Term paper of criminology

In Differential Association Theory, there are many characteristics that describe the process of an individual learning criminal behaviour and becoming a deviant. This theory has an inherit assumption that when the definitions towards crime prevail over the definitions against crime, criminal behaviour will transpire. For example, criminal behaviour is learned when interacting with others through communication. This typically occurs within intimate groups and the teaching includes techniques of executing the crime, rationalisations, and attitudes. When applying this theory to Yu’s situation, Yu learned about triad society from his father. Although he never teaches Yu to be a gangster, he had indirectly introduces it to him and normalised the gang’s acts by fighting in front of him.

Based on Merton’s Anomie Theory, deviance results from how society is constructed. The term anomie is used to describe a segregation of social goals and the acceptable means utilized to accomplish these objectives. Since social segregation exists, means of achieving these goals are not distributed evenly. Thus, some people will experience pressure that compels them to achieve although they are incapable of doing so. This pressure can be resolved by discovering alternative modes of adaptation. Yu, judging from his dwellings, comes from a lower class family that may experience some financial difficulties. Because of his inability to access opportunities to achieve his goals, he may become frustrated. Thus, be perceives himself to be bored and the feel of loneliness with school and his life, and turns to the “family” of the gang to find the sense of belongings.

Strain Theory asserts that poverty leads to the maintenance of conventional rules and norms, which eventually leads to strain. As a result, there is a formulation of gangs and groups from which crime and delinquency originates. Furthermore, this establishes the criminal careers of certain individuals.  Since this theory proposes that crime stems from the social system, then crime can be seen as a product of people’s rational behaviour since they are motivated to commit crime. Applying this theory to the video, the protagonist who is poverty-stricken, experiences strain from his incapability to achieve in a conventional manner. He then joins a group of delinquent teenagers and begins his gangster life. If not apprehended and corrected, Yu may engage in a life-long career of gangster and get involved in other criminal activities. However, a noteworthy point is that strain theory cannot explain aggressive behaviour, thus analysis of why Yu’s friends have a tendency to act out violently cannot be conducted.

Cohen’s Theory of the Delinquent Subculture (1965) asserts that because school is centralised upon the values of the middle class, children from lower class have a tendency to do poorly in school, thus resulting in frustration when they realise they are unable to acquire status. In turn, they will create a delinquent subculture that perpetuates criminal behaviour. Similar to the proposed reasons from general strain theory of why Yu chose to join the triad society, is the desire of being protected and “look-after”. The movie depicted Yu as a student who was unconcerned about his grades, felt that homework was tiresome, and did not want to study. Consequently, his distain towards this institution led to his delinquent behaviour.  

The Labelling Theory contains three primary schools of thought. Frank Tennbaum avers that identifying children as delinquents alters their self-esteem and causes people to react to the tag instead of the individual. The tag is appended to a child when they are caught doing something deemed delinquent. In the case of Yu from the film, this branch of thought is not known to apply to him because there is no mention of whether or not he had been previously apprehended for delinquent behaviour. H. Becker (1963) provides additional insight on how defiance may have first been defined. He holds a relativistic view of deviance and asserts that it is a notion established by moral entrepreneurs, people who dictate what is right or wrong in society. Deviance is what is deemed to be inappropriate, which is reflected in the legal system which upholds laws sanctioning certain deviant behaviour. Thus, crime is only a product of social interaction. The deviant crimes that Yu has committed are only actions which society deems to be inappropriate. As E. Lemert writes in his work, Social Pathology (1951), a person labelled who does not have a strong self-image may be susceptible to readily internalising the label. The process of labelling may also lower self-esteem.  The dissatisfaction towards his mother and low self esteem may cause him to seek alternative ways to find the sense of accomplishment. Hence, unable to resist him from delinquency. For example, the amount of violence able to assert on someone, are able to demonstrate his masculinity. Joining the triad would also bring him a sense of security which neither his parents nor relatives can provide. He does not ponder about the implications of his actions and yields under peer pressure when asked to attack another gang group.

