O'Farrell in the blue corner and Keneally in the red.

I think it would be safe to say that I am one of the last people that would associate myself with politics or start a political debate over anything. However, this year, it was the NSW state election and it is one of the first elections I have to vote in. Before this year, political campaigns were just boring, annoying ads which exaggerated the flaws of the other party so the party the ad is supporting could just hide behind this.

Personally, and before I was of voting age, my parents would tell me about politics - or what they believe in - and it really made an impression of who was 'bad' and who was helpful to me. With 16 years of Labor and with my growing frustration over rising prices and transport matters (because that is how I go to uni everyday), I thought I’d actually listen to the campaigns and see who can actually win me over with advertisements. N.B. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll vote for them but I was wondering if one could sway me.

An interesting advertisement was Labor’s which involved a couple talking about voting for Liberal but not wanting to give Barry O’Farrell a majority because he was hiding things from the public. More of these advertisements were being broadcasted by Labor with one simple message: don’t give Liberal a majority in parliament because it will be handing O’Farrell “a blank cheque” (as said in Labor’s television advertisement). It was a strange approach and it almost seemed like Labor knew they were going to lose and they have lost faith in themselves. It seemed like they needed a new angle and that way they would persuade people to vote for them, thinking Liberal was going to win anyways, but since that is happening, all the seats will go to Labor? Unfortunately that’s not how it turned out. Whether it was because of the lost of trust in the Federal Labor Government or because of all the scandalous MPs or even that it was time for a fresh start after 16 long years of Labor, the people of NSW voted Liberal in an historical win.

Just by watching television campaigns, both parties were more focused on revealing the flaws of the other party rather than promising* different law and order actions. Labor seemed to want to pour money into upgrading their old implementations of law and order (CCTV, more police equipment). Whereas Liberals did the same, they seemed to focus a little more on community based (rehabilitation centres and PCYC upgrades). 

***

Oh, and did anyone else notice that when it was a Liberal Federal government, we had a Labor NSW government... but now we have a Labor Federal government, we have a Liberal state government?

*Not that promises would work anymore thanks to Prime Minister Julia Guillard and the Carbon Tax debacle

A response: Grand Theft Innocence

This is a response to the blog post of a fellow classmate which could be found here - Mel CRIM2027 blog: Grand Theft Innocence

Plants vs. Zombies: surely this isn't harmful? Zombies are trying to eat your brains!
Your plants are just trying to protect you!

Videos games have been evolving rapidly from using wired brick controllers to using your whole body as a controller (how awesome is that?). As Mel Kheir (2011), my classmate, wrote "the appeal of video games is that they enable users to immerse and involve themselves in the story-lines and action of the games, rather than passively watching a video or listening to the radio” and hence, there are concerns when violent video games increases the aggression and are harmful to youths. It has been found in 2008, that approximately 85% of all video games include some form of violence (Source: Cognitive Daily).

I have many friends who play such violent video games such as Left 4 Dead I + II (censored in Australia) which involves players to work in a team of four to kill zombies. Dead Rising is also a similar game in which you kill zombies. Plant vs. Zombies (is really cute), Dead Island, Killing Floor – these are all games in which you kill zombies; and not living human beings. Sure, my friends do get frustrated when they lose or if they ‘died’, but they are not serial violent gamers, and they do not use these violent ways to harm other people around them.

There has been countless of stories of harm caused by youths who played violent video games and it was only a few days ago where I came across a newspaper article where a 15 year old boy plotted and killed his 7 year old neighbour just to steal her earrings and sell to fund his video game addiction. And what about that guy who wanted to be like Dexter and killed like him? Is there an underlying cause to this behaviour?

As criminologists, I think we should take into account other variables and causal factors which could lead one into being violent. There is only a correlation between violent video games and increased real-life violence, sure, but is it really the cause?

