Weaponizing Classical Music: Crime Prevention and Symbolic Power in the Age of Repetition

‘Gritos de cerveza, cerveza’: el rol de la música y de los DJs en el control del desorden en los clubes nocturnos

“…This has been termed the 'Manilow Method' 28,29 and it has been also used to deter young people from loitering around public buildings, shopping centres etc. [30][31][32] For example, a Glasgow art gallery (near the nightclubs observed in this research) attempted, unsuccessfully, to deter Goth youths from their cloisters by playing amplified classical music 33 .…”

Predicting the behaviour of offenders with personality disorder: issues for investigative psychology

“…As such, it is concerned with what Alison (2005) refers to as a 'molecular analysis' of criminal behaviour-will the psychological underpinnings of personality disorder lead to behavioural consistency in the commission of repeated offence types, and also the 'homology problem' (Alison, 2005)-will individuals who meet the criteria for a diagnoses of personality disorder behave more similarly in the commission of an offence than those who do not meet the criteria for such a diagnosis. Basically then, does the way in whichrespond to, as evidenced by the use of high frequency tones to alter the behaviour of teenagers but not adults (The Mosquito; see Hirsch, 2007). Limits are also imposed by processing structures, as evidenced by work investigating Wegner's (1994) theory of mental control, which suggests that both intentional and counter-intentional effects arise from the same processes, for example, the ability to correctly recall the order of events can be reduced (as opposed to the events themselves) when one tries to suppress thoughts of these events (Wegner, Quillian, & Houston, 1996).…”

Silent Alarm: The Mosquito Youth Deterrent and the Politics of Frequency

“…Although some have described the use of non-aggressive music deterrents as a weaponization of sound, (Sterne, 2006;Hirsch, 2007) this classification is largely rhetorical. It is true that using music to make young people uncomfortable is oppressive and is arguably an abuse of power.…”

“…Not until the 1990s did institutions and businesses begin piping music into public and private spaces, not for the purpose of stimulation, but to chase away young people. The technique, what Jonathan Sterne (2006) refers to as "nonaggressive music deterrents" and others have called "The Manilow Method" (Hirsch, 2007), presumes a generational, aesthetic antipathy strong enough to negatively alter a group's relationship to a space. The deployment of non-aggressive music assumes that young people will interpret the music as a message telling them that they are not welcome.…”

“…Seeking to re-engineer the urban environment in such a way as to discourage criminal behaviour, CPTED emphasizes lighting and open, self-monitoring spaces as a means of making criminal activity visible. In the early 1990s sound was added to the CPTED repertoire as businesses began to employ easy-listening and classical music as deterrents (Cloonan, 2002;Hirsch, 2007;Sterne, 2003). The objective of this tactic is to offend the tastes and sensibilities of young people to the point that they move on in mild disgust.…”