Sociological aspects of crime
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
Crime
* A crime is an offence against the public
law
* Concept of crime can vary from society to society
*Funtionalists focus on the individual
* When the crime rate goes up societies become dysfunctional
* Social changes give rise to crime
* Crime is a multifactoral phenomenon
A crime is an offence against the public law. It is an act committed
or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for
which punishment is imposed upon conviction. Crimes violate the law and
order of a society and it negatively affects the social structure and
the society's fundamental values, morale and belief system.
Concept of crime
The concept of crime can vary from society to society. The crimes are
events and actions that are proscribed by the criminal law of a
particular country (Wilkins 1968). In general, the society and its
existing laws define crime. Sometimes crime in one society may not be
seen as an offence in another society. Sometimes acts of crime depend on
the socio-cultural values, religious belief systems and political
ideology.
At times crimes vary to society-to-society. Therefore, crime in one
society may not be regarded as a crime in another society. For instance,
homosexuality is a punishable offence in Iran gay people are viewed as
criminals. Under the Iranian law, if they found guilty they can be sent
to jail. In the western society, gay people have rights and any action
that discriminate them can be challenged in the court of law.
Bigamy is an offence in the Western world and those who violate
martial law can be prosecuted. However, in some countries bigamy or
polygamy is not an offence and on most occasions treated as a social
norm. In countries like Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen etc under the Islamic
law polygamy is permitted but under specific conditions.
Pedophilia
is rejected by most of the contemporary societies and it is considered
as a crime. But in the ancient Sparta sexual acts with children were
considered as norm and it was widely practised.
When the prohibition laws were in action in the USA (from 1919 to
1933) the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol were banned
nationally. Any people involved in such action were prosecuted.
During the Soviet era any person tried to defect to the West were
treated as criminals, those who tried to defect were prosecuted under
the Soviet law. For instance, Mikhail Baryshnikov, the famous Soviet
ballet dancer defected to Canada in 1974 requesting political asylum.
Soon after his defection, the Soviet authorities pronounced him as a
criminal. Similarly, any Soviet citizen who had American Dollars in
their possession without an official document were arrested and
prosecuted under the Soviet criminal law. But after the Prestroika these
laws became ineffective.
Although crime can vary from society to society and time to time some
crimes such as murder, rape, theft etc often remain constant and in many
societies and these acts are condemned by the people.
Definitions
The Greek Philosopher Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) postulated that
poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. The English Philosopher
and the Statesman Sir Francis Bacaon (1561-1626) stated that
"Opportunity makes a thief" Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) believed
that man is naturally good and crime is created by social injustice. The
greater writer Leo Tolstoy believed that roots of crime closely
connected with private ownership of property. Vladimir Lenin was of the
view that crime is a product of social excess. The psychoanalyst Sigmund
Freud highlighted the innate instincts of criminality hidden in the
human psyche. The French sociologist Emile Durkheim defined crime as a
legal construct resulting from the social obloquy directed at certain
forms of behaviour (Durkheim 1958).
Sociological aspects of crime can be divided into broad categories in
relation to social determinants. Crime and criminal behaviour can be
analyzed through functionalist, conflict, feminist and postmodern
perspectives. Sociological aspects view crime and criminal behaviour as
socially acquired and hence focus on the ways in which cultural and/or
social structural factors are crime-producing.
Functionalist perspective
Functionalists focus on the individual, usually with the intent to
show how broader social forces mold individual behaviour. They underline
social cohesion as the key factor of social order. Functionalists like
Talcott Parsons attempted to integrate all the social sciences into a
science of human action. He believed that social system is made up of
the actions of individuals. According to Talcott Parsons equilibrium
model society consists of network of connected parts. He viewed crime as
a disintegrative factor that could affect the homeostasis of the
society.
Based on Talcott model an individual committing homicide has domino
affect and his action reverberates within the society. For instance the
murder of Tori Stafford in 2009 brought horror to her family and created
a nationwide anxiety.
Durkheim viewed crime (deviency) as being just another function of
society. He noted that it forms part of every society, and was therefore
a natural occurrence. In fact, he viewed it as fulfilling various
important social needs; it acted to unify law-abiding citizens against
the criminal, thus "crime brings together honest men and concentrates
them." Recognition of crime was a validation of the existence of laws,
which were in turn a reinforcement of our central values - after all,
"we do not condemn (an act) because it is a crime, but it is a crime
because we condemn it." (Durkheim and the philosophy of causation - M
Travis).
