A CONVERSATION ABOUT CRIME AND CRIMINALS
We all know of the deep historical, social and racial aspects associated with the concept of “criminality”. Ultimately, these aspects come together to create a complex web that make it a taboo topic. Perhaps, it is one of the reasons why it is still heavily present within the basic framework of our society. Why do we need surveillance for instance? One might respond to this with: “Well, we have a large population in city X, we know there will be people who commit crime, and it is our responsibility to fight crime by either prevention or bringing about justice. Because we don’t know who the criminals are, we look at everyone. When the time comes to solve a crime, we can look at the information collected to help us”. Great argument right? Where is the harm? This person obviously has my best interest in mind… But wait!? What are you looking at? When are you looking? Who are you looking at? And, most importantly, who is monitoring YOU, in case YOU mess up? Or in case you violate my rights? While we are on the topic, what are my right?
The answer to those questions are not always available. Consistently, decisions that are deemed “good for the public” have been taken behind closed doors. These are then implemented, without the knowledge of the public, until some whistleblower comes around and attempts to “open our eyes” with new information. But what does that have to do with criminals? Well, who do you keep looking at after a while? After you collect demographic data on those criminals? You start to store this data, creating an archive that will help you to identify and quantify common traits found among criminals. Over time, this becomes a version of the hermeneutic paradigm Allan Sekula talks about in The Body and the Archive (Sekula, 1986). The desire we humans have to classify every aspect of life will ultimately reign over such a system, throwing in factors like race and economic class. Of course, the basic idea, most likely, stems from good intentions, but we must consider the history and what is at stake.
The documentary, The 13th, draws the link between criminalization and the black race. It shows the history of oppression that has taken place in many different forms, for example, Jim Crow laws (DuVernay, 2016). We are also aware of the oppression suffered by women and members of the LGBT community. At one point in time, the members belonging to most of these groups were branded “criminals”. Why? For speaking against the status quo? Is this now a crime? Should we be surveilled when we question authority? Or when we attempt to be part of the conversation regarding the overall well-being of our society? What happened to our right to “meaningfully oppose” certain changes or established practices? (Poitras, 2014). When Snoweden leaked classified information a few years ago, revealing the practices taken by the U.S government with regards to massive, worldwide surveillance, it was on the news for a while and like almost all things, it fell off the radar. Now, we are talking about private firms, flying planes, above cities, just watching? And we don’t know about it? (Reel, 2016). Privatizing the security of the public, is no different than the government doing it in the dark. There needs to be a long conversation about the subject. When we call agree on the fact of wanting to be safe from global threats, the methods which we choose -or in this case, don’t choose- need to be thoroughly discussed. In his essay Biometrics, Infrastructural Whiteness, and the Racialized Zero Degree of Nonrepresentation, Joseph Pugliese talks about “whiteness in infrastructural terms, as an element that is indissociable from the effective operations of a particular technology” (Pugliese, 2010). He specifically talked about biometric technologies, and how they fail to “recognize” non-whites. This practice is rooted deep in the colonial era, when officials “complained that the uniformity in colour of hair, eyes, and complexion of the Indian races renders identification far from easy” (Pugliese, 2010). Once again, we face this history of discrimination within the use of technologies. This mimics Sekula’s double system of representation: honorific and repressive (Sekula, 1986). This tradition of painting a repressive portrait, especially for minority groups, I think is one of the most prevalent fear of this idea of mass surveillance without control. A fear of being mistreated, misrepresented and excluded, again. Today, the criminal is no longer whoever breaks the law. The term has now been linked to a group, a social class, a race, the “sub-proletariat” Sekula talks about (Sekula, 1986). And that is the problem. You are expected to be a criminal because you are a member of this group of people, therefore we will surveil you, by you I mean your neighborhood and the people you associate with. This, I think, takes us back to the 19th century when phrenology and physiognomy were mainstream and accepted (Sekula, 1986).
Now what?
Perhaps the most difficult question to answer. Yes, we know all of this, we are aware of the remnants of centuries of oppression as well as the new forms it takes. But what do we do about it? What can we do about it? I certainly won’t claim to have the correct answers, but I think it is our responsibility to:
1. Educate ourselves about these topics. Learn the history, and don’t think you unaffected by them. In short, don’t be an idle bystander.
2. Form your own opinions based on facts. Be able to clearly formulate where you stand on certain issues. It is okay to be unsure of where you stand, as long as you eventually take one.
3. Be part of the conversation and if no one is talking about it, bring it up. We live in a dynamic, constantly changing world, and there are so many of us, we will never agree on everything (the world would be boring that way). However, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about the heavy stuff we experience
4. Be willing to change your mind and accept you are wrong. It’s difficult, but just try. Einstein made mistakes too.
We all need to pitch in somehow, either by taking action or changing our ways. Our species has evolved for millions and millions of years, I honestly doubt that the end of the road is an oppressive, socially stratified, patriarchal society. We have so much more to learn, and we can be doing so many great things. I feel like we have an opportunity to significantly advance ourselves, we just have to put our minds to it.
References
DuVernay, A. (Director). (2016). 13TH [Motion Picture].
Poitras, L. (Director). (2014). Citizen Four [Motion Picture].
Pugliese, J. (2010). Biometrics, Infrastructural Whiteness, and the Racialized Zero Degree of Nonrepresentation. In J. Pugliese, Biometrics: Bodies, Technologies, Biopolitics (pp. 105–133). New York: Taylor & Francis Books.
Reel, M. (2016, August 23). Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved from Bloomberg L.P [US]: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-baltimore-secret-surveillance/
Sekula, A. (1986). The Body and the Archive. October, pp. 3–64.