The Development of the Crime Series in Terms of a Move Toward a Realist Aesthetic - Essay Example

Realist2 Order 350473 Topic: analyze the development of the police/crime series in terms of a move toward a realist aesthetic (in terms of form and theme)(you may identify some exceptions to this development) The US prison system, to put it bluntly, is in doldrums. It is exacting an increasingly heavy toll, both in terms of human and financial. The United States has to its credit, the highest rate of incarceration in the world. It holds more than 2 million prisoners. Incarcerated women have for long suffered inhumane treatment in childbirth, but they were able to achieve a series of victories and conditions have improved on that account. But access to healthcare for pregnant women is inadequate. As for children when they are tossed into jail life, it is a poignant development and it causes immense damage to their psyche and personality. But the major issue facing the prison administration all over the world today relates to drug addiction. The combustible younger generation is on the rampage and the present efforts made by various governmental and non-governmental agencies, medical practitioners and the philanthropists in the area of drug demand reduction, are like blocking a furiously advancing avalanche with the fence of straw. Or trying to touch the moon by kite-flying! Or controlling the raising flood waters of the river by filling pitchers! Statistical studies are no doubt needed, but it is of no use digging the well when the house is on fire. When in war, the goal should be to win the war, no matter how you win it! Meaning thereby, all efforts should be to root out drug addiction. The initiatives should be implemented by honest people on a grand scale. The drug mafia is very strong and it is ever willing to pour dollars on corrupt practices, to achieve its objectives and keep the trade thriving! Health administration of the prison is aware that the process of de-addiction from addiction is like driving a vehicle in the reverse gear—it is slow and it has to be done with extra care. This is the grim scenario of crimes related to drugs. Reformation and rehabilitation of the prisoners have been the watchwords over the past few decades. That was the thinking of the government and consequently that of the police and prison administration. That was a well-studied procedure taking into consideration the various economic and social factors that lead an individual to the world of crime and drug-addiction. As for drug addiction, peer-pressure and sheer boredom with life were the main reasons. Drug addicts and crimes are inseparable. One leads to the other. When the drug addicts are in the depth of their diseases, they are notorious for becoming manipulative and deviant in order to get what they want. They are on the launching pad to traverse the path of criminality. Addicts are compulsive liars; they steal, borrow and do whatever is prospective in order to keep their addiction fed. Those managing the rehabilitation programs have found that drug addicts are very intelligent and creative individuals with great potential. Once caught in the net, what to do with their intelligence which is used for crime-oriented actions! When they start to feel worse about themselves as a result of their actions, they go for drugs again to forget the previous dose. Eventually the cycle of addiction progresses to the point where all they think about is the next dose of drug and plans to implement the criminal act. Nothing else matters…not family, home, work, life, self-respect, self-sufficiency or physical safety…nothing! It isn’t long that the user moves into full blown addiction, and feels the need to use the drug-dose constantly. A full-fledged criminal is ready to take on the police/administration and judicial systems! A permanent liability on the shrinking prison accommodation! Drugs eat into the vitals of the society. This is no more a regional or national problem; it is one of the gravest international problems. It is the first problem that any jail administration talks about. The problem is like the octopus—it is growing in all the directions.The drug-addiction of a member affects the entire family. To quote UNODC, “addiction affects practically every area of drug abusers life. It makes the person physically weak and run down. It interferes with education and messes up job prospectus, it results in emotional scarring—the user is often torn by shame, guilt and fear of the future. Family relationships become weaker and lack emotional closeness and warmth. Socialization gets limited to alcohol or drug-abusing peers and the drug user comes close losing the regard and respect of others.” With the admitted failure of the rehabilitation procedures, sequestration and retribution assumed the upper hand again in United States. Opportunities for education, job training and drug treated were relegated to the background. The war on drug was carried out on a different footing—“Three strikes” and minimum sentencing laws! The punishments became excessive. The congested prisons became more congested. Millions of non-violent offenders were punished. Some of the drug-related statistics may stun and confuse the controlling agencies: The United States boasts of the world’s largest and fastest growing prison