Is offending behaviour foreseeable from social indicators - Essay Example

Module Module ID: Is offending behaviour foreseeable from social indicators? What are the strengths and weaknesses of targeting individuals and groups thought to be likely to offend? Social indicators simply refer to the characteristics and features that turn out to be supportive ones with regards to comprehending with the present and future prospects associated with some particular social establishment. In other words, social indicators serve as the guiding stars in respect of demonstrating the future scenario of society on the foundations of the current or contemporary era situation prevailing all around (Prior & Paris, 2006:4-5). Though social indicators could help the entire population to make plans and devise strategies in the light of the predictions they appear to be elucidating; nevertheless, only the intelligent and intellectual stratum turns out to be the group to understand and accept the challenges the society could experience in accordance with the evident and explicit social indicators. Not only this that the social indicators provide a comprehensive political and economic situation of future era, but also they skilfully communicate the hurdles and obstacles different communities can undergo for the future days to come. The same is particularly applied to the criminal behaviour, offences, perversion and deviancy, which are strongly predicted by the social indicators to the prudent and rational members of a social establishment at large. Criminal behaviour stands for the activities and actions that appear to be explicitly violating the statutes of existing law, and hence seriously challenging the peace and harmony of society (Hagan, 2010:25). It also includes the infringement of the popular social norms, traditional cultural values, and the widely accepted and adopted moral and ethical code as well with the aim of harming and hurting the other members of society in one way or the other. Eventually, criminal behaviour looks for disturbing and destroying the collective harmony with the aim of seeking personal, social, financial or political gains out of inflicting damage on the others. Social indicators mirror the situations that may drag a society to the large scale criminal and antisocial behaviour. The theorists are of the view that the antisocial behaviour always emerges as the outcome of the exploitation of the oppressed or haves-not at the hands of the privileged or haves (Turner, 2010:93). In other terms, antisocial behaviour could be declared as the reflection of injustices and inequalities exercised by the powerful stratum against the suppressed and downtrodden communities, which is sure to pave the way towards revolt and delinquencies as the expression of protest against the cruelties exercised upon them by denial of their just rights on the part of the privileged and prosperous social stratum. Consequently, excessive and consecutive observing of injustices serves as a powerful social indicator to expose and reveal the emerging criminal behaviour within the specific social establishment. Imposition of such type of inequalities could be against an individual, a group, a community as well as a nation as well. Taking the example of isolation of Germany in the aftermath of WWI, and the imposition of extremely malicious and tyrannical sanctions on the country at the international arena forced the German radicals to bounce back and build a road that could lead to their prosperity at the cost of the ruination of the enemies of German nation (Lowe, 1989:482). In the same way, the ruthless ways adopted by the Nazi Germany by inflicting sufferings on the Jewish community forced the Jewish minority to join hands with the foes of Germany by committing anti-patriotic acts and traitor against their nation in order to save their skin. In addition to this, the hatred and abhorrence demonstrated by the majority of the White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASP) towards the African-American community of the USA resulted into the revolt first observed by Rosa Parks against a famous US bus service (Parks & Haskins, 1999:17); and subsequently by the entire black race under the leadership of Martin King Junior and Malcolm X in order to win equal rights for the black racial group eventually. Hence, the apartheid prevailing in the US soil led towards violence and civil disobedience in the wake of the social injustices of massive scale. Thus, social injustices are rightly supported to be one of the most powerful indicators of antisocial behaviour. Another important indicator exhibiting the criminal behaviour includes the religious extremism. By seeking the evidence from the terrorism afflicted South Asian states of Pakistan and Afghanistan, it appears crystal clear that it was extreme poverty and scarcity of food, clothing and other facilities that resulted into the practicing of antisocial behaviour by the downtrodden individuals in the sacred name of religion. Since the young minds seeking education at the local madrassahs or religious seminaries as students were sheltered, fed and clothed by the extremist minds of the nasty religious fanatics, they infused hatred and antipathy towards the other communities co-existing