Intersectional Criminology in the UK - Essay Example

Intersectionality In the UK and Wales, crime levels have been on a gradual decline over the recent past. However, the figures remain unacceptably high with over 85 000 people incarcerated (Berman & Dar, 2013). Earlier in October 2013, the Office of National Statistics (ONS), through the annual ‘Crime in England and Wales’ bulletin reported that crime had fallen by 7% and the lowest ever recorded since 1981(Crime falls, 2013) . The data is collected through Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) which commenced in 1981. The survey collected data from the public on incidences of crime against households and adults. The government and the public has on the other hand intensified the fight against crime through a number of measures. The government has created more specialized forces to deal with specific types of crimes such as the recently created National Crime Agency which replaced the Serious Organized Crime Agency, formed in April 2006. The budgetary allocations to such bodies have increased with the NCA accounting for £500m a year (Symonds, 2013). The government has also instituted a number of studies to understand the motivations for crime and the trends. The public has played its role through community policing and volunteering information about criminals. The attempts to fight the escalating crime rates are based on various theoretical grounds. One approach to understanding crime and its motivation is based on the socioeconomic background of the offenders. Criminologists have over time indicated that individuals from poor socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to commit crime than individuals from socioeconomically stable backgrounds. This perception does not only exist in the UK but also in other developed countries. One of the greatest sources of socioeconomic imbalance in developed countries and more so in the UK is the proliferation of immigrant population. From the 2010 census Berman and Dar (2013) observe that 11.2% of the UK population was born outside the country with 7.7% born out of the EU. A significant percentage (27%) of the offenders in the UK prison system is from ethnic minority groups. In the US and other developed countries, minority groups have showed higher likelihood to crime. For instance, in the US Hispanic race accounts for 16.3% of the country’s population but 20.6% of all the offenders in the prisons. By gender, 5.5% of male population was imprisoned compared to 1.12% in women. In the UK, 21% of the minority population (Asian 6.0%, Black 2.9%, Mixed 1.9%, Chinese 0.8%, Other 0.8) in the country accounts for 62% of the prisons population as of 2012 while women account for only 4.5% of the population and the rest is male (Berman & Dar, 2013). In 2012 in the UK, 3% of women had experience sexual assault compared to 0.3% of men. On the other hand, young men were twice as likely as women to experience violent crime. In terms of homicide, children less than one year old were most likely affected at 21 homicides per a million people followed by 16-29 years age group at 15 homicides per a million people. These figures practically indicate that gender, race and socioeconomic background can predict crime. This is captured by the intersectionality approach. Intersectionality is an approach that was originally coined and popularized by feminists for feminist analysis. This approach tended to view the individual as a composition of the identifying elements such as religion, race, class, sexuality and gender (Vakulenko 2007). The author cites another approach to conceptualizing intersectionality as an approach of conceptualizing gender, race, sexuality, class, etc. in “terms of forces that shape societies rather than as traits featured by individuals” (Vakulenko, p. 185). McCall (2005, p1771) defines intersectionality as “relationships among multiple social dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formations” (Griffin & Museus, 2011. p7). There is no single universally accepted definition. However, different authors have developed different definitions that are loosely similar. Crenshaw put in context to say that Consider an analogy to traffic in an intersection, coming and going in all four directions. Discrimination, like traffic through an intersection, may flow in one direction, and it may flow in another. If an accident happens in an intersection, it can be caused by cars traveling in any number of directions and, sometimes, from all of them. Similarly, if a Black woman is harmed because she is in the intersection, her injury could result from sex discrimination or race discrimination…. Black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Black men. Yet often they experience double-discrimination – the combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race, and on the basis of sex. And, sometimes they experience discrimination as Black women – not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as Black women. (Crenshaw, 1993 p. 149). To Crenshaw (1993), black women often experience simultaneous gender- and race-based disadvantage. The intersections fall under three categories namely structural, political, and representational. Discrimination by police Intersectional criminology has caused increased cases of racial profiling and discrimination in the fight against crime. This is very evident in the UK and other developed nations where activists have raised their concerns that intersectional criminology leads to division of society and even discrimination. In the case of UK, US and Australia, a large portion of the prisoner population comprises of the minority communities. In Australia especially, the plight of the Aboriginal communities and Torres Strait Islanders has portrayed Australia negatively in terms of its human rights records. These minority groups have often complained of being targeted by law enforcement officers courtesy of their race, skin colour or even ethnic background. A report by Human Rights Watchdog published in The Guardian shows that police in the UK are 28 times more likely to stop and search a black person and 3% of these stops lead to arrests (Dodd, 2013). This has set up the grounds for institutionalized discrimination. This means that the law itself acts in a discriminatory manner and even sets up the minority communities for further discrimination. Encourages discrimination by