Criminology Crime Prevetion

Respond to the questions on the comparative texts on “beggars” using the perspectives of left/right realism (approx.

500) 1. 1, 2. 1 Q1) Marsland’s article on “how to sweep these beggars from our streets” fits the right realist approach by assuming that people have chosen to be beggars of their own ‘free will’. He shows this by saying that capitalism and poverty is not the cause of them going begging he refers to them as an ‘intolerable blot’ as he believes them to as being a nuisance and are nothing more than parasites.He says “their possessive occupation like locusts swarming on the harvest”.

He argues that begging should be shamed out of existence but blames the welfare as causing the escalation in begging. As he argues that they do not possess any morals and would advocate the return of the work house as he seems to favour Victorian standards and could also be likened to ‘John Major’s’ ‘back to basics’ speech which took place a year earlier. ( www. guardian.

co. k,politics,1993) It could also be said that Marsland believes the beggars to be lacking in intelligence as Wilson and Hernnstein (1985) while looking at circumstances of black Latin Americans were not caused by discrimination but the ‘fact’ that they were born less intelligent. Herrnstein and Murray (1985) extended on this by linking low intelligence with criminality. (Joyce, P.

(2006) Criminal justice: an introduction to crime and the criminal justice system)Marsland also fits into the right realist approach by playing on the moral fibres of society, by describing them as not possessing the values of hard-working people and therefore creating an ‘us and them culture’. 2) How does Field’s view in Item B differ from the right realist approach? Field’s view differs dramatically from Marsland’s right realist approach as he accepts that the growth of poverty and the lack of work of many young people and their exclusion from mainstream society is a cause of them begging.In the regards to right realism, he takes an opposite view and one could argue that it is left realist approach as it empathises with the situation of the beggars and seeks to understand the problem rather than pushing it to one side. Field sees the beggars as victims of society rather than criminals and also points out that it’s a surprise that there is not more crime in society as he sees begging as a ‘fact of life’ and not a deviance.

Field’s view of the behaviour of the beggars is quite the opposite from Marslands as he describes beggars as peaceful and not the aggressive menace Marsland would lead you to believe.Field also says that beggar’s are not behind the sudden dip in morals that seems to be the right realist view. Although Field seem to paint a pretty picture he does not offer any underlying reason for individual reasons for begging such as drug abuse or alcoholism and he also fails to offer any explanations as to why begging occurs in the first place. He also does not suggest any solution to the problems of beggar’s and he just simply accepts their existence. (Joyce, P.

(2006) Criminal justice: an introduction to crime and the criminal justice system)Task 2 Examine and evaluate key arguments and current debates on crime prevention and control. (approx. 800) 2. 1, 3.

1 There are two types of control in society: formal and informal control. Included in informal control is: friends, family and peer groups. The family offers control by providing us with norms and values and also sets the basis for our morality. Friends and peer groups teach people their role in society and how to conform, as well as socialisation.

As friends and peers tend to be of a similar age, therefore individuals tend to relate more to their peers rather than the family.Formal social controls are organisations or systems with rigid rules, ideologies and morals that we obey. Included in formal social control is: religion, education, the mass media, the health service and the legal system. The mass media controls us by creating moral panic and reporting on things that are seen as deviant. Religion is very similar to family as it sets ground rules to norms, values and also morality.

Education has been referred to as the hidden curriculum (Bowles and Gintis) as you learn without really thinking about it and teaches morality and citizenship to pupils.The health service teaches people to be concerned and responsible about their health. It can be seen as a positive form of control as people are encouraged to be more conscientious about what they are putting into their bodies. The legal system includes the police and the judicial system and can be seen as the most powerful as they teach people the correct behaviours in society with penalties being enforced if they do not obey. As well as control is prevention.

There is primary crime prevention and secondary crime prevention. Primary crime prevention focuses on the environment in which criminal activity occurs.It suggests the best way to reduce crime is to prevent any opportunity of it happening. This is also known as situational crime prevention and works to design out crime. Situational crime prevention is a term used for a group of strategies used to target certain crimes such as vandalism, muggings and rape etc. This became a popular concept in the home office during the 1970’s due to the economics of the time and fell into the right wing ideology.

