(2) 3.3 Examine the limitations of agencies in achieving social control.

Question 1

Limitations of agencies in achieving social control

Answer 1

Repeat offenders/recidivism.
Civil liberties and legal barriers
Access to resources and support
Finance
Local and national policies
Environment
Crimes committed by those with moral imperatives.

Question 2

Crimes committed by those with moral imperatives

Answer 2

Committing a crime because they think that is is the right thing to.
It is a strongly felt principle that compels a person to act.

Question 3

Examples of crimes committed by those with moral imperatives

Answer 3

Anti-Vivisection Campaign - protest experiments on animals, this can lead to criminal offences.
Luke Steele (head of anti-vivisection campaign) imprisoned twice for attacks on labs, harassment and intimidation of workers.

Assisted suicide - in the UK, helping someone to die is a criminal offence. A family member may do it if it is their wish.
Kay Gilderdale helped her daughter to die, can be seen as being out of a sense of sympathy and a feeling of being morally right to commit the crime.

Suffragettes - women fought for the right to vote in the UK, they used direct action, civil disobedience and broke the law (setting fire to post boxes, smashed windows)
Emily Davison died when she threw herself in front of the King’s horse during the derby race 1913.

Question 4

Links to theories for crimes committed by those with moral imperatives

Answer 4

Functionalism - Kay Gilderdale, produce boundary maintenance by showing what is acceptable within society.

Question 5

Repeat offenders/recidivism prison facts.

Answer 5

England and Wales have the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe.
In 2022, over 43000 people were arrested and sent to prison in E+W.

The reoffending rate for a sentence of less than 12 months is 63%. This could be because they are haven’t learnt their lesson or they feel that they have no choice due to other factors such as unemployment. Therefore short custodial sentences are less effective.

Women are recalled back to prison more than men. This could be because, statistically, women commit less serious offences which are more likely to be repeated (drug use), also their time spent in prison would be shorter so there is less time to rehabilitate.

Question 6

Repeat offenders/recidivism community order facts.

Answer 6

The use of community order has more than halved over the last decade, even though they are more effective than short term prison sentences at reducing reoffending rates.

Anyone leaving custody who has served 2 days to 2 years is now required to serve a minimum of 12 months under supervision in the community. The recall rate is now 19% higher than when the changes were introduced.

Question 7

Links to theories for repeat offenders/recidivism

Answer 7

Social learning theory - offenders learning and copying from others in the prison system.
Prisoners can become ‘better’ criminal, learning skills from others which encourage reoffending.

Question 8

Civil liberties and legal barriers.

Answer 8

Basic rights and freedom granted to citizens of the country thought the law. For example: freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of religious worship.

Question 9

How does civil liberties and legal barriers limit social control?

Answer 9

People have the legal right to freedom of speech, etc.
Can be seen as a restriction on agencies such as the police in achieving social control.
Some countries have a ‘police state’ (Russia) few restrictions on their power.

Abu Qatada, alleged links with terrorism - European Court of Human Rights said that he couldn’t be deported to Jordan because he could be tortured.
Theresa May (Home Secretary) said he would have been sent back if the ECHR had not ‘moved to goalposts’ by establishing new legal grounds to block deportation.
Eventually deported in 2013.

Question 10

Civil liberties and legal barriers - facial recognition

Answer 10

Form of technology that attempts to match a persons face from a picture/video to a database of facial images.
It works by measuring and ‘mapping’ a persons unique facial features. ‘Maps’ are turned into numerical code to be matched with faces on secretive watch lists.

Live facial recognition scans faces and compares them to watch lists in real time. Cameras are placed in crowded areas to scan everyone in range.
However, everyone is scanned without consent so it can be seen as a violation of human rights.

Retroactive facial recognition turns every photo/video available to police into a surveillance tool - including images uploaded to social media.

Cases - Craig Walters jailed for life after attacking a woman he followed off a bus - arrested after 48 hours using CCTV.
Many burglars are also caught using doorbell cameras.