Positivist criminology theorises that “behaviour is determined, in the sense that the individual behaviour is shaped by factors outside the individual’s control” (White & Perrone, 2010: 56) like biological and psychological factors. The classical theory states that the offender is rational and chooses their own actions. Violent video games are just a situational factor which, I believe, only contributes to violent behaviour because of the individual. We are all exposed to violent television programs and us criminology students are bombarded with images of crime every day, but we’re not going out there as violent delinquents. To be able to act in a violent way like Dexter or like the “criminal hero” (Kheir, 2011) the individual must know everything about the show/game. What made them obsessive over this fantasy world? What made them lose self-control? Do youths get too bored these days which cause them to fall into violent criminal behaviour?

Whatever it is, I feel a wave of moral panic that is going to hit us in the near future as more and more media attention is directed to kids playing video games.

Related Links

Cognitive Daily psychological research into violence and violent video games: http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/04/violent_video_games_and_desens.php

Mel Kheir’s CRIM2027 Blog: http://melcrim2027blog.blogspot.com

White, R. & Perrone, S. (2010). Crime, Criminality & Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press, New York.

Isn't the real problem here toy guns and rifles? For the past few years I've been seeing little kids with toy rifles! What are their guardians thinking?

Jail House Girls (Wednesday 9:30pm on GEM (90))

Whilst watching FRIENDS on GEM (digital channel 90) I saw the preview of Jailhouse Girls (rated M), which was going to be aired later that night at 9:30pm. I have never heard of the show, but this is what happened during the preview and I thought it would be great to blog about.

What I jotted down during the preview:

- "They're the naughtiest girls on the block. Welcome to their world

- Images of girls screaming, being held down by prison guards

- Imagery of a gate shutting and locked

- A girl mentioning drugs - "crack"

- Girls being upset

With that in mind, I was just waiting for 9:30 to come and see how this certain production (UK) portray prisons (Holloway prison) and female prisoners.

The show started out with a voiceover of a girl reciting a poem which describes the violent crimes the persona (possibly the girl who wrote/is reading the poem) has committed. Just like other police shows in Australia, there is a narrator, and it takes the perspective of officers and inmates involved. The Holloway prison is the largest female prison in Europe and is situated in London.

This episode focused around 2 inmates and a controversial newspaper article which was published in the British newspaper The Sun. The article is largely negative and slams the Holloway prison for letting the inmates have a Halloween party where they are shown to be dressed up like monsters – the monsters they are most believe. On Jailhouse Girls, the prison noticed the way the newspaper exaggerated the truth, like the expenses of the party. On the newspaper’s website, you can find how people have commented their outrage and how ‘sick’ it is for the prisoners to have this party over a year ago (link to The Sun's article by Wilson, G., 2008).

The prison defended such parties, which includes Christmas, as a good way of rehabilitation and management of the prisoners as self-harm rates and aggression are high. This way, the prisoners, especially those with mental illness, can still feel a sense of belonging which can aid their rehabilitation process (which the wider community didn’t think was ‘what these criminals deserved’).

This is a prime example of misunderstanding between the wider community and prisoners and shows the power of the media over the general public and its effect on prisoners.

Real monsters?
Source: The Sun 

Overall, the prison did not look like a conventional prison (like the one seen in documentaries watched in the CRIM2027 tutorial or even movies) and looked more like a hospital with long corridors and coloured doors into little rooms and where inmates could wear casual clothing, which seem like their own. What was really surprising to me was a section in the prison where female inmates who gave birth while serving their time could be with and play with their newborn until the child is 18 months old – just like a hospital. There was also a salon in the prison where inmates can get their hair cut and manicures the way they liked.

The show sheds a positive light on the prison and it wasn’t as scary or violent as the preview made (another way the media manipulates and exaggerates).

*Another preview which I saw on GEM that caught my eye was My Strange Addiction - which talks about people with weird obsessions and habits! It's coming soon and I'm a little amazed at what programs are shown on GEM whose target audiences are women - haha!

Related links

Website for The Sun newspaper’s article on prisons hosting Halloween parties: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/1876866/Broadmoor-dangermen-swap-ghost-stories-during-Halloween-party-on-ward.html (by Jamie Pyatt, 2008)