Reflection Paper #4

The Seven Five

The film “The Seven Five” is regarding the crimes of a police officer from New York named Michael Dowd. The officer was seen throughout the documentary to have been engaged in all kinds of corrupt acts and illegal practices. The movie is in fact named the seven five after the name of the precinct the officer worked at which was notorious at the time owing to its severe indulgence in criminal offences. The police officers are seen as direct influencers of standard of law. Police officers serve as an epitome of the way society stops crimes and without them, the main way debates are settled is through rule of force i.e. strong over the feeble, the intensity of terrorizing and exploitation.

However, the documentary clearly shows an opposite approach of an officer of law named Michael Dowd who used law only to fill his own pockets. He was indulged in all sorts of crimes like stealing money, selling illegal drugs and trading guns. However, his criminal acts and unethical behavior can be explained in light of Social Disorganization Theory and Delinquency. The theory posits that the lack of community control and people who inhibit the disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to act around in a way to gain access to most resources and survive. The ecological approach while living in such neighborhood leads to an immense rivalry and a sense of severe competition among the people which leads them to adopt the values and traits which might help them survive and thrive in such situations. I believe the same was the case in the scenario of Michael Dowd and precinct seven five where the only choice for Michael Dowd to survive in such an intense crack epidemic at the time was to develop criminal values to replace the normal societal roles he might have had as an ethical police officer and make the best of what he had. As no individual is ever dependable and is susceptible to moral damage, being liable to change in any situation or time where one can gain potential advantages by acting in his own service is quite possible. This was the case of Michael Dowd who used the law to his own personal advantage.

The police department are the implementers of regulations, in the quest for these obligations they are allowed unique forces to utilize power, as people and as a group, to cause others to fit in such regulations. Their most significant job is to research and make decisions with respect to whether laws have been broken, and if so to utilize what power important to capture and contain those mindful and present them to be made a decision by delegates of society. However, the strain theory by Robert Merton shows how the very same roles may be reversed under immense social pressure within society to indulge in criminal intent. Merton asserts that “society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goals (such as the American dream), though they lack the means. This leads to strain which may lead the individuals to commit crimes, examples being selling drugs or becoming involved in prostitution, to gain financial security.” The law enforcers of seven five precinct were simple police officers, but under the immense societal pressure of different social structures at the time, the only way out for them was to make most of the situation by adapting and make something out of it. The documentary clearly shows that various frameworks have access to unique power over people, some more moral than others, yet all eventually come down to this basic thought; utilization of power by people assigned as police, to expect people to comply with the guidelines of a general public or break them to increase individual intentions.

References

Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30(1), 47-88.

Bursik, R. J. (1988). Social disorganization and theories of crime and delinquency: Problems and prospects. Criminology, 26(4), 519-552.

Lilly, J. R., Cullen, F. T., & Ball, R. A. (2018). Criminological theory: Context and consequences. Sage publications.