in the same society (Zaidi, 2013). As a result, the immature and revengeful minds raised weapons against both of the above-described states in order to seek retaliation of the injustices they had to undergo in life. Thus, absence of justice and excluding some of the communities from the mainstream serves as the indicator of criminal behaviour; committing of rape, and delay and denial of the justices and rights also result into criminal activities at large. By studying the work created by famous US feminist writer of contemporary era i.e. Dorothy Allison, it becomes evident that she remained the victim of the rape at the hands of her step-father for the six long years, which created feelings of extreme hatred for the entire male stratum. As a result, she preferred to adopt same-sex relations in order to satisfy her carnal desires instead of developing the relationship with the member of opposite gender by entering into marital-knot in a traditional manner (Allison, 2005:255-56). Identical with the other social evils, unemployment and joblessness also serves as an important social indicator of criminal behaviour. At the moment when an educated, skilled or experienced person finds himself in a state of jobless; and being unable to earn anything to feed him and his family, the emotions of hatred start growing in his mind. Consequently, the despair and disappointment disturbs the unemployed members of society to such an extent that they start getting involved into useless debates and unnecessary quarrels with others just to express their anger and resentment towards society (Macionis, 2007:253). Actually disproportionate distribution of wealth, resources and opportunities always put the peace and stability of a society into grave jeopardy, where an undeclared war appears to be haunting the entire cultural fabrics ultimately driving towards uncertainty, chaos and disorder. It sometimes happens so that the disappointment and despair haunting the minds may turn them to be dependent of chemical and drugs. In other words, the people victim of the negligence displayed by society towards them forces them to seek relief in drug and alcohol addiction, leading to the ruination of their life subsequently. Since excessive use of drugs and chemicals made by the individuals is sure to disturb the individual and domestic life, the addicts feel no hesitation in committing the crimes of various kinds for the sake of the fulfilment of their basic financial needs and requirements through adopting of the unfair means. It serious causes the deterioration of society, and inflicts collective harm to it eventually. Hence, providing all members of society with the equal opportunities to grow, flourish and make headway in the pursuit of success and happiness serves as one of the most imperative obligation of state and society in order to protect the cultural fabrics from becoming the prey to deterioration and fall actually. The researches indicate that a large majority of the theorists regard criminal behaviour to be learned one, where the innocent individuals get acquaintance with deviant behaviour from the habitual criminals. Since it is the socialisation process that makes the biological man to be a social one, education, training, nurturing and environment of the individuals also add their share in developing various habits and propensities in humans. It is therefore the sociologists and criminologists strongly lay stress upon the adequate socialisation of the children, so that they could become responsible and law-abiding citizens on growing young. Consequently, inappropriate and corrupt social surroundings serve as a powerful indicator of the peoples’ adopting criminal ways in future years to come (Cavan, 2010:387). Though there are several indicators pointing out the rise of criminal behaviour because of the unrest and inequality prevailing within the social phenomena; nevertheless, the theorists also regard criminal behaviour as the part of man’s innate characteristics. The name of renowned 19th century Italian biologist-theorist Lombroso argues in support of the claim that the criminals are born as deviants, and enter the world with all the tendencies of committing offenses of various kinds. On the basis of his research findings he had conducted on the physical features of the criminals and prisoners, Lombroso maintained that the size and shape of skull, eyes, jaw, hands, feet and other physical organs of the offenders were found similar to the other criminals, and different from the people leading a normal, peaceful and law-abiding life (Lombroso, 2006:105-06). As a result, physical features and characteristics of the individuals could also be targeted as the influential indicators of offensive behaviour going to be raising their ugly head in society. In addition to this, blue colour crimes and white colour crimes could also be detected by watching the activities of the wandering gangs of the youngsters and the dishonesty, financial corruption and embezzlements of the professionals respectively (Cavan, 2010:227). The public and private sector institutions, companies and organisations can add their share by having an eye on the dubious and suspected individuals and groups by noticing their activities and performance in order to