Criminality and Society: A Conflict-Based Perspective

People who have been convicted or even accused of crimes are incredibly stigmatized by society as a whole and are often alienated from the general population even after serving their time. Several factors that impact this phenomenon are dehumanization, counter-empathy, and systemic bias. A combination of these elements allows for the justification of extreme mistreatment against this out-group. Generally speaking, people who have not been convicted or formally accused of a crime may feel a sense of superiority over those who have. This can lead to outgroup derogation to the extent that people without a criminal record may discount the rights and liberties of people who have been convicted of crimes. Examples of this include the abysmal – and unchallenged – conditions of prisons in America, as well as felon disenfranchisement. Perhaps even more dangerously, people assume that being charged with a crime implies at least some degree of guilt. Therefore, anyone caught up in the system may be viewed negatively, even if it later turns out that they were falsely accused. A preferable alternative to this paradigm would be restorative justice, a method that allows offenders to make amends for their actions while working alongside those who were affected by them. This theory of justice aims to give offenders a new path beyond the label of “criminal” — not only for the good of those individuals, but for the community as a whole.

Hello. My name is Holly Stephens, and I will be presenting on Criminality and Society with a conflict-based perspective. There are three key issues that are vital to understanding this concept, and those are dehumanization, counter-empathy, and systemic bias. Individuals who are convicted or even charged with crimes in the American justice system are likely to face all three of these factors. The first issue is dehumanization. While on the surface it might appear as though this term refers to a lack of human characteristics, social scientist David Livingstone Smith explained that it is the combination of human and non-human attributes that creates the cognitive dissonance forming dehumanization. This includes a variety of elements, such as the denial of human characteristics and individuality, something very evident in the prison population. Perception as less than human, examples of that being referring to people convicted of crimes as monsters or animals, and the simultaneous application of moral responsibility and the denial of moral worth. This level of dehumanization can act as a justification for any level of mistreatment. Another important concept is empathy and counter-empathy. While most people are familiar with empathy, the parallel emotional response for people within one’s in-group, the opposite of this is counter-empathy. This refers to the inverse emotional response that one has for someone in their out-group. In essence, an enemy’s successes prompt a negative response, while their failures prompt a positive one. Finally, systemic bias is an incredibly important aspect of how criminality is treated in society, and it is one that spans every level of the criminal justice system. In law enforcement, this looks like the over-policing of black and brown communities. In the court system, it is underpaid and overworked public defenders appointed to work for indigent clients who can’t afford their own defense. And in corrections, it is the prison industrial complex, a system of mass incarceration whose profitability comes in part from the legal slavery of prisoners. In conclusion, rather than placing an insurmountable stigma on people charged with crimes, we should make an effort to reintegrate past offenders into society. One popular idea for how to do this is restorative justice, a method that allows offenders to make amends for their actions while working alongside those who were affected by them. This theory of justice aims to give offenders a new path beyond the label of criminal, not only for the good of those individuals, but for the community as a whole.