The Functionalist Robert Merton observed the colossal social changes
during the Great Depression. The crime rate plummeted and Merton focused
his attention on the imbalance of power, disproportional distribution of
wealth in an era of economic debacle. Merton in his famous essay, Social
Structure and Anomie (1938) largely discusses crime and criminality.
Robert Merton described so-called manifest and latent functions. Like
any other social phenomenon, crime has its manifest and latent
functions. Manifest functions are open and conscious; whereas latent
functions remain unconscious.
The Functionalists agree that the society is connected to each other
within various systems and thus maintaining an optimal stability. Crime
shakes the stability and makes the society dysfunctional.
When the crime rate goes up societies become dysfunctional. The 19th
century Sicily was shaken by the series of criminal acts that was
launched by the Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian mafia. The ill effects of
crime affected almost all the social layers of the Sicilian society.
People lived in fear and tension maintaining a conspiracy of silence.
The phenomenon of organized crime in Sicily has survived throughout all
political changes and economic transformations that have taken place in
Italy in the post war period. In search of an explanation, some scholars
have blamed the absence of the State. Some others have stressed the
historically predatory relation between the State and the Southern
regions. Recently it has been argued that what makes Sicilian organized
crime successful is the fact that it sells protection in a market
characterized by an endemic lack of trust. (Cottino 2006)
Crime and conflict perspective
Karl Marx believed that ruling class keeps the other classes in a
disadvantaged position and proletariat were always being exploited by
the Bourgeoisie. According to Marxist view, social injustice and uneven
distribution of wealth give rise to crime and criminogenic conditions.
Karl Marx's article on capital punishment published in the New York
Daily Tribune in 1853 comments on the genesis of crime in the society
following economic causes.
Although the basic Marxist premise is that crime is a socio-economic
phenomenon, the Soviet Union experienced deadly waves of crime from the
1917 Socialist Revolution. Some of the violent acts were committed by
various political fractions like Stephen Bandera group. The Soviet
authorities believed that the elimination of private property in the
means of production, the eradication of the exploitation of one person
by another and the resolution of social antagonisms led to the
disappearance of basic social roots of crime in the USSR.
Despite their belief, the crimes were prevailing in the Soviet Union
and like in the Western societies serial murders emerged under the
socialist system. (The serial murderer Andriy Chykatylo or the Red
Slipper of Rostov had killed over 50 children and women). The strict
censorship limited the publishing of comprehensive crime statistics in
the Soviet Union.
Interaction and crime
The sociological theoretical perspective of interactionism explains
that crime emerge as a result of human interaction. Crime is a form of
social interaction consisting of actions and reactions. The
interactionism elucidates crime and how criminals to act within society.
According to the interactionism, everyone has different attitudes,
values, culture and beliefs so as criminals. The Interactionist Herbert
Blumer in his 1933 publication 'Movies, Delinquency, and Crime' explains
the media influence on criminal behaviour. The criminals as Herbert
Blumer views unable to establish empathy. He further says that in
phenomenology (one of the subdivisions of symbolic interactionism)
empathy plays a greater role.
Empathy refers to the experience of another human body as another.
While people often identify others with their physical bodies, this type
of phenomenology requires that we focus on the subjectivity of the
other, as well as our intersubjective engagement with them.
The non-empathic factor was apparent in many crimes. For example,
people who committed crimes against humanity (Hitler, Pol Pot etc)
lacked empathy.
The psychological profile of the serial murder Charles Sobhraj alias
Bikini Killer indicates that he had no violent impulses. Sobhraj had
excellent communication skills and his social interaction was tightly
connected with a process of communication. Charles Sobhraj allegedly
committed at least 12 murders including a Canadian tourist. The
psychological profile also indicate is lack of empathy.
Feminist perspectives
According to the feminist perspective, male domination in society
(patriarchy) and gender inequality have an enormous disadvantage to the
women. The feminists argue that often women become the victims of crime
rather than the perpetrators. The women are subjected to crimes like
rape, abuse, exploitation etc around the globe.
As they point out on most occasions, the women perpetrators of crime
had no control over their situation and they were forced to commit these
anti social acts following the social injustices created by the male
dominated society.
