Sanjay Ali Case Studies Essay

Critically discuss the role of the socio-cultural issues of race, gender, age, and class in the case study. Consider the implications these issues have on the treatment of this client/offender.
This essay will critically discuss the role of socio-cultural issues of race, gender age and class upon Sanjay Ali who is a client outlined in an Open University (2017) case study. It will go on to consider the implications each socio-cultural issue has on this client’s treatment within the judiciary and mental health services, it will also discuss the implications and impact of the intersectionality of the various identities of the client. The essay will conclude with a critical discussion and summary of the main points.
Firstly to look at the role
The term was used again recently in a report by McCullen (Safer Bristol Partnership 2017) on the death of Bijan Ebrahimi where the findings specifically stated that no individual within the police or social services were found to be intentionally racist, but found evidence of both discriminatory behaviour and institutional racism within both services and suggested that they needed to be more mindful of how they dealt with complaints of racist behaviour from the community. There is no direct suggestion from the case study that Sanjay has been the victim of racism, however, the judiciary, social and mental health services need to be alert to the negative implications of possible personal and institutional unconscious bias when treating
According to the Ministry of Justice, 85% of arrests, 75% of criminal sentences and 95% of the prison population are men (Ministry of Justice, 2014, cited in Callaghan and Alexander, 2017 pg.83), therefore Sanjay is in the gender group associated with higher criminality. Testosterone levels and aspects of male biology could partly explain the gender divide; however it is argued that cultural and social constructs of femininity and masculinity should also be considered. Men are seen as more dangerous than women and this could account for the fact that men make up 75% of criminal sentences but 95% of the prison population (Callaghan and Alexander, 2017, pg.84). Rice et al (2015) suggest that psychological distress can be moulded by societies’ expectations of gender i.e. men are more likely to express distress in aggressive behaviours and women are more likely to internalise their distress (Rice et al, 2015, cited in Callaghan and Alexander, 2017 pg.87). Some of Sanjay’s behaviour, particularly the violence, may be attributed to cultural and social expectations of his gender and the negative role model provided by his biological father; both factors could affect his own perception of masculinity and also have negative implications on his treatment by the judiciary and mental health