CT Criminology Today research special edition
The face of a sex offender? Featuring: • Youth of Today • Murder mystery • Encountering extremism
CT Criminology Today research special edition
your help is needed ... You have been asked to participate in a research study conducted by Victoria Duffy, an undergraduate student in the School of Law at the University Centre at Blackburn College. This research is concerned with how crime is reported in the media and whether balanced, concise articles contribute to a better understanding of crime and its prevalence. It is part of Victoria Duffy’s dissertation. The study involves taking a short questionnaire about your perceptions of crime before reading a digital magazine featuring articles about some emerging criminological issues and crimes that are under-reported in the mainstream media. At the end of the magazine, you will be asked to fill in a further questionnaire. The total time involved in participation will be approximately an hour. The information you provide will be kept strictly confidential. The informed consent details and any other identifying information will be kept separate from the data. Documents pertaining to the study will be destroyed by Victoria Duffy within one year of the study’s completion. The results of this research will be published in Victoria Duffy’s dissertation and possibly in subsequent journals, books or websites. You may develop a greater personal awareness or understanding of various crimes as a result if your participation in this research. The risks to you are considered to be minimal; there is a small chance that you may experience some emotional discomfort during your participation, if this happens, please contact Victoria Duffy. You may withdraw from this research at any time, either during or after your participation, without negative consequences. Should you withdraw, your data will be removed from the study.
02
If any direct quotes are to be used in the final report, permission will be sought from you prior to publication and a pseudonym will be used if necessary.
If you are happy to take part, please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3FX8CD2 to sign the digital consent form. You may request a copy of the summary of the final results by emailing vicduffy@hotmail.com. If you have any questions about any aspect of this study or your involvement, please contact Victoria Duffy before embarking on participation. Alternatively, if you have questions or concerns for the supervisors of this research, please contact Gillian Dickinson, programme leader for BA Criminology and Criminal Justice programme, University Centre at Blackburn College, Feilden Street, Blackburn, BB2 1LH.
Please now complete the pre-survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/33V6YWH before reading the magazine. Thank you for your support, help and time, it is greatly appreciated. Victoria Duffy vicduffy@hotmail.com 07752 030996
Welcome to this special issue of Criminology Today.
criminology today
editorial comment
I am in the final year of my BA Hons in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University Centre at Blackburn College. This digital magazine forms the basis of my dissertation, a piece of research examining whether the way that the media reports crime impacts on our understanding of crime. For 18 years to 2013, I worked in the media, as a journalist and news editor. I covered a range of news events, from murders and riots to high-profile court cases and health campaigns, winning the Campaigning Journalist Award in 2006. I progressed from journalist to news editor and page designer shortly after receiving that award and added to the skill-set that I am utilising today.
While studying, I realised that I could utilise the power of the media, which is often considered to be negative, in a different way. There is significant criticism of how the media handles news, how it is reported and the political bias and pecuniary advantage of the owners of the large media corporations. The impact of the phone-hacking scandal and subsequent Leveson Inquiry into Press Ethics has brought about an unprecedented cynicism about the reliability of the Press, particularly the down-market tabloid media. However, millions of people are still accessing news via these media outlets on a daily basis.
But it is the way in which crime is reported and, in some cases, distorted that concerns me. Williams and Dickinson (1993) found a correlation between newspaper reporting and fear of crime and a higher number of crime-related stories in tabloid newspapers compared to their broadsheet counterparts. And it is tabloid newspapers and media outlets that continue to be the biggest draw for readers. Salacious headlines, graphic images and initimate details of death and sex coupled with a lack of sympathy for mental illness or the influence of drugs are a mainstay. Words like “monster”, “beast”, “psycho” and “freak” are used to describe the people involved in crime, whatever their age, background or mental state. These reports purport to reveal the truth about a crime, but very few do. Instead, they may have contributed to the perception that crime is increasing and to a warped idea of offending. Now while I believe the media plays a role in this construct of crime, I am by no means a media hater. I just believe that there are ways to positively harness it. This view was backed up last year when Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani dedicated an issue of the high-fashion magazine to domestic violence. While it focused on male violence towards women, which could be considered somewhat trite in this age of elder abuse and domestic abuse in teenage and samesex relationships, she used its influence to highlight a prevalent crime. Sozzani has also tackled drug rehabilitation and racism.
