Conflict of cultures? A case study of forced marriage management strategies in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Forced marriage (FM) occurs when one or both parties do not or cannot consent to the arrangement and are coerced through pressure or abuse. FM occurs amongst various cultural, religious and ethnic groups, and within the United Kingdom (UK) the practice has been associated with a generalised South Asian Muslim population. FM was criminalised in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014 because it directly opposes the values of liberty and autonomy which are synonymous with modern British Values. Estimates suggest there to be upwards of 8,000 FM cases per year in the UK. This thesis sought to explore the management of FM under the new legislation, its management by the police service and its management by the third sector. FM is a multi-faceted issue that requires an interdisciplinary approach to fully understand the complexities behind the offence. This thesis predominantly adopts a sociological interpretation of FM, however, because of the complex cultural factors behind the offence and the differing management approaches, a multi-disciplinary approach which drew upon elements of criminal law, criminology, public policy and the sociology of crime was used to holistically examine the topic.

Culture Conflict theory proposes that diverse societies contain varied sets of cultural values and beliefs. These group values differences often compete with one another to control the governance of particular areas of social life (i.e. the role of women, individual freedoms, and family reputation). This competition creates an intergroup conflict when policy and practice measures fail to appropriately consider a minority cultural group’s values. In turn this conflict negatively impacts the management of the contested social issue. Prior to this research there was no evidence available that explored how FM was managed, and whether or not the implemented measures are influenced by a conflict of cultural values.

This study adopted an instrumental case study design, the case being a large town in the southeast of England with a significant Muslim minority population. Twenty-one in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners from the case study site, working across a variety of interdependent sectors involved in FM management. Documentary evidence including policy documents, training materials, and outreach resources were also collected. Framework analysis was used to analyse the interview data and the documentary evidence was subjected to a content analysis.

The findings identified that the recent criminalisation of FM had failed to increase reporting rates, had failed to reduce the occurrence of this honour-based crime, and had failed to adequately protect victims from the risks associated with the offence. The police service was unable to manage the crime due to a lack of reporting, a breakdown in trust with the minority community, and a lack of knowledge amongst police officers. Although the third sector received higher numbers of FM referrals than all public services, these organisations were largely dependent on the approaches, funding limitations and organisational remits of the public sector. There was an evident conflict of cultural values impacting the organisations in the case study site. This conflict was directly attributable to the values differences between the organisations which manage FM, who often sought to liberate the victims from oppressive cultural settings, and the minority population who sought to uphold cultural traditions, preserve family reputation, protect their religious identities and prevent the Westernisation of specific cultural values.

This thesis supports the criminalisation of FM, and recognises the importance of the work organisations undertake to uphold the rights of victims. In order to improve the management of FM and ultimately to reduce the crime however, this study, in accordance with Culture Conflict theorists’ recommendations, proposes a ‘balance’ of cultural values should occur during intervention processes. This balance could arise through specific changes within management procedures including: redefining certain elements of the criminal law, providing a consistent level of training to employees within the statutory services, seeking to deliver criminalisation in partnership with community leaders, consulting the minority population in order to ensure a culturally sensitive approach to FM management is adopted, facilitating an intercommunity dialogue beyond the sole management of FM, hosting community workshops to educate at risk groups and ensuring there is an accurate demographic representation amongst management organisations.

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ORCID for Bindi Shah: orcid.org/0000-0002-5571-9755

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