Criminology in relation to violence in protests - Essay Example

?Criminology in Relation to Violence in Protests XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX Criminologyis the study of the characteristics, amount or rather extent and the factors that induce harsh behaviors in a community or a certain individual. The field of criminology is one that extends to large boundaries and receives credit and acclamation from professionals in different fields ranging from psychologists to branches of law such as law enforcement. Moreover, the field sociology and behavioral sciences is one that is very effective in ensuring that the concepts and issues brought up in criminology are in a civil and more conventional manner. The identification of a crime and the resolution relies on many procedures and quantitative methods of decree are into optimum use. Criminology often relates to violence found in protests. Violence is a term that describes the application of physical force towards a certain group of people, oneself or even a specific person with the intent of inducing harm. Without consideration of the consequence, the carrying out of the act itself is violence. One of the common natural characteristics or rather activities carried out by people is demonstrating. Protests have been part of the human race since time immemorial when people were fighting for civil rights on up to the 21st century. There are very many types of protests (Lee, 2009, 67). There are those protests that are peaceful and involve just the carrying of banners in opposition of several arguments. However, there are those protests that involve violence, carrying plank cards and looting. The first form of protests is acceptable to society. However, the second form of protests is ill advised by the society and the law. This is because it may involve hurting people. In understanding the concept of violent activities in protests, criminology is one of the factors considered. Breaking down the basic concepts of criminology and comparing them to the violence observed in protests, there is better comprehension of the notion. The first characteristic of criminology is to understand the nature of the subject. In this case, the nature of the subjects involved is anger. Protests take place due to the misunderstanding between people and the authorities. Protests are important as they draw the attention of the authorities at a maximized level. A proper example of this anger is in the riots experienced in the United Kingdom in 2011. Protests assist in the understanding and the drawing of attention of the authorities to a certain issue in society. However, rather than pure demonstration, some protests are negatively influenced. The nature of people involved in protests is that of anger. The anger is the one that exceeds the controlled level and ends up resulting to more harm than good. This is because anger proceeds to form violence. Violence reveals itself when law enforcers try to stop the activities of the protestors. Upon doing this, the mob gets angry and pick up weapons of attack such as bats and stones to attack the police (Lee, 2011, 114). The police employed force while dealing with the angry protestors in the streets of London. It is important to understand that the violence does not only lie on the side of protestors alone. It is also proper to mention the violence witnessed on the side of the law enforcing officers when it comes to the control of protests. Law enforcing officers have the job description of calming any types of violence. In the event of protests, they also change their natural calm nature. They also have to turn violent at some point and show utter brutality to the protestors upon noting that they will not calm down. This is important as it instills fear in the protestors and ensures that they calm down a notch. The anger showed by the officers is justified as the result justifies the means. However, the officers are advised not to use the advantage that they bear for their own interests. This advantage is only applicable in trying to cool down the nature of the protestors. The other concept of criminology that is applicable in this state is the extent to which the protestors are willing and have got with their ongoing protests at the time. The extent is the amount of demonstration that the protestors portray. The extent in this context may be as far as looting and arson. This is the highest level of protesting recognized. This is ill advised by the media on all levels. The media is one of the affected personalities by the protestors. This is because the protestors tend to lay some or rather a section of the blame for their situation on the media for the problems. This they claim is because the media does not pay enough attention to their issues and only appears at the time when they demonstrate. The protestors may get mad to an extent as to beat up some of the media personalities due to wrath (Siegel, 2011) On the case of looting, the protestors may get to an extent of breaking in into shops that are along their line of demonstration in an effort to show the amount of anger that they bear inside. The law states this as illegal punishable with a sentence that does not go below 5 years. The rest of the public describes the looting process as rather unnecessary but just as an act of disposition of anger. This is because it does not actually help them but they end up destroying facilities that are of general use to the public. Protests also involve arson. This is in situations where there is the carrying of blunts that may have fire in an effort to show the extent of their resentment for the authority responsible for the deteriorated conditions they are fighting for. Protesters burn down buildings and this is one act that endangers the lives of people inside. This is one of the highest extents of protesting. The violence involved is of primary significance and the