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The causes of crime from a social constructionist perspective, focusing on the identity construction of young offenders in South Africa. The study discusses various approaches to crime, including sociological and psychological perspectives, and examines how unemployment, youth marginalization, and social control impact crime. The document also includes narratives of young offenders, providing insights into their constructions of self, others, situations, and crime.
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I wish to express my appreciation to — My husband, Modise for his patience and support. My son, Tebogo for his encouragement and for refusing to give up on me. My daughter, Bokang for her unwavering support and understanding. My sister, Mpho for being a shoulder to lean on. Dr Corinne Oosthuizen, my supervisor, whose patience, guidance and genuine interest is greatly appreciated.
Robin Hamilton, my colleague, whose assistance in editing the script is valued.
The Rand Afrikaans University for providing financial assistance and making my study possible.
The Johannesburg Prison whose assistance is greatly appreciated.
- Chapter 1- Overview on the problem of crime Page - 1.1 Introduction - 1.2 The conceptualization of crime - 1.3 Considerations in reflecting the causes of crime - 1.4 Aim of study - 1.5 Themes of study - Chapter 2- Different approaches to crime - 2.1 Introduction - 2.2 Sociological approaches to crime - 2.2.1 The subculture approach 2
Little (1990) points out that, in most cases, incarceration has detrimental effects on the young offender. It could also be a traumatic experience for them in that the deprivation of certain privileges like heterosexual relationships, the autonomy of and the relative freedom from rules. There is also the deprivation of security by being forced into association with at times, viscous and unpredictable fellow inmates, which could be an indication that the greatest pressures in prison emanate from prison warders and other inmates.
It is the aim of this thesis to look into how the young offender conceptualizes himself and the crime he commits. Attention will also be focused on how his identity is constructed as he goes through the process of planning and executing crime, is prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. Little (1990) argues that it is the young offender's identity crisis that contributes to crime and delinquency. He explains this by pointing out that in an attempt to find himself and to change the system he finds himself in, the young person may get involved in crime.
The aspect of whether or not imprisonment is the appropriate solution to this problem has been debated for decades. This is due to the fact that in a number of cases, people do not integrate well back into the society after a period in prison. Little (1990) pointed out that incarceration strips the inmate of his identity and the prison exerts almost total control over the individual. At that point, the prisoner is powerless and the prison is at its highest power. Hence for some young offenders, the shock of shifting from liberty to prison security is most devastating.
In questioning the conditions that the young offenders are exposed to in prison, Korn (1968) proposed that young offenders should be given experiences that are appropriate for life outside and not in the artificial prison environment. The more the life of the institution resembles that of an actual social community, the more certain is the social rehabilitation of the young person.
Crime is relative and can mean different and even opposed things according to one's point of view, which implies that it is difficult, if not impossible, to come up with a common definition of what crime is. As Fox (1976) puts it, crime is a common word with uncommon connotations. It is also an umbrella term covering a wide range of different circumstances and
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situations. Clifford (1974, p. 1) (^) defines crime as "the kind of conduct which cannot be allowed to go on without the disruption of order, a decline of public security and a steady descent into social chaos". Therefore in order to protect lives and property and safeguard the social order such offences should be controlled.
Crow, Van der Walt, Retief and Naude (1976) argue that crime can be characterized as. the breach of a norm or rule of behaviour which has been established by law, with the obligation on every member of society to respect it. Clifford (1974) emphasizes that it is the law, which labels certain types of behaviour as criminal, implying that if there were no laws there would not be crime. On the other hand, one could argue that it is crime that creates law in that crimes precede the law because it is when crimes are committed that laws become necessary. As laws are made, unmade, changed or amended, the meaning of crime changes in the process. An action that was once regarded as legal could become illegal.
A criminal is punished once proven guilty of a crime. The purpose of punishment is to protect the public against what is considered harmful and as a deterrent to other could-be offenders. The above view implies that behaviour can only be regarded as a crime if the person is apprehended and the law proves beyond reasonable doubt that the individual has committed a crime. In other words, it does not cover those criminals acts that are committed without them being brought to the attention of the courts.