population. Over 50% of the inmates are serving time for drug related crimes. Drugs are smuggled in hollowed concrete posts, frozen broccoli pack, sacks of coffee and crates brimming with exotic woods and aromatic spices. The race for quick, ill-gotten profits is fast changing the world’s political landscape and further eroding both the resolve and ability of Nations to fight back.Law enforcement agencies (this position remains true all over the world) are spending too much money on blocking supply and not enough on curbing demand. People must be stopped from wanting drugs. The politics of silence to meet the drug menace must end and tangible, time-bound steps initiated and implemented forthwith—otherwise, God forbid, not the atom bombs, but the drug bombs will destroy humanity. The police and prison administration has to work under such constraints. If the government policies are weak, if the laws are not adequate to curb the drug problem, the police/prison administration can do very little to meet the challenges. In the prevailing situation, the move towards a “realist” aesthetic alternative in terms of both form and theme is fraught with dangerous consequences. There is no dearth of good projects; the dearth is about honest individuals to implement the projects. This is a fertile ground for the vested interests. In US, any study will be incomplete without considering the prison-industrial complex, and the network of private corporations that have direct interest in increasing the number of prisoners. Prison supplies, is one of the biggest industries in US. Moreover, the intervention of politicians and their crime-rhetoric and playing to the galleries at the time of elections, does not go well with finding a lasting solution to the problem. Though the prevailing federally driven ideology does put the efforts of the States in experimenting with programs of rehabilitation, many of them have again begun to recognize the merit of the system. Many such programs are tendering impressive results. It has also resulted in recidivism rates and relief for the taxpayers. Prison Reforms-the prevailing conditions and why serious re-thinking is necessary: The prison conditions continue to be inhumane. Physical abuse and excessive disciplinary action are order of the day. The prison administration cannot help overcrowding in the absence of adequate space per prisoner as laid down in the Jail Manual of Instructions. The increasing number of “supermax” prisoners and their prolonged stay in isolation cells is the added burden. Such conditions groom mental illnesses. Physical and mental healthcare facilities are not adequate. Having reached the portals of prison, even an ordinary criminal, the first time offender, becomes a hardened criminal. In the absence of regular counseling facilities, criminality becomes a way of life for them. Prisons are hailed as “crime factories.” A prisoner, in the company and with encouragement from the fellow-inmates prepares the blue-print for the next crime, once released from the prison. By viewing the violent incidents within the prison, one’s attitudinal patterns become hardened and devoid of good emotions. Recidivism rates cause serious problems for the prison administration. The Bureau of Statistics reveals that more than two-thirds of released prisoners are re-arrested within three years. This accounts for the failure of the reformation procedures adopted by the prison administration. Prison term has not proved as a deterrent for the concerned individual. In many cases, the reasons for re-arrest are technical parole violations, like missing an appointment with a parole officer. “Prisons are expensive. According to CBS News, taxpayers are paying an estimated $40 billion a year for prisons. Feeding and caring for an inmate costs about $20,000 a year on average, and construction costs are about $100,000 per cell. The demand to build more prisons has often siphoned funds from the few existing treatment and education programs, leading to a vicious circle in which more prisons are needed because, partly due to the lack of these programs, more prisoners continue to come back.” (Need for....) The totality of the effect of the economic issues, racial problems, result of the disenfranchisement laws, inmate population trends has created a confusing and grim situation in the prisons. The current rates of incarceration are 32 percent black males, 17 percent Hispanic males and 5.9 white males. The society is not kind to the released prisoners and they are looked upon with suspicion. Many prisoners lack job skills. In many States, the convicted felons are not allowed to vote from prisons. In some States felons are disenfranchised for life. The result is, unemployment amongst minority communities is widespread and they have meager electoral representation. This creates the fertile ground for increase in criminal activities. The issue of a perfect restorative system of justice for the benefit of prisoners is, therefore, the complex one. Prisons do little to break the cycle of violence in the society. The prison conditions contribute to its acceleration as the tough experience of prison imprisonment is so brutal on the psyche on the prisoners that they are ready for the next term in the prison by committing more heinous crimes. Having suffered utter humiliation in the first round, they are mentally ready for the second round by committing more serious crimes. “Sunny Schwartz, says Epstein, developed a program at the San Francisco County Jail in San Bruno, California based on the principles of restorative justice. Restorative justice, as Schwartz explains it, is based on the concept prevalent in more traditional societies that offenders must also try to repair, as far as possible, the harm they have caused others.”