characteristic protestors do not seem to care at all about the welfare of the people that they may hurt. They set cars on fire to prove that they are in control and that the law enforcements cannot stop them. This factor makes the law enforcers carry shields for protection from the wrath of the mob (Siegel, 2011). Upon getting up close with the protestors, the law enforcement officers try their best to try to put some sense into the protestors or rather try to get to a consensus. If their efforts fail, the only way to deal with the situation is retaliating with violence. There are different types of protests, there are the political kinds of violence, there are the economic types and finally there are the social types of protests. The socially induced protests bear the highest amount of violence from statistics obtained over the last 5 years in the United States of America. Protesters of the economics type are the least involved in violent activities. This is because economic issues do not have a certain specific grudge to impose on anybody. Moreover, a specific group does not control these issues but rather the whole world operates on level economic conditions. Focusing on the political types of protests, they come a close second in having violent characteristics. This is because the people involved usually ask for some reforms or rather improvements on issues such as the manner in which a certain branch of the government runs its activities. For the social issues, they bear the highest amount of violence because the issues raised involve reforms in terms of welfare. These include situations such as border disputes in communities living in rural areas and such related issues (Barker, 2011). There are many theories involved when dealing with criminology. One of the most common theories is the Social Disorganization. This theory tends to study the mood or rather the conditions of the area in which the stated protests take place. Previous research shows that a high percentage of protests take place in areas economically weak. This is because people in these areas do not have the ability to support themselves and look for the simplest possible way to survive. Upon noticing that there is the existence of issues that seem to make their lives harder, they try their best to eliminate the factor. These areas are usually overcrowded and an example of the issues that they may complain about is the rates of medicine price. This is because such areas are prone to many diseases. In addition, the conditions of several social facilities such as toilets may aggravate their anger and thus the outbreak of protests. These protests take place to a point where they go to the offices of the responsible parties. Depending on the amount of anger that the people may bear, the protests may turn out lethal such as violence brought out or they may be calm demonstrations where they are in a condition to sit and negotiate with the authorities and figure out a way forward. These form of protests are calm and do not involve a lot of violence. They are non-violent. Another theory that is associated with violence in relation to protests in the field of criminology is the strain theory. This theory is associated with the social class of the people involved in the violent activities. Professor Robert Merton came up with this theory and convinced experts in the field of sociology that the theory is viable. The theory explains the fact that in society, there are different people with different life styles that make them have some form of rivalry. In the United States, people live with the hopes of a better life. This is what is mostly referred to as the American dream. The American dream has people living a contextual fantasy life currently. They have hopes of attaining certain standards. This thought is embedded in their systems that automatically turn the issue psychological. People are convinced that it is necessary for them to achieve certain degrees of lifestyle. However, the harsh reality is that not all people are able to achieve this as society draws a line. Failure to achieve the anticipated dreams and aspirations is a cause of many protests witnessed in society (Cowles, 2012). These people bearing the thought of success hold protests asking for better living conditions and increased wages as they assume it is their right to have them. This notion makes people lazy as they engage in criminal activities such as theft that induce violence. This form of violence goes to the streets in form of protests. Many of the protests in this category are observed to be violent as compared to those of social disorganization. The control theory is one other that is very common in the area of criminology. This theory looks at the issue of violence in protests using the reverse mode of observation. This means that rather than looking at what characteristics induce a person or a group of people to spur protests whether violent or non-violent, it looks at the issues that put them in harmony. There are four main points taken into account when dealing with this concept. One of the issues is the amount of attachment that the people have with each other. This concept works both positively and negatively. For it to work positively there must be the focus on an individual rather than on a group. When an individual is all alone and is attached to other people, the person may feel secure and the urge to cling to the rest of the people for support at times that he realizes that some of society issues are not right. However, focusing on this as a group, the people may incite each other to hold protests in an effort to gain the attention of the concerned authorities (Jordan, 2010, 52). The assessment of whether the type of violence involved in this situation solely depends on the amount of incitement. If there is a lot of incitement, the protests may get out of hand and become violent, however, if the incitement is