Has New Labours Attempt to Reform Youth Justice Been Successful - Essay Example

Running Head: LAW JUSTICE AND SOCIETY Law Justice and Society s Law Justice and Society Has New Labour's attempt to reform youth justice been successful Answer 1 Having an unambiguous explanation of anti social behaviour of the youth would assist in finding out the nature and extent of the problems and come up with a practical solution for youth criminal system. Millie et al (2005: 2) emphasized on two reasons for definitional care. The first one is known as remedies for Anti-social behaviour like Asbos can effectively end the freedom of those on the people they are imposed on, and it is vital to be clear regarding the restrictions to the utilization of the powers. Second, handling Anti-social behaviour needs a strategic thinking as well as work which done in cooperation which in turn require that the agencies concerned are clear regarding the issues they are going to handle. This can truly be seen in the light of to reform youth justice. The vague nature of constitutional definitions have led a lot of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership to follow these definitions (Sprigings, 2005), leading to inconsistencies and divergence in the utilization of Asbos. The mixing of incivilities as well as criminal offences clearly discombobulates basic questions of justice. This results in the intensification of anti-social behaviour, as well as fears and anxieties of the public. Dissertation of boundaries during deviancy control, according to Cohen (1985) evades the issue of if a law had actually been broken, it eliminates the difference among public and private furthermore it also penetrates the family, educational institutions and neighbourhood. As the explanation of visions regarding social control recommended, 'classification' is a essential characteristic of the system, and the growth of deviancy control professions makes way for more classification systems to form new categories of deviance, which need to be fulfilled (Brown, 2004:204). It is quite clear that New Labour government favour a general definition. We can consider this kind of control by Foucault theory of discipline and punishment he believes in order to have power one must need knowledge. In a prison the guard has all the power compared to the inmates. According to Foucault (1981), they have the knowledge to watch and keep the prisoners in order. As for the prisoners they realize they are being observed and they realize that they do not have any authority. If a prisoner does something wrong they will be punished, so when they are in their cell they try not to do anything out of the ordinary. The inmates know that if they do something wrong they will be punished by the guards. The fact that the prisoners know they will punish by a guard for misbehaving shows that the guard has the power and is in charge. ASBO and its Success in Youth Justice System The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was the foremost legislative piece of the New Labour it presented Anti-social behaviour orders along with a lot of other orders regarding sex offender, parenting, o child safety, damages, action plan orders, and custody, so that anti-social behaviour can be appropriately dealt with (www.audit-commission.gov.uk/). This act's main objective is to decrease crime, improve the safety of the community, encourage more successful multi-agency approaches, and develop the trust of the public in the criminal justice system, by means of cooperation with local communities, difficult to reach groups as well as each and every agency of the public sector. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 finished off the doli incapax, therefore resulting to alterations in youth justice. This order has done a lot for the juvenile justice system as an order may be utilized against an juvenile who is 10 years old or more for acting in an 'anti-social manner' moreover it can be used via the police, local authorities as well as registered social landlords (Campbell, 2002 p 56). The minimum period for an order is 2 years. Breach of an order requires criminal measures and penalty to such an act is applicable. The highest penalty for such an offense is a 5 years sentence of imprisonment for an adult offender. The maximum sentence for such an offence done via a juvenile is a detention as well as delivering a training order, this has a maximum term of twenty-four months to twelve months of which is custodial and twelve months service in the community. Foucault believes that if a person works to keep power they will be creating more knowledge. A doctor has the knowledge to help patients with their body and health, which means they may know what is wrong about someone. Say a person is seriously ill; the doctor may undergo a thorough review. He is going off of what he already knows to try to figure what is wrong with the patient. The doctor is in charge and in power. Since the patient doesn't know what is wrong with themselves they go a professional to find out. The doctor is practicing his power to gain more knowledge to help cure patients. As a result, Foucault's idea is saying one needs knowledge to stay in power or in order to have power one needs to have and gain knowledge. A person may already be in power, but then the choices they make may lose them their power. A teacher is in control of a classroom, however if that teacher does not know what she is doing and allows the children to do whatever they want she will be losing her power over the students. The children in the classroom will be taking over. One must practice his or her power in order to stay in control. If the teacher takes control of what the students should be doing, not only will she be in power, but be gaining knowledge to control the children. Once the teacher is in power she will gain the respect and the attention of her class. New Labour's responses via different governmental methods have turned