My project aims to bridge the gap between academic publications and glossy magazines as well as publicise under-reported criminological issues. The emphasis is on aesthetics and engaging articles in a publication that is free from political bias and the constraints of investors or shareholders.
contents Golden Age for living: Crime at lowest rate for 20 years
04
Youth of Today: Should we criminalise our teens?
06
The face of a sex offender: Is there such a thing?
10
Murder mystery: A holistic view of homicide
12
Extremism in our midst? The extremes of politics and religion
14
I began work on this project in 2012. The magazines are published on the global publishing platform ISSUU.com and have, so far, attracted readers from America, Canada, China, Qatar as well as the rest of Europe. I am sincerely grateful to you for giving over some of your time to take part in this project, which aims to contribute to the understanding of the complex relationship between media and crime.
Victoria Duffy Editor
03
We are living in a
Golden Age
of peace
Crime, particularly violent crime, is at its lowest point for 20 years, but why doesn’t it feel like it? Is it because the news is dominated with stories of terrorism, murder and violent crime? Or is it because we have become cynical about the way crime is reported and manipulated by the media, politicians and police? How we feel about crime may not be reflected in official crime statistics, but the British Crime Survey extends its research to collect data on perception and fear of crime. But while a dichotomy exists between the way we feel about crime and the crimes that are actually being committed in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities, will anything change this position? According to a study by the Institute for Economics and Peace, violent crime has dropped by a quarter in the past decade and murder rates are approximately half of what they were in 2003. The data suggest that London is a safer place to live than Brussels or Amsterdam and Britain has seen the fastest decline in crime of any European country. So surely we should feel safe to walk our streets at night and be less fearful of impending crime. But a further dichotomy exists and that is the differing response to crime by the media. This study by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which examined police recorded crime statistics, hospital admission and treatment data and the British Crime Survey, did not make the front pages of the national newspapers. The idea of us living in a golden age of peace was not the top story on BBC news. It was
04
secluded to the comment pages of the Daily Telegraph. Tom Chiver’s intelligent piece cites Steven Pinker, author of “Better Angels of our Nature”, who says that violent crime has been declining in fits and starts for all of recorded history. On the same day – April 23rd 2013 – The Mirror’s front page headline was “Did the Boston bomber cut best mate’s throat?” Which would have had more impact? Peace time or barbarism? Which would have resonated with readers? The concept of the world being safer than ever or the imminent and unpredictable threat of terrorism? The IEP suggest that the drop in violent crime is due to Britain’s ageing population and the notion that violence is a young man’s game as well as a drop in alcohol consumption and improved policing techniques. However, Pinker believes that there is a more fundamental reason – money. He suggests that in terms of trade and commerce we are more valuable alive than dead. Pinker also considers the impact of marriage in terms of taming young men as well as literacy and communication. However, his over-riding idea is the suppression of emotion, particularly in men. “The idea that a strong man should react to great personal and national calamities by a slight compression of the lips and by silently throwing his cigarette into the fireplace is of very recent origin,” says crime writer Dorothy Sayers. Born out of the culture of dignity, which emerged to replace our culture of honour, we started to present as unemotional in the face of the world’s trials. This was a far cry from the stance of avenging wrongs. Sociologist Norbert Elias called this the “civilising process”, and credits it with a large part of our modern safety. Self-control saves lives. This fact helps to explain another phenomenon in our recent history: the worldwide reversal, in the Sixties, of the downward trend in violence: suddenly, violent crime doubled. Partly it was the coming of age of millions of young men born in the baby boom and partly it was the countercultural revolution, which targeted exactly the norms the civilising process had built, especially self-control. If it feels good, as the slogan said, do it. But even at its worst, post-Sixties violence remained at a fraction of earlier times, and in the following decades it dropped again: by 2010, in the US and most of the Western world, it had just about reached the level it was at in 1950, although Britain is not back there yet. The decline, as unexpected as the spike, was unaffected by unemployment levels, by rates of inequality, or by events such as the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001. We are once again living in a time of peace unimaginable to the overwhelming majority of our ancestors. These latest IEP figures are another step along the same meandering path we’ve been on for millennia. It’s a path that could deviate at any moment, but right now, we
Crime at lowest rate for 20 years
