2.2 Flashcards
What are the 5 aims of punishment?
- retribution: expressing society’s outrage at crime
- rehabilitation: making offenders change their behaviour
- deterrence: discouraging future offending
- public protection: from offenders
- reparation: making good the harm caused by crime
Retribution
- retribution: paying back which involves inflicting punishment on an offender as vengeance for a criminal act
- proportionality: punishment should fit the crime. ‘An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’, this is why people say murders should have the death penalty
- idea of proportionality leads to a fixed scale of mandatory (compulsory) penalties for different offences; armed robbery = jail and speeding = fine
- expressing moral outrage: retribution has good effects ( deterring crime) but it’s not its aim. It is a simple way for society to express its moral condemnation or outrage at the offender. Punishment is morally good regardless of whether it changes the offenders behaviour. Retribution is a justification for punishing crimes already committed not preventing new ones happening
E.g., maximum penalty for grievous bodily harm is 5 years it can be increased to 7 years if it’s proven to be racially motivated 7 years
Retribution: theory and criticisms
Theory:
- linked to right realist theory e.g., rational choice theory
- retribution assumes that offenders are rational actors who consciously choose to commit crimes and are fully responsible for their actions. They must suffer the outrage of society for their crimes
- functionalism/durkheim: the moral outrage that retribution performs the function of boundary maintenance, punishing the offender reminds everyone difference of right v wrong
Criticisms:
- offenders deserve forgiveness, mercy or a chance to make amends not just punishment
- if there is a fixed tariff of penalties, punishment has to be inflicted even if no good is going to come out of it
- how do we decide what is a proportionate crime as everyone has mixed views
Rehabilitation and their policies
- idea that punishment can be used to reform or change offenders so they no longer offend and can go on to live a crime-free life. Rehabilitation uses various treatment programmes to change the offenders future behaviour by addressing the issues which led to their offending
Rehabilitation policies; - Education and training programmes: for prisoners so they can avoid unemployment and ‘earn an honest living’ on release
- anger management courses: this is for violent offenders such as aggression replacement training and other cognitive behavioural therapy programmes
- drug treatment and testing orders: treat alcohol dependence. Community sentence often include requirements for offenders to engage in such programmes as part of their sentence
What are the theories (5) of rehabilitation
Theories:
* individualistic theories of criminality see rehabilitation as a significant aim of punishment. They advocate various ways of changing offenders
- cognitive theories favour cognitive behavioural therapies to teach offenders to correct the thinking errors and biases that lead to aggressive or criminal behaviour
- eysnecks personality theory: favour the due if aversion therapy to deter offending behaviour
- skinners operant learning theory: support the use of token economies to encourage prisoners to produce more acceptable behaviour
- sociological theories: left realism favours rehabilitation because they regard social factors e.g. unemployment, poverty addressing these will reduce crime rates
What are the criticisms of rehabilitation (2)
-right realists argue that rehabilitation has only limited success, in that many offenders go on to reoffend even after undergoing programmes aimed at changing their behaviour
- Marxists criticise rehabilitation programmes for shifting the responsibility for offending onto the individuals offenders failings, rather than focusing on how capitalism leads some people to commit crime
Deterrence
To deter someone from doing something is to put them off doing it. The fear of being caught and punished may deter people from committing crime.
Individual deterrence: uses punishment to deter the individual offender from re-offending.
Punishment may convince the offender that it is not worth repeating the experience
General deterrence: aims at deterring society in general from breaking the law. If public see someone suffering for their crime they will avoid it to not experience the same. In the past this used to be down through executions, floggings, putting offenders in the stocks
Severity vs certainty: how severe a punishment and the certainty of punishment e.g., if there is little chance of being caught people will commit a crime
Deterrence: theory
Theory:
- right realism favours deterrence as a means of crime prevention:
*rational choice theory: see individuals as rational actors who weigh up the costs and benefits before deciding whether to offend, severe punishments and a high chance of getting caught will deter offending
- situational crime prevention strategies such as target hardening make it harder to commit an offence successfully and therefore act as a deterrent.
- Social learning theory is relevant to understanding general deterrence. If would-be offenders see a model (one of their peers, for example) being punished for offending, they will be less likely to imitate that behaviour.
Deterrence: criticisms
- The fact that about half of all prisoners re-offend within a year of release suggests that prison is not an effective deterrent
- Deterrence assumes would-be offenders know what the punishments are, but they may be ignorant of the penalties.
- Deterrence assumes offenders act rationally, carefully weighing up the risks. But some act irrationally, driven by their emotions without thought for the likely punishment.
Public protection/incapacitation
- punishment may be used to protect the public from further offending by incapacitating offenders. Incapacitation is the use of punishment to remove the offenders physical ability to offend again
- policies there have been many types of incapacitation policy at different times and places:
- cutting off the hands of thieves
- chemical castration of sex offenders
- foreign travel bans to prevent football hooligans attending matches board
- imprisonment is the main means on incapacitation: imprisonment so automatic life sentence for second serious sexual/violent offences
Public protection theory criticisms
Theory:
- biological theory lombroso argued that criminals are biologically different from the rest of the population and is not possible to change or rehabilitate them. He favoured sending criminals to islands
- right realists see incapacitation as a way of protecting the public from crime, a small number of persistent offenders are responsible for majority of crimes. Imprisonment sentences being long will reduce crime rate
Criticisms:
- Incapacitation leads to longer sentences and long-term ‘warehousing’ of offenders with little hope of release. This leads to an ever-rising prison population and associated costs.
• Incapacitation is a strategy of containment or risk management. It does nothing to deal with the causes of crime or to change offenders into law-abiding citizens.
• The ‘three strikes’ principle re-punishes individuals for their previous crimes.
• It is unjust because it imprisons them for crimes that the law assumes they may commit in the future.
Reparation
Reparation involves the offender making amends for a wrong they have done, whether to an individual victim, society as a whole, or both. The harm done can be both material and social.
Making amends for material damage can include:
• Financial compensation to the victim, e.g. paying for the cost of repairing damage done to someone’s property. Courts have the power to impose compensation orders on offenders.
• Unpaid work to make reparation to society through Community Payback, for example removing graffiti from public buildings. This is imposed by the court as part of a Community Order.
Restorative justice:
- making amends for social damage caused the offender must recognise their actions, which can be done through justice schemes, bringing offender and victim together with a mediator
- allows victims to explain the impact of the crime on their life and offender can understand and seek remorse and forgiveness
Reparation theory and criticisms
- Labelling theory favours restorative justice as a way of reintegrating offenders into mainstream society. By enabling them to show genuine remorse, it permits their reintegration and prevents them being pushed into secondary deviance.
- Functionalists such as Durkheim argue that ‘restitutive justice’ - reparation to put things back to how they were before the crime was committed - is essential for the smooth functioning of complex modern societies.
Criticisms
• Reparation may not work for all types of offence. Compensation for damage to property or minor offences may be fairly straightforward, A rape victim may not want to face or forgive the rapist. And by definition, reparation to homicide victims is impossible.
• Some regard reparation as too soft a form of punishment that lets offenders off lightly.
