Socio-Cultural Factors Impacting Mental Health In Forensic Psychology

Socio-cultural Factors that have an Impact on the Case

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.

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 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.  

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).

Gender

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.

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 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).  

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.   

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. 

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.