The Indian feminists give a solid example of Phoolan Devi or the
Bandit Queen of India and how she became a criminal. Phoolan was forced
to marry an elderly man at the age of 11 and she underwent mistreatment
by her husband and his relatives. Following unbearable domestic abuse,
she ran away from her husband.
When she came back to her village, the son of the village headman
tried to molest her. Although she was the victim Phoolan was publicly
humiliated by high cast villagers and she was banished from her native
village.
When she returned to her village after a few months, the police
unjustly arrested her and a group of policemen raped Phoolan. These
mental and physical traumas led her to form a bandit group and she
unleashed a deadly violence committing murder and robberies in rural
India.
The American society was shocked by the crimes committed by a female
named Aileen Wuornos. Aileen was born in 1956 in Michigan. Her father
was a habitual child molester and felon and was imprisoned for rape and
attempted murder and committed suicide while in prison. Soon after his
death, Aileen's mother left her. She was raised by her grandparents who
had no constant income.
Aileen Wuornos had a tormented childhood and she entered the society
as a misfit. At the age of 15, Aileen ran away and became a petty
criminal and a prostitute. While working as a sex worker many times she
was brutally raped and she sustained physical injuries. In later years,
Aileen Wuornos killed seven men by shooting her victims multiple times
and dumping their bodies in remote locations. Aileen Wuornos was
arrested for murder and faced a trial. She was executed in Florida in
2002 by a lethal injection.
The stories of Phoolan Devi of the Indian society and Aileen Wuornos
of the North American society evidently show the validity of the
arguments presented by feminists on crime.
The Canadian sociologist Dorothy E Smith in her Standpoint theory
suggests that the predominant culture in which all groups exist is not
experienced in the same way by all persons or groups.
The marginalized groups live in the predominant culture must learn to
be bicultural or to pass in the dominant culture to survive, even though
that perspective is not there now. (De Francisco 2007)
Post modern perspective
According to the post modern perspective, social changes give rise to
crime and there is no single theory to explain the genesis of crime.
Postmodernists view that all truth is relative.
Under these circumstances, individuals have lost faith in universal
belief systems or 'grand narratives'. The contemporary culture is
characterized by the problematization of objective truth.
The modern society is exemplify by consumerism and influence by the
media. To explain the crime and criminal behaviour postmodernists use
critical theory, which is a social theory, oriented toward critiquing
and changing society as a whole.
According to Hannah Arendt, men are not capable of forgiving what
they cannot punish, nor of punishing the unforgivable.
On the other hand, Jacques Derrida states that we can maintain a
legal accusation even when we forgive, or inversely, we are able not to
judge but we can forgive. (Forgiveness and crimes against humanity: a
dialogue between Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida - Clauda
Perrone-Mois,s)
Michel Foucault in his alluring book 'Discipline and Punish: The
Birth of the Prisons' examines the social and theoretical mechanisms
behind the massive changes that occurred in western penal systems during
the modern age.
Several centuries ago, criminals were punished in public to
discourage committing crimes. According to Michel Foucault, the public
spectacle of torture was a theatrical forum that served several intended
and unintended purposes for society. Based on Foucault's argument
reflecting the violence of the original crime onto the convict's body
for all to see remained as the main purpose.
In the modernist approach, crime is multifactoral phenomenon and some
postmodernists try to explain the crime and criminal behaviour via chaos
theory.
Based on the common notion murders and the rapes as the
manifestations of crime, but in reality they are the consequences of
other social occurrences. Chaos Theory holds that it is virtually
impossible to predict the outcome of any social phenomenon because
social events are susceptible to change.
In the postmodern condition, life is in fragments and people
experience everyday life as an open space of moral, political and
personal dilemmas.
The concept of crime can vary from society to society. Sociological
aspects of crime can be divided into broad categories in relation to
social determinants. In the sociological perspective, crime and criminal
behaviour is viewed in defiant standpoints. According to the
functionalist perspective, the society is interlinked with various
systems and crimes make the society dysfunctional.
The conflict theorists believe that social exploitation and unequal
distribution of wealth trigger criminality in the society. The
sociological theoretical perspective of interactionism explains that
crime emerge as a result of human interaction. The feminists argue that
often women become the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators.
The post modern perspective explains that social changes give rise to
crime and there is no single theory to explain the genesis of crime. |