10 - Custodial Sentencing

Question 1

List the 4 aims of custodial sentencing

Answer 1

1. Deterrence
2. Incapacitation
3. Retribution
4. Rehabilitation

Question 2

Define deterrence

Answer 2

Unpleasant prison experience designed to put an individual off engaging in offending behaviour in the future.

General deterrence - broad message to members of a society that crime will not be tolerated.

Individual deterrence - prevent the individual from repeating the same crime.

Question 3

Define incapacitation

Answer 3

Offender taken out of society to prevent them from reoffending as a means of protecting the public. The need for incapacitation depends upon the severity of the offence and the nature of the offender.

Question 4

Define retribution

Answer 4

Society is enacting revenge for the crime by making the offender suffer, and the level of suffering should be proportionate to the crime.

Question 5

Define rehabilitation

Answer 5

Upon release, prisoners should be better adjusted and ready to take their place in society.

Prison should provide opportunities to develop skills, receive training or to access treatment programs for addiction, as well as receive counselling and have an opportunity to reflect on their crime.

Question 6

List the psychological effects of being in prison

Answer 6

Psychological disorders
Institutionalisation
Brutalisation
Labelling

Question 7

Expand on ‘psychological effects’

Answer 7

Prisons have higher incidences of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide, and low self-esteem.

A study by the Prison Reform Trust found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis. The oppressive prison regime can trigger psychological disorders.

Question 8

Define institutionalisation

Answer 8

Spending time in prison leads to a lack of autonomy, conformity to the role of prisoner and a dependency on prison culture.

Question 9

Define brutalisation

Answer 9

Prison acts as a school for crime and reinforces criminal lifestyle and criminal norms.

This leads to high recidivism, 70% of young offenders re-offend within two years.

For the last 20 years suicide rates have been 15 times higher among prison populations than in the general population. Most at risk are young single men in their first 24 hours of confinement.

Question 10

Expand on labelling

Answer 10

Prisoners often lose touch with previous social contacts and find it difficult to gain employment because they are labelled as a criminal.

Question 11

What are the positives of custodial sentencing?

Answer 11

Useful - shows that justice has been done and limits the danger to the public. Many prisoners access education and training whilst in prison, increasing the chance they will find employment upon release. Treatment programmes (anger management therapy and social skills training) may help offenders modify their behaviour and so avoid reoffending.

Difficult to demonstrate that psychological disorders are caused by imprisonment. Prisoners with psychiatric conditions may very well have had problems before they were institutionalised in the first place.

Question 12

What are the negatives of custodial sentencing?

Answer 12

Courts need to be selective about who they send to prison, 8–10% of criminals commit 50% of all crimes (Peterson 1981).

Crime prevention more effective than custodial sentencing because it avoids labelling a person as a criminal and also avoids the negative consequences of prison.

Alternative sentences, such as community service, are more effective for low-risk offenders because they can keep their social contacts and their job.

Review of custodial sentencing and concluded that government ministers often exaggerate the benefits of prison in order to appear tough on crime. They suggested that, in reality, prison does little to deter or rehabilitate offenders. It is done to appease the public or as an act of retribution.