one that is of a low quantity, the protests may appear peaceful with no form of violence observed. The other issue observed in the theory is the belief in moral rules. If a group of people in a certain place face difficult situations, their reaction tend to depend on this factor. If they believe that rules should be followed morally, they may hold protests, however, it is clear to understand that the type of protests witnessed in this situation is the non-violent one. This is because the people pay a lot of respect to the law and the law states that demonstrations and protests are legal as long as they do not result to violence or endanger the lives of others (Daniels, 2011). This factor tends to hold them down as they protest and they make sure they are peaceful protests. Commitment to achievement is another issue. This generally describes the urge that the people involved bear in an effort to succeed. This issue is split into two types of commitment. The first type is the commitment to succeed personally and hence hard work is of primary importance. With this hard work, the people may go without noticing the simple issues in society welfare known to spur protests. However, the commitment may also be in the negative form. This is where the people may be committed to succeed in advocating a certain issue to the relevant civil groups. This advocacy is usually in the form of protests. Depending on the urge to succeed, the protests may be either violent or non-violent. If the commitment is a lot, the people may use force that is generally violence to try to prove a point. However, if they are not too eager to succeed, they may hold peaceful protests not characterized by violence (Akers, 2011, 9). The involvement in conventional activities is one of the factors that is involved. If people involve themselves in conventional activities, they may come up with logical ideas as a group and the fact that the meetings are conventional, the results expected to be ethical. This is where they decide to express their views to the relevant authorities using calm means. This conventions end up in non-violent protests that are cool and understandable (Vito, 2010, 24). Another criminology theory used in the understanding of violence in relation to protests is symbolic interactionism. This is where there is some form of connection between different groups in society. This is where there is the press or rather the mass media, the noble elite in society and the less powerful groups. It is common for the elite to make comments to the media that tend to incriminate the less powerful groups even when innocent. This greatly disappoints the lesser group and this is what induces them to carry out criminal activities as the notion is already embedded in their minds. In the carrying out of these activities, they happen to form groups among themselves and this is the basis of protests. This is because they form forums and focus on several issues that are pressing to them. The protests that arise from these people are violent ones because of the anger that the protestors bear inside. Another theory studied in the field of criminology is the contemporary cultural and critical criminology theory. This theory tends to describe the activities that human beings engage in to be emotionally controlled. The emotions are generally brought by several factors in society such as the costs of living and opportunities. This is where people may get to a state of depression due to lack of several social benefits. These benefits naturally tend to make someone feel left out as the person may see the person next to him enjoying. These types of feelings generally develop at the point where there are economic issues involved. For example, the cost of obtaining a certain product may be too high for a person to have (Barker, 2011). This is what may lead to emotional conditions that may generally lead to many people with similar sentiments coming together to protest the high price of the commodity. The protests of this kind are non- violent because the people do not complain about a pressing issue in society. These people carry banners portraying the prices that they want for various commodities. The various theories of criminology show the value of criminology in comprehending the issue of protests, whether violent or non-violent. Criminology as a study is very important as it also assists in understanding the way to go around the issues that affect the society. Reviewing the various theories offers an in depth view of demonstrations. It assists in understanding the main differences between violence-induced protests and non- violence induced protests. Referencing Monaghan, L., & Flynn, M. 2012. More than Anarchy in the UK: 'Social Unrest'. Retrieved on 17th March, 2012 from http://www.socresonline.org.uk/17/1/9.html Cowles, J. 2012. Some Reflections on the Riots in Birmingham. Retrieved on 17th March, 2012 from http://www.socresonline.org.uk/17/1/11.html Daniels, S. 2011. Reading the Riots. . Retrieved on 17th March, 2012 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/06/policing-sacred-cow-reading- riots Barker, R. 2011. London Riots. London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved on 17th March, 2012 from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/category/london-riots-2011/ Lewis, P. 2011. England Rioters in their Own Words. The Newsnight. Retrieved on 17th March, 2012 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9656166.stm Siegel, L. 2011. Criminology. New York: Mc Graw Hill Publishers. Lee, M. 2009. Criminology: A sociological Introduction. London: Oxford University Press. Vito, G. 2010. Criminology: Theory, Research and Policy. New York: Cengage Learning. Akers, L. 2011. Criminological Theories. Retrieved on 17th March 2012 from http://roxbury.net/images/pdfs/ct4ssg.pdf Jordan, B. 2010. Sociological Hierarchy of Behavior. New York: Palgrave Publishers. Read More