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Introduction To Part Three
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
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- 14 February 2023, pp 117-120
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Summary
Background
When discussing disability, poverty (as depicted in Part Two) and neglect it is important to note that most people acquire their impairments (to varying degrees and in different forms) through poverty, pollution, violence, accident, war and ageing. Tragically, the World Health Organisation in its World Report on Disability (2011) pointed out that the biggest cause of impairment/disability was poverty. And poverty, when it is analysed in depth, is usually the result of government failure, ineptitude, immorality and/or criminality. It is also essential to acknowledge that contemporary understandings and attitudes towards disability have been shaped by the onset of capitalism (which is inherently criminogenic) and its associated ideologies of individualism, liberal utilitarianism, industrialisation (specifically waged labour) and the medicalisation of social life. As a result, the injustice of ‘disableism’ (in all its discriminatory forms) is endemic to most, if not all, ‘developed’ contemporary societies. And to compound issues, disabled people are the excessive victims of poverty, immoral crimes and criminality as a direct consequence of this prevailing discrimination.
Without a shadow of doubt, the on-going passive or deliberate neglect of governments across the globe to fully address the social determinants and inequities of health and disablement has led to a growth in the number of disabled people in most countries. Moreover, corporate-governmental immorality/criminality is especially evident when governments and self-interested politicians blame disablement, the cost of disability and social support networks for the innumerable economic crises that have ‘dogged’ societies since the mid-nineteenth century. Disturbingly, all these economic crises have been politically portrayed as the fault of welfare policies for the unemployed, the poor and disabled people who have supposedly imposed unreasonable and unaffordable costs on society, despite not being the only recipients of welfare or even being the biggest ‘drain’ on government finances.
Ultimately, the overarching consequence of this ‘blaming’ has been a consistent failure to enact meaningful policies which produce and maintain a fully accessible infrastructure relating to public buildings, housing and support systems that will accommodate all sections of society, including people with impairments, those suffering from long-term ill-health and, of course, elderly people.
Introduction To Part Two
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
- Print publication:
- 14 February 2023, pp 57-62
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Summary
A Frame of Reference
Politics is part of the air that we all live and breathe. It is about what we are allowed and not allowed to do. It is about friends and enemies. It permeates every pore of our bodies and makes assessments and judgements about our worth in society. It is about reward, freedom, punishment or confinement, marginalisation, (institutional) discrimination and criminalisation. But most of all it is about how we understand, embrace or oppose it. Policy typifies all of this and can be seen to be stereotypically judgemental about the most ‘visible’ recipients of welfare benefits. This is particularly true of the UK welfare system. And there lies the hypocrisy of powerful elites.
As Richard Titmuss pointed out in his Essays on the Welfare State (1958), the Social Divisions of Welfare meant that we are all recipients of welfare. Welfare, for Titmuss, is manifest in three different forms (four when you include the unpaid caring role of women conducted outside of the paid labour market). ‘Occupational Welfare’, he argued, conveys rewards for those who supposedly pay deference to social norms and behaviour. It does so, through the non-taxable or tax-privileged perks derived from advantageous employment in the labour market (i.e. through ‘golden handshakes’, employer pension contributions and fringe benefits such as meal vouchers and/or private healthcare schemes).
Likewise, ‘Fiscal Welfare’ rewards individuals by granting tax allowances on non-State pensions (estimated to cost the UK government, for instance, £14.3 billion in 2005/6) and mortgage relief for ‘responsible’ home-owners. Yet, unlike ‘Occupational Welfare’ and ‘Fiscal Welfare’ – which are rewards derived from the government curtailing its tax revenue and leaving more money for the so-called industrious or wealthy to keep – ‘Social Welfare’ involves a direct payment to these recipients of welfare. ‘Social Welfare’, therefore, concerns the visible, publicly provided funds and services such as social security benefits, local authority housing, healthcare and personal social services.
But all of this has echoes beyond the United Kingdom. Australia and the United States, to name but two, conceive of welfare in similar ways. For example, tied into the notion of benefit payments, as opposed to tax allowances, is the ‘Murrayesque’ concept of ‘workfare’ and the stigmatisation that claiming benefit payments entail.
