Outline and assess the role of the police in the social construction of crime (50 marks) Essay

Social construction refers to the way in which plague and deviance in bon ton might be created and avatard by society and social institutions. This depose occur in a result of different ways. For example, they ass influence humankind perception and definitions of what establishes law-breaking and deviance, deviants or non-deviants. They can also influence the amount of offence in society by amplifying it therefore clamping down on it. They can add impel for changes in legislation which can then alter definitions of crime and can criminalise activities previously thinked as legal. They can also influence the extent, trends and patterns of enter crime in how they operate.Interactionism is an action approach which visions society in a micro perspective. It argues that the definitions of deviance and normality atomic number 18 social constructions and be relative, significance it will depend on a range of factors such as the time, psycheate and social context in which t he act run intos place whether the demeanor is delimitate as a crime or deviant.Marxism is an example of the remote view as they argue that the law and social rules reflect the interests of the risque and powerful groups in society who bugger off managed to impose their ideas and way of opinion on the wider population through coercion and ideologic control. Therefore they argon able to get their assumptions of crime to stick as opposed to the opinions of an commonplace soulfulness on the street.Functionalism moreover argues the consensus view that law and norms about delightful behaviour in any society argon simply a reflection of the wider collective conscience and these laws and social rules are created and enforced to the get of every ace. Therefore deviance is behaviour that breaks these agreements on what is acceptable. Functionalists view this defining accomplish as straightforward and objective.The police are an institution that is assigned the certificate of indebtedness to enforce the law and take action to those breaking these rules, in hallow to achieve order and safety in society. They are therefore insureed as having a key graphic symbol in the social construction of crime. The important way the police display this is through the use of discretion in the enforcement of the law. This refers to when police officers engage to apply their own judgement to decide which laws are suited for the given circumstance. The choices individualistic police officers make would be greatly influenced by their own concerns and interests. Colman and German found evidence in their strike which showed that there were individual racist police offers who apply the law to a greater extent harshly to certain ethnic minorities.Reiner also suggested an explanation on the foot of police discretion which refers to culture. It is noned that the police force are irresistibly white males. Officers work long hours in each others company, being largely is olated from the public. This therefore results in the development of a very specific occupational culture. This is referred to as canteen culture. Skolnick suggested threesome of its components. The first being suspiciousness. This talks about the fact that officers, whilst carrying out their training, are taught to discriminate between decent people and potential troublemakers. According to Reiner, they reason and stereotype certain people as police property. For example, they regard young males, particularly youths from ethnic minorities as potential troublemakers. A chip component is internal solidarity and social isolation.This causes police officers to rely on one another in terms of support when physically threatened and when denying accusations do by the public. Lastly, conservatism refers to those who join the police in the first place are rarely politically radical. However while the job of policing emphasises a non-political attitude, police officers must uphold the la w it also upholds the traditional determine and nature of the state. There is a strong sense of conservative set evident in the police. A final component of masculinity was suggested by Graef. He noted how most police officers are male and haggard from the working program. Their culture therefore ultimately reflects traditional working class values of heavy drinking, physical prowess and heterosexuality. Racial stereotyping is also heavily emphasised and linked with assuming the role of the police officer.Cicourel attempted to breach what deviance is by examining the way in which some acts and individuals become defined or labelled as deviant. Cicourel therefore looked how a young person is defined as delinquent. The first stage is a police officer deciding to stop and interrogate the individual based on consequence held by the policy about what is suspicious or unusual. These can be related to particular geographical areas for example. If the individual portray themselves a s the natural delinquent in ways they speak and in their demeanour, they are more likely to be arrested. The second stage applies if the young person has been arrested, resulting in being referred to a new (probation) officer. The suspects reason is then looked at. Coming from a broken home and showing drear attitude towards authority are factors that would increase the likeliness of them being charged with an offence.Cicourel identifies how social classes can alter the way the juvenile probation officer would consider their choice of action. When a middle class juvenile is arrested they are slight likely to be charged with an offence due to their background not fitting the typical criteria of a delinquent. Moreover, middle class parents are improve able to negotiate successfully on their childs behalf. referable to this, middle class juvenile is often defines as ill or accidently straying from the path of righteousness, allowing them the chance to reform. Middle class juveni le are more likely to be released with just a warning. Cicourel reason out that arbitrator is negotiable and his theories reveal the power and control both the police and the juvenile probation officer take a leak over a young individuals life. This therefore implies that it is these two agents who contribute towards the social construction of crime as they are given the authority to select certain individuals and undergo the do by of labelling them as deviant.Taylor, Walton and Young however criticise Cicourels conclusion as he fails to explain how subjective meanings held by the police and juvenile probation officers of the typical delinquent originate in the first place.Marxists agree with considering the police as a key agent in social construction of crime and deviance but they believe it reflects the ideology of ruling class. Gordon argues that crime is logical and individuals must fend for themselves in order to survive. This is particularly true of the American poor as America has minimal welfare services compared to many other advanced societies. Gordon stated that most crimes in the USA fate the similarity of meeting rational responses to the competitiveness and inequality of life in capitalistic societies.Gordon argues the law enforcers in the USA support the capitalist system in three ways. Firstly they select members of the subject class and punish them as individuals they are viewed as social failures and responsible for their criminal activities. By placing this concentrate on an individual, it draws away from capitalist economy which is primarily responsible for their criminal deviance. secondly the imprisonment of members of the subject class is a way of eliminating those who may have shown opposition to the capitalist society reducing the opposition of the system.Finally by imprisoning the criminals who are enemies of the state, they are sweeping away an embarrassing fundamental outcome of capitalist society. If something was done to help these people, if their difficult situations were made public then it would throw doubt on the capitalist society as it produced them initially. This reflects the idea that enforcers of the law serves to maintain ruling-class power and ideology. Therefore suggesting that the police and courts asseverate their power and control to further strengthen the ruling class and hold back to force submission of the subject class. The laws and the ideas of crime and punishment are argued to have been constructed based on the ruling class preferences.It is also argued that the police are not a significant factor of the social construction of crime and the informal agent of social control which is media has a greater influence. The media shape wider social definitions of what is criminal and deviant. They can also configure the publics perceptions and fears in terms of what they choose to report and how they choose to represent this. This therefore implies that what is considered as d eviant is linked to the influence that the media has on the public, causing them to respond in a certain way. The police can therefore be argued as just victims of the media as it wardrobes them to act against these negative social groups which have been categorised as public enemies, and if they dont choose to take action, the reputation of the police could be threatened.Moral panics is a concept use to pass the medias reactions to particular social groups or acts that threaten social values. Their reaction is often out of proportion to the real threat and puts pressure on authorities to control the problem. Marxists believe that moral panics serve an ideological purpose. Stuart Hall studied the media coverage of black muggers in the 1970s and concluded that it served the purpose of dividing the working class, diverting attention away from the mismanagement of capitalism by the ruling class and justified severely restrictive laws and policing that could be used against other pro blem groups. Stuart Halls theory however is criticised for being too deterministic and ignoring the centre of activity.Functionalists would argue the influence of the role of police in the social construction of crime is wrongly exaggerated. They would describe the police as having a close relationship with the local area being policed. Therefore the role of the police force is being to represent the shared interests of the majority of law abiding people to defend them against the minority of offenders. They would disagree that the enforcements made by the police are revolved more or less the interests of the ruling class as they argue that police officers are skeletal up from the corporation therefore ultimately reflecting its characteristics. They also believe that individual offenders are caught as a result of complaints made by the community not due to the individual police officers view and attitudes affecting the decision.