Criminological theory of anomie can explain the causes of London Riots
The London Riots in 2011 was a one of a kind riot which surpassed violence inflicting on the state irrespective of gender, caste and creed. Riots: In the own Words is a BBS documentary that tells the tale of the horrific details of the riots as seen through the eyes of the police. The 5 day rioting saw gruesome death, looting, death and people self immolating. The rioting can be seen to be subscribing to criminal theories attaining to anomie and violence by gangs and youths. The riots can be seen through the theory of anomie, that is, the individuals in a society are constantly torn between normlessness and morality and in the long run, the individuals are coming together under the garb of dissimilarity. The individuals are not cohesive in their similarity and the dissimilarity among the youth is breeding contempt and further aggravating isolation. The more the isolation the more chances of breaking the societal principles and fundamentals of norms. The competing interests in the light of the London riot can be categorized into different segments, like hunger, poverty, unemployment, discrimination and so on and so forth. The frustration arising out of these norms challenge then social norms and try to break them. By following the principles of Emily Durkheim, it can also be concluded that in cases of dissenting interests, the youth tend to break the shackles of societal norms. Durkehim called this riot“social glue” because in his perspective riots have a tendency to bring about social cohesion and positive changes in the society. Thorough investigation could not find any probable cause for the riot and no single cause could be attached to the riots. There was collective pessimism and people had lost hope in the government. It was a collective outrage and people had nowhere to go and having left with no option, they decided to take the law into their own hands. The youth were in a state of anomie, that is, there was a sense of isolation that prevailed among the youth. They were lacking social solidarity. With the advent of western capitalism, there is a lack of employment and the frustration and tension had given rise to the collective outrage. The youths felt socially outcast and marginalized with no one listening to their demands. The anomie arose from frustration and depression. The society has lost the capacity to instill law and order and restore the faith of these youth back in the syst5em. Affected and marginalized, the riot was an outbreak of protest. In the words of Durkheim, there is a state of normlessness and nihilism and the youth is losing hope. The criminal background behind this is anomie is a result of lack of regulation and can be explained as lack of opportunity giving rise to violent tendencies. The lack of regulation can only give rise to a strain of anomie which has been severely discussed at length by Durkheim. Rebellion has always been a way to showcase protest because rebellion lacks accountability and that is the mindset of socially frustrated and depressed youth. Therefore, the strain theory explains the riots because the social structure sometimes forces citizens to commit crime and crime can be seen a direct consequence of social injustice.
Negative unintended consequences of crime prevention techniques
Crime prevention is the process of implementing techniques to prevent crime and finds ways that crimes do not occur in the society. There are a few negative unintended consequences of crime prevention that state that in the process of preventing crime, there are chances that crime will increase. This is an irony that goes ahead to state that in the process of eliminating crime, it might so happen that the strategies adopted may further produce more crime.
Escalation: It says that sometimes the programmes with the best intentions cause more harm than good. Sometimes blocked criminal behavior leads to violent tendencies and they are driven by more harmful means of goal attainment. The task is that of the police to ensure that their behavior or attitude do not in any way bring about harsh feelings in the wrongdoers. It so happens that police interactions lead to heightened aggression and the other party is insulted or humiliated. The aim of punishing or penalizing a wrongdoer is to ensure that they are deterred from committing that crime again but in reality that does not happen and there is defiance. Therefore though punishment is given to make sure the wrongdoer sees the difference between right and wrong but that does not happen mostly and the wrongdoer gets an idea of breaking the rules more as way of protest.
Producing warning messages: These are another way of enticing someone’s attention to a crime and thought he person was initially oblivious to the crime, in cases where it is seen that he is made to notice a certain information related to a crime, he will get excited to know more about the crime. This is also known as the “forbidden fruit effect”. That is, if someone is prohibited from consuming a certain fruit, he will mostly try to be rebel and consume that fruit. That logic applies to wrongdoers too because if they are tempted, they will go ahead with the crime.
Reversal effect: this applies to crimes that can be committed in the long term. If someone is deterred from committing a crime, it might cause a reverse effect. After being prevented and penalized for committing a crime, the wrongdoer might again do it in the later stage of his life.
Labeling: this is a very important theory in criminal deviance that, if society labels a person as a criminal, it effects him internally and also his personality. This might lead to an alteration of nature and personality and might lead to social anxiety and depression. Therefore, labeling does not help the person whereas on the contrary, by labeling a person, chances are high that the person will turn into a delinquent. These theories prove that thought he intention is to prevent crime but there are certain steps taken by the police, authority or the society that alters a person’s personality and also promotes criminal actions.
The irony of preventing crime leading to more crime
Julian Baggini in his article has strongly appreciated the Court’s decision in giving strict punishments. In the words of Baggini, it is always appreciated when the Courts have the power to give out harsh punishments and they do so keeping in mind the nature of the crime. Riots are becoming commonplace and therefore there needs to be strong and stringent laws that put a stop to such violence. Though there have been similar crimes which have not attracted similar attention but in the case of the Summer Riots, the attention received by the Court has been stupendous and beyond the reach of common people. The aim of the judgment was to put on record that in cases of violence perpetrated in such horrendous nature, the outcome shall be grave. Applying the principles of justice and morality, it can be said that there shall be no discrimination and crimes of the same nature should be treated similarly and the punishments given out should be similar too. In the light of the further implications of the judgment, it acts as precedence that anyone trying to inflict violence on innocent lives shall be treated with harsher punishments and that no one will be spared. The importance of this judgment lies in the fact that harsher punishments are the biggest deterrence that prevents crimes of such nature in the future. The goal of the justice delivery system is to ensure that the lives of the innocent are given primacy. The youths who incited the mob were held accountable and the UK Appeals Court had also upheld lengthy decisions saying that anyone trying to threaten the peace and stability of the society should be dealt strictly according to the provisions of law. The courts need to gauge the moral implications of the crimes that are perpetrated and it is within the powers of the judiciary to ensure that proper justice is delivered. The killing of Mark Duggan by police shooting spiraled into rioting, looting and killing of lives. The internal reason behind the riot was racial and ethnic tension fuelled by rumours on the social media. The reasoning behind lengthy punishment as cited by the Courts is that in a health and harmonious society, there shall be no place for discrimination, violence and hatred.
Reference
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