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The Culture Of Control: Crime And Social Order In Contemporary Society By David Garland

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David Garland (2002), a sociologist and criminologist, is renowned for his publications on cultural and political philosophy and research on crime, punishment, and social control REF. Garland contends in his book "The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society" that a multitude of social, economic, and political changes that have taken place over the previous few centuries due to the emergence of the ‘culture of control. Garland (2002) has written significantly on topics pertaining to social change and the state’s influence on societal standards. He particularly focuses on the changes in crime in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) from 1975- 2000 REF. Both these countries have demonstrated how they have …show more content…

This is the concept that ways of punishment have been a significant role on social welfare in modern societies REF. Garland contends that the welfare state has merged with the criminal justice system in modern Western cultures, making punishment the main strategy for resolving social issues REF. According to Garland, the welfare state has been viewed as a collection of institutions and guidelines intended to improve things such as people' well-being by giving them access to financial stability and medical treatment (Garland, 2017). He contends that as more people are being imprisoned and subjected to various forms of punishment for social and economic issues that were previously thought to be the province of the welfare state, the role of the criminal justice system in providing welfare has recently increased. Garland’s other concept which he deploys in his book (2002), the ‘punitive turn’, is strongly related to the welfare state. The phrase "punitive turn," coined by David Garland, refers to the rising use of punishment and criminal justice as a reaction to social and economic issues that were previously seen to be the province of the welfare state. According to Garland, the decline of the welfare state can be explained by the rising use of criminal justice and punishment as a response to economic and social issues that were previously seen as welfare state’s responsibility REF. He contended that governmental spending …show more content…

According to The Broken Window Theory, visual evidence of criminal activity and public disorder lead to an urban setting that promotes more criminal activity and disorder, including serious crimes. This strategy prioritises the enforcement of minor offences in order to prevent the occurrence of more serious crimes. The Broken Window Theory is related to the ‘culture of control’ in that it is employed to help minor offences not occur in order to maintain an orderly society REF. These strategies emphasise strong enforcement and punishment as a means of preserving social order and reining in crime REF. The Broken Window Theory shows that little changes can have a positive effect on social norms and the overall degree of crime and disorder. Communities may be able to establish a more pleasant and secure atmosphere by addressing minor disorders, and this can result in a number of social changes, such as an increase in residents' emotions of safety and well-being, better community relations, and perhaps even financial gains REF. There are various ways that the Broken Window Theory has been used to study societal change. For example, US and UK have instituted "Broken Window Theory" policing, which entails harshly punishing minor violations such as vandalism and graffiti in an effort to deter the

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Criminology Final Exam Essay The broken windows theory was first introduced in 1982 by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. The theory symbolically used “broken windows” as a metaphor for the disorder and crime within neighborhoods. This theory tries to connect disorder within a community to explain occurrences of serious crimes. Before the development of various theories such as broken windows, police and law enforcement scholars usually focused on serious crime.

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The Broken Window Theory is essentially the idea that chaos and disorder lead to crime and even more disorder. Gladwell

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The first aspect relates to the social control imposed by the upper class upon lower classes and those who do not integrate into society. The textbook classified this as the conflict view; the upper class uses the law as an instrument to maintain their own power while controlling and in the context of this article, confining and expelling those who violate long-held values and societal roles. Judges usually come from the upper class, and their sentences reflect their bias against those unlike them. Consequently, these sentences must be dispensed in a way to create a deterrent effect. While it is easy to ascribe these increased sentences as specific deterrence for offenders, a closer look reveals their true purpose of general deterrence.

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The Criminal Justice system is one of the most important vessels within society due to its role in ensuring that society is abiding by its laws and holding those who transgress these laws to account. Despite its crucial role in society, it has also been under some scrutiny in regards to how effective it actually is, which results in arguments that it doesn’t properly fulfil its job as a carrier of justice. A focus on the criminal justice system is a subject of interest because it helps us understand the tension within society between individual rights and freedoms. (Schmalleger, F. and Koppel, T, 1999) Thus, this essay will be arguing that the criminal justice system is indeed broken.

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She describes how the criminal justice system befell the way it is today and gives an explanation and a pathway to fix mass incarceration in the criminal justice system. She goes into details referring to law policies and sentencing and how they have been extended. Therefore, guiding the reader to understand that in order to amend this problem we need to start with small alterations that will grow overtime to amend the bigger problem, going from the bottom up. She concludes in justifying the system as a political issue and not a crime and punishment

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Order maintenance gave off the impression that the community was not the authority in control, but that it tolerated minuscule actions that encourage more serious and more violent crimes. The adoption of the broke windows theory made way for the zero tolerance policy, which simply states that no matter what the circumstances are, when it comes to crimes within the streets and discipline in the schools, punishment will be applied. The broken windows theory is used as a signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on anti-social behavior and any other additional crimes. The theory expresses that while maintaining and keeping a watch over urban environments to help prevent small crimes such as public drinking, vandalism, and turnstile-jumping, it also helps to create an atmosphere that is lawful and in order. This theory is used to prevent and deter more serious crimes from happening.

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