(Restorative....) But such initiators of the reformation programs do not have the total control on the prison administration. The prison administration functions as per instructions laid down in the Prison Manual, and they have other legal priorities. Many social and political considerations hamper the activities of the philanthropic organizations that have a limited budget. The wider web or problems related to prison police policy, illegal drug trade, racism –their combined influence creates a tough situation to handle the process of reformation. Restorative Justice cannot be a one-way traffic. There are two parties to a crime. No doubt, the offender bears the direct responsibility for the crime. He is accountable for the harm inflicted on the victims. The other party is the society that is responsible for the subtler part of the violence that created such perpetrators of crimes. Police organizations-the external aesthetics profile: Police organisations are generally known as repressive organisations. The general public views this organisation with lots of suspicion. Not much attention has been paid to the external aesthetic s profile of the police forces, like how an individual police officer appears in his uniform, what type of car they use, the color of the car and the type of particulars printed on it, and the building facilities provided to them for their day to day functioning.“Antonio Strati(1999) emphasises the role of emotion in organisations, the importance of symbols, the value of the subjective influence of culture, as well as the impact of the processes of learning and cognition as tools for organisational identity. According to Strati, organisational aesthetics can be a new lens through which the daily, ever-changing complexity of organisations can be better under- stood. The organisational life of police stations is a typical example of the grass-roots dynamics that can be analysed by organisational aesthetics.” ( Halduskultuur....) Aesthetic profiles include both macro- and micro-aspects. At the macro-level, such profiles are linked to the national identities and remarks made by the foreigners. At the micro-level, organisational cultural data is utilised to examine the external aesthetic profiles of policemen working in the various police departments. The organisation cultural data includes both the internal considerations and the external observations of police as for their work and roles. The police/crime/prison administration has been typical sectors that draw interest of the authors, dramatists and the movie makers. Many movies use policemen as characters, and this provides insight into the working of the concerned departments. One often sees the jail scenes and the imprisoned inmates, drug addicts etc. Such scenes help to reveal the aesthetic profile of the concerned profession. The police have also been a popular target in some pop music songs, such as in a single of Eppu Normaali (1978) which includes the following message: “The police are steering, the police are commanding, the police are denying, the police are correcting but how well can the police make rock ’n’ roll?” The police profession is a basic element of the state that is supposed to help the society. In literature, the subjects of police and crime have provided ample platforms for philosophical discussions. The police department in a totalitarian country can be used as a suppressive tool to destroy the fundamental rights of the citizens. Even in democratic countries through pressure tactics, the political authority can make the police force dance to its tunes. The correct aesthetic form of the police force is to function as a part of neutral bureaucracy, representing as an important arm of the basic structure of the modern state. But in actual terms it is observed that police force plays a decreasing role as a security service. This does not speak well of a liberal, democratic society. Another important issue is, how the policemen view their position and do a sort of introspection. This type of self-examination helps them to assess their roles and responsibilities, their mission and position at the local and national levels. The aesthetic norms of the police force and crime administration vary from country to country. So also, every country has external and internal police profiles. The symbols and general administrative cultures are also different. For example, the United States does not have a general police organisation is not a national police organisation. The United States is, therefore is an exception from a European point of view, as those nations have a specific police organisation. In countries, where at the local level, where a single police station with limited police personnel functions, it provides an interesting and authentic source of aesthetic analysis. But the national level impact of the police regimes