are, historically speaking, extraordinarily safe. The problem is that people don’t believe it. There is a component that is not considered by the IEP study and that is that the drop in violent crime coincides with the doubling of the prison population in Britain. In the 1980s, the rapid rise in crime coincided with a fall in the incarceration rate and an increased use of cautions and unrecorded warnings. Studies have found strong links between the falling risk of punishment and rising crime. From 1993, Home Office policy changed and the use of prison was encouraged, especially for repeat offenders. The last Labour Government introduced a series of criminal justice laws aimed at increasing prison terms for violent offences. It is hard to believe there is no link between the two. The problem is that there is a very powerful penal reform lobby, which is determined to deny any causation: the very notion that “prison might work” is unthinkable to many campaigners in this field. Even so, the UK still has one of the least punitive systems in Europe with fewer incarcerations per 100 offences than in many European countries. With some crimes, the incarceration rate is minute. For example, in 2006, police recorded 889,000 break-ins but only 26,300 offenders were convicted. Of these, 13,350 were jailed – an imprisonment rate of 1.5 per cent. Historically, too, offenders were more likely to go to jail in the past than now. In 1954, one in three robberies led to a jail sentence; today, the ratio
is about one in 22. For burglaries, the differential is even more pronounced with one in 18 in 1954 compared with one in 59 now. If England imprisoned the same ratio of people today that it did 50 years ago, there would be around 300,000 people in prison compared to the current population of 85,544 (Howard League for Penal Reform, 2014). There has been a similar debate in America, where violent crime has fallen far more dramatically than in the UK. Sociologists have come up with all sorts of theories, ranging from a reduction of lead in petrol affecting the behaviour of young men to the legalisation of abortion. But in America, too, there is another constant factor: the handing down of much harsher prison sentences since the 1980s has kept large numbers of criminals off the streets. The US incarcerates four times as many people as it did 20 years ago and the crime rate has fallen commensurately. In fact, imprisonment rates and sentence lengths are much higher in America than in the UK, which might also explain why burglary, robbery and car thefts are also lower in the US. On the other hand, Canada has experienced roughly the same decline in crime without the same lengthening of prison sentences. While the IEP study is cogent in its argument that we are living in a golden age of peace, its data suggests that while one in 25 of us will be a victim of crime, a quarter of us think we will be. And it could be suggested that media coverage has compounded that view.
05
h t u o y The y a d o t of What does a 21st Cen- ment, which needs to be the subject of further tury youth look like? A consideration and research. If Hendrick’s verhooded teen with hands sions of childhood were to be revisited, there pushed deep into his pockets, a could be a Digital Child who is surrounded by surly look on his face. Or a striding, and reliant on technology; a Pampered Child who is afforded the luxuries of life without the arrogant, loud-mouthed thug in lowresponsibility; an Unparented Child who is left to slung jeans? their own devices; or a Poverty Trap Child who Over time, the perception of youth has become distorted. Children and young people have slipped from the ranks of “our future” to groups who are misunderstood and, in some cases, feared. There has been significant research and thought given to the changing nature of childhood from Philippe Aries’ (1962) notion of childhood being a ‘social construct’ developed in the past 300 years to Harry Hendrick’s (1990) five versions of childhood - The Romantic Child, The Evangelical Child, The Factory Child, The Delinquent Child and The Schooled Child – corresponding to class divides and changing attitudes in the Victorian era. But while Aries argues that childhood is a modern concept, it could be suggested that 21st Century childhood and youth is subject to an ever-changing and modernising environ-
06
pays the price for society’s ills. While theorists believe the introduction of laws including The Factory Act 1833 and the Industrial Schools Act 1857 shaped the nature of childhood, Professor Phil Scraton (2011) argues that the murder of James Bulger in 1993 was a ‘turning point in the contemporary history of youth justice’. Involved in both the Bulger case and the murder of Silje Redergard by two sixyear-olds in Norway in 1994, Scraton reflects on the stark contrasts in how the cases were dealt with. In Britain, 10-year-olds John Venables and Robert Thompson were vilified in the mass media; named, shamed and punished for their crime. The boys in the Redergard case were allowed to stay at home with their families and were rehabilitated within the community with help from a variety of professionals. The Bulger case was deemed so exceptional that the age of criminal responsibility was lowered from 14 to 10. Venables and Thompson were not only tried at the age of 10, but were tried as adults in the austere old court room of Sessions House in Preston and sentenced to life with a minimum tariff of eight years. Scraton said: “Research we did demonstrated
