Shifting Crime Control Paradigms

To identify and critically discuss three reasons behind changes to Crime control since 1970

Traditionally the approach that is followed by the researches that take place in the field of criminology is the socialistic approach based on focussing on Individualistic approach by individual calculation of the offender along with measuring the external factors which lead to the rehabilitative and reformative measures which seems to be a failure for the institutions who has been practicing these. The new penology drifts apart from such structured approach overlooking the external factors and taking a voluntary approach which needs individual characteristics with the management of the class study of the criminal, victim and society. The new approach believes that cause of the crime holds no value and the effect has to be studies through the statistical means in order to divide the criminals and study their pattern. It doesn’t try to reform the criminals but gauges the risk factor which is there in letting out such criminals to the society and managing the risk caused by them. It is less of a felony and more of a statistically probable act. It has shifted from morality to statistics which is distribution of risk into criminal, victim, society at large called as “a prudential logic”

The reasons for such change in approach could be analysed as follows:

1. Recidivism previously indicated the failure of the institutional programmes which was considered as a long term supervision on the criminals which after failure changed the paradigm of the outlook where cancelling the parole became short term control on the safety of the public was a success in a new form of legal mechanism. Hence it silenced the need for individualistic approach of restoration, leading to efficient management of risky groups.

2. Discourse is how we perceive anything and provide an understanding of the term which is given meaning by the individuals according to the events happening around them. We bring things into practice like language it has power to describe and categorize and perceive 3 .There is a gap in the discourses between the academicians and the professional expert followed by the discourses of media, politician and society. The difference between such discourses would be due their underlying interest hence new penology is not about why the crimes happened but a statistical view of the functioning of criminal system and its management which is applied branch of systems theory and also bring into light the social discourses of punishment. 4

3. Due to the bureaucratization of the correctional means like various forms of electronic monitoring systems, statistical tools for assessment of danger and prediction of risk to a group. Crime had a changed definition whose occurrence must be foreseen and effects should be minimised which was brought into practice by the continuation of the risk management by The actuarial logic. The criminals are not reintegrated in the society but is replaced by an administrative function, a storehouse for the highest risk classes of offenders. Like in todays practice the drug use check has become an indication of the risk. The usage of drugs in such a wide scale in the public doesn’t lead to new theories as to how to stop them but acts as an indicator of the risk group. 5

Crime mapping is an analysis drawn by the professional experts by reading the crime pattern and reducing the crime rate. The problems that arise with crime mapping according to Kidynis are:

1. The criminologists don’t explore the multiple abundance of the new technologies in the system which doesn’t only deal with developing the social theories but also in empirical methodological advancement to help the criminologists use the mapping in a different fashion.

2. Crime mapping should not only be used for reading the crime pattern or enforcing a particular law but to extend the horizon of cartography and recognize the bias, inaccuracy and less efficiency of it to dump the preconceived notions of the latent effect on political and ideological functions.

3. Academicians and activists have challenged the accuracy of the cartography and have been critical about it. The mapping is done on the basis of the police records and not something more reliable, like British crime survey reports. Hence ignoring the right measure of any offense under any circumstances.

4. Cyber offence, transactional and financial offence, felony, cross border terrorism doesn’t get sufficient exposure and such inter- spatial crimes are not found in conventional mapping system creating a big space lag which results in the inefficiency of mapping.

5. Mapping is a technical method where the geographical coordinates are misinterpreted and misallocated at times shows erroneous reading leading to confusion. It became more criticised by the people due to the use of GPS system. The critiques began to question the preconceived notion of the cartography and to shift the attention to political implications of it.

6. Cartography has played an important role during the western liberal domination and also during contemporary wars to read the far off places by joining the dots which apparently is criticised from being an object which is incapable of understanding the complex nature of humans combating the situations in life.

7. The creators of the map are argued to have been blamed of being ideologically full of what they believe in or the objectives they believe in.

8. The role of police in curbing down the crime rates have been questioned like Evaluation of the COMPSTAT whereas the main work is basically done by the criminologists who is setting up the map, reading and scaling the information.

9. Survey study suggests that even if the evaluative study of the target places of crime suggests that crimes have been reducing with the effective police control, it is less in number, unstable and short lived. It is more justified by population shift, imprisonment of hardened criminals and controlling drug trafficking. Continue your journey with our comprehensive guide to Law’s Role in Society’s Morals.

10. Crimes do not occur due to the scattering of the various geological points but every crime has a history and trajectory which is required to be studied, classified and distilled.

11. Maps have become very popular, interactive and popular amongst the public which is changing the dimension of the relationship with cartography. Technologies also offer new possibilities for resistance, subversion and transgression. The criminology process is very complex based on mapping as it doesn’t give any background information, hence it should only be used for interview process for knowing the personal details of offender than being a direct image projector.