This study, though taking into consideration the fact that most young people commit crime without getting arrested, will focus on those young offenders who have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. The question, therefore, arises as to what do we mean by a young offender. This is also one concept that has different connotations in different countries. In South Africa, for instance, a person is a young offender until the age of 18 years. However, for the purposes of this thesis, a young offender is anyone between the age of 14 and 21 who is serving a prison sentence for committing a crime.
Most people believe that imprisonment is the best solution to crime. In South Africa today, more and more people are sent to prison - as a result, the country is facing a problem of overcrowding in the prisons. Furthermore, a lot of the taxpayer's money is being used to maintain those that are in prison. This therefore brings up a question of whether it is really worth it to imprison people, if some of them after their release still continue with crime with resultant recidivism. Even if it is an important matter to look into the issue of prisons and their
5 Clifford (1974) maintains that there is a growing dissatisfaction with the search for causes for criminal behaviour. He indicated that this search for causes has led to the conclusion that the studies made on this subject is doomed to failure even before they start due to the fact that they are not properly conceived. He argues that to look for causes is futile and that the quest for answers to unanswerable questions should be abandoned.
It is evident that there are so many causes of crime that have been investigated and there is no one of them that could explain criminal behaviour fully and satisfactorily. Regardless of the amount of work that has been done in this subject, we are still not winning as far as controlling or preventing crime goes. This study, in an effort to conceptualize criminal behaviour, will be based on the social constructionist approach. Some refer to this approach as the postmodern discourse. The basic premise of the social constructionist approach is that objective knowledge is impossible and it emphasizes multiple realities. This, therefore, avoids an ideological and exclusive connotation while at the same time opening space for the possibility of recognizing and including other paradigms. That is, a both rather than an either/or stance is preferred (Owen, 1992).
The social constructionist approach maintains that we cannot objectively conclude that certain conditions will lead to the development of criminal behaviour or any form of behaviour. We also cannot confine behaviour to a particular ideological approach, but we need to recognize that there are multiple realities that cannot be contained by only one ideology. The different approaches to human behaviour and criminal behaviour, in particular, will be discussed later in this thesis.
The young offender's criminal behaviour exerts enormous damage to the social and economical aspects of the country. Exploring the identity construction of young offenders, the decisions and choices they make in breaking into strangers' houses, stealing and hijacking other people's cars, is the focus of this study. Attention will also be focused on exploring how the criminal "career" affects and is affected by their identity construction.
It is also the purpose of this study to explore what could be attracting the young offender to embark on a criminal expedition, in spite of the consequences of such activities, which appear to be uninviting and uncomfortable. The study comes about as a result of the misery and
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8 CHAPTER 2
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO CRIME
2. 1 Introduction
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unable to meet the complicated challenges of life in a modern society. Some may also perceive the gains of crime to be worth the risks of detention and punishment.
There have been many arguments that the situation that one finds oneself in contributes greatly to one's involvement in crime. Samenhow (1984) argues that it is not factors like the neighbourhood, inadequate parenting, television, schools, drugs and unemployment that cause crime, but the offenders themselves. He emphasizes that crime resides in the minds of people and is not caused by social conditions. He argues that people commit crime out of choice and have to be held responsible for the offences resulting from the choices they make.
These arguments beg the question as to whether the juvenile offender could also be held responsible for the crimes he commits, especially bearing in mind that he is regarded by the law as a minor and, therefore, not in a position to make suitable judgements and choices. It would be appropriate at this stage to look at the different theories that address the issue of causation of crime. We are going to look at this aspect from the sociological and psychological viewpoints and later attention will be focused on the situation of crime in South Africa.
2. 2 Sociological Approaches to Crime
There are many sociological approaches but not all of them are going to be discussed here, as there would not be enough space and time. These approaches pay attention to the processes in society, which could play a role in the determination of criminal behaviour.
