The Role of Socio-cultural Issues in Criminal Behavior: A Case Study of Ronald Bailey

This paper explores the impact of socio-cultural factors like gender, age, class, and race on criminal behavior through a case study of Ronald Bailey. It also highlights the role of forensic psychology in criminal investigations.

Running Head: THE ROLE OF SOCIO-CULTURAL ISSUES
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The Role of the Socio-cultural Issues of Race, Gender, Age, and Class in the Given Case
Study.
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Introduction
Crimes are growing in the recent times and the patterns of crimes are changing too. In
such a situation “Forensic psychology” has taken up a major space. This paper of ours tries to
show the ways in which human psychology is applied to criminal investigations. There are a
number of socio-cultural factors that would be addressed in the process. These factors have a
huge impact on the mental health of the individual’s convicted for a particular crime. In
addition to this, the paper aims to elaborate the socio-cultural aspects based on a particular
case study. The case that has been presented involves an individual named Ronald Bailey. It
is through the details of the case that we get to know Ronald and it provides us the
opportunity to study the impacts in a better fashion.
Socio-cultural Factors that have an Impact on the Case
Gender
It is gender that helps in deciding a number of factors when it comes to mental health.
Gender tends to become one of the most important socio-cultural factors when counseling is
thought of. The term gender is in itself quite dubious as it is about the way in which an
individual perceives the world. Reports have revealed that is UK 85% of the people who are
arrested is men. Other than this, 75% of this population are generally given a criminal
sentence and 95%of them do head for the prison (Vossler et al., 2017). In the case we have at
hand, Ronald Bailey have always associated himself with masculinity. Researches have
proven that men are more prone to committing violent crimes in comparison to women.
Studies have further revealed that this urge is due to the secretion of testosterone, a hormone
present in men (Lei et al., 2014). The crimes or a violent act that Ronald has committed gets
well acknowledged through the gender identity he possesses. As in the case we find Ronald

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say that the justice has been miscarried and he deserved it. It might be true as we as people do
have the habit of believing in stereotypes. As studies have shown that men commit more
serious crimes than women, our judgment gets immediately triggered by this identity. The
gender identity then becomes the driving force as it might have been in the case of Ronald.
Age
The growth years are really important as they play the most pivotal role when it
comes to shaping an individual’s future. Ronald, the one who has been convicted in the case
is just at the age of 23. There are a number of reasons that has brought him into the world of
crimes. Ronald has been brought up only by his mother. He has always stayed aloof and
isolated with his mother and sister. In addition to this he has seen violence at a very early age.
It has been his age that has provoked him to take to drugs and alcohol. At a very tender age
he had taken up the gang lifestyle and in order to keep his mental health intact he has often
harmed himself. Scholars have pointed out that people who are young are generally seen to
be affected by mental health issues like depression, anxiety and problems in their behavior
(Vossler et al., 2017). Age has played an important role in the development of his mental
health as he has judged every form of criminal activities from his own perspective. At the age
of 23, hitting a police officer has seemed to be a form of self-defense for Ronald but that
turned out to be a criminal activity. On the other hand Ronald is at such an age where
committing a crime is common. In such situations, when a crime is committed and people of
Ronald’s age are present, they become the prime suspect. There is a theory as we have
studied which caters specially to the pattern that is generally followed in this type of crimes
(Rocque, Posick & Hoyle, 2015). The history of last 10-20 years has shown a rise in the level
of violence committed by gangs of teenagers in the UK (Vossler et al., 2017).

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Class
Earlier studies have shown that the mental health of an individual is directly related to
the social class that he or she belongs to. The working classes as studies show have been
designated as the “dangerous class”. The main reason behind this is that this class faces a
number of tumultuous situations (Krupa & Childs, 2014). This class tends to suffer from
issues like poverty and they do not belong to a strongly structured family. The convicted
individual presented in our case is a member of this class. Ronald’s mother had a basic job
and hence it is quite understandable that they have seen poverty quite closely. Other than that,
he was born to a single mother and has never seen a stable family. This led to the
deterioration of his mental health. Ronald might have been in search of the bonds which he
could not find at home. Drugs are believed to keep worries away and hence Ronald might
have become a regular drug user to keep him away from the worries. There is explanation
regarding the relation between social class and mental health that directly relates to the case.
It proclaims that every action or behavioral changes within individuals from the lower social
class are generally tagged to be mental health issues (Vossler et al., 2017). So, class does
have an equal share in creating such individuals.
Race
This socio-cultural factor helps in identifying an individual on the basis of his or her
culture. In the case that has been presented, Ronald belongs to the “African-Caribbean”
community. It has often been noticed that despite the equal rights that each race possesses,
the number of racially discriminated people are generally designated for crimes (Peck, 2016).
Ronald belongs to a race that is not much recognized and that has been one reason behind
him getting into such criminal activities. He has always remained aloof from the main
community. The main reason behind this has been the socio-cultural failure to accept them as
the part of the existing community. As Ronald belonged to the African-Caribbean race, he