very clearly how the whole debate around antisocial behaviour and criminal responsibility that led to the 1998 Crime And Disorder Act arose out of the process of demonisation and the sensationalism created around the exceptional James Bulger case.” It raises a pertinent question: why do we seek to criminalise youth, particularly through the media? This view draws on the historical research, but also examines the here and now. Scraton suggests a return to a higher age of criminal responsibility of 15 or 16. The age of criminal responsibility in Norway is 15 compared to 10 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the lowest in Europe. Dr Eileen Vizard, a child psychiatrist with the NSPCC’s Child Offender Service, added: “There’s a very substantial evidence base to show that children aged 10 are not fully mature. They show developmental immaturity in terms of their physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development.” She adds that while they may know the difference between ‘big rights and wrongs’, they are unable to participate fully and fairly in the criminal trial process. Reidar Hjermann, the Norwegian Children’s Ombudsman, believes 10 is far too young to be criminally responsible. “A child does not choose to commit or not commit a crime,” he said. “They do it because they have a difficult life.” But while there are arguments for and against raising the age of criminal responsibility, perhaps there should also be a rethink on our focus on shaming as part of punishment. The justice system allows for young people under 18 to be named and their photographs used by the media, depending on whether their crime is in the public interest. But it is happening increasingly often and words like ‘beast’ and ‘monster’ are being used to brand these children. Criminologist John Braithwaite put forward the concept of reintergrative shaming in which he suggests that shame is the ‘ultimate deterrent against the violation of societal norms’. However, the notion of shaming and then reintergrating an offender back into the community relies on a vital factor – that being part of the community means something to that individual. In countries such as Japan and New Zealand this is the case, but it could be argued that in today’s Britain there are many people who live on the fringes and feel outcast or exiled from the community by virtue of where they live or their employment or economic status.
07
It could be suggested that young people in 2015 are exposed to more of the adult world than their predecessors due to the advent and evolutions of technologies such as the Internet, mobile phones and computer tablets. The reality is that the vast majority of young people are law-abiding, bright, hard-working and compassionate individuals. Like Stephen Sutton, who raised £3m. while suffering terminal cancer or seven-year-old Rennee-Mai Bolter who protected her baby sister and mother during an eight-hour hostage ordeal. So are children predisposed to commit crime? Are they exposed to too much of the adult world before they are mature enough? Is freedom trapping them? And should we continue to criminalise children?
08
facts and figures
There is also an emerging form of criminalisation, particularly affecting teenage boys. Following the murder of Gary Newlove, who was kicked in the head after remonstrating with a group of youths outside his Warrington home, there has been an increase in the use of the doctrine of joint enterprise. It is currently being used by the police and Crown Prosecution Service to convict not only those who commit a crime, but also the accomplices and bystanders who either aid the commission of the offence or do nothing to stop it. There are currently hundreds of young people serving long prison sentences after being convicted through joint enterprise. In some cases, those convicted of being on the periphery of a crime can receive longer sentences than those who perpetrated the crime. This is due to them pleading not guilty and, therefore, not receiving discount off their sentence for a timely guilty plea.
● According to Ministry of Justice figures for 2012/3, there were 27,854 first time entrants to the youth justice system – a 67 per cent drop from 2002/3 to 2012/3, falling 25 per cent in the past year. In 2012/13 there were 43,601 young people sentenced in England and Wales falling 28 per cent in the last year. The number of young people sentenced for immediate custody fell by 31 per cent from 4,024 in 2011/12 to 2,780 in 2012/13. This number has fallen by 61 per cent since 2002/03, when there were 7,110 young people sentenced for immediate custody. The average population of young people in custody in 2012/13 (under 18) was 1,544. The average population in custody (under 18) has reduced by 21 per cent in the last year, and by 36 per cent since 2009/10. The average custody population in 2012/13 including 18 year olds held in the youth secure estate was 1,708. This represents a 20 per cent reduction on the average of 2,141 in 2011/12. ● Of the country’s teenage population of 5.4million, these figures would suggest that a small minority of individuals is responsible for youth crime, so it would appear that perhaps our low age of criminal responsibility is a deterrent. Or is it that for the most part young people are law-abiding and may commit crime sporadically in line with the onset of puberty? There have been a significant number of theories based on this idea from David Matza’s Delinquency and Drift notion in which young people can drift in and out of delinquency and the Age-Crime Curve, put forward by Farrington in 1986 as a chart which plots prevalence of offending (the percentage of offenders in a population) tends to increase from late childhood, peaks in the teenage years (around ages 15–19), and then declines from the early 20s.
Children and young people have slipped from the ranks of “our future� to groups who are misunderstood and, in some cases, feared. 09
sex offender What does a
look like?