provides a distinctive type of material for study. Even though police force is supposed to be independent, the national ethos affects the police force at all levels of top administration. Their values and habits are subject to constant friction and influence by their controlling authorities at the highest levels. At many points, the top police brass has to sacrifice the authentic values of their force, carry out the assignments at the bidding of their masters. The national aesthetic profiles are intimately related to the political outlook, like the state of individual human rights, democracy, and the level of organizational behavior on account of the influence of these important factors and the mutual understanding and co-operation amongst the members of the force. The system affects the disposition of the individual police officers; the attitudes (style of functioning) of police officer affect the conduct of the system. For example, the Police Officer will hesitate tot take action on a particular issue (like smuggling of drugs), if he knows for certain that the concerned drug smuggler has the blessings of the political leaders, and his actions are sure to be countermanded and he will have to face the humiliating situation. At the same time, if a very strict police officer arrives on the scene in that police station and the political leader knows in advance that the police officer will not budge from the legal stand of performing his lawful duties the political leader will not take the trouble of putting pressure at all. The process of aesthetic movement in the area of police/crime/prison departments is directly related to the type of work they handle and the workload devolved on individual policed officers. Normally a police officer is at the beck and call of the duty; he is supposed to be available 24 hours in a day, depending upon contingencies and emergencies. To implement a reformation process, for example within a prison environment, the police personnel need to be self-reformed first and they need to have faith in the process of reformation. The attempt to reform the police began at the end of the 19th century and that was initiated by the progressives in the United States. Attempts were made to prevent the interference of politicians in the police administration. Policemen were seen as social workers and as such some women were recruited to the police department. In 1905, Lola Baldwin became the first police officer in the United States. “August Vollmer was the first to develop an academic degree program in law enforcement. His police agency, the Berkeley (California) Police Department, was the first to use forensic science in solving crimes and the first to use automobiles. His agency was also one of the first to create what is now called a code of ethics, which introduced prohibitions against the acceptance of gratuities, rewards, or favors.” (Criminal....) “Police in America changed dramatically during the twentieth century. According to Walker (1999), three principle forces were underlying this change: the police professionalism movement, modern technologies, and the civil rights movement. Other scholars suggest that police reform was the result of investigative commissions, reform initiated by police administrators, and political reform in general (Gaines et al.).” (Police.... ) Good and not-so good development that hamper the police/crime control, in aesthetic terms: Mid-twentieth century saw new technology significantly influencing the system of policing. Three new additions to the system have created tangible effects and the public has benefited a lot from these technologies. The telephone, the two-way radio and the patrol car! In the absence of these facilities, in the nineteen century it was difficult to contact the officers on their beats. Service to the public and supervision of police personnel both improved. The response time was reduced much, with the mobility of the police officers. With the telephone facility, top level police officers could be contacted easily. The actions began take place rapidly. Marked changes were seen in the form of police establishment and in terms of aesthetic structure. The job of criminals was rendered more difficult. The negative side of the advanced technology was soon perceived. Though unintended, its effect on policing began to surface. The car isolated the patrol officers from the community. The contact of the police officers with the citizens became limited. When patrolling was done on foot, the officers had an opportunity for intimate interaction with the public, and the contact was one to one. When they traveled in patrol cars, with windows closed, a distance between such officers and the community developed. Publicity of rapid response, and the public relations exercises of the department, increased the workload of the officers. With more and more drug related crimes, the pressure on police personnel as well on the prison-space created serious problems. Extra budget required for increasing the strength of the police force, and demand for construction of additional space in the existing prisons, and setting up of new prisons, meant additional demand on tax-payers. The materialist civilization, the technological innovations, labor unrest, breaking of the joint families into nuclear families, improvement in