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has been accepted by people from his own race only. In addition to this, it has been his race
that has been the self-driving force behind him hurting himself has been the fear of not being
able to express his fears or pressure. It has always been due to his race that the police have
convicted him from time to time. It has been his race related lifestyle that has been one of the
reason that he is in the prison today. Reports show that people of mixed origin and those who
are Asian, Black or Chinese have a higher risk of becoming victims in any situation of crimes
than the Whites. In addition to this, the prosecution level was higher for Black people in
comparison to the Whites (Vossler et al., 2017).
Intersection of All the Factors
Gender, age, class and race are four important socio-cultural factors that do have an
impact on the life of an individual. When we were analyzing the case of Robert Bailey, we
decided to take all these factors separately. Now that we have done that, we find that all these
factors are linked at one point and they equally affect the mental health of the individual.
Ronald belongs to the masculine gender and is at a tender age of 23. Moreover, he belongs to
the working class and is of the African Caribbean race. All these details show that there are
valid reasons behind his committing a crime and even behind cancellation of his privileges. It
is his desire for company that has forced him to mix with the group of friends that his sister
had (Review of the Roots of Youth Violence). Then again, belonging to the lower class and
facing racial discriminations, tends to create hatred against the entire legal system. This is
something that has happened to Ronald too. He is in such a mental state that he feels that the
authority is taking advantage of the situation and hence his appeal has got denied. Somehow,
all these factors work together to prove that at times we tend to provide our judgments hastily
but such situations do require proper investigation.

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Critical Evaluation
The theories associated with criminal behavior are generally psychological,
sociological and even biological. The entire case study has actively highlighted the socio-
cultural factors and the theories associated with them. We did get to know how the
knowledge about the various socio-cultural factors has undergone a change. Age tends to be a
factor that has a direct impact on an individual’s behavior (Cherry, 2018). Other than just age
gender preference, racial identity as well as the social class tends to impact the behavioral
pattern. This was seen in the case of Ronald Baily who was convicted for his criminal
activity. The evaluation shows that the difference in his upbringing and his thought process
has made him feel that the way he is being treated in unjustified.
Conclusion
This paper began with the aim of addressing the ways in which the various socio-
cultural factors had an effect on an individual’s mental health. It has been quite successful in
addressing this issue. Other than this, there is one more subject that this paper has addressed.
It has mentioned how “forensic psychology” has made its space in the investigation of crime
scenes and in understanding the motives of the criminals. We had taken the case study of
Ronald Baily for instance so as to have a better understanding. It has ultimately brought us to
the conclusion that human psychology can be applied to the process of solving crimes. While
the other thing is that when an individual commits a crime there are a number of factors like
the socio-cultural factors that needs to be considered in order to search for the reason behind
it.
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References
Cherry, K. (2018). An Overview of Forensic Psychology. Retrieved from:
https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-forensic-psychology-2794901
Krupa, J. M., & Childs, K. K. (2014). Trajectories and Risk Factors of Criminal Behavior
among Females from Adolescence to Early Adulthood. Laws, 3(4), 651-673.
Lei, M. K., Simons, R. L., Simons, L. G., & Edmond, M. B. (2014). Gender equality and
violent behavior: How neighborhood gender equality influences the gender gap in
violence. Violence and victims, 29(1), 89.
Peck, J. H. (2016). Contemporary issues of race/ethnicity, offending behavior, and justice
responses.
Plan, O. Y. A., Plan-main, O. Y. A., & Stones, S. Review of the Roots of Youth Violence:
Literature Reviews Volume 5.
Rocque, M., Posick, C., & Hoyle, J. (2015). Age and crime. The Encyclopedia of Crime and
Punishment, 1-8.
Vossler, A., Havard, C., Pike, G., Barker, M. J., & Raabe, B. (Eds.). (2017). Mad Or Bad?: A
Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology. Sage.