Sociological Perspectives of Crime - Essay Example

Sociological Perspectives of Crime Introduction Sociological perspectives of crime have undergone considerable changes over the years as theorists attempt to adjust to the transformations in society. This essay highlights a number of changes that have informed changes in sociological theories since 2000 as societies adapted to changing social circumstances. The theories considered for this paper includes social control theory by Ivan Nye that has undergone significant changes in the light of focus being shifted towards surveillance. An another theory under focus is the social disorganization theory advanced by scholars from the Chicago School led by Robert Park and Ernest Burgess that has been strengthen by theorists such as Todd Clear and Dina Rose postulations on mass incarceration and the collective efficacy theory by Sampson, Raudenbush, and Felton Earls. John Alderson’s contribution to sociological perspectives of crime is also highlighted based on the community-policing framework, which has been adopted as an essential component of homeland security due to the events surrounding the September 11 2001 terrorism attack in the United States. Social control and surveillance studies Although admitting the importance of penal systems, social control theorists have sought to identify alternative approaches to social control. The result of works by theorists such as Foucault has been influence on efforts to move socio-legal scholarship attention from focusing on institutions operating in the core penal system to increase the level of attention on the role of ordinary human exchanges. The result of this change in perspective of the social control theory has been the evaluation of role played by criminal justice programs in relation to findings of general studies surrounding impact of policing on criminal activities within a particular social setup1. Social control theory adopts processes found in specialization and social learning to discover mechanisms for reducing predisposition of members of a society to engage in behaviors categorized as antisocial. The theory by Ivan Nye (1958) is an adaption from the functionalist theories that came up with four types of control including direct control where application of punishment is threatened to influence decision by members to avoid crime.2 Internal control where the person uses internal consciousness, indirect, which is the use of peer or parental influencers and, lastly, control through satisfaction of particular needs.3 One of the most significant events with considerable impact on the social control theory is the 9/11 terrorism attack that took place in the United States. The attack, which increased attention on terrorism as posing greater challenge to internal security of many countries, has led to increased focus on surveillance rather than social control of the masses. This shift represents a gradually shift from social control to alternative process that would result in a more proactive approach to criminology with the outcome has been the rise of a new discipline referred to by scholars as surveillance studies.4  The transition from social control to emphasis on surveillance as an important investment in fighting crime has been facilitated by advancement in technology, which makes it possible for authorities to make background check on the current and past involvements and movement of targeted individuals.5 The increase in application of surveillance programs in society has led to heightened critical review of surveillance and intelligence activities with many commentaries noting it was a profoundly invasive force. Such programs have been made possible by increased number of technologies used in collection and analysis of information to the extent that it puts personal privacy and civil liberties at risk. There is increased perception that the level and rate of new technologies being incorporated in surveillance programs does not correspond with the rate at which legislative frameworks to protect civilian privacy are being introduced.6  While surveillance increases the intensity of authorities to fight crime, it also results in unintended outcomes due to increased infringement into the private lives of people. When analyzed as a form of social control, surveillance contributes to development perception of authorities as seeking to propagate totalitarian policies. Sociological and surveillance scholars analyzing the role of 9/11 on overall efforts by governments to fight crime have argued that the event provided room to justify authorization and justification of the use of advanced technologies for surveillance as a tool to fighting crime.7 According to scholars such as Mathieu Deflem, the terrorism attack on United States soil provided a reason for the government to justify its use of techniques that contributed to enhancing trends related to creation of what has been referred to as ‘surveillance society.8’ Additionally, the event resulted in the alignment of state security interests as supported by existing commercial surveillance systems and increased focus on objectives of preventative approaches in terrorism and general crime policing.9 Social disorganization, mass incarceration and collective efficacy Social disorganization is one of the sociological theories that have been advanced by scholars to support the differences in rate of crime affecting urban areas with different compositions of races. The theory was support by analysis of crime in sections of northern cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia that had experienced considerable population booms due to mass immigration of various racial and ethnic groups. As part of the attempt to solve the problem, a number of foundations supported a study conducted in the University of Chicago in the 1920s by an assorted cadre of scholars. The result of input from these scholars was the development of the Chicago School of thought on urban criminology with important leaders of the group being Robert Park and Ernest Burgess. Scholars in the Chicago school understood urban centers having environment with similar functionality to other ecological environments related principles of formation that include dominance, succession and invasion.10 The circle of dominance based on these principles of formation meant that a city is formed when on social group moves in to battle and dominate area, after which, another group invades the area in pursuit of dominance thus completing the cycle. Another concept supported by scholars in the Chicago school is based on the outcome of the study conducted by Burgess (1925) on the emerging cities across the United States, which noted that a town or city is more likely to “expand radially from its central business district—on the map”.11 The result of this stud led to the separation of Chicago city into zones based on a map that indicated several concentric circles with Zone 2 or “the zone in transition” or “the slums” being of the most significance to the theorists.12 This was the region where high number of criminal activities was reported compared to another zones on the map with the theorists determining that the further one moves from the zone the more cases of crime decreases. Further research on social disorganization theory led to identification of a number of features as being telling for any region that might be considered as the zone in transition some of the main features that characterize Zone 2 include unpredictable populations, many families surviving on welfare program. Other features include families living in rentals, multiple ethnic groups living in an area, having an African American as head of the family, high rates of truancy, high rates of infant mortality, high number of unemployment members, more condemned buildings.13 However, towards the end of 1990’s scholars