society The activities of the police in targeting certain individuals or groups of individuals as supported by intersectional criminology does not and cannot go unnoticed to the public. Such activities by the police encourage the public, more so, the dominant white majority to develop an attitude and perception towards people of certain social profile. This gives way to a highly segregated community that fears one another courtesy of their sexuality, gender and race. While studies shows that the minority populations in the UK and other developed countries comprise the larger fraction of victims, society has failed to view minority populations as victims but perpetrators alone. A good example is the famous case of one Stephen Lawrence. This young black man was murdered on 22nd April 1993 by a group of five white youths as he waited for a bus. This case came into prominence with how the metropolitan police handled the subsequent investigations. Although police received information regarding the offenders immediately after the murder, the arrests tool place on 7th May after public outcry. Even after the metropolitan police made the arrests and arraigned the suspects in court, the suspects were acquitted for lack of evidence. Lawrence’s family followed up the case with a private prosecution but was also thrown out on grounds of ‘contradictory’ and ‘contaminated’ evidence. In 1997, an inquest jury unanimously agreed that “Stephen Lawrence was unlawfully killed in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths” (Joyce p. 411). Another inquiry was formed to investigate the matter and the metropolitan police headed by a retired high court judge, William Macpherson who concluded that the MPs were racist, corrupt and incompetent. The intersectional approach supported by past data regarding racial profiling would be in support of the fact the Lawrence was more likely the offender, probably provoking the young men instead of being the victim. Reverse Discrimination The intersectionality paradigm in criminology has created stereotypes based on the various sociocultural identities. In the UK and other developed nations, black males are often viewed as more likely to commit a crime. This stereotype does not recognize the fact that there are personal elements of identity among some black individuals that makes them different from such stereotypes. This applies in the victimisation case where majority white people are viewed as victims even where they are not. In the case black women, the authorities have been on record of over protecting them against their fellow black men resulting to discrimination against black men. Another way that intersectionality can be applied in criminology is diagnosis of medical conditions in criminals. One report indicates that doctors are likely to make biased diagnosis based on race. For instance when presented with the same symptoms for a black and white male, doctors are likely to biasedly diagnose black and Caribbean patients with schizophrenia while white patients are diagnosed with bipolar. This kind of disproportionate diagnosis has a huge impact on the delivery of justice and fighting crime given that medical reports are necessary in some cases before a court can make a ruling. Pros of intersectionality The intersectional approach in criminology has been of immense help to law enforcers and security organs. The approach informs the field of criminology that motivation to commit crime is not one sided by comprises of many factors or motivators. This is borrowed from feminist black women who argued that black women faced discrimination not because of their colour alone but also because of their sex. The feminists were categorical that the experiences of such women were not respected or at least recognised even by appellate judges when making their ruling (Collins & Moyer 2008). This is based on the fact that they are female and the social construct of gender presents them as vulnerable and at times physically weak which predisposes them to all types of violence with domestic or sexual violence being highly cited. This approach therefore creates a clear approach to handling issues affecting women. However, Potter (2013) records the case of gender entrapment which explains that black women are predisposed to crime as a result of their association in intimate relationship with violent men. The race, class and gender expectation and their vulnerability makes them to be penalized for behaviours they engage in even when the behaviours are logical extensions of their racialised gender identities. The use of intersectionality in this case alleviates the problem of exposing women to violence as a result of their predisposition. Intersectional paradigm in criminology and victimization ignores intricate individual traits that contribute to delinquency and crime. A number of studies have suggested that crime and some vices such as alcoholism, violence in some instances might be hereditary. As early as the late 19th century, one researcher JB Thompson published a paper titled “the hereditary nature of crime” in which he claimed that some people were predisposed to crime, violence by the their genetic code. Although Thompson never carried out a form scientific study on his claims, he cited many examples where large families were all involved in crime. In his analysis, he did not account for the role of the microenvironment provided by a delinquent family or a family whose business is criminal in nature. Bohm and Vigel (2010) cite another series of studies by one Charles Goring on the heredity of crime. In his studies, Goring argued assessed whether other hereditary traits such as hair colour and eye colour would match the inherited behaviour. He found that all the traits matched and thus he figured that crime was hereditary. Further recent studies on the heredity of crime have denied any genetic associations. This opens up to criminologists new approaches to handling crime from a personal level to effect social change. A study by Yuan Zhu and colleagues (cited in Brooksbank 2002) on people with hereditary-cancer predisposition syndromes showed that the environment caused the cancer to develop. In the study, the researchers used heterozygous cells. They noted that each individual cell started off as heterozygous for a tumour suppressor. These cells would be affected by the heterezygosity of neighbouring cells. In this study, when