Examples of situational crime prevention are CCTV, Speed bumps, high pressured sodium lighting and mosquito alarms (used to deter gang from hanging round shops).A study in Stoke showed that an improvement in lighting reduced crimes by 26%. A criticism of the study was that displacement could occur. However, the study shows that individuals in the adjacent areas found a reduction in crime due to the better lighting as more people were on the streets. There is also target remove which is the removal of object that may become a focus of criminal activity for example the removal of trend tool and appliances from commercial/ work vehicles during out of work hours, this is done to prevent theft and vandalism of said vehicles. (Joyce, P.

(2006) Criminal justice: an introduction to crime and the criminal justice system) Zero tolerance has also been suggested as a form crime prevention and was launched on the back of the broken window thesis (Wilson and Kelling 1982) which suggested petty crimes such as ‘vandalism’ were rectified quickly so for example if a window was broken in an area it would be fixed in order to give the impression that the area was cared for.So zero tolerance meant that the perpetrators of said minor transgression would dealt with severely by law enforcement. This policy was delivered as a ‘hard edged’ manner to regaining the streets for law abiding citizens this approach could be criticised by the left realist approach as it plays on moral panics and is not considering why petty crimes may have taken place it just offers a quick fix solution. An argument in favour of zero tolerance I that police ntervention on minor offence could help deter the perpetrators from moving to more serious crimes.

(Joyce, P. (2006) Criminal justice: an introduction to crime and the criminal justice system) The managerial approach is in favour of zero tolerance as it is seen to be cost effective form of control of the identification and classification of risks of crime and is an efficient form of monitoring performance of similar competitive organizational target and is not concern with the out side world as long as it internal goal are meet.For example zero tolerance reducing the over all crime rate. (Muncie J et al (edited) 1996 Criminological Perspectives, A reader) In 2003 another form of crime prevention and zero tolerance toward anti-social behaviour was but on the agenda in aim was to ‘take a stand against anti-social behaviour’ which follow what was know as the ‘respect agenda’. The anti-social behaviour act (2003) introduced several secondary crime preventative measures to deal youth offenders.

For example in order to prevent graffiti taking place the anti-social behaviour act restrict the sale of aerosol paint to children and it also allows school and local authorities and youth offending to find a means to work with or punish to perpetrators of anti-social behaviour, for example banning them from the town centre at certain time and not allowing hoodies to be worn on the premises. Newburn. T (2007) criticized the anti-social behaviour act by saying that the impact it has is unknown and asks whether it is just a means of fast tracking the more persistent offenders into custody. Davies, M.

, Croall, H. and Tyrer, J. (2010) Criminal justice. 4th edn. ) Task 3: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of discussions on abolition in particular the work of De Haan. (approx.

500 words 4. 1 Willem De Haam argues that crime is a result of social order and believes that punishment is not the appropriate reaction, instead the criminal justice system should work with and interference with the personal live of the perpetrates of offences and offer a maximum amount of care services of to all members of society is suggested.The notion would be rejected by the right realist approach as it goes against the persuasion that perpetrators of crime do of the own free will and there for should be punished accordingly. The term ‘abolitionism’ stand for a social movement that is based on a theoretical perspective and political strategy and is consider as a radical critique of the criminal justice system and show that the are more rational ways of dealing with crime other than imprisonment.

The abolitionist call for a wide variety of social responses to crime rather that the currant uniformed state reaction to the problem.De Haam argues that it should be seen as a social policy rather than a crime policy as he believes that dealing with social problems that are currently singled of as crime. The abolitionist anti-prison movement emerged at the end of the 1960 its main objective was to soften the suffering in which society inflict on its prison population this implies that a change is needed in the general thinking concerning punishment and the humanization of imprisonment in the short run followed by a replacement of the prison system by more adequate and up-to-date forms of crime control.Abolitionists also argue that countries such as the UK where their prisons are over crowded are simply ‘warehousing ‘ in order to prevent them from reoffending.

(Abolitionism and crime control: a contradiction in term; in the politics of crime control, eds K. Stenson. and D. Cowell 1991) A contemporary argument for the humanization of prisoners was made by the Pauline Campbell a trustee of the Howard League for penal reform, following the death of Campbell’s daughter Sarah while on suicide watch in the care of HMP and YOL Styal Cheshire January 2003 after she experienced a brutal regime for 24 hour before her death.Sarah was stripped searched twice on arrival to the prison than was taken to the segregation block and isolated and suffered from sensory deprivation.

Campbell questions weather the incarceration of non- violent female offenders is necessary and argues that community sentences would be more appropriate.