2.2 Flashcards
Retribution
Expressing society’s outrage at crime.
Rehabilitation
Making offenders change their behaviour.
Deterrence
Discouraging future behaviour.
Public Protection
Protecting the public from offenders.
Reparation
Making good the harm caused by crime.
Proportionality
Punishment should fit the crime. Tariff system/fixed mandatory penalties for certain offences.
Expressing moral outrage
Punishment is morally good, regardless if it changed future behaviour . Racially aggravated crimes hold an uplift sentence. (GBH = 5 years but RM GBH = 7 years)
Retribution Theory
Right Realism - Rational Choice Theory
Assumes that offenders are rational actors and consciously choose to commit their crime and are fully responsible for their actions.
Functionalism
moral outrage teaches boundary Maintenance.
Retribution Criticism
Offenders deserve forgiveness, mercy, or to make amends.
Fixed tariffs require punishment even if they are remorseful.
Disagreement in what is proportionate to each crime.
Rehabilitation Theory
Cognitive Theories - CBT to correct thinking errors/biases.
Personality Theory - aversion therapy to deter criminal behaviour.
Operant Learning Theory - token economies to promote desirable behaviour.
Left Realism - regards social factors as causes of crime.
Rehabilitation Criticism
Right Realists argue limited success - many reoffend after programmes.
Marxists criticise shifting responsibility to individual rather than capitalism.
Individual Deterrence
Deterrence directed at the person being punished: aims to teach not to repeat the behaviour.
General Deterrence
Deters society in general from breaking the law. Public view an offender being punished and are made aware of what will happen to them.
Severity vs Certainty
High punishment + Low conviction rate = ineffective.
High conviction rate + small punishment = deterrent.
Deterrence Theory
Right Realism - Rational Choice Theory assumes offenders have cost-benefit analysed.
Situational crime prevention will make committing crime successfully more difficult.
Social Learning Theory - learn from the actions of others.
Deterrence Criticism
- Little evidence that short, sharp shocks/bootcamps reduce youth offending
- Half of all prisoners re-offend within a year of release - prison is not a deterrent
- Determining severity of punishment to deter enough people
- Assumes would-be offenders know what the punishments are
- Assumes offenders are rational about risks - may act irrationally due to emotion
- People follow law because it’s the right thing, not because it’s deterred
Incapacitation
Removing the offenders capability to offend.
Incapacitation examples
Execution - Prevents all crime
Cutting off Hands - Prevents theft
Chemical Castration - Sex Offences
Banishment - Early 1800s, convicts transported to Aus.
Foreign Travel Bans - Football hooligans can’t go abroad
Curfews/Electronic Tagging - restricts movement
‘Prison Works’
Takes offenders out of circulation, prevents them committing further crimes against the public.
Incapacitation Theory
Lombroso - Biological theory - criminals are biologically different = cannot rehabilitate. Favours exile for habitual criminals and other biological methods like castration.
Right Realism - small number of offenders cause majority of crime = incapacitate with long sentences.
Incapacitation Criticisms
- Leads to ‘warehousing’ offenders - rising prison populations and costs
- Strategy of containment/risk management - no treating the cause of crime
- ‘three strikes’ re-punishes for old crimes - debt has already been paid
- Imprisons for crimes it is assumed they will commit.
Reparation methods
Financial Compensation - paying costs to repair damage.
Unpaid Work in Society - e.g. removing graffiti.
Restorative Justice
Most commonly victim-offender mediation. May be face to face or through third parties.
Restorative Justice Benefits
Victim explains impact and gets closure.
Offender appreciates harm they caused, expresses remorse, seeks forgiveness, and is reintegrated into society.