the status of women, increase in the n umber of divorce cases---many such sociological problems, created situations of more interaction by the affected individuals,with the police. Such meetings became more of a personal nature and the police had to visit the homes of the people, in the discharge of their duties. As described by Walker, the result of these new technologies "was a complex and contradictory change in police-citizen contacts. Whereas the patrol car isolated the police from the people on the streets, the telephone brought police officers into peoples living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. There, officers became involved in the most intimate domestic problems" (Walker,1999, p. 32). Many organisational problems began to surface in the police department. The term “professional” lost much of its real import. Inefficiency, corruption and low personnel standards became order of the day. The quality of work of the new recruits was poor in the absence of practical training. The professionalisation movement changed the aesthetic mode of the organisation. Officers were educated and ambitious. They were reform- minded and appreciated scientific principles of management. The approach to the system of work turned bureaucratic. Random system of patrolling was followed. The response time was cut short and it functioned well in the interest of the public. The sociological developments taking place had a direct bearing on the structure and functioning of the police department. The interaction of the press with the department to get the crime stories and the latest information about the overall crime situation increased. The police also perfected new techniques of briefing the press—like the issues to be made public and the issues not to be revealed in the overall interest of the society. Special Forces, with rapid deployment plans were created to handle the communal situations. A new police officer with lots of imagination and with a broad outlook emerged to handle such sensitive situations and their training pattern was much different as compared to the normal police force. On the literary front, detective stories based on the real life stories of the criminals, and the gallant efforts of the police officers to arrest them, became popular and regular feature of the magazines. Reading of such stories impacted the psyche and encouraged the morale of the police officers. The reasons for such crimes became the subject of interest with the social scientists. All the above developments had profound impact on the aesthetics of the Police Stations. The profile constantly changed in such a transitional situation. When the whole society was changing in many areas, the standard of life of people was also undergoing rapid changes, lifestyles and values changed—the police system, the inseparable part of the society was also in for structural changes in terms of form and theme. The organisational culture as a whole and the aesthetic profile of the police were in for substantial changes. More research, more opportunities for the social scientists and men of literature to study the issues: The level of literacy is increasing, the materialistic civilisation and the industrial and internet revolutions have added new dimensions to the lifestyles and the standard of living of the people and yet extreme forms of crimes have emerged in the society. Rapid urban development, pressure on the infrastructure in the metropolitan cities, have created avenues for more white-collar crimes and have caused severe strain on the working of the police personnel. W omens positions and opportunities in the police force have substantially increased. The stories related to crimes, are a regular feature in the print and electronic media, and they command a wide readership/audience. Such articles/programs create symbolic and unconscious impact on the audiences and they began to form opinions about the working and the activities of the police department. The reflection of what is going on the police department can be estimated by observing what is going on in the society and vice-versa. Police Department is a responsive organization, and is like the mirror to show as to what is happening in the society. Thinking about the police force on aesthetic lines: Rapid technological developments are taking place. Prominent national and international syndicates of criminals are on war with the police personnel constantly. The money involved in crimes runs into several million dollars. What is happening at the highest level of the police departments affects the morale of those working in the grassroots level. The police officers are finding it extremely difficult to function in a fast-changing society that has accepted interference in police functioning through political pressures as a way of life. Honest working is put to severe test. The day to functioning of a police officer: Aesthetic profile of a police officer on files is one thing and their real day to day life is altogether different. He constantly works under various pressures. The public are mostly disappointed when they do not see an ideal police officer which they see in movies and read in detective novels. But where are the ideal citizens anyway? A policeman in a police station is not an art object; he is a human being subject to all sorts