Political Action Against Alcohol-Related Violence Under Neoliberalism

This essay delves into the complex relationship between alcohol-related violence and the ideologies of neoliberalism. It examines how the rise of neoliberal thought in the 1970s, alongside the concept of a 'risk society,' has reshaped the approach to crime and punishment. The essay explores how neoliberal frameworks have led to a shift towards victim-focused approaches, emphasizing individual responsibility and behavior modification. It analyzes the implications of these changes on legal and policing setups, particularly concerning crimes like punch killings and alcohol-related offenses, and how the focus has shifted from discouraging alcohol consumption to managing the criminal aspects associated with it. The essay also touches upon how the focus on revenue generation influences political actions in relation to alcohol-related crimes.

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The political action against Alcohol-related violence and punch killing under
neoliberalism ideologies
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Punch killing and alcohol-related crimes under the neoliberal ideologies.............................3
Risk and responsibilization of the crime in a neoliberal policing and legal setup.................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction
The crimes related to Alcohol and punch killing come under the category of “spur of the
moment” crimes. While awarding punishment for the spur of the moment crimes most of the
judges refer to the mental condition of the criminal. For instance, when they find that the
offender was in the state of inebriation while performing a crime, they try to see it from a
different perspective. The liberal theoretical frameworks talks in terms of criminal reforms,
they instruct the legal systems to remove the criminal intent from the mind of an offender
(Geason & Wilson,1988). This is why when the case of Alcohol-related violence comes onto
the board the courts add an additional punishment for alcohol consumption as well. Since
they consider it as a spur of the moment crime, the only award punishments to create a sense
of repentance among the offenders. A similar treatment can be prescribed for a case of punch
killing. The principles of the victimology can be applied to an offender under the context of
the neoliberalism based arrangements. Let's understand it with the help of a case, if a drug
victim punch kills an individual under the influence of drug then the current system will also
consider him as a victim of drug abuse. Apart from the regular punishment, the courts will
also make sure that the offender is getting proper treatment in an asylum so that can he come
out of the trauma of drug abuse. In the above two examples, we can clearly see that
neoliberalism has changed the political outlook associated with crime and punishment. Under
this assignment, we will have a look at some of the major changes.
Punch killing and alcohol-related crimes under the neoliberal ideologies
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In the year 1970 when the thought processes related to Neo-liberalism took the center-stage,
the concept of risk society also came into the front. Risk society is a society where external
and cultural factors promote various types of crime. In general, society creates a legal order
with an intention to create deterrence for habitual offenders. In the case of a risk society, they
come up with detailed laws to check the status of a criminal and classify punishments in
accordance with that (O’Malley, 1992).
When we cast a look upon the basic approach of crime prevention and punishment under the
ideologies of neo-liberalism based frameworks then we find that these frameworks are giving
rise to a new system which is more victims focused and identifies a new type of victimology
(Homel, 1998). This new system promotes an individualistic approach towards crime control,
here we would like to add the fact that Neoliberalism is all about individualism and instead of
bringing in some social changes, and it promotes a change in the individual behavior for
attaining a greater good for the society (Feeley & Simone,1998).
Risk and responsibilization of the crime in a neoliberal policing and legal setup
Drinking alcohol is not a crime; however, creating nonsense at a public place after the
consumption of alcohol is a crime. Driving a car after crossing the permissible limit of
alcohol intake is a crime.
The neo-liberalism based ideas of the crime control clearly indicate that the locus of a
situational crime should be defined more precisely. As we can see it in the above-mentioned
example, consumption of the alcohol is not a crime, however, the situation that may arise
after this consumption may have some criminal intent. We can also say that neo-liberalism
based thought pattern promotes the concept of active policing in the dense risk areas. It
allows the authorities to identify certain risk societies and focus on them more aggressively.
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The liberal thought process was different, under this thought process, consumption of alcohol
was a social evil and they were discouraging it at certain places. Neo-liberal thought process
only discourages the criminal part associated with the consumption of alcohol (Zedner,2002).
The same sentiment can be seen in the case of the punch killing as well. Punch killing is
culpable homicide. It is an offense that attracts maximum punishment. Both liberal or neo-
liberal setups denounces it. However, neoliberal setups want to go for a breakdown of the
conditions in this case as well (Stanko, 1990).
Conclusion
Under the purview of these two concepts, we can see that neoliberalism has changed the
locus of crime control quite considerably. However, this change in the locus has created a
risk society. This we can understand with the help of a simple example. Let's check alcohol-
related crimes from the point of view of revenue collections as well. Most of the states in the
USA are heavily dependent on the Sin taxes, or the taxes that they receive from the public
places where certain business units serve alcohol. Under a neo-liberal setup, they cannot
discourage alcoholism or the creation of the social places where they serve alcohol. On the
contrary, they promote such places and try to add a security blanket in the form of adequate
aggressive security means and active policing.
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References
Feeley, M & Simon, J 1992, 'The New Penology: notes on the emerging strategy of
corrections and its implications', 30(4) Criminology 449.
Geason, S & Wilson, P 1988, Crime Prevention: theOI)' and practice, Australian Institute of
Criminology, Canberra.
Homel, R 1998, 'Pathways to Prevention' in Parliament of NSW (ed), Crime Prevention
Through Social Support, Parliament of NSW Legislative Council, Sydney.
O'Malley, P 1992, 'Risk, Power and Crime Prevention', 21 Economy and Society 252.
Stanko, E 1990, 'When Precaution is Normal: a feminist critique of crime prevention', in
Gelsthorpe, L & Morris, A (eds), Feminist Perspectives in Criminology. Open University
Press, Milton Keynes.
Zedner, L 2002, ·Dangers of Dystopias in Penal Theory', 22 Oxford Journal of Legal Studie.1
341.
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