This is a strong statement; it gives the feeling of negativity, unease and vulnerability. We should be very aware of what is going on and this statement gives the feeling for the need of protection. Action needs to be taken to ensure societies safe well being. Reid interlinks terrorism with migration suggesting that justice is not always served as individuals cannot always be prosecuted and how the safety of millions could possibly be threatened to ensure the safety of maybe one or a few individuals. It suggests that there somehow must be a weakness in our system and we actually don’t have maximum security. Reid’s argument is linked with crime control and using criminal law and justice to solve the problem.
However Sen argues there is more security in place than before to deal with the many problems we have. Sen stresses there are ways in which these threats are overcome. Sen sees the problems of crime and violence as a more welfarist issue and relate them more to poverty and equality. Sen considers the effect of giving people a good start and a chance in life including the chance to obtain good health, decent housing and job opportunities and the benefits this might have on society.
These extracts show how security is involved in the relationship between crime control and social welfare and how security is becoming a dominant theme in crime control and social welfare as opposed to equality, support, protection and other approaches.
Even though security is more dominant, prevention through social policy is a huge factor in this argument. A good example of this would be that of Safeguarding children. All agencies and professionals who support children and young people in any manner and are in involved in their life in any professional way will adhere to the ‘Every Child Matters’ framework. The framework consists of five outcomes, ‘being healthy’, ‘staying safe’, ‘enjoying and achieving’, ‘making a positive contribution’ and ‘economic well being’. This ensures that the upmost support is provided for the child, young person, parent, carer, and families and their safety is of the highest priority. It also ensures that all agencies, professionals and provisions involved are working together and that important information is shared as appropriate. This framework provides equality, support and protection and the aim is to give children and young people a life chance as shown in extract 3.2 Chapter 3:
‘Our aim is to ensure that every child has the chance to fulfil their potential by reducing levels of educational failure, ill health, substance misuse, teenage pregnancy, abuse and neglect, crime and anti-social behaviour amongst children and young people’ (McCarthy, 2008, p80)
However this delivers both security and insecurity. The issue is to safeguard children and young children but there is a possibility that it provides insecurities for the parents perhaps giving them feeling of being watched over and monitored. This is why it is of high importance that parents get support to encourage their child to lead a healthy happy life.
Looking at Sen’s idea of prevention leads on to extract 1.3 Chapter 1 and the role of risk assessment. Barron did research amongst young offenders in youth custody centres to investigate the impact of risk assessment. Research shows in this case that staff indicated by setting rules such as ‘no touching’ ‘no talking to boys’ it is preventing any need to force a policy. Barron argues that this is unhealthy for young people and they need to experience physical and sexual development. Staff claim there is a risk of unwelcome contact between the girls so prevention is good. Insecurities in the prison environments are high and these rules are set because of anxiety.
Another factor that shows the insecurities of society in the UK and the dominance of crime control is the increase in Gated Communities in the UK as evidence shows. The government are now thinking more about the idea of gated communities in the UK. Atkinson and Flint suggest that while at one time territories were marked through means of a strong cultural distinction, modification of neighbourhoods and gang related ground, gated communities are a new defence to help society feel safe and secure on their territory. These individuals are acting on a view similar to Reid. They are aware of the insecurities within society and are taking action and are addressing the issues. Referring to DVD 1 in earlier parts of this course, the views of the residents in the Gated Communities were those of a positive response. They felt safe and secure.
However Atkinson and flint suggest that in US cities societies decline over time because there is low social relationships a breakdown of the usual systems. This could possibly happen in the UK. Atkinson & Flint argue that Gated Communities create groups that are unattached from other groups in society and allow these groups to adapt to a daily life without coming into contact with groups that they don’t want to. This has a huge impact on society.
|‘Gated communities suggest that residential segregation does more than simply lead to a withdrawal of certain groups into spatially fixed enclaves. (Atkinson & Flint, 2004, p877)
It supports Sen’s claim and affects the importance of challenging poverty and inequality.
People want security and this is a reason for living in Gated Communities. However this can cause a problem as evidence shows in the case studies carried out. Community police were interviewed and one community police officer reported that communities within the gated communities thought of the area outside as
‘...crime prone localities, despite the fact that they had very low crime rates’ (Atkinson & Flint, 2004, p879)
Society adapt into the way of thinking that the world outside the gates is dangerous and risky. The residents might still have the same opinion if the area was proven to be one of the safest areas to live in the UK. This can cause wrongly judged senses of insecurity
One view on gated communities suggested that it is only the rich who get this chance in life to decide and take action to protect themselves and feel secure. However this could be argued because evidence shows that whilst the majority of the society within Gated communities are individuals with a lot of money or possessions of value, evidence gained through case studies shows there are also different areas of the population buying into Gated Communities
‘The communities appear to have both young professional and retired elderly residents and also a mix of single, couple and family households (Atkinson & Flint, 2004, p879)
Some individuals within gated communities feel that only mixing with the individuals they feel appropriate is as important as feeling safe and having a sense of protection from violence and controlling the threat of crime. This has huge impact on the outside community with their view being that the residents of gated communities were not interacting socially in local areas. This can also be the view of some of the residents within the gated communities. Exclusion can often be felt.
In conclusion, security using crime control policy seems to be taking the upper hand but the division between crime control and social welfare is not a clear one. There are factors of each that make up our society, the relationship is entangled and one cannot exist without the other.
‘Security and opportunity must go hand in hand’ (McCarthy, 2008, p79)
Word count 1512
References
Cochrane A, and Talbot D, (2008) Book 2, Chapter 1, ‘The search for security’, DD208 Security: Welfare, Crime and society, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
McCarthy J R, (2008) Book 2, Chapter 3, ‘Security, insecurity and family lives’, DD208 Security: Welfare, Crime and society, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Atkinson R, Flint J, (2004) ‘Fortress UK? Gated Communities, the spatial revolt of the elites and time-space trajectories of segregation’, Housing Studies, vol. 19, no 6, p 875-892
