Foucault And Panopticon Analysis

A second response to the English riots was surveillance, whereby CCTV was in fact present from the start of the riots, technically meaning that it should have regulated behaviour, which is one critique of this response. Michel Foucault’s ideas on punishment and crime are surrounding the exercise of power and domination, which can be seen through surveillance. He sees the purpose as being self-discipline through surveillance, through the shift in punishment from corporal punishment of the physical body in the pre-industrial society, to carceral in the post-industrial society. The shift being disciplining the mind and soul rather than the body, through prison and control being exerted through surveillance. Bentham’s theory of the Panopticon
This relates to the CCTV in the riots, as through the phrase “Big Brother is Watching You”, it is a controlled method in that the government have eyes on communities and shops, which should manage behaviour and prevent crime; ‘disciplinary power, however, has grown ever more extensive and pervasive’ (Jones & Porter, 1994). In the riots CCTV did act as a Panopticon in regards to it allowing for identification after the riots had ended, although Foucault stated ‘the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power’ (Foucault, 1977). This was not necessarily the case in 2011 as it did not deter people away from partaking in the looting and rioting even though they knew CCTV was
‘What rational choice theory presumes is that there must be the opportunity for it to be committed’ (Walklate, 2007), and through the question of whether the perceived costs outweigh the perceived benefits of committing the offence, the offender makes a rational decision to commit a crime which tends to economically motivated. In the riots, CCTV and surveillance had the purpose to reduce the benefits and instead increasing the costs, risk and effort of the offence. Its primary agenda was to prevent crime, which can be seen through it being an added risk that the offender has to consider when making their decision. Routine Activity Theory explores crime through there being a convergence in time and space of an offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a guardian. In relation to why CCTV was a response, this would be seen to of reduce the crime opportunity as well as preventing the crime from reoccurring. This therefore would remove a opportunity for a crime to be committed, which is what the state aimed to