2.2 Flashcards
What is retribution defined as
Involved inflicting punishment on an offender in vengeance for a criminal act
Criminals should get their “just desserts”
Offenders deserve to be punished and should be made to suffer for breaking moral code
How does proportionality relate to retribution
The punishment should fit the crime
For example, murderers should face the death penalty
What theories link to retribution
Right realism, assumes offenders have rational choice who choose to commit crime and take responsibility and must suffer for outrage they have caused to society
Functionalism, Durkheim, moral outrage performs boundary maintenance. Punishing offenders show everyone else difference between right or wrong
Criticisms of retribution
Sometimes offenders deserve forgiveness or a chance to make amends
People disagree about which crimes are serious and which ones arent, this makes proportionality hard
What is rehabilitation defined as
Punishment can be used to reform or change offenders so they can live a crime free life
Uses treatment programmes to change future behaviour
What do rehabilitation policies include
Education and training programs for prisoners to avoid unemployment
Anger management courses for violent offenders
Drug treatment and testing orders and to treat alcohol dependence
What theories link to rehabilitation
Left realism, they see social factors such as poverty and unemployment causes crime, addressing these needs will reduce reoffending
Cognitive theories, favour CBT to teach offenders to correct thinking errors to lead to less criminal behaviour
Criticisms of rehabilitation
RR, argue it has limited success many offenders go in to reoffend after these programmes
Marxists criticise as rehab programmes shift responsibility to the offender rathe than focusing on how capitalism cause crime
Define individual deterrence
Uses punishment to deter the individual offender from reoffending, this punishment should show the offender that the crime is not worth the punishment
Define general deterrence
Aims at deterring society in general from breaking the law
If the public sees an offender getting punished, they know that it will happen to them if they commit crime
What theories link to deterrence
RR, situational crime prevention strategies such as target hardening make it harder for an individual to commit crime and therefore acts as a deterrent
SLT, if offenders see a model being punished for offending they will be less likely to imitate that behaviour, negative vicarious reinforcement (GENERAL)
Criticisms of deterrence
50% of all offenders reoffend within a year of release from prison, not an effective deterrence
Assumes all offenders know the punishments, sone may not
What is public protection
Punishment used to protect the public from further offending by incapacitating offenders
Examples of policies that were made to incapacitate offenders
Execution
Cutting off hands of theifs
Chemical castration for sex offenders
Theories related to public protection
RR- incapacitation protects the public from crime, a small number of persistent offender are responsible for the majority of crimes, incapacitating them with long prison sentences would reduce the crime rate
