Social explanations of crime (Labelling and self fulfilling prophecy)

Created by: jaaaz_v
Created on: 03-11-16 20:17

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Labelling and SFP
- Labelling is when we classify individuals and treat them accordingly
  - Negative connotations with being labelled though in theory someone could be labelled positively
  - May not reflect the true nature of the individual
- Can be linked with stigmas
  - can lead to generalized and oversimplified views
  - linked to stereotypes
- 2 types of labelling
  - Retrospective - interpreting someones past in light of present deviance. Eg saying that a murderer used to be violent
  - projective labelling is uding deviant identity to predict future actions. Eg, saying an aggressive person will g on to be a murderer
- "SPF is the process by which one persons expectations about another become reality by eliciting behaviours that confirm the expectations
- Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)
  - Tests of general ability given to children and teachers were told they could predict academic "blooming"
  - Teachers were made to believe that some children would end the year in high achievement
  - Teachers informed of those who got top 20% (made up)
  - at the end of the year, children were retested
  - those marked as ready to bloom showed greater gains than those not labelled in this way
- Jahoda (1954)
  - Wanted to see if the day a child is born could effect what they turned out like
  - Based on Soul names and the idea that the day a child is born affects their temperament
  - Mondays boys are placid and Wednesday boys are believed to be violent and aggressive
  - Over a five year period 22% of the violent offences recorded in court were committed by boys with Wednesday names whereas Mondays boys were only 6.9%
- Basemer et al (2013)
  - Children of convicted parents were shown to have a higher risk of conviction
  - Official bias
  - Factors like convicted parents, low family income, poor housing etc can be used to label a family as "criminal"
  - Could be other explanations for the child being convicted such as social learning theory
  - + such families are paid attention to more so are more likely to be caught and prosecuted
- Gender differences
  - Boyd and girls experience different socialisation. Girls tend to be supervised more while boys are encouraged to take more risks.
    - May be less clear with modern changes in society
  - Carlen (1990) found evidence that males and females may be labelled differently. Interviewed convicted female offenders and found that women turn to crime when it makes sense to do so, rather than going against social norms
  - Heidensohn (1985) found that females conform to social norms more than males, suggesting that males are more likely to engage in criminal behavior than females
  - Ramoutar & Farrington (2006) interviewed male and female prisoners in trinidad about their offending
    - Found that both genders were affected by labelling
    - Negative labelling by parents, police etc. affected participation in violent crime (but not frequently)
    - Females were affected much more than males by negative labels from their parents

Comments

Report Wed 9th June, 2021 @ 07:48

I have selected this crime as I believe not many people know Domestic Violence and the fact that it is happening to a lot of people on a daily basis, not many people see Domestic Violence as a serious crime and not many people would report it. This crime goes unreported due to the lack of media representation and media interest and offenders may feel like if they commit hate crime, they will not get a long-term punishment. Because many domestic violence cases occur in relationship the offender may think that they would get away with it and the victim may feel scared to report it. This type of crime is not commonly represented in the media which is why I would like to raise awareness and change the public perspectives. One of the consequences of not reporting domestic violence is decriminalization In some cases domestic violence will get reported but not recorded as the police may feel like as this crime is not serious and they would feel like it is not worth the time and money investigated these types of crime and they would pay attention to more important types of crime e.g. knife crime and murder crimes.Some people are so used to it that they think it is impossible to get out of the situation and cannot rely on anyone’s help. An example of a victim of hate crime is Clare woodwho was murdered in 2009 by her ex-boyfriend who had a history of violence against women.Ms Wood was strangled and set on fire at her home in Salford, Greater Manchester, in February 2009 by George Appleton, who had a record of violence against women. Figures show that the police recorded 758,941 domestic abuse-related crimes in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester Police), an increase of 9% from the previous year; this continues an ongoing trend that may reflect improved recording by the police alongside increased reporting by victims, Domestic Violence is on the rise.According to CSEW data for the year ending March 2018, only 18% of women who had experienced partner abuse in the last 12 months reported the abuse to the police, this shows that victims of domestic abuse do not tend to report it, this one of the reasons why I am doing this campaign is to encourage people to report it by giving them friendly advice on what to do next.