out to be counter-productive for security measures in order to tackle anti-social behaviour, though it is inappropriate for legislative measures as well as its processes. It has led to an increase of the problem of youth, increases new deviancy as well as the discouragement of the rights of youth. Actions like Anti-social behaviour orders have strengthened the net of social control, internal community conflicts and enhanced the chances of youth for moving up one more step of the ladder of criminalisation. There is ample evidence that can be put forth from research findings, these findings can be found in the public and private-sector organisations which may lead to the fact that the permutation of individualised early involvement, net-widening, stigmatisation, criminalisation, classification and social response in shape of moral panic can almost prove itself in two ways. It might even be argued that it will ironically result in more youth crime added conflict with the very purpose that civic and governmental institutions had initially desired. The lack of reliability in the utilization of Anti-social behaviour orders can be partly associated to the problem of its definition and its manner of application in practical reality. Such details, inconsistency and replication of intent can turn out to be extremely expensive. The huge amount of funds being utilized for Anti-social behaviour orders can be utilized in finding out the main causes of anti-social behaviour of today's youth. 2. What is the 'risk society' and how has it helped reshape the criminal justice system Answer 2 Risk Society The three key terms used throughout this essay are 'social', 'theory', and 'risk'. The word social has a relatively unambiguous meaning, describing that which relates to society or its organization (Oxford University Press, 2002). The terms 'theory' and 'risk' however are not as easily clarified in the context in which they are being discussed in this essay. Krimsky (1992), in the role of theory in social theories of risk, observes the utilization of the term theory not considering natural sciences, and proposes a variety of meaning ranging from formal maxim that are given an pragmatic explanation at one end of the spectrum, by means of a "single posited assumption for explaining an incident (Krimsky, 1992: 6) at the other. Krimsky hypothesize that the most theoretic part in the study of risk lies among these two poles, and suggests that: Thus we can conclude that a theory has to suggest a system of concepts as well as statements, models, or values, which, in concert, formulate the practical world more understandable. (Krimsky, 1992: 6) This is the working definition of the term 'theory' that will be used in this essay. Having identified meaning for the terms 'social' and 'theory', it is now appropriate to define the term 'risk'. As a societal concern, risk can be considered to have started ever since society started keeping records (Borodzicz, 1997:12), found with in German references during the 16 century, as well as in English in the concluding part of the 17th century (Luhmann, 1993: 9). There is little doubt that its meaning has changed since then as society has developed and advanced (Lupton, 1999: 5). The Royal Society Study Group (1992) in their report 'Risk: analysis, perception and management' contributed to the debate about risk by bringing together social scientists to discuss the issue, but as Adams (1995: 7) notes, they were unable to agree definitions with the physical scientists. As Hood & Jones (1996) observe, there are many contradictory definitions of risk, which are often interchanged with the term 'hazard'. Hood and Jones (1996), building on the work of Douglas (1992), theorise that risk in the social sense can be defined as the composition of the perception of loss potential associated with the complex interrelationship between humans and their various environments, namely "natural (physical), biological, technological, behavioural and financial environments" (Hood and Jones, 1996: 3). This definition of risk, appropriate as it is to an examination of the relevance of social theories of risk to the real world, will be used in this essay. Having defined the key terms used throughout this essay, it is now appropriate to explore the first of the two social theories of risk discussed in this essay, the concept of the 'Risk Society'. Risk Society and Reshaping Criminal Justice System As Richard Erickson for example has noted "one logic of the risk society is a negative one. Fear, risk and uncertainties regarding them are handled by appropriate enemies. A tentative labelling, contradiction, avoidance and omission along with solidarity is based on the fear which is common in nature , this common fear has made society realize that the youth criminal justice system needs to be reshaped . Society has become critical of science with the realisation that science has caused many of the risks society faces. This criticism is compounded by the perception that the knowledge that science has is often incomplete or contradictory (Lupton, 1999: 67). The growing public awareness of risks produced by the social institutional system is contradicted by the lack of attribution of systemic risks to the criminal system. This contradiction is termed 'organized irresponsibility' by Beck, and is manifested by, for example, the collective denial of fault or blame by the apportioning of blame to an individual through technically rigorous legal procedures. The most important part of the concept of Beck's risk society is the 'Risk Society Thesis', which is analyzed below in terms of reshaping the criminal justice system. One of the three 'planks' of Beck's theory is the concept of the 'Risk Society Thesis' (Elliott, 1992:293). All societies in all eras have been subjected to threats to health and life and as such may be described as 'risk societies', but the term 'risk society' is reserved to describe contemporary risk trends. In