Public Perceptions and Mentality of the Society - Essay Example

Examining a specific issue or event, are public perceptions characterised by more a mentality of ‘fear’ or ‘risk’? How do you account for this situation and what do you see as some of the main social and political implications? Juvenile delinquency is an important subject which has been at the forefront of media attention in recent times. High school shootings, such as the infamous event in Columbine amongst others, have brought the issue of juvenile delinquency to the forefront of media attention in the United States as well as around the world. In Australia, the high-profile attacks of Indians in this country have become an international event and a highly sensationalised issue. In Sydney as well as in Melbourne, Indian students have been bashed and attacked due to their race and nationality. Most of the alleged perpetrators are youths or young adults. Many of the Indians attacked are foreign students coming to Australia to study and benefit from the higher education available in this country. It is estimated that foreign students studying in Australia account for more than $13 billion annually to the economy and Indian students comprise the second largest foreign student body. Higher education is Australia’s third largest export earner, ahead of wool, wheat, copper, tourism and even gold. Importantly, government figures estimate that fully 17.8% of all foreign students in Australia are Indian-born. International students represent the 3rd most lucrative export for this country and Australia can ill afford to loose the international students who come here each and every year to pursue their studies. Recently, the Indian government has threatened to put out a travel advisory out against Australia thus restricting the flow of Indian students to this country. The high profile bashings raise many important questions for the general public, questions which increase in voracity around the national holiday, Australia Day. Is Australia a racist society? Can we deal with the ramifications of a multicultural society in the twenty-first century? These questions and many more are raised when high profile attacks by young people make headlines around the world (Marginson, 2006; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008; (Soutphommasane, 2010). Juvenile delinquency and youth violence are important issues here in Australia and around the world. Although the issue of Indian bashing has been sensationalised by the media in recent times, the public has been fixated on issues surrounding juvenile delinquency for centuries and this is not a new occurrence. Accordingly, this essay asks whether or not the public perceptions are characterised by more a mentality of ‘fear’ or ‘risk’? How can we account for this situation and what are the main social and political implications? Seeking to address these questions and many more, the following will begin with an analysis of fear and the ways in which fear of juvenile delinquency has manifested itself. How does juvenile delinquency lead to perceptions of risk in society and what are the ramifications? If we think of fear and risk on a continuum, fear is the emotion most commonly associated with concerns surrounding juvenile delinquency and youth violence. Fear is based upon fatalistic perceptions of a given situation and is commonly associated with the human emotions of fear and anxiety over a certain situation of series of situations. Importantly, questions of fear are situated around feelings of impending doom, danger and trouble. Importantly, youth violence has been perceived for centuries, as being irrational, evil and wildly violence despite the fact that youth violence, in many instances, represents a low-probability event and not a routine occurrence. As we shall see, the need to suppress people or groups can have numerous social and political implications. Fear surrounding the violence of young people is nothing new and this essay will chart the trajectory of public fear over youth violence by looking at perceptions of juvenile delinquency dating back to the 19th century and the societal ramifications of such depictions of youth violence. According to Goldblatt (2000), one of the characteristics of a risk society is the changing role of government and this essay will demonstrate how perceptions of risk have influenced public policies and society. How has fear created risk and shaped the perceptions of youth violence in a historical context? The following turns to an exploration of the main models of criminal delinquency and the ways in which perceptions of youth violence have been shaped over centuries. Models of Criminality and Delinquency What are the different models for crime during the early part of the 19th century and what role did the public perception of fear play in seeking to understand the criminal mind? During this period there were a variety of models of the causes of criminal behavior as well as delinquency; these models were applicable to both young offenders as well as adults. Accordingly, in 1835 a psychiatrist by the name of Prichard introduced the concept of “moral insanity” and this referred to deviations from normative behavior and was inherently hinged upon the notion that crime represents a moral affront to wider society and that there was a psychiatric basis to criminal behavior. During this period, there was an overriding concern with the morality of actions and the supposed immorality of juvenile delinquents and adult offenders. Other scholars such as Morel explained criminal behavior through the lens of degeneracy, and the inherent degenerate behavior of the criminal mind. During this era, scholar Lombroso established his now infamous classification of criminals which focused on physical features such as a small skull, heightened cheekbones, and a retreating forehead. These features were supposed to emphasize the subhuman characteristics of the real would criminal. Accordingly during this era, the juvenile delinquent