The biological theory of crime titled Atavism by C. Lombroso (1835-1909) is a primitive assertion of how criminals are like biological degenerates similar to prehistoric humans. Lombroso contends that some physical traits, identified as stigmata, were indicators of atavism. These characteristics include ears of unusual size, supernumerary digits, and premature wrinkly skin. From Lombroso’s extensive list, none of the features were seen on the protagonist of I want to dance.  

One branch of the psychological theories is concerned with how intelligence influences crime rates. A. Binet (late 1800s), the inventor of intelligent tests, predicated that criminality was a product of inherited feeblemindedness. Goddard (1914] with the aid of Binet’s work established a unilinear scale of intelligence. He insisted that people with an intelligence rating below a certain level were prospective threats in society because their stupidity was probable to cause trouble. Binet’s and Goddart’s attestations would seem to indicate that Yu had low intelligence, thus resulting in his deviant behaviour. However, this theory seems unlikely because Yu presents himself as an adolescent of average intelligence although he had an immature mindset of not looking at the consequences of his acts.

The relation between self concept and crime are discussed by Reckless et al (1956, 1957) and later refined by containment theorists. This group of academics claims that poor self-concept offers individuals no resistance to associations with deviance. Good self-concept can help teenagers overcome hardships of family, class, and neighbourhood that they may face. Those who have a low self-concept have an inclination to become wrongdoers because they are not concerned about what happens to them. In order to maintain status within their peer group, teenagers in particular are easily compelled to engage in criminal behaviour. With reference to the movie, Yu appears to have low self-concept because his mum had abandoned him and believes that no one cares about him, and thus does not value himself.

Solutions

There are several approaches to solve Yu’s problem, namely, the conservative, liberal and radical.

Liberal

The conservative approach seeks to encourage conformity to the standards. The means to do this include the improvement of family life, better discipline, more self control, and harsher and more certain penalties. However, given that conservatives oppose to the intrusion of the government into the home, even into homes that produce criminals, it may not be the best approach in Yu’s case. As the core problem in Yu is the loose community and family ties. More attachment, commitment, and involvement in school, good peers, and parents should be stressed by encouraging more parental and teacher guidance. In addition, the community at large should attempt to spread the moral belief of the righteousness of not joining the triad society. Adults should present factual information about the consequences of these acts. We have to pay closer attention to programs which strengthen the family or teach parents better ways to install law-abiding values in their children.

Firstly, crime rates are low in neighbourhoods that are socially integrated, because attachments of individuals to one another reduce crime and strengthen everyone’s stake in conformity. Therefore, if Yu’s were more socially integrated in his neighbourhoods and formed social bonding (Social control - social bonding theory) when Yu was little, greater surveillance of behaviours may reduce his chance of joining the triad because there is a fear of being observed, reported, and arrested.

This may be prevented by “mentoring scheme”. Residents from the better off community can mentor the residents from a high crime rates. Hence, the Social Welfare department can recruit volunteers to help revitalise crime-ridden neighbourhoods, but the volunteers must avoid patronising attitude that alienate those who have a lower self-esteem, such as Yu.

In respect to establishing solutions using the Labelling Theory, people, in particular, children should not be labelled as delinquents when they are apprehended for committing an inappropriate action. Since the process of tagging criminals creates delinquent behaviour, the use and response of labelling should discouraged to avoid encouraging the socialization of people believing that they are criminals. Those whose lives are entangled with drug misdemeanours should be informed that the abuse of drugs is not an indication of a life-long career as a criminal, but rather as a temporary step backwards from the correct path. Being in a dance group may also help teenagers like Yu. Dance such as Hip Hop is a youth subculture which helps to avoid teenagers like Yu to be labelled under the normal academic settings. Dancing has replaced gaming and fighting in order to release the pressure in his heart. Even more it has introduced a guiding light to his life because he met some real friends who care about him. Indeed, hip-hop is a form of youth subcultures which helps to aspire teens to gain social status, sense of accomplishment and self actualisation within the subculture, which does not considered as a deviant behaviour.