Sex offenders, particularly paedophiles, are perhaps the most vilified and pilloried group of criminals. And attached to that predisposed view of sex offenders is a series of physical attributes including greasy, lank hair, bulging eyes behind thick glasses, oily skin and thin lips. The mental image is grubby, possibly creepy. However, the reality is distinctly different. It was Italian criminologist and physician Cesare Lombroso who devised the notion that criminality was inherited and those who were ‘born criminal’ had distinctive physical characteristics. These included simian features, sloping forehead, unusual ear size, asymmetry of the face, protruding jaw and excessive arm length. His 19th Century work, now feels outdated. But it is this simplistic view that is being attached to the idea of sex offenders, which, it could be argued, is fuelled by media coverage and the activities of self-styled ‘Paedophile Hunter’ Stinson Hunter and websites such as www.ukpaedosexposed.com. However, the terms sex offender and paedophile have become entangled and are used interchangeably. Criminologist Karen Terry explains: “The term ‘sex offender’ is applied to individuals
10
who have committed offences as diverse as rape, child sexual abuse, possession or transmission of child pornography, and indecent exposure. Offenders can be adults or juveniles, male or female, and of any age. Acts defined as sexual offences vary across religions, cultures, nations, and states, and definitions of sexual offences change over time based on prevailing social norms.” However, the term paedophile refers specifically to those attracted to prepubescent children, says Criminologist Kelly Richards.
Pictured: Self-styled ‘Paedophile Hunter’ Stinson Hunter But due to the way both terms are used, there could be confusion as to the breadth of offences. While the content of indecent images is ranked on a scale of one to five – the latter being the most serious – using the Copine (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in England) and Sentencing Advisory Panel scales, there is no such ranking applied to the swathe of sex offences. Perhaps it is time to update the Copine scale, which was developed in the 1990s, and use it to develop a way to distinguish between offences. For example, someone who committed low-level sexual assault could be described as a Category 1 sex offender while a predatory paedophile who has abused a child could be classed as a Category 10 sex offender. This could lead to better understanding and, possibly, more tolerance of the range of offending that is encapsulated under the heading of sex offending. However, while the media continues with its broad-brush approach to sex offenders coupled with the high-profile work of Stinson Hunter, there is likely to be a fear and misunderstanding of sex offenders. This has been demonstrated by the now
defunct News of the World newspaper’s campaign to ‘name and shame’ paedophiles, launched after the murder of Sarah Payne in 2000. It led to hundreds of people gathering outside the homes of convicted sex offenders and a vigilante attack on the home of a paediatrician. The campaign was dropped shortly afterwards following claims that it had incited vigilantism. This same criticism could be levelled at Stinson Hunter, who was featured in a Channel 4 documentary aired in July 2014. He poses as young people in internet chatrooms and arranges to meet potential offenders. He and his crew then film the meeting and question the alleged offender before posing their ‘evidence’ online and submitting it to the police. Michael Parkes hanged himself after being subject of a Stinson Hunter sting. Following the inquest into his death, a spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: “We do not condone or support the actions of Stinson Hunter.” And, Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police issued a joint statement stating they did not condone his methods and adding that his actions “could have serious consequences”, including compromising investigations..
11
A case of murder...
crime to understand the nature of the threats Despite it being the subject of countless for true crime experiences. out there and to learn what victims did that prime-time television dramas, books and Countless drama series are watched by millions made themselves vulnerable,” he said. “The stofilms, murder is actually a rare crime. of viewers each week, for example a reported 8.7
From Midsomer Murders to Broadchurch and Miss Marple to Poirot, audiences are drawn to the mystery of murder. Added to this are longrunning American television series such as CSI and Dexter, in which the murders have become increasingly sinister and sadistic. But while these could be dismissed as fictional entertainment, there has also been a significant rise in the appetite for true crime programmes, books and articles (Schmid, 2012). So have we become desensitised to murder? In the past 10 years, the British public has followed the American trend by developing a voracious appetite for all things crime. The fictional works of Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Val McDermid and Ruth Rendell sell millions of copies each year and are complemented by a diet of true crime books, often seen as pulp and tabloid in their content but are devoured in their millions, and down-market magazines, which pay up to £250
12
million people tuned in to watch the finale of the first series of Broadchurch (Independent, 2015). However, these shows, coupled with their true crime counterparts such as FBI Files, Britain’s Darkest Taboos and Forensic Detectives, which are aired on dedicated crime channels, could be influencing how we feel about crime. George Gerbner’s (1976) Cultivation Theory suggests that the more time people spend watching television, the more likely their view of the world will reflect what they see on television. In reference to crime, it suggests misrepresentations of offenders and victims as well as over- representation of certain crimes will result in the viewer having a distorted view of reality. However, Grabe and Drew (2007) found little evidence of cultural affects associated with crime drama, although they did find some evidence for cultivation theory with non-fictional violence. English professor David Schmid (2012) suggests that more women read true crime books than men. “Women turn to true
ries help women generate a list of cautions that actually could help them avoid becoming victims of abusive spouses, dangerous strangers and the psychopath next door. The problem is that people who consume a lot of true crime tales likely feel much more paranoid, anxious and vulnerable.”