his Risk Society thesis, Beck compares three eras: pre modern, early modern or (contemporary) late modern. He argues that the risks faced by late modern societies are essentially different in a number of ways. These suggested differences will now be explored in more detail in order to examine the relevance of his theories to re construction of the justice system. Contemporary justice system, Beck suggests, faces risks that cross national boundaries, affecting much larger sections of youth justice system than were affected in pre or early modern societies. The events which are caused by these risks are now open ended in nature, as opposed to being single definable events, and are as a consequence of their scale and nature, potentially apocalyptic. In contrast to risks faced by early and pre modern societies, another differentiating criteria of contemporary risk is one of visibility. Whereas with previous eras, "hazards in those days assaulted the nose or the eyes, and were thus perceptible to the senses" (Beck, 1992: 21), contemporary risks "typically escape perception, and are localized in the sphere of physical and chemical formulas" (Beck, 1992: 21). In noting the attempts of the youth criminal justice system to control risks, as opposed to accepting them as 'Acts of God', demons or nature, Beck suggests that the process of modernity during early industrialisation transformed threats (through the process of instrumental rational control) into calculable risks. However, now the youth criminal justice system, rationalisation of risks fails as a consequence of their 'new' nature and thus needs to be reshaped. Consequently, as a result of the difference in contemporary risks, the youth criminal justice system's traditional methods of dealing with them (for example insurance and compensation) are unable to provide the safety mechanism for which they are designed. Beck argues that the globalisation of risk in today's contemporary justice system has led to a breakdown in made early modernist rules of attribution as well as causality in order to reshape the criminal justice system (Lupton, 1999: 63). The non-localisation of risk and their long-term effect has also made specific causal factors or actors difficult to identify. This is compounded by means of the "multifaceted system of industrial means of production" (Beck, 1992: 32), which could result in the failure of "notions taking full of responsibility of their criminal system (Elliot, 2002: 296). Central to Beck's concept of the 'Risk Society' is what he perceives as the changing nature of risk in a society. If his theories are to be demonstrated as being relevant to the 'youth criminal justice system, this concept must be established in order to ratify the development of individualisation and consequently reflexive modernity. If this notion is not applicable, the theories constructed on it later begin to lose their legitimacy. It is therefore important to explore in detail whether the nature of risk has in fact changed so dramatically. While there can be little doubt that the criminal system did not face threats such as discrimination and mass killings, or corruption and teen gangs, many of the threats that they did face can be demonstrated to exhibit several of the characteristics that Beck identifies as specific to contemporary risks. For example, Beck suggests that contemporary risks are imperceptible to the human senses, cross national boundaries, global in nature and induced by modernization. Having first defined the key terms 'social', 'theory' and 'risk', this answer has assessed the view that social theories of risk can be used in helping to reshape the justice system . The work of Ulrich Beck and his 'Risk Society' thesis has been described and examined, and the key concepts of the changing nature of risk and how it reshapes criminal justice system have been analysed. This analysis has demonstrated that, while both these concepts are subject to criticism, as conceptual arguments they have relevance to real world scenarios. References Adams, J. (1995); Risk, London, Routledge p 7 Beck, U. (1992); Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, London, and Sage pp 21- 32 Borodzicz, E.P. (1997); Risky Business: An Examination of Crisis Simulations in the Context of Safety People, PhD Thesis, and Birbeck College: University of London p 12 Brown, A.P (2004); Anti-social Behaviour, Crime Control and Social Control, The Howard Journal Vol43No2, pp.203-211 Campbell, S (2002); Implementing Anti-social behaviour Orders: message for Practitioners, London: Home Officep56 Cohen, S (1985); Visions of Social Control: Crime, Punishment and Classification, Cambridge: Polity. Foucault, M. (1981), Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (trans. Alan Sheridan), London: Penguin Elliott, A. (2002); 'Beck's Sociology of Risk: A Critical Assessment' Sociology 36(2), pp293-315 Hood, C. & Jones, D. (1996); Accident and Design: contemporary debates in risk management, London: Routledge p3 Krimsky, S. (1992); 'The Role of Theory in Risk Studies' Research' In Krimsky, S. and Golding, D. Social Theories of Risk, Westport, Con: Praeger Publishing, pp3-22 Luhmann, N. (1993); Risk: A Sociological Theory, New York: Aldine de Gruyter pp5-9 Lupton, D. (1999); Risk (key ideas), London: Routledge p5-65 Millie Andrew, Jacobson Jessica, McDonald Eraina and Hough Mike (2005); Anti-social behaviour strategies finding a balance, Bristol: Policy Press p 2 Oxford University Press (2002) Available at: http://www.askoxford.com/dictionary/social retrieved on August 15th 2008 Royal Society Study Group (1992); Risk: Analysis, Perception, Management, the Royal Society, and London Sprigings, N (2005); Housing Policy and Social Justice: the case of anti-social behaviour, In P. Somerville and N. Sprigings, Housing and Social Policy: Contemporary themes and critical perspectives, London: Routhledge. Pp43-68 www.audit-commission.gov.uk retrieved on August 15th 2008 Read More