escape any uneven and unpleasant state of affairs. It is a reality beyond suspicion that no statute of law or a judicial system allows any action against the crimes that have not been conducted at all. So, although it is not possible to arrest the suspected offenders by taking them into the custody and trying them in the court of law before their committing of crimes altogether; nevertheless, the future offenders and criminals could be monitored strictly and watchfully in order to escape any perturbed state of affairs in future. Furthermore, some essential security measures could also be witnessed by the law enforcing agencies and other public and private sectors in the best interest of their respective institutions and society in general. The appointment of police personnel at various public spots and important routs, and placing the security guards and other staff in banks and other departments are meant to protect the lives, honour and finances of the people. Similarly, policies are devised and schemes are introduced, time and again, with the motif of discouraging the acts and gatherings that could challenge the peace and stability of society. Moreover, the national and local administrations are also moved for keeping an eye on the activities being made by the people particularly during night time and late hours for the sake of countering down the criminal behaviour. Another essential step that could be taken for the elimination and eradication of offenses includes the spread of reformative lectures, literature and debates, so that the awareness could be created among the individuals against the criminal acts on the one side, and adopting the protective measures in self-defence against criminal assaults on the other. In other words, teaching the significance of ethics, moral values and leading a chaste life could turn out to be highly beneficial on the eve of the situation when social indicators manifestly portray the rise of the crime surge in near future (Macionis, 2007:262). The need for taking immediate necessary measures has turned out to be more effective in the wake of the spread of terrorism surge in various parts of the globe at large. Since several developed, developing and under-developed countries including the USA, UK, India, Pakistan, Sudan, Indonesia and others have become the target of terrorism during the last one and half decade, the extremism and conflict among the civilisations have adopted the form of prejudice, hatred and bias during the modern era. If the nation-states do not take immediate steps for the eradication of terrorism in the light of social indicators, the growing hatred may result into the beginning of another Great War for the future days to come. To conclude, it becomes evident that there are several social indicators that manifestly demonstrate the rise, growth and spread of criminal behaviour in society. These indicators could be comprehended with by assessing and estimating the nature, scope and popularity of social evils predominantly non-tolerance, extremism, ethno-racial and religious prejudice, drug and chemical addiction, massive-scale observing of sexual perversion and rapes, social injustices and inequalities, exploitation of the poor and downtrodden at the hands of the powerful, unequal opportunities of exercising one’s abilities, lawlessness and others. The criminal behaviour could be eradicated and overcome before its widespread growth provided the activities of the individuals, groups and communities suspect of getting indulged in crimes be monitored and foiled before they could harm and hurt the society. In addition to this, immediate and comprehensive provision of social justice and equality could also be turned out to be beneficial and supportive one for the eradication of criminal tendencies from the society. Similarly, including the minority, deprived and downtrodden groups in the mainstream would also be helpful in mitigating the criminal behaviour from a social establishment. Bibliography Allison, Dorothy. 2005. Survival is Least of My Desires An Extract from Skin: talking about sex, class & literature Firebrand Books pp. 251-257 Cavan, Ruth Shonle. 2010 Criminology University of Virginia pp. 371-422 Hagan, Frank E. 2010 Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behaviour Sage Publications pp.21-27 Lombroso, Cesare. 2006 Criminal Man Duke University Press pp. 104-111 Lowe, Norman (1989) Mastering Modern British History Second Edition McMillan Publishers pp. 481-541 Macionis, John J. 2008. Sociology Eleventh Edition Pearson Prentice Hall Inc Parks, Rosa & Haskins, James 1999 Rosa Park-My Story Puffin pp. 17-22 Prior, David & Paris, Alison 2006 Preventing Children’s Involvement in Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour: A literature Review National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund Retrieved from http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/5557/1/RR623.pdf. Accessed on 11-12-2013 Turner, Jonathan H. 2010. The Structure of Sociological Theory University of Minnesota pp. 85-94 Zaidi, Mujtaba Haider 2013 Chamberlain and Hitler vs. Pakistan and Taliban The Frontier Post daily newspaper Retrieved from http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/24108/ Accessed on 11-12-2013 Read More