The mass media, particularly the down-market tabloids in Britain appear fixated on murder, especially cases that have been ultra-violent, sadistic or ritualistic. This, it could be argued, only serves to perpetuate the notion of Grabe and Drew and is supported by the reporting of cases such as that of Matthew Williams. The Mirror carried the headline “‘Cannibal’ killer found ‘CHEWING woman’s face’ in hotel room before he was tasered by police”. But all types of murder in the UK are incredibly rare, accounting for one per 100,000 population. According to the Office for National Statistics (2014):
● Over recent years, the number of recorded homicides has shown a downward trend and the numbers for 2012/13 (551) and 2011/12 (530) were the lowest since 1989 (521).
● In 2012/13 more than two-thirds of homicide victims (69%) were male. ● Women were far more likely than men to be killed by partners/ex-partners, and men were far more likely than women to be killed by friends/acquaintances.
● In 2012/13, there were 67 homicide victims aged under 16 years. Of those 40 were killed by a parent or step-parent and eight were killed by a stranger.
● The most common method of killing continued to be by sharp instrument (such as a knife or broken bottle). In 2012/13, there were 194 victims killed in this way, accounting for around one in three of all homicides. ● In 2012/13, 29 people were killed by shooting, 11 fewer than in 2011/12 and the lowest number since 1980 (19).
13
Extremism Extremism seems to be a recent phenomenon. Its emergence could be said to date back to September 11th, 2001. The attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center prompted a sea change in attitudes towards extremism. It was the day that extremism developed a face, a religion, a fear, a suspicion.
14
Destroys Lives But extremism is woven into the fabric of the world. It is not specific to any age, country, race or religion. But the idea frightens us now like never before.
this could be key to a better understanding of extremism. However, it would appear that extremism and Islamophobia have become inextricably linked – perhaps, as a result of media reporting and political sway.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of extremism is: “the holding of extreme political or religious views; fanaticism.” And
But does the media reaction or level of coverage contribute to public feeling on a particular act of terrorism or type of extremism?
15
When the planes hit the Twin Towers, newspapers across the world dedicated page after page to the atrocity; featuring graphic pictures and provocative prose. In juxtaposition, Norway brought in a media blackout for the trial of Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people by setting off a bomb in Oslo and shooting teenagers at a youth camp on the island of Utoeya. The neo-Conservative justified his actions as ‘gruesome but necessary’ to protest at the ‘Islamisation’ of Norway (BBC, 2011). The blackout was proposed in a bid to stop Breivik using the trial as a platform for his far-right views. Judge Kim Heger ruled: “It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security” (BBC, 2011). There are other examples of extremism happening all around the UK. The rise of far-right political groups such as the British National Party, the English Defence League and, more recently, the UK Independence Party could be explained as a way to protest against the mainstream political parties. However, it could also be argued that these extreme political parties thrive on fear and prejudice. In the case of the BNP and UKIP, immigration is at the forefront of their policy-making. This plays on the fears of specific people in specific towns and canvassing is focused on these places. This can be evidenced
16
in Burnley where there were disturbances in 2001, purporting to be violence between whites and those of Asian heritage. The BNP swooped in and capitalised on the vulnerability of people living in the town and the result was the election of eight borough councillors, making the BNP the opposition party to Labour (BBC, 2003). A similar pattern is emerging with UKIP and has previously been seen in Paris with an increase in support for the far-right Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. He has tried five times to become French President, now his daughter, Marine, has taken the mantle and is planning to contest the 2017 election. The EDL, an offshoot of a dying BNP and sympathisers of the National Front, have taken to marching through towns and cities where there is considered to be a higher than average proportion of Muslims. But due to clashes with far-left anti-fascist campaigners, such as Unite Against Fascism and the Socialist Workers’ Party, police have started installing high metal barriers to keep the opposing sides apart. These walls bear a resemblance to the 99 walls erected in Belfast, Northern Ireland, separating Catholics and Protestants. The socalled ‘peace walls’ demonstrate the stark division between Loyalists and Nationalists, who often clashed