I believe that my campaign for change will have an impact as it will give information on hate crime to a wider society through social media platforms and through my merchandise. The end goal of my campaign is to reduce the number of domestic violence cases dramatically and to hope that my campaign will reach people that need help, in my campaign I will try to encourage people not to commit domestic violence and explain to them the negative effects that it will have on you and the impact it will have on the person you are doing it to. Without information of my campaign my target audience would not know what my campaign is about. Also I will be helping Domestic Violence victims by providing them the support and information they need to get more help and how to stay away from domestic violence from the start. Statistics shows that the number of domestic violence crime rate is high which I would want to decrease. With the information I provide in my campaign it could influence people to report hate crime if they see it, many people will not care if they see or know domestic violence is occurring as it would not affect them and I would want to change that as I would like to let them know that their actions can change the victims life.

My campaign name is `Hands are Not For hitting`. The reason why I have chosen this name is because it portrays a strong message that you should not raise your hand on one another, if you are in a relationship and you hit your partner that is domestic violence and should not be happening and they should show love and compassion to one another if they are in a committed relationship, if viewers read this and they do get the message they might change and as a result there would be less domestic violence crimes committed each year which is one of the key aims for my campaign. In addition, the name is attractive and appealing to my target audience as it would grab their attention and has a clear message.

The methods I used in my campaign are social media, posters and merchandise. The reason why I have chosen social media is because many people use social media so it will be a good and effective way to get through to my target audience. This objective will help me with my aim of improving awareness and educating society about Domestic abuse such as the different support channels available for domestic abuse victims, Instagram has over 1 billion users globally which can enable people from around the world to get involved in the campaign. Also, I designed a poster as they provide information and images and way to get help as I have put a helpline on there, the images I used are catchy and grab a lot of attention, people may feel sympathetic towards them as I have got an image with a distressed person and have a statistic on the top, some viewers may feel as if they are a part of that 1 in 3 number. I have also used merchandise which is a way of raising my campaign profile, I used pens and face masks. Many people now due to this pandemic wear face masks and it is clearly visible; they may see it and then search it up to find out more information and to try and get involved. These methods are effective in attracting my target audience as many teenagers use Instagram daily and it would allow my campaign not just to be focused on the UK but to be in other parts of the world too. I have chosen to also create a pen because pens are Widley used by my target age group as they go to college, and pens are not costly. By having all this, it will enable me to spread my campaign to wider society not just in my locality.

My overall aim of the campaign is to educate people on Domestic Abuse and to get information to a wider audience, I chose certain images because they are powerful and convey a strong message, in one of the pictures there is a person in distress this can cause an emotional response this would then make them join my campaign and to help make a difference. The images could be appealing to my target audience as it would make them feel sad and as they would feel the pain if they were in their shoes.

I have chosen my logo which is not dull nor too flashy. My logo is “Hands are not for hitting”, I have got animated hands which represents the hands and, on the hands,, I have chosen to write “stop domestic violence” and have repeated the structure several times and made a globe shape I think it is eye catching and it will stay in people’s minds. I have also put a catchy slogan which is “Break the Silence-End the Violence- Take a stand against domestic violence.” This rhymes and can stay in peoples long term memory, this slogan conveys a strong message that if you are a victim of domestic abuse you should speak out and not stay silent because silence done end the violence. I have also made this large so people can see it from far not just close when looking at the poster. I have used strong persuasive language in my poster and have consistency throughout my campaign, the poster colour is mainly purple and red. I believe that the poster is professional and of high quality and appealing. I believe that the colour scheme of my poster is appropriate And will catch people attention I have put the writing in bold on purpose to make it eye catching and appealing to the naked eye. The colours I have used are black, purple and Red, Purple to show there is light in the end for example if you are a victim of domestic abuse and you speak to the right person things can get brighter for you. I have chosen black as I believe it fits in with the other colours I have chosen and it contrasts perfectly. I wanted to make my poster colourful and not dull which is why I have used a range of different colours and to attract my target audience. I have also used other features such as a helpline for people wishing to acquire more information about the campaign.

I have used persuasive language, I have also used rhetorical question which would make the viewers think and question themselves. I have used persuasive language to try and convince my target audience to get involved. It is effective because I would not want to bore people when they are looking at my poster and after I want them to act by getting involved such as buying merchandise or supporting me grow the profile of the campaign, I have put the writing in bold for them to clearly see and read.

When I was planning my campaign I gave myself a timescale which was 2 months and 4 weeks and I believe fully launching my campaign can be possible in that time to the quality that it needs to be and using the time wisely in order to make sure everything is ready and no mistakes are made.