilmarnock Prison Part 1”, LondonCached\r\nâ€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€â€\r\n[ 1 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, foliate 212 [ 2 ]. Ministry of Justice, Statistical air on the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011, (15th Sept 2011) summon 11 [ 3 ]. BBC, 11th August 2011, ‘riots: David Cameron’s commons statement in full’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14492789 accessed 18/02/2012Cached [ 4 ]. Oxford Dictionary, ‘definition for deviant’, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com accessed 20/02/2012 [ 5 ]. John Itsuro Kitsuse, 1962\r\n[ 6 ]. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33)\r\n[ 7 ]. Jeremy Gilbert, Discographies: Dance Music, Culture, and th e Politics of Sound, 1999, Routledge, foliate 150 [ 8 ]. 1994\r\n[ 9 ]. Frank Tannenbaum, 1938\r\n[ 10 ]. Kerry Townsend, ‘Frank Tannenbaum: Dramatization of evil’, http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/tannenbaum.htm accessed 19/02/2012Cached †Similar [ 11 ]. Iain Bell, Ministry of Justice, Statistical publicise on the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011, (15th Sept 2011) page 5 [ 12 ]. Howard Becker, 1963\r\n[ 13 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 212 [ 14 ]. Edwin Lemert, 1967\r\n[ 15 ]. ibid\r\n[ 16 ]. William Macpherson, 1998, ‘The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry, London: Home Office, chapter 6.25 [ 17 ]. Ben Bowling and Coretta Phillips, (2007) ‘Disproportionate and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence on Police Stop and Search’. Modern Law Review. 70(6) 944 [ 18 ]. Criminal Justice and\r\nPublic Order Act 1994 (c.33) section 60 [ 19 ]. Alex Wheatle, Evening Standard, 9th August 2011, ‘We ne ed answers about the death of Mark Duggan’ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23976405 accessed 21/02/2012 [ 20 ]. Erving Goffman, 1963\r\n[ 21 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 217 [ 22 ]. Edwin Schur, 1951\r\n[ 23 ]. The Guardian, 6th December 2011, ‘Reading the Riots: Humiliating stop and search a key factor in anger towards police’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/06/stop-and-search accessed 20/02/2012 [ 24 ]. Benjamin Bowling, Violent Racism: Victimisation, Policing and Social Context, 1998, Clarendon Press, page 3 [ 25 ]. William Macpherson, 1998, ‘The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry, London: Home Office, chapter 6.25 [ 26 ]. Leslie Wilkins 1964\r\n[ 27 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 218 [ 28 ]. BBC, ‘On this day: 1981 Brixton riots report blames racial tension’, http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25 accessed 21/02/2012 [ 2 9 ]. Emile Durkheim, 1972\r\n[ 30 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 170 [ 31 ]. ibid\r\n[ 32 ]. The Scottish Government, ‘HM Inspectorate of Prisons Report on HM Prison Kilmarnock: January 2005’, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/14103535 accessed 21/02/2012Cached [ 33 ]. â€Å"Panorama: Kilmarnock Prison Part 1”, London: BBC One, 27/02/05, Retrieved 03/02/2012 [ 34 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 173 [ 35 ]. BBC, December 2011, ‘Toxteth riots: Howe proposed managed decline for the city’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-16355281 accessed 23/02/2012Cached [ 36 ]. London riots, (6 August 2011)\r\n[ 37 ]. B. Dicristina, (2006), â€Å"Durkheims latent theory of gender and homicide”. British Journal of Criminology. 46(2), 212-233 [ 38 ]. Ministry of Justice, Statistical bulletin on the public disorder of 6th to 9th August\r\n2011, (15th Sept 2011) page 3 [ 39 ]. Robert Merton, 1949\r\n[ 40 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 175 [ 41 ]. Martin Luther King, Jr., (1968) â€Å"The American Dream,” Negro History Bulletin 31 (5), 10-15 [ 42 ]. Matthew Warshauer, Liverpool John Moores University, ‘Who wants to be a millionaire: Changing conceptions of the American Dream’ (2002), http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/American_Dream.htm accessed 21/02/2012 [ 43 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 175-176 [ 44 ]. BBC News London, ‘London riots: looting and violence continues’, 8th August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14439970 Cachedaccessed 22/02/2012 [ 45 ]. T. Newburn, Criminology, 2009, 1st edition, Willian Publishing, page 175-177 [ 46 ]. Iain Bell, Ministry of Justice, Statistical bulletin on the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011, (15th Sept 2011) page 5 [ 47 ]. Peter Gould, BBC News online home affairs, ‘Changing face of justice’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/changing_face_of_justice.stm accessed 22/02/2012 [ 48 ]. ibid\r\n[ 49 ]. 1981\r\n[ 50 ]. Lord Scarman, twenty-fifth November 1981, ‘The Brixton Disorders10-12 April 1981’, London: HMSO [ 51 ]. Iain Bell, Ministry of Justice, Statistical bulletin on the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011, (15th Sept 2011) page 7 [ 52 ]. George Orwell, 1984, 8th June 1949, 1st edition, London: Secker and Warburg\r\n'