Question 11

Links to theories for civil liberties and legal barriers.

Answer 11

Marxism - these laws are necessary to protect the working class from the ruling elite.

Question 12

Access to resources and support while in prison

Answer 12

If prisoners do not get access to resources and support to help prevent them reoffending, social control will not be achieved.
Short prison sentences do not give enough time to change.
2020- Chief Inspector of Prisons said that 1/2 the prisons had too few programmes of useful activities. 2/5 deliver ‘good’ activities.
Reduction in prison officers - 15% cut in recent year. Prisoners locked up after 6pm - no rehabilitation.

Question 13

Access to resources and support after prison

Answer 13

Less than half (48%) of prisoners released from prison have settled accommodation on release.
Around 1/8 (12%) ex-prisoners are homeless/sleeping rough.

Question 14

How access to resources and support after prison limits social control

Answer 14

Lack of resources/support means prisoners are tempted to return to crime.
Having a criminal conviction can be a barrier for obtaining work. Only 8% are in PAYE employment 6 weeks after leaving prison - 1/2 respondents to YouGov survey said they would not consider employing an ex-offender.

Question 15

Finance - police

Answer 15

Between 2010-2018 police budget cut by 19% and 20,000 officers cut.
Other police staff also made redundant - experience has been lost, including skills vital for modern crime such as digital forensics.
6000 officers having to work away from frontline crime fighting to fill gaps caused by funding crisis.
MET police dropped 2.9x as many cases on the day they were reported in 2018 as they did in 2013.
Rape cases take 129 days to solve on average.
6% clear up rate - not enough justice.

Question 16

Finance - CPS

Answer 16

2010-2018 budget was cut by 25%, 1/3 staff were cut.
2018 - Head of CPS said police and CPS were failing to investigate thousands of cases.
CPS have been accused of downgrading charges for quicker prosecution.

Question 17

Finance - prisons

Answer 17

2010-2018 budget fell by 16%, staff by 15% - experienced staff left the service. Officer numbers have not recovered since 2010 cuts.
Staff retention problems - 47% who left in 2022 had been in the role less than 3 years. Therefore staff experience also declined, 35% of officers has been in their role less than 3 years (13% in 2010)
Worst UK prison riot in 25 years - HMP Birmingham in 2016. The government took the prison back into public control in 2020.

Question 18

Finance - proabation

Answer 18

2019 - Chief Inspector of Probation, Glenys Stacey highlighted a range of issues - staff shortages and failures by community rehabilitation companies.
Probation service has been taken back into public control.

Question 19

Finance - charities and pressure groups.

Answer 19

Prison Reform Trust
NACRO
Funded by voluntary contributions.
Any government grants that the organisation is able to claim are also being reduced.
Charities have lost £3.8 billion in grants from the government over the last decade.

Question 20

Local and national policies

Answer 20

Allegations against the local police forces suggesting that they focus on ‘trivial crime’ instead of serious offences in order to meet government targets.

Priority policies
2010-2015 government promoted policy to tackle knife, gun and gang crime. Introduced new offences (gang injunctions) to prevent a person from engaging in, encouraging or assisting gang related violence.
Helps to improve prosecution rates £1.2 million dedicated to fund support workers in this area.
2019 - £100 million for police to tackle knife crime.

2017- London tries to tackle hate crime.
2 week gun amnesty in London 2017 - 350 firearms and 40000 rounds of ammunition were handed in.

Question 21

Environment

Answer 21

Prison Reform Trust (2016) - people less likely to reoffend id they receive family visits - 68% had no visits.
Offenders return to the same social circle.
Lack of employment available.
Less likely to reoffend if they live with their immediate family on release - but only 61% do so.
Only 27% of people had a job to go to on release and only 12% of employers surveyed said that they would employ someone with a criminal record in the last 3 years - Prison Reform Trust, 2016.