Entangled relationship between social welfare and crime control - Essay Example

Entangled relationship between social welfare and crime control Social justice is seen as an idea and an ideal that is interwoven with the issues of inequality, poverty and social exclusion. This mirrors the modern society and the classification of social classes and the consequences thereof. Social welfare and social justice are seen to belong to different fields and hence handled differently. However, both fields use similar strategies to manage individuals in the society and achieve security and social justice. Public safety has been seen to dominate social policies as the criminal justice system is viewed as inadequate and private defensive routines are widespread like surveillance. Drastic increase in crimes has led to the growth in surveillance. Crime control is in response to the problems of crime and social order brought about by the increase in crime, the fear of crime, and the perception that existing policies and programmes no longer provide effective security. crime control involves policy initiatives that are directed primarily towards restricting the opportunities for commission of a crime while social welfare entails the broadening of crime-control policy to incorporate strategies for reducing criminal motivations like strategies that recompense for the weaknesses of a market economy in promoting and sustaining a viable moral order. Surveillance has led embracing of habits like shopping in controlled areas and people living in gated communities. Crime control has led to the imposition of increasingly strict regulations on behaviors that were previously tolerated in the name of freedom. Social welfare policies and solutions have been perceived as ineffective as well and replaced with criminal justice systems. Crime control and reduction of crimes has led to monitoring of human behaviors with surveillance technologies leading to a situation where consumers are constantly placed under the gaze of electronic inspection and persons monitored as a potential surveillance object (Owen, 2007) Social welfare and crime control become entangled when surveillance information is used to identify those in the society that are deemed undesirable and their exclusion from the community. The entanglement of social welfare and crime control has the over-reaching goals of reducing social inequality, designing effective policies by use of science and technology thereby helping to achieve and maintain order in the society. Social welfare is involved in establishing needs and problems of a community and helping solve them while still safeguarding the community, it involves the use of social welfare institutions like women centres and social services to protect and promote the rights of the vulnerable in the society. Crime control is looking at the societal order and disorder and the governance of behaviours to enable individuals participate fully in the society. There is growing concern about anti-social behaviours and how public safety dominates social welfare (Owen, 2007). Surveillance involves the collection of data and information of different people and using the collected information to make decisions regarding their behaviors and interactions with others. Different views have been expressed on surveillance depending on which side you are on. Some people believe that they are being targeted due to certain factors and this is wrong while others such as experts believe that surveillance is necessary and an important tool in the evaluation of behaviors and crime control. The information collected involves images and videos of people that are interpreted depending on the situation and events. The implication of surveillance then lies on the information collected, and how such information is used to make decisions that affect other people lives and who has access to such personal information. Surveillance has been made an effective tool by the issue of security in order to control crime and ensure safety like Khadija said in the video (Chapter 1, DD208, 2015). However the use of surveillance may single out certain groups making them feel unwanted and unsafe in their own environment. That is where social welfare is involved to create an environment that is deemed safe for everyone in the society like Michelle who was a drug addict but received great help with her children from the social services as described in the safeguarding video(Chapter 1, DD208, 2015). Social welfare helps repair relationships that have been broken by crimes in the society leading to a better community and a sense of satisfaction for the individuals. Surveillance delivers crime control and social welfare based on the principle of watching for protection at the same time as watching with suspicion. In the video(Chapter 1, DD208, 2015), Helen Wright through Baby Café provides a safe environment for mothers to call or come in with their babies in order to get advice and support for their problems, this is providing social welfare. However, at the same time Helen monitors the behaviours of the mothers that could be harmful therefore protecting the child through crime control. The use of CCTVs has become an everyday experience for most people, their use is to control crime, prevent certain actions and excludes certain individuals like illustrated by John White ((Chapter 1, DD208, 2015).However, and it is also used in social welfare settings by providing security and encouraging good behaviours like Nassim said(Chapter 1, DD208, 2015). Surveillanceto most authority figuresis not only for crime and control but also welfare and care. Malls and school are a good example of instances where surveillancemay primarily be built for crime control but ends up bringing in social welfare benefits.This is the entanglement of policies where crime control objectives may have positive impacts on personal well-being and on social welfare. Various demographic have different experiences, and in some cases this may lead to tension between the purpose of surveillance in crime control and the welfare functions as described byPeter Cook in (Chapter 1, DD208, 2015) that through a research carried out by the Mall some socio-demographic is excluded from the mall that is deemed too expensive for a certain group. The use of research and information gathering that leads to the exclusion of certain groups is also a form of surveillance. Sometimes the primary driving forces of a social policy may be difficult to clearly identify and disguise controversial assumptions and claims about who needs welfare services as well as who commits crime and this might lead to discrimination and negativity. Conclusion The use of surveillance has been established to have adverse effects on people by the video. It is not only used for controlling people and policing but also has an active role in Social Welfare and care within a community. Surveillance is certainly a complex combination of Social Welfare and Crime Control especially in our modern community where there is less community spirit and people rarely look out for each other. Offenders are now viewed as undeserving rather than individuals in need and care and their rehabilitation is now included in a risk framework and private protection as opposed to public welfare and entitlement. Total word count: 1135 References: The Open University (2015) ‘Introducing Surveillance’ [Video], DD208 Welfare, Crime and Society.Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=620500§ion=1.2 (Accessed 21/12/2015). Owen, T. (2007). Culture of crime control: through a post-Foucauldian lens. The Internet Journal of Criminology.internetjournalofcriminology.com. Read More