Analysis of “Out of Control” Documentary by CBC Fifth Estate

Analysis of “Out of Control” Documentary by CBC Fifth Estate

SECTION I: Introduction

The documentary “Out of Control” was released by CBC Fifth Estate in 2010. It traces the life and death of Ashley Smith, a 19-year old Canadian teenager who was charged for a criminal offence, sentenced to one month in a correctional facility, and later found dead by correctional officers after self-inflicted strangulation. According to CBC News, her death led to a national debate and prompted an investigation and a scathing report by the Ombudsman about the circumstances surrounding her death. Her one-month jail sentence at a youth confinement facility in New Brunswick for hitting a mailman with crabapples was prolonged to almost four years in confinement and served in five different provinces in Canada.  The Fifth Estate sought and gained access to alarming confinement video that revealed Smith being restrained forcefully, pepper-sprayed, and confined in a restraining body bag to expose her narrative (CBC News). Her behavior worsened with the harsh treatments, which proved that she needed mental health assistance even though the prison facility failed to provide it. Through the exclusive access, Smith’s parents and videotapes, The Fifth Estate exposes a failed system that threatens the health and well-being of teenagers in the country

SECTION II: Analysis

General Strain Theory

The General Strain Theory (GST) was developed in 1992 by Robert Agnew to explain the motivation behind the crime. Since then, it has gained considerable academic attention owing to its dimension regarding crime. According to the theory, strain or pressures increase the possibility of engaging in crime, especially stress that is seen as unfair, high in magnitude, and related to limited social control. These strains include criminal victimization, rejection, need for funds, and discrimination and segregation and lead to pressures that lead to involvement in a crime. As a result, Agnew argued that these pressures increase the likelihood of criminal behavior because they lead to many negative emotions such as frustration, anger, despair, and depression that create stress for remedial action. Crime is usually sought to escape or reduce the strains. The probability of a criminal response increases when an individual cannot cope through legal means. Currently, GST is the most widely applied theory of crime, as people pressure and stress in life, which may explain why many people opt to crime.

The General Strain Theory (GST) can be used to explain the motivation behind Ashley Smith’s crime. First, she was sentenced to one month in prison at a youth detention facility for hitting a mailman with crabapples. Using GST, her crime may have been motivated by parental abuse or neglect at home. Today, many parents do not cater to the needs of their children, which leads to anger and frustration that prompts the children to engage in crime. Moreover, despite by sentenced for one month in prison, Ashley spent almost four years in confinement, and worse, in prisons across five Canadian provinces. As a result, her anger and frustration for serving a longer jail sentence may have prompted her harsh and violent behavior at the correctional facilities where she was confined.

Labeling Theory

Howard Becker developed labeling theory in the 1960s, but its core principles echo the works of French and American sociologists Emile Durkheim and George Mead. The approach is grounded on a simple notion that deviance is not an element of an act or behavior, but a label put on an act or conduct. It is the reaction to an action or behavior that qualifies it to be deviant or not and not the behavior or act itself.  As a result, the theory states that an individual comes to identify with and behave in a manner that mirrors how other people and society labels them. The method is commonly associated with the sociology of criminal behavior, as labeling an individual unlawfully deviant can prompt poor conduct. People in power usually do labeling because they formulate, interpret, and enforce these laws Congress and the criminal justice system. Therefore, the regulations established by the government play a significant role in labeling people in society, which may increase the probability of engaging in crime.

Labeling theory is applicable in the documentary “Out of Control,” as it summarizes Ashley’s experiences in prison and her decision to commit suicide; she was labeled as an adult and deviant by the criminal justice system, especially the courts and prison system. Ashley was 19 years old when she committed the criminal offense, and since the criminal law labeled her as an adult, she was prosecuted in an adult court that handed a harsh sentence. However, hitting a mailman with crabapples is a characteristic juvenile behavior, but since Smith was only one year into adulthood, labeling gave her a harsher jail sentence. Moreover, Ashley was labeled as harsh and violent. Thus, the prison guards justified the use of force and other forms of cruel punishment such as restraining body bag.

Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is a complex and multifaceted issue in society. It involves a denial or lack of access to rights and freedoms, goods and services, and the inability to engage in healthy activities and relationships available to others in society in political, economic, cultural, and social arenas. It is typically used to refer to a combination of related problems and issues, including discrimination, high crime, unemployment, low income, poor skills, and family breakdown, among others. As a result, it adversely affects the quality-of-life, thus costly for both people and society that may witness externalities from marginal or excluded.

In the documentary “Out of Control,” Ashley was socially excluded by the criminal justice system because of her gender. In a patriarchal society where women are subordinate to men, Ashley is increasingly separated from other cellmates because she is labeled as harsh and violent. As a result, she was consistently denied access to basic needs, such as food and space, to interact and socialize with other inmates. Owing to her violence, Ashley was always under confinement in cells with poor hygiene and sanitary conditions, and its social exclusion that worsened her disorder, as she was not offered the needed mental health attention.

Violence against Women

Violence against women is a practice that began centuries ago and continues today as women live in a male-dominated society where women are subordinate to men. Even though the practice is as widespread as ever, the violence rate against women in prison is alarming. The power imbalance between prison guards and inmates is the outcome of the latter’s absolute dependency on the former owing to their ability to withhold freedoms and privileges as manifested in direct and indirect physical force and abuses respectively. Since imprisoned women are increasingly invisible to the public, little or nothing is done when a jail sentence is compounded with punishments such as sexual assault, shackling during birth, rape, or groping during searches among others.

In the documentary “Out of Control,” Ashley is physically abused by the prison wardens at the youth correctional facility in New Brunswick when she refuses to open the cell door. Moreover, she was also pepper-sprayed more than once for harsh and violent behavior. As evidenced in the videotapes, the prison guards have no respect for her privacy, as she is forced to change clothing and use the lavatories under supervision from a prison officer. Moreover, owing to her gender, the prison guards are less hesitant to use physical force to subdue Ashley when she refused to follow instructions and rules at the correctional facility.

Youth Justice

Youth justice in Canada refers to the special considerations that emerge when a juvenile commits a criminal act. The Canadian youth justice system is governed by the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which is a federal law that applies to Canadians between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. The act holds that it is essential to hold the youth accountable for criminal actions, but not in a similar manner as adults. Moreover, it also acknowledges that teenagers are less mature than adults, thus prescribes penalties and measures that are consistent with the level of maturity of an offender.

In the documentary “Out of Control,” Ashley is dealt a blow by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which covers delinquents aged between 12 and 17 years old. However, Ashley is a youth who needed a less harsh sentence for her crime, but the youth justice law disregards her. Moreover, she did not receive any medical attention during her confinement despite the right to mental health assessment and treatment, which violated her rights during incarceration.

SECTION III: Conclusion

Since its creation, the Canadian criminal justice system has faced numerous challenges that continue to impact negatively on its ability to deliver justice to the people, especially women regardless of racial and ethnic background. The documentary attests to this assertion, as it exposes harrowing experiences of a teenager through the justice system, a journey that eventually leads to self-inflicted death. I was surprised that women undergo some of the worst forms of mistreatment in prisons compared to men such as pepper sprays and restraining body bags. Moreover, I was surprised at the lack of privacy and security in prison. Initially, I thought inmates were the greatest threat to privacy and security. Still, after watching the documentary, I am convinced that even prison guards can violate the privacy and security of inmates even more. As a result, the documentary has altered my assumptions about youth justice in Canada. Instead of limiting the protections of the Youth Criminal Justice Act to the youth below 17 years old, the law should be extended to cover the youth less than 20 years old. If it were so, Ashley would have been given a less harsh sentence and a different incarceration arrangement, which would have avoided all the harrowing experiences of an adult jail system.

Work Cited

CBC News. The Fifth Estate: Out of Control. CBC Radio-Canada. 2013,

https://curio.ca/en/video/out-of-control-972/  Accessed on March 19, 2020.