Concluding Remarks
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
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- 14 February 2023, pp 211-212
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Summary
The collected chapters of this volume illustrate in full starkness the heterogeneity of injustice. Each points up those who are marked as different – for their culture, ethnicity, phenotype, sexual orientation or otherwise – and the forms of oppression enacted upon them because of this difference. The reader is presented with a spectrum of oppression that ranges from simple otherisation to genocide. The very scope and range of injustice can easily bewilder, and its apparent ubiquity can lead to the assumption that relations of domination and exploitation, and the conditions that sustain them, are inevitable. The truth is that such relations and conditions were never historically and are not now inevitable. The reason for this is that the dehumanisation which is enveloped by relations of domination and exploitation elicits within those who are oppressed a determination for humanisation, a determination for emancipation and a drive to overcome alienation. As Freire (2017:18) put it, ‘this struggle is possible only because dehumanisation, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanises the oppressed’. Most importantly, for our purposes and so as not to fall into a state of despair, Freire (2017:18) stated categorically that because ‘it is a distortion of being more fully human, sooner or later being made less fully human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so’. Gil (2013:7) also affirmed this law of struggle, adding, importantly the role of consciousness building:
People have often challenged destructive practices and conditions, and they are likely to do so again, by organising liberation movements and spreading critical consciousness – a prerequisite for collective action toward fundamental social change.
In the introduction to this volume, emphasis was placed on the value of bringing to the gaze the lived experiences of those at the lowest intersections of injustice – Indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, refugees, people with disabilities, the youth, women and children and the poor. It has certainly done this. However, in its own way, this volume also seeks to contribute to the pedagogy of the oppressed – to contribute to what Freire terms conscientizaçao, or the form of learning which leads to a perception of the social, political and economic conditions that are constitutive of oppression and the learning required to take action against these elements of reality.
Chapter Ten - An Injustice of Youth: The Social Harm and Marginalisation of Young People in the UK
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- By Adam Formby
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
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- 14 February 2023, pp 173-184
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Summary
Introduction
Austerity measures in the United Kingdom have re-shaped and diminished many of the domains of welfare that comprise the ‘youth welfare State’. The impact of prolonged austerity (since 2010) has continually impacted the efficacy and range of social policy responses in areas such as youth justice, youth work, welfare and support, housing, health and education. As a result, contemporary youth is experiencing generational social harm and a significant social ‘othering’ that is often manifest in the denial of a voice in the society they live in and can, in turn, result in new forms of social (in) justice. Moreover, these developments have been made worse by the COVID-19 epidemic which has further decreased living standards for all young people, prompting concerns about the marginalisation of young people from relevant social and political structures. Negative portrayals of young people framed around ‘irresponsibility’ and ‘risky behaviours’ contradict evidence that demonstrates the opposite. Rather, many young people seek to volunteer and support others whilst encountering significant forms of social harm. As a result, contemporary global youth are currently experiencing generational social harm(s) and social othering whilst often being denied a voice in the societies they live in. If truth be told, the youth of today are experiencing new forms of social injustice and, to add insult to injury, these developments have become worse as the COVID-19 epidemic has persistently decreased living standards for many young people around the world.
This chapter examines to what extent the youth welfare State has been pushed back, reflecting on emergent forms of social harm, ‘othering’ and marginalisation. It will reflect on some of the prolonged impact of COVID-19 and how we can support young people in the future through increased forms of social justice-based provision. It will include several case studies that exemplify how the youth welfare State has become smaller: focusing on social harms and the youth labour market. Specifically, these have been selected because they exemplify the significant problems that emerge when the youth welfare State is compromised through different forms of social harm (Dorling et al. 2008). Furthermore, the chapter will argue that new forms of injustice are emerging in light of recent retrenchment in the youth welfare State and recommend several social justice-framed solutions.
Introduction To Part Four
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
- Print publication:
- 14 February 2023, pp 169-172
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Summary
A Potted History
Young people are becoming increasingly marginalised across the world and are often experiencing generational forms of injustice through the failures of government and society to acknowledge their vulnerabilities and provide appropriate support. The framing of ‘Youth’ is a complex social construction which involves a ‘blurring of boundaries between youth and adulthood’ (Reisinger 2012:96) and the de-standardisation of life. Modern understandings of youth stress that ‘youth’ has become non-linear and complex and repeatedly is a site of uncertainty and change. Furthermore, countless young people experience a variety of social harms and inequalities across many distinctive policy domains: especially in relation to youth justice and criminalisation, employment and education.
