The Making of Violent Hero: A Study of the Social Construction of Crimes in Kohat, Pakistan

The study explores the process of social construction of crimes, i.e. the process in which the people of a specific group/community perceive a criminal act as a heroic phenomenon. It analyzes the perception of people toward different types of crimes/criminals to understand why people glorify certain...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPakistan journal of criminology Vol. 12; no. 3/4; pp. 62 - 81
Main Authors Rahi, Hina Gul, Ishaq, Rashid
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Peshawar Pakistan Society of Criminology 01.07.2020
Subjects
Community
Crime
Criminal statistics
Fines & penalties
Heroism & heroes
Qualitative research
Research methodology
Robbery
Social construction
Society
Pakistan
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Summary:The study explores the process of social construction of crimes, i.e. the process in which the people of a specific group/community perceive a criminal act as a heroic phenomenon. It analyzes the perception of people toward different types of crimes/criminals to understand why people glorify certain types of crimes/criminals while stigmatize other. The study was conducted in Jungle Khel, an area of district Kohat, which is notoriously known for high ration of crimes like drug dealing, robbery etc. Qualitative method was used in the study and data was collected from 40 participants of both genders through in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis technique was used for analyzing the collected data. The findings reveal that the phenomenon of 'violent heroism' exists in the community as many crimes are implicitly admired by the whole community sometimes by a specific group there. For instance, the criminals are glorified and cherished in some manners as 'heroes' at the local level. While Rashicertain crimes such as robbery and theft are despised as these do not match with the cultural ideal of honourable conduct.
ISSN:2074-2738
2222-6648