as well as the adult criminal were seen as having unique physical characteristics and were classified in a subhuman context. These particular classifications were modeled on questions of fear and issues surrounding the inherent criminality of certain segments of the population. What is important to know during this period is that both the young offenders and adult criminals were perceived in the same light: they were morally depraved; they engaged in degenerate behavior, their physical characteristics were subhuman and they could not be rehabilitated. During the early part of the 19th century psychology reigned supreme with respect to criminal behavior and the theories aimed at understanding the criminal mind. By the middle half of the 19th century and towards the 20th century there was a fundamental transformation in the theories surrounding criminal behavior, both with respect to youth criminals and adult terminals, and sociological explanations for cruel behavior started to gain precedence. During this early period, however psychological explanations significantly influenced the criminal justice field and as well as peoples perceptions of juvenile delinquent behavior. People’s perceptions of the criminal mind were motivated by fear and there were numerous social implications of this fear, particularly with respect to reform of the penal system (Hirschi, 2002; Binder, 1998). Juvenile Delinquency Today Fear has been an overriding concern of the general public with respect to juvenile crime and delinquency from the 19th century to today. According to recent data on the subject, many Australians feel that juvenile delinquency is on the rise. While the incidents of high profile attacks on Indian and non-white students represents one of the most recent manifestations of youth violence in Australia, the specter of violence among young people has been a pervasive societal concern for many years. Accordingly, the belief that youth violence is on the rise has created a risk-centric society in which people fear a rise in violence and crime committed by certain target subcultures as groups such as aboriginal Australians and young people. In common usage the term risk refers to the chance of something going wrong and so a danger that injury, damage or loss will occur. Somewhat more technically, it refers to exposure to the chance of injury or loss, and the degree of probability of loss. The perception of an increase in juvenile crime is related to an increase in risks in Australian society and the need for the government to step in and play and important role in curtailing these risks. While risk can also have certain benefits and positive gains, it is important to emphasize that fear has been an overriding concern with respect to youth violence and juvenile delinquency and has provided the major impetus for an increased governmental response to the perceived rise of youth violence in Australia today (Justice in Action, 2010). The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that despite perceptions of a increase of juvenile crime and violence, young people under juvenile justice supervision declined between 2002-2003 as well as from 2004-2005. Accordingly, an average of 5 per 1,000 young people in the general population experienced juvenile justice supervision; not a large number nor a large percentage of the population. Importantly, the number of young Aboriginal Australians in the youth justice system increased tremendously and approximately 38% of all young people under juvenile justice supervision were self-identified as aboriginal. While there are significant differences with respect to the ethnic background of young people within the Australian criminal justice system, it is important to note that the Australian government reports an actual decrease in young people under juvenile justice supervision in the most recent year that data is available, 2004-2005 (Australian Government, 2010). According to Justice in Action, a non-governmental organisation seeking youth justice reform, There has been no significant increase in juvenile crime over the past 2 years and serious juvenile crime appears to be decreasing. Although it is difficult to draw conclusions based on short term crime statistics (see crime statistics fact sheet) there have been a number of what appear to be significant decreases in certain kinds of juvenile crime over the last few years. The number of Childrens Court appearances for manslaughter decreased by 88%, aggravated sexual assault decreased by 18% and aggravated robbery decreased by 16% between 1999/00 and 2000/01. There also appears to have been a sharp decline over the last three years in the number of young people appearing before court on drug offences (Justice in Action, 2010). Although a perception of risk is on the rise due to misperceptions about the actual threats posed to society by young people, the responses of governmental authorities has been overwhelmingly been motivated by fear. Fear has been an overriding factor in establishing some of the most stringent youth justice measures in the developed world, with respect to sentencing guidelines for young people and the percentage of Aboriginals in custody. Accordingly, perceptions of risk (negative sum) and fear have had numerous social and political ramifications. From a societal perspective, the perceptions of risk have manifested themselves in a variety of realms including increased media attention for a disparate spate of seemingly unrelated acts such as a handful of racially motivated attacks on non-whites or the alcohol-infused violence which routinely takes place around holidays such as Christmas or Australia Day. The media is a social creature which informs as well as is a part of society. When Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan famously said that “the medium is the message” (1964), he was referring to the symbiotic relationship between the media and society. While the media helps shape social consensus and understanding it is also a product