Cre–Lox technology was used to destabilize the hereozygosity of neighbouring cells, the other cells were affected. This research has been adopted in analysis of crime in noting that the environment in which an individual in brought up in can suppress or boost any genes of crime or delinquency within him. The intersectional paradigm does not acknowledge the role of the environment in crime and delinquency. In the UK, police have consistently targeted certain gangs usually founded on certain families. Some of these gangs are the Adams family associated with the Clerknwell crime syndicate. The intersectional approached here acknowledges that the intersection of family, class and race among others has led to the proliferation of these gang families. These would tend to assume that family members born into the family have it in their blood to be gang members and criminals. On the contrary, based on the study by Zhu and colleagues (cited in Brooksbank 2002), the family environment, crime and probably hostility by society and police occasioned of profiling, leads to flourishing of delinquent and criminal behaviour. The use of intersectionality in criminology explains oppositional consciousness in specific groups of people. The oppositional consciousness framework posits that people do not dismiss the importance of collective identity or other concepts that they may use to identify themselves. This means that the challenges that a certain group of faces either in response to the environment or the system creates a platform for sharing their experiences. Oppositional consciousness therefore brings out the awareness of privilege and marginalisation and how the different structures impact on them (Potter 2013). A narrative of victimization is created where a given group of individuals identify themselves as ‘we’ who probably suffer because of others ‘them’. While this oppositional consciousness was originally used in the formation of social movements, the same principle is applied in understanding the resentment that certain people such as black males may have against another group such as the police. This means that black population that fall on different identifies on the identity matrix may find common ground in expressing their opposition to a certain group that makes them suffer. This can be effectively applied in explaining the reason as to why some minority groups night be inclined to engage in crime and delinquent behaviour targeted at a particular group of people and mainly the white majority in UK who also compromises the larger fraction of the security officers. Intersectionality has enabled law enforcers to identify high risk groups and thus put in place necessary measures early enough. However, not all persons have welcomed this idea. Among the LGBT community, it has been observed from health records that there is high prevalence of mental illnesses which can predispose them to crime. For instance, in a study in Scotland by McNeil and colleagues (2012), 55% of transgendered people were diagnosed with past and current depression with an additional 33% showing signs of depression. Over half (53%) if these people have injured themselves ways with very few of them interested in seeking medical attention or professional help. This means that such people pose a danger not only to themselves but to other people close to them. Such tendencies are not common to all people but the intersection of their sexuality and other sociocultural dimensions can place them in high risk groups is terms of victimisation or crime. Law enforcement bodies can use intersectionality to predict persons who are likely to commit crime and there institute or recommend the enactment of policies that reduce the probability of engaging in crime or delinquency. Such measures would include better employment opportunities and education of the minority communities in order to improve their social economic status. Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clear that intersectionality has helped in the study of criminology while in some areas it has fallen short in explaining tackling relevant issues and at times aggravating the problems. One of the major ways that intersectionality has been most influential is in institutionalizing racism and leading to racial profiling especially of minority groups on the UK and other countries. The end result is a more segregated society that is even more prone to racially instigated crimes. In future, there is need to develop an approach in criminology that attends to issues of race, gender, sexuality, social class, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion and any other basis of inequality as they relate to crime and deviance. References Berman, G. & Dar, A. (2013). Prison Population Statistics. Retrieved on 18th Nov 2013 from, http://www.parliament.uk/Templates/BriefingPapers/Pages/BPPdfDownload.aspx?bp-id=sn04334 Bohn, R. & Vogel, B. (2010). A Primer on Crime and Delinquency Theory. London: Cengage Learning. Brooksbank (2002). The causes of crime. Nature Reviews Cancer, 2: 4 Collins, T. & Moyer, L. (2008). Gender, race, and intersectionality on the Federal Appellate Bench. Political Research Quarterly, 21(2) 219-227 Crenshaw, K. (1993). Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of colour. Stanford Law Review. 43: 1241-1299. Crime falls. (2013). Crime falls 7% in England and Wales according to Crime Survey figures. Retrieved on 18th Nov 2013 from, http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-june-2013/sty-crime-summary.html Dodd, V. (2013). Police up to 28 times more likely to stop and search black people – study. The Guardian. Retrieved on 18th Nov 2013 from, http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/12/police-stop-and-search-black-people Griffin, K. & Museus, S. (2011). Mapping the margins in higher education: on the promise of intersectionality frameworks in research and discourse. In Using Mixed Methods to Study Intersectionality in Higher Education: New Directions in Institutional Research, Number 151. London: Wiley & Sons. Joyce, P. (2013). Criminal Justice: An Introduction. London: Routledge. McNeil, J., Bailer, L., Ellis, S., Morton, J. & Regan, M. (2012). Trans mental health study. Retrieved on 18th Nov 2013 from, www.scottishtrans.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/trans_mh_study.pdf% Potter, H. (2013). 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