in the city’s historic Alexandra Park (Observer, 2012). The mistrust permeated England too and, at its very least, contributed to the wrongful, perhaps malicious, convictions of the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and the Maguire Seven. Religious extremism is not specific to one religion as has been evidenced by the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the attacks on the Twin Towers, and, more recently, an 80 per cent rise in Anti-Semitic hate crime. The Community Security Trust, an organisation that works to safeguard the Jewish community, received 309 reports of hate crime in 2014, an increase from 173 the previous year. Nationally, reports have doubled to hit more than 1,000 for the first time. The CST’s annual report lists a catalogue of incidents, many of them perpetrated against children from the Jewish
communities of Manchester, Bury and Salford. They include graves being desecrated, swastikas etched onto cars, online abuse and insults hurled at people in the street. The British Government has a CounterTerrorism Strategy called CONTEST, which assesses the level of threat to the UK from terrorists. The current threat is ‘severe’ with an attack ‘highly likely’. It states: “The terrorist threats we face now are more diverse than before, dispersed across a wider geographical area, and often in countries without effective governance. We therefore face an unpredictable situation, with potentially more frequent, less sophisticated terrorist attacks. “The most significant terrorist threat to the UK and our interests overseas comes from the Al Qa’ida senior leadership based in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan and their affiliates and supporters in other areas.”
of all kinds. The organisation has created videos to:
● Build resilience to prevent vulnerable people from falling prey to extremism by addressing all of the injustices that extremists exploit;
● Raise awareness of radicalisation by analysing the actions of extremist groups and cutting through the propaganda; and
CONTEST focuses on four areas of work: ● Stopping terrorist attacks; ● Stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism;
● Strengthening our protection against a terrorist attack; and
● Mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack. But perhaps a more grass-roots approach is needed to tackle radicalisation at source or in its early stages. The Quilliam Foundation, a think tank, has been set up to challenge extremist narratives while standing for religious freedom, equality, human rights and democracy. Its Countering Extremism Together initiative encourages the whole of society to come together to challenge extremism
● Promote the best ways to tackle extremism in an effective, responsible and proportionate way, free of racism and anti-Muslim hatred, sensationalism and apologia. And it is this type of work that is vital to halt the flow of young people being radicalised as in the case of three schoolgirls – Shamima Begum (15), Kadiza Sultana (16) and Amira Abase (15) – who travelled from the UK to Turkey to cross into Syria following social media contact with “jihadi bride” Aqsa Mahmood. She left the UK to marry an Islamic State fighter in Syria and has recruited other young women to join their crusade. The results of radicalisation has been witnessed in the most graphic way in the case of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby by Michael Adebolajo and Michael
ern Ireland
orth Peace wall in N
Adebowale, both of whom were radicalised from Christians to Muslim fanatics. Adebowale saw the images of the 9/11 attacks on television and would later tell psychiatrists he had been “brainwashed by society” from an early age. Both had experience of drugs and gangs; both had received significant help and mentoring. However, Adebowale is thought to have been radicalised in a young offenders’ institution while serving a sentence for a drugs offence. These cases bring Islam back into the frame. Is the Quilliam Foundation going to look into the rise in the numbers of Anti-Semitic crimes in Manchester? Or the practice of female genital mutilation? Or the ritualised abuse and killing of children because they are believed to be possessed by the Devil seen in cases such as the torture and murder of Victoria Climbie and the ritual sacrifice of Patrick Erhabor, whose torso was found in the River Thames in 2001?
Extremism does not have a face or a religion, but it does have an effect on everyone’s lives.
in Police barrier
Bradford 17
CT Criminology Today research special edition
Now that you have read this issue of Criminology Today, please could you fill out a second survey at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDT8F3Q Once you have finished, I will be able to start work on analysing the results and writing up my final report - a 9,000 word document - for submission. You can request a copy of the final report by emailing me at vicduffy@hotmail.com. Once again, I extend my gratitude to you for supporting my research and giving your time so generously. Thank you!