of pressures and emotions and his working hours mostly go beyond what is specified in the rule books. The increase in the power of media, and the latest equipments to make recordings clandestinely has created more problems for the police force. It has increased the level of alertness as well, which, mostly serves the cause of public good. In democratic countries, the power of the public is supreme. Aesthetic angle is not possible to maintain in the police department always. In the administrative set up, the police force has no independent space. They have to follow instructions from the politicians, (sometimes the wrong instructions), the bureaucracy, and the judiciary. Their actions are constantly scrutinised by the judiciary. The police force has to fall in line with the general national profile. In a country like the United States, when different parties have governments at the State and Federal levels, the division of loyalties creates more problems in the day to day functioning of the force. The structural and symbolic aspects of police forces are an open book. They are clearly and openly expressed. Their functioning affects the day to day life of the citizens, and the force can not afford to relax their responsibilities, even for a short duration. Laxity in alertness can result in national disasters. So, the functioning of an individual police officer and the command system need to be perfect. Maintaining aesthetic values is important; but to look after the security considerations is more important. It is not the issue whether the policeman is in immaculate uniform or the brass fittings of his apparel are polished. Whether he has carried out the responsibilities properly and well in time is the core issue. Conclusion: The important issue that affects the police/crime aesthetic values, as already highlighted in the first few pages of the essay, is drug-addiction, mainly amongst the combustible younger generation. Drug addiction also affects the politics, the print and electronic media(television) and the lifestyles of the concerned family. One drug-addict can destroy the homogenous culture of the family, besides being responsible for the financial ruin. The technological and internet revolutions have strongly impacted the working of the police department and at the same time, new, serious crime situations have developed. Many movies and TV serials have been created highlighting then working of the police officers. When the police force works in tandem with the corrupt politicians, it has created law and order problems, and damaged the peace in the society. The results work well, when there is no no interference in the working of the police by the local and national level politicians. With criminals taking up sophisticated methods of crimes, the investigating procedures by the police have changed, the administrative workload has increased. Staff shortage in the police department has resulted in reduced patrolling, and that is mostly done through patrol cars. Under such grim circumstances it is difficult for the police department and other agencies related to crime investigation, and the custodians of the prisoners—the jail administration—to actively pursue, maintain and develop the aesthetic trends. In a multi-racial country the views of the groups will not be the same as for the administering style of the policed department. The minority groups will mostly take a defiant posture, as they feel that the police favors the majority. This may not be the actual state of affairs and merely the mental projection of the minority groups. What happens to a minority group in a particular country, may have international ramifications, and repercussions in a country where that group is in majority. In such situations the police force has to work with great understanding and tact. But efforts for functional perfection and also efforts to increase the aesthetic trends, taking advantage of the technological innovations is the only answer. The police department and control of the crime situation is the backbone of a welfare state. People can never be happy in a violent State. The aesthetic beauty of the personnel, premises and functioning adds to the confidence of the people on the police department. ***************** Works Cited Criminal Justice: Progressive Police Reform - CliffsNotes www.cliffsnotes.com/.../Progressive-Police-Reform.topicArticleId-10065,articleId-9936.html - Cached – Retrieved on January 10,2010 Halduskultuur Journal, issue: 08 / 2007 — Aesthetics of the Police ... by M Temmes - 2007 - www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id...Retrieved on January 10,2010 Need for reformation of prisons and police-Prison Reform Talking Points- www.thenation.com/doc/20040105/tuhusdubrow - Cached – Retrieved on January 10, 2010 Police.... History - Policing Twentieth-century America—the Reform Era law.jrank.org/.../Police-History-Policing-twentieth-century-America-reform-era.html - Cached – Retrieved on January 10, 2010 Restorative justice in prison and beyond / Waging Nonviolence May 28, 2009 ... Helen Epsteins new essay in the New York Review of Books .. wagingnonviolence.org/.../restorative-justice-in-prison-and-beyond/ - Cached – Retrieved on January 10,2010 Walker, S. Police: History--”Modern” Policing in America—McGraw-Hill,New York; 1999. Read More