of its society and implicitly shaped by it. Importantly, perceptions of fear and zero-sum risk with respect to youth violence are deeply embedded within our culture and help inform our perceptions of youth violence in a modern context. Political implications of this perception of fear include the sensationalisation of disparate incidents of youth violence and the need for government to crack down on a perceived youth crime wave. Youth crime can be a politicized issue and we shall see whether or not youth crime is appropriated by the new Liberal leader Tony Abbott in the coming federal election. Importantly, political entrepreneurs may use this issue, one which is motivated by fear, perception of risk and misunderstanding, for political gain. Concluding Remarks Fear of young people is nothing new. Importantly, youth violence has been perceived for centuries as being irrational and evil despite the fact that youth violence, in many instances, represents a low-probability event and not a routine occurrence. Today, fear of juvenile delinquency manifests itself through the sensationalisation of high profile incidents of Indian bashing and school-age killers who kill with wanton disregard for human life. The world has been watching Australia as Indian students have been bashed and attacked allegedly due to their race and nationality. Recently, the Indian government has threatened to put out a travel advisory out against Australia restricting the flow of Indian students to this country. As one would imagine, juvenile delinquency and youth violence are important issues here in Australia and around the world. Although the issue of Indian bashing has been sensationalised by the media in recent times, the public has been fixated on issues surrounding juvenile delinquency and emotion surrounding this issue may have serious political ramifications (Goldblatt, 2000). Accordingly, The response from the Indian community in Australia and the media back in India was unequivocally furious. Here, they said, was yet another demonstration of how Indian students have been singled out by racist Australian thugs. SM Krishna, Indias external affairs minister, denounced the murder as a "heinous act against humanity" and "an uncivilised brutal attack on innocent Indians". His ministry has issued a warning to Indians planning to travel to Australia (Soutphommasane, 2010). As we have seen, fear has been an overriding concern with respect to juvenile violence and the allegedly racist bashings of Indian students throughout Australia. Fatalistic perceptions of a given situation have contributed to the sensationalism surrounding this event which has aroused fear and anxiety throughout India and Australia. As we have learnt, questions of fear are situated around feelings of impending doom, danger and trouble. As this essay has emphatically demonstrated, youth violence has been perceived for centuries, as being irrational, evil and wildly violence. Importantly, peoples’ perceptions of youth violence have led to a series of social and political ramifications. During the middle half of the 19th century, questions of juvenile delinquency where a reflection of the fundamental changes taking place in society. While juvenile delinquency was perceived by many to be a real issue and an important social concern, the issues surrounding youth criminal behavior were actually heavily influenced by fear, psychiatry, psychology and what we see now as unscientific ideas about criminal behavior. Thus questions of moral insanity, the general behavior and quality scientific analyses of the size of craniums as well hold hosts of other supposedly criminal characteristics, heavily influenced the youth criminal justice field during this era. The perceptions of the wild and irrational behavior of young people have influenced modern-day perceptions of youth violence. Importantly, ideas about youth violence have been motivated by an overriding societal fear which has necessitated significant measures on the part of governmental authorities to combat a perceived increase in youth crime. Today, fear remains an overriding concern of the general public with respect to juvenile crime and delinquency and the result has been increased media attention surrounding the issue. Despite the fact that youth crime has been statistically proven to be decreasing, the perception of the general public is that it is on the rise. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare as well as the Australian federal government report that young people under juvenile justice supervision declined between 2002-2003 as well as from 2004-2005. Importantly, ethnic disparities in youth justice continue but significant decreases in youth crime have been recorded, yet the perception of fear remains. The social and political ramifications of such fear are numerous and they are brought to the fore every time the media sensationalises another violent attack on an Indian student or a alcohol-induced violent episode. Emotion and irrationality is the overriding concern with respect to youth violence and they have helped shape our response to an issue which has been in decline despite the overriding perception of fear and risk. REFERENCES Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). “The value of international education to Australia.” Last Accessed January 26, 2010 http://www.idp.com/research/statistics/education_export_statistics.aspx Australian Government. (2010). “Juvenile justice in Australia 2005-06.” Last Accessed January 29, 2010 http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10497 Binder, A (1998). “Juvenile Delinquency, ”Annual Review of Psychology 39:253-82. Goldblatt, D. (2000). “Living in the after-life: knowledge and social change”, in D Goldblatt (ed.), Knowledge and the social sciences: theory, method, practice, Routledge, London. Hirschi, T. (2002). Causes of delinquency. Transaction Publishers, New York. Justice in Action. (2010). "Beyond Bars - Youth Crime". 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