Disturbingly, the onset of global austerity has continued to reshape and diminish youth welfare policy. Indeed, the dual impact of the 2008 global recession and COVID-19 continues to impact upon the efficacy and range of social policy responses in areas such as youth justice, youth work, welfare and support, housing, health and education. As a result, contemporary global youth are currently experiencing generational social harm(s) and social othering whilst often being denied a voice in the societies they live in. If truth be told, the youth of today are experiencing new forms of social injustice and, to add insult to injury, these developments have become worse as the COVID-19 epidemic has persistently decreased living standards for many young people around the world. Concerns about the marginalisation of young people from all the relevant social and political structures are repeatedly emerging, yet negative portrayals of young people – framed around ‘irresponsibility’ and ‘risky behaviours’ – continually contradict demonstrable evidence that expounds the opposite as many young people have sought to volunteer and support others whilst experiencing significant forms of social harm themselves.
Human trafficking and modern slavery in the present day is defined as the transportation or concealment of an individual or group of persons against their will by means of force, kidnapping or coercion (Bondt et al. 2010). Despite increased freedoms and civil rights in the modern day, human trafficking is a considerably ubiquitous form of organised crime, primarily due to being the second most lucrative crime today (Sheinis 2012).
Editor’s Introduction to the Book
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
- Print publication:
- 14 February 2023, pp xii-xvi
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Summary
Historical Background and Approach
This volume contributes to the growing literature on global (in)justice and (in)equality, seeking in its own unique way to highlight that we are on a dangerous path when we ignore the plight of those who are the weakest, most oppressed and disenfranchised among us; and that we risk even more when we are complicit in the intransigent and profound injustices they experience. As Blunt (2020) powerfully argued, while those for whom this volume is dedicated will possibly not be its readers, it is those in positions of power and affluence who need to be reminded and, if appropriate, held responsible for their actions and the subsequent consequences. The obvious moral grounds for fighting against injustice are not always enough to make a difference. Sometimes, only the fear of personal consequences can compel those in power to action. Blunt puts it thus: ‘Complicity exposes one to risks. The slave-owning plantation class in the United States knew this. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the fear of being murdered in one’s bed by the next Nat Turner was a palpable concern’.
By way of a parable, the Prophet Muhammad also described this dynamic. The likeness of the one who does not stand for justice is as a group of people who have boarded a ship. The privileged among them take the upper deck while the poor occupy the lower deck. After a while at sea, those from the lower deck go to the upper deck, requesting water and a chance to breathe fresh air. Those of the upper deck become irritated by both their request and their presence. Therefore, they compel them back to the lower deck without their needs fulfilled. But in their desperation, the people of the lower deck begin to bore holes into the bottom of the ship’s hull, seeking water. As the hull begins to fill with water, the people at the upper deck scream out, ‘What have you done?’, to which those at the lower deck reply, ‘We did not want to disturb you but at the same time we are dying of thirst!’ (Hadith 2540)
In both the case of the slave-owning plantation class and the case of the privileged passengers of the upper deck, there was no insulation from their complicity in injustice.
Introduction To Part One
- Edited by Simon Prideaux, Mustapha Sheikh, University of Leeds, Adam Fomby, University of Lincoln
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- Book:
- Crime, Criminality and Injustice
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 14 November 2023
- Print publication:
- 14 February 2023, pp 3-8
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Summary
Contextual Background
Indigenous peoples live on all continents ranging from the Arctic to the Pacific via Asia, Africa and the Americas (OHCHR 2020). According to the United Nations (2021), Indigenous peoples are the inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are uniquely different from those of the dominant society in which they now live. Yet, despite their cultural differences, Indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems and obstacles in the protection of their rights as distinct peoples. As a result, Indigenous peoples have sought recognition of their identities, way of life and their right to traditional lands, territories and natural resources for years.
Throughout history, the rights of Indigenous peoples have been violated. Today, they are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people in the world. In response, the international community is tentatively recognising that special measures are required to protect Indigenous rights and maintain distinct cultures and ways of life. By way of reinforcement, (In)Justice International is intent on revealing and disseminating the extent and manifestation of the traumatic obstacles that Indigenous people historically had, and still have, to endure and overcome. Such neoliberal-endorsed and inspired acts of travesty against Indigenous groups have emanated from illegal deforestation, land clearances, mining and the desecration of sacred sites (as in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Brazil), the confiscation of lands either by deception or force (in the United States and New Zealand) and the inculcation of ‘white’ norms and values of the dominant ‘social’ configurations of the ‘civilised’ Western (Minority) World (epitomised by the Residential Schools in Canada, 1880s–1996 and Missions in Australia 1820–1987).
Sadly, such practices still continue in a relatively unabated manner and, in the midst of all this violation, Indigenous women are particularly vulnerable. So too are Indigenous youth who are disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to education, employment opportunities, decision-making processes and, above all, access to justice.