Theories of subculture hold that a person develops with his peers in a group or gang where the value system is constant, though it deviates from that of the larger society. Sutherland (cited in Fox, 1976) was a proponent of the differential association theory, which argues that individuals having contacts with others would be exposed to differing social values and patterns of behaviour. The conclusion is that crime results from the association of individuals or groups with criminal patterns. The more frequent and consistent these associations, the more likely that the individual will become a criminal. This, therefore, implies that the more people are kept in prison with other criminals, the greater the internalization of criminal values and the perpetuation of criminal patterns. He also argues
Cloete and Stevens (1990) assert that in Western societies, people measure their success through material possessions. It is also instilled in community members that success is imperative. There are, however, those people who are not capable of achieving success through socially acceptable means, and, therefore, resort to crime. Some people do not have access to education, which is a prerequisite for success. This kind of situation could lead to anomie.
In the process of explaining criminal behaviour, Fox (1976) found that the anomie theory was limited in that it fails to explain why is it that the majority of individuals exposed to such circumstances do not exhibit criminal behaviour that leads to their arrest.
This theory argues that in societies conflict develops between people and figures of authority. Clifford (1974) highlights that every society consists of different standards of living and ideas about what conduct or dress or interests are acceptable or unacceptable, and about what is fashionable or not. It could also be found that more informally some groups have a frame of reference for behaviour not always in accordance with the patterns which are set for the larger society. Such a weak affiliation could contribute to the commission of crime.
George Simmel (cited in Fox, 1976), one of the proponents of the conflict theory, argues that crime should be regarded as behaviour that stems from social injustice resulting from the deprivation of economic and political rights. Therefore, criminal behaviour will develop as a way of violating the conventionally sanctioned social expectations or rules of conduct.
According to Fox (1976), conflict theory emerges from the social interaction theory of personality formation and the social process idea in collective behaviour. Groups come into conflict when one overlaps the other in areas of interest and purpose. Studies conducted by Shaw & Mckay and Glueck & Glueck (cited in Fox, 1976) show that a large number of juvenile offenders committed their offences with one or more associate. They point out that people tend to stay in groups, particularly when they are alienated from the mainstream of society and have to find security, identity and acceptance in a gang. The gang demands loyalty and adherence to an approved code of values that is in conflict with the established values of adults and the police powers of the state.
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This theory was developed by Sykes and Matza (1957) and argues that delinquents are able to justify their criminal behaviour. This approach seems to be in conflict with the subculture theory in that it argues that the delinquent's value system is not contrary to that of the dominant culture, but that the young offender's conduct is essentially a defence in the form of justifications for crime that is seen as valid by the delinquent.
Reckless and Shoham (cited in Fox, 1976) regard neutralization as norm erosion, whereby inner containment is diminished and the involvement in criminal behaviour is facilitated. Hirshi (cited in Fox, 1976) supports this theory and points out that the delinquent is unusual in that he acts on behalf of his group despite that it is not worth the sacrifice. The drift approach is closely related to neutralization theory in that it refers to when a young person finds it difficult to make a definite commitment to either delinquency or legal conformity. He may drift between these two opposing commitments and make use of extenuating circumstances to justify delinquency. The young offender may justify his criminal behaviour by emphasizing extenuating circumstances.
This theory was proposed by Reckless (1961), who assumes that there is an inner and outer control system in man. The basis of this theory is that there are pushes and pulls toward criminal or conforming behaviour both internally and externally. If the inner pushes and the outer pulls are toward delinquent behaviour, then delinquent behaviour will result. Inner containment, according to Reckless, involves factors such as a good self-concept, self-control, high resistance to diversions and so on. Inner and outer containment apparently occupies a central position between the pressures of the external environment and a person's inner drives. According to Fox (1976), containment theory is a balance between inner pushes and outer constraints and can account for all behaviour, including criminal behaviour.
This theory is based on the assumption that nothing is criminal, but certain things have been so defined and labeled by society. People are regarded as criminal mainly because of the visibility of the offending behaviour and the labeling process by the system of criminal