Social Control, Discipline and Regulation Assignment

Social Control, Discipline and Regulation - Assignment Example 71). Divided into four parts, this paper will evaluate the concepts of crime and crime control; access Foucault’s contribution critically; analyse and assess the 1960’s anti-institutional consensus; and critically assess the alternative method of social control as proposed by Braithwaite. Crime entails unlawful acts or omissions that are punishable by the laws of the concerned states in which the acts and omissions take place (Valier 2001, p. 425). The acts and omissions are not only harmful to specific individuals, but also the community and state as well. On the other hand, crime control involves the plans instituted to work towards removing criminal activities from the community. The emphasis of crime control is on the use of sanctions, seeking to deter the occurrence of crime by threatening harsher punishments such as the death penalty. Conservative measures of crime control include incarceration, boot camps and capital punishment. The concept of crime control puts emphasis on the protection of society and taking care of victims as the criminal justice system’s priority. However, a critical evaluation of crime control reveals that it condemns modern criminal justice systems and law enforcement (Clarke & Guerette, 2007, p. 230). This is because crime contro l focuses on the creation of comfortable environments at the expense of increasing legal consequences of crime, police manpower and efficient programs to care for victims. The model of crime control often conflicts with the legal system, with its proponents arguing that the legal system affects the way law enforcement perceives criminal justice, compromising its efficiency. As proposed by advocates of crime control, the police must be given more power and allow harsher punishments for perpetrators of crime, hence reducing the legal system’s power over criminal justice. This model may have had its effective era when stricter punishment meant less crime but, taking the United States as an