SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION[OF] CRIMEAgents of Social Control: Police, Courts, Media

What does ‘social construction’ mean?

• It means the same thing can be interpreted in different ways.

• How something is interpreted depends on the norms/values of the society in which the things exists/happens.

• Nothing is criminal until a law is made. Nothing is deviant until something defines it as deviant.

WHAT IS SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION?

1. CHANGE LEGISLATIONThe more legislation, the more criminals. Legalising actions reduces the amount of criminals.

2. CHANGE INTERPRETATIONS OF LAW(e.g. a widening of criteria for what constitutes sexual harassment)

3. CHANGING MORAL VALUESAs our values change, our tolerance for certain behaviours changes (e.g. less likely in 2014 to tolerate domestic violence, compared to 1974).

HOW CAN CRIME BE SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED?

THE POLICE

• They enforce the law…

• …However, they have to use their discretion in deciding how and when to enforce the law.

• Police discretion will be applied based on the norms/values of individual officers and forces.

• …Therefore, the police shape the way in which the law is used.

HOW POLICE INFLUENCE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF CRIME: POLICE DISCRETION

• Police officers will interpret and apply the law based on their individual concerns/values…

• Colman & German (1982) demonstrated that individual racist police officers will apply the law more harshly to ethnic minorities.

INDIVIDUAL POLICE DISCRETION

• Police are mostly white and male. They work long hours, largely isolated from the public.

• They develop a canteen culture, which informs how they work.

• For example, based on shared stories/beliefs, certain types of people are stereotyped as potential troublemakers.

• The police canteen culture also emphasises masculinity, conservatism and solidarity.

CULTURAL POLICE DISCRETION

• A Marxist view…

• …Police are agents of social control in capitalist societies.

• …The definitions of crime held by police reflect the values of capitalism.

• This is why they pursue street crimes/burglary and not white collar crimes.

STRUCTURAL POLICE DISCRETION

• The ways in which the police categorise and record crime also contributes to the social construction of crime.

POLICESTATISTICS

• What other police strategies have we identified that could impact the way crime is perceived in society?

DISCUSS

THE COURTS

• The type of court someone is judged in suggests the seriousness of the offence.

• Crown Court is for the most serious offences, whereas Magistrates Courts are for less serious offences.

HOW THE COURTS INFLUENCE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF CRIME

• 40% of Magistrates are 65+• Over 70% of Magistrates are

from Social Class I Backgrounds.

• 81% of Judges are Male• Over 96% are white

The way judges/magistrates apply the law will be influenced

by their middle-class, white male norms and values.

MAGISTRATES AND JUDGES

Smart (1989)• The judicial process is

androcentric (male-centred).

• Courts are focused on male concerns – women would be better off not going to the law for help.

FEMINIST VIEWS

THEORETICAL VIEWS

The ‘Risk’ Society• Our perception of risk is often

unrelated to the factual risk (e.g. perceptions of death by gunshot in the UK)

• The role of police/courts is to identify and manage risk – targeting individuals based on the actual risk they pose.

‘High’ and ‘Low’ level crime and punishment is therefore

constructed by courts/police based on assessment of risk.

POSTMODERNISM

Cicourel (1976)• The police (and other areas

of criminal justice) build up pictures of ‘typical delinquents’ and are more likely to pursue and arrest this type of person.

• This means that some types of people are much more likely to have criminal records than others.

PHENOMENOLOGY

• Crime and deviance are defined by the ruling classes.

• The laws passed by the state – and the police and courts which apply and uphold these laws – are all working to preserve the powers of the ruling classes.

MARXISM

THE MEDIA

• The media often chooses to focus on particular people/groups…

• …The style of reporting/presenting defines these people as problems…

• …The public are encouraged to be anxious and to demand greater control (e.g. through new legislation, tough sentencing or new policing approaches)

MORAL PANICS

• Stan Cohen (1972) studied media reaction to the mods and rockers youth subcultures.

• Goode & Ben-Yehuda (1994) defined the term folk devil as a ‘stereotype of deviance’, encouraging the public to view deviants as selfish and evil.

Moral Panics can erupt suddenly and usually

disappear just as quickly – though can have a lasting

effect. In extreme cases, it can result in changes to the law.

MORAL PANICS

• Binge Drinking (Borsay; 2007) this moral panic very similar to one that gripped Britain in the 1700s.

• Hoodies (Fawbert; 2008) studied the labelling of hoodies and the impact of banning hoodies from some public places.

• Pampered Prisoners (Jewkes; 2006) found that the media reporting on prisoners tended to confirm the existing views of the reporters (e.g. that prisoners ‘had it easy’).

CONTEMPORARYSTUDIES ON MORAL PANICS

Furedi (1994)• Societies fail to adapt to

change• The older generation is

frightened of the younger• Traditional norms and values

seem increasingly irrelevant• There is a sense of nostalgia

for the past and a worry that the present is out of control

WHY DO MORAL PANICS HAPPEN?

Hall (1979)• They serve an ideological

function.• They divert attention away

from the failings of capitalism by turning the working classes against each other.

MARXIST VIEW ON MORAL PANICS

• They focus on social reaction, so ignore primary deviance.

• They whip up support against groups considered a ‘threat’ by the powerful groups in society

• They assume a hypodermic syringe model of media influence

• They are becoming less frequent and harder to sustain (McRobbie)

EVALUATION OF MORAL PANICS