studying the theory of social disorganization began to note the need for the theory to increase its coverage in terms of perspective. The result of this perception led to the birth of two important perspectives; study on role of mass incarceration and the collective efficacy theory. The focus on mass incarceration as an important factor in the theory of social disorganization is supported by a number of arguments that support its contribution in exasperating matters for the affected communities. Supporters of this theory such as Todd Clear and Dina Rose argue that punitive measures such incarceration of large numbers of members of a particular community only contributed to worsening of conditions due to a number of reasons.14 Firstly, this punitive measure negatively affects the socio-economic aspect of the community as it removes many who are depended upon as sources of labor. Secondly, mass incarceration increases mobility in a particular community as people who leave for prison are later on released. Lastly, it increases heterogeneity a particular community as convicted offenders in the correctional facility learn new antisocial behaviors that they come back with to their communities.15 Therefore, studies on the role of mass incarceration has provided support to continued research suggesting the use of alternative approaches that would replace punitive measures especially for offenders who commit small offences. Another theory that has contributed to studies related to social disorganization is the theory of collective efficacy by Sampson, Raudenbush, and Felton Earls, which aims at discovering why the level of crime differs among different urban communities. Collective efficacy as perceived in this theory is identified as the level of “social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on the behalf of the common good”.16 Therefore communities were members demonstrate increased willingness to look out for one another instead of locking themselves inside their houses have lower likely of experiencing crime. Consequently, the level of crime is directly related to the level of collective efficacy demonstrated by members of a given community. Community policing and homeland security Community policing developed by John Alderson has also emerged as an important sociological perspectives on fighting crime in different communities. John Alderson borrowed heavily from the ideas of Durkheim on crime occurrence being inevitable and difficult to eradicate.17 Durkheim noted that elimination of crime depended on members of the community identifying certain actions by members as they are in a better position to use social norms to label the actions as bad or good. Further, Durkheim argues that if crime is functional within the social context of a particular community it plays role maintenance of that particular society. Social efforts to control crime and deviance indicate the flexibility and durability of society to deal with internal and external changes. Community policing as an important resource for fighting crime relies on the ability of members of society to cooperating with law enforcers to introduce measures that reach deep into social problems affecting the community to bring out what is good in the society. These efforts are aimed at identifying social causes of crime while also monitoring the results of their activities. Introduction of community policing was initially meant to serve the needs of inner city communities that were faced with high levels of criminal activities, which overburden law enforcers in their attempts to contain the situation. During its introduction, the approach proved innovate due to a range of measures that could potentially be adopted to assist both the law enforcers and members of the community to contain the situation. This approach of increasing security in inner city had wider implications on the role of the police as due to emphasis on the needs and desires of members of the particular community. Community satisfaction become an important influence for the relationship between low enforces and members of the community.18 Therefore, early forms of community policing aimed at taking a different approach to solving crime by ending the alienation between law enforcers and members of the community. The police were now not required to approach the community with a view of listening and finding solutions to problems affecting society but to work with members of the community in devising appropriate measures to suit their security needs.19 While community policing proved to be an important application of Durkheim’s ideas on reducing crime rate within communities living in the inner cities, there have been considerable efforts to ensure this approach is adopted in the wider society. The 9/11 terrorism in the United States led to increased inquiry on how community policing could be adopted to suit overall security needs of the united states at large as opposed to the original focus on inner-city communities. The result of this inquiry has been introduction of wider form of community policing based on the homeland-policing model that targets the entire police jurisdiction in the United States. While the police were aware of the role played by community policing in fighting crime, there was no strict need for them to employ these method prior to the terrorism attack in the united the United States.20 Additionally, the added responsibly due to the need for the law enforcers to increase their presence with the country meant resources were widely stretched in light of the shrinking budgetary allocations.21 Following the terrorism attack, there was a task force formed with a view of reporting on how effective application of the community policing could be conducted with the country. The 2002 report by the Markle Foundation Task Force produced important details on how community policing would contribute to enhance security with the United States as it noted most of the areas that needed greater initiatives in the homeland security program, were actually outside Washington. Local police meaning cops will increase their efficiency by working with the local residents protect the local facilities in potential targeted areas. It is possible for the police to hear about crimes related to terrorism when they work with local residents such as property owners and airport officials.22 Therefore, approaches in fighting terrorism have many similarities to those applied in dealing with issues related to local crime. Therefore, a number of communities policing approach will find their relevance in the new homeland security model including the adoption of a decentralized decision-making process, accountability and philosophy of organization. Conclusion The foregoing essay has highlighted a number of changes that have taken place in sociological perspectives of crime since 2000. Under changes that have taken place on social control theory by Ivan Nye, the essay has noted increased emphasis on surveillance which is supported by existing technologies as the preferred approach in preventing crime. Further, social disorganization theory advocated by Chicago School has gained more content from contributions made by scholars such as Todd Clear and Dina Rose. These theorists noted that incarceration was having a negative impact on those detained and later released to their communities while collective efficacy theory highlights the role of neighbors in reducing crime rate through watching what goes around in the neighborhood. The role of community policing has also been discussed with the model contributing to efforts to improve homeland security after the 2001 terrorist attack in the United States. Bibliography Brogden, M & Nijhar, P, Community policing: National and international models and approaches. Routledge, London, 2005. 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