Secondly, family environment which emphasise authoritative parenting style through warmth, acceptance and understanding minimises the children’s tendency toward delinquency. Stanford (1985) carried a research on single parents and the control of adolescence and concluded that family structure does affect deviance within each sex, but the impact of family structure was stronger for males than female. The Chinese family is organised on a hierarchical basis, emphasising respect for elders while providing parental affection for children. Therefore, Chinese usually have low crime rates, whether they live in china or elsewhere. Despite Yu’s father does not care about him, if his aunt and grandmother had provided him adequate love and care, Yu may not join the triad society.

Besides, early intervention programs from the school may also reduce delinquency by providing educational daycares for preschool children, teachers or social worker’s home visit to teach parents how to raise their children, how to use community resources to get financial assistance and pediatric care.

Liberal

Liberalists believe that crimes can be reduced by policies that attack it underlying causes. Yu, coming from a single-parent family suffered from inequality of income and power. The lack of fair opportunities has disadvantaged him and lead to his engagement in “deviant behaviour” which is defined as criminal by those who hold power.

Therefore, a liberalist approach to tackle this problem would be by reforming the society, which would reduce crime. The core problem is poverty and discrimination. There are several ways that would ease the problem of crime: ie. Education and vocational training, welfare assistance, job opportunities, antidiscrimination laws, and community organisation. In this case, Yu was sent to the rehabilitation centre, which helps to re-educate him to have “proper” values.

Radical

Radical’s viewpoint focuses on crime by both the underprivileged and the privileged and attributes crime by both to the conditions of a capitalist society. The “crime problem” is regarded as a socially defined product of selective crime recording, media attention, and different treatment by the criminal justice system. Since Anomie and Strain theories emphasise that crime originates from the construction of the social system, solutions to tackle or prevent gang-related crimes must aim to close the gap between societal goals and the acceptable means. These theories assert that people chose to commit crimes when they feel strained by the unequal distribution of opportunities to achieve. Therefore, to prevent gang-related crimes, all people should be afforded the chance to achieve conventional societal goals. There should be decease on the emphasis on achieving status and economic wealth, which would decrease social tension. Yu is seen as victims of a capitalist system, rather than as offenders against society. Therefore, one of the ways to tackle gang affiliation may be regulating the violent scene in the gangster films and verbally abusive music because gangsters are seen as cool and hip because they are in involved in the popular culture.

Community programs and government campaigns should focus on informing adolescents that there are many legal ways to resolve the pressure to achieve in addition to helping them develop constructive ways to manage stress in their lives. Since crime is deemed to be a semi-rational act, harsher punishments for the abuse and sale of drugs should be implemented to discourage people from committing these offenses. The ultimately aim would be changing the culture of the society. However, this would be a very long process and ineffective in Hong Kong because it adopts the lassie-faire policy in its economy.

Conclusion

Understanding the reasonings of why people choose to engage in deviant behaviour and commit crime can lead to the development of effective methods to prevent and tackle crime. As demonstrated in the film, the protagonist, Yu, did not realise the severe consequences of his actions for joining the triad society and engaging in gang’s fight. Yu’s dissatisfaction with life, detachment from his family, and desire for “being protected” are contributing factors to his gang affiliation. As well, Yu’s father, who did not provide firm guidance and did not establish good communication skills with his son is partially at fault. After conducting a thorough analysis of Yu’s situation with the basic theories of crime, conclusive evidence seems to indicate that the Social Control Theory best explains the reasoning behind Yu’s behaviour. Although all proposed solutions from the theories discussed are valid, rehabilitation programs have generally proven to be effective in reducing gang delinquency.

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