3.4

Question 1

The police: social control responsibilities

Answer 1

• The police are the main agency for the detection, investigation and prevention of crime
• Their work results in a huge volume of cases being brought to trial every year, along with many out of court disposals by the police using their powers to issue fixed penalty notices, cautions and reprimands
• Police forces have specialist departments, units and sections dealing with serious and complex cases, such as terrorism.

Question 2

Specialist policing

Answer 2

• The police are not the only agency responsible for investigating crime
• For example, HM Revenue and Customs deals with tax evasion, the Department of Work and Pensions deals with benefit fraud and the Border Force deal with immigration offences
• there are also specialist forces, such as the British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary who protect nuclear installations.

Question 3

Offences of public concern

Answer 3

• police have made progress in prioritising some of the offences of concern to the public e.g., domestic abuse, where increasing numbers of cases are being reported and recorded.
  For example, survey evidence from the 2017 annual report of HM Inspector of Police shows that 2/3 of domestic abuse practitioners (non-police professionals who work closely with victims) felt the police’s approach had improved in the previous three years.
  However, the same report shows shortcomings in the police’s performance on domestic abuse:
  • the arrest rate has been falling
  • police are not using bail conditions to protect victims
  • staff shortages are causing delays in responding to incidents, putting victims at risk
  • body-worn video cameras are not always being used to gather evidence.
  These shortcomings illustrate the fact that the police are not always successful in achieving social control. We shall now examine criticisms of the police’s effectiveness.

Question 4

Police inefficiency

Answer 4

• There have been numerous criticisms of the police’s inefficiency or incompetence in investigating offences successfully
• For example, the Macpherson Report noted the failure of the Metropolitan Police to gather evidence and investigate leads in the murder of Stephen Lawrence that could have led to a successful prosecution of the five leading suspects in the case.

Question 5

Current trends: more crimes but fewer solved

Answer 5

• According to the police’s own statistics, crime appears to be increasing. For example, the number of offences recorded by the police rose from 4.5m in March 2016 to 5.7m in September 2018.
• Knife and gun crime Police statistics for certain crimes have increased significantly. Recorded knife crimes rose from 24,000 to 40,000 between 2014 and 2018. In the same period, firearms offences rose from 4,900 to 6,600.
• At the same time, police clear-up rates have been falling. In 2015, 15% of cases resulted in someone being charged with an offence, but by 2018 this had fallen to 8.2%. The number of penalty notices and cautions issued by police has also fallen.

Question 6

Dropped cases and financial circumstances

Answer 6

Dropped cases
- there is also evidence that the police are failing to investigate large numbers of offences reported to them, including some serious ones. For example, the Metropolitan Police dropped 2.6 times as many cases on the day they were reported in 2017 as they did in 2016 - a total of over 34,000 in the year. In the period 2014-16, the force screened out around a third of the 2.2m crimes reported to it.

Financial circumstances
- Adequate funding is a major factor in the police achieving control over crime. From 2010, the government made major cuts in police budgets and this has been a cause of police decisions to drop investigations.
- With limited budgets and fewer officers, some investigations and prevention measures have had to be prioritised over others.

Question 7

Accuracy of the statistical evidence

Answer 7

The statistical evidence seems to suggest that the police are becoming less effective in achieving social control. However, police statistics need to be treated with caution, for several reasons.

Question 8

Improved recording procedures

Answer 8

• One reason for an apparent increase in the total number of crimes could simply be because the police have become better at recording them
• In 2014, police recorded statistics were deemed not to meet the standards required by the Office for National Statistics
• since then, the police have made some efforts to improve crime recording e.g., in the area of domestic abuse, and this has led to a greater proportion of offences now appearing in the statistics.

Question 9

Counter-evidence from the CSEW

Answer 9

• overall number of crimes may not be increasing e.g., the Crime Survey for England and Wales (SEW), a survey of victims, shows that the overall crime rate had been falling for several years to 2017 and in 2018 had remained level, rather than increasing as the police statistics indicate.
• One reason for the difference between these two sets of statistics is that to some extent they deal with different crimes:
  • The CSEW does not include crimes against business (such as shoplifting and fraud) or crimes against children aged under 10.
  • The CSEW surveys only a sample of the population, so it under-represents some less common but more serious crimes, such as weapons offences. Police and other statistics, such as hospital admissions for knife wounds, are more accurate.
  • Police statistics tend to pick up more serious crimes (they are more likely to be reported) and ones where a police crime number is needed for insurance claims (e.g. burglary and vehicle theft).

Question 10

Racism and bias

Answer 10

• The Macpherson Report in 1999 into the murder of Stephen Lawrence found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist. Since then there has been considerable interest in the relationship of the police to minority ethnic groups and concerns continue:
  • Recruitment of officers from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased, but minority groups continue to be under-represented in the police force, including in senior ranks.
  • Stop and searches are still disproportionately used against Black and other minority groups.
  • Tasers are used disproportionately against people of minority backgrounds.
• The basic principle of policing in Britain is said to be policing by consent. If the police fail to establish a positive relationship with all sections of the community based on consent and trust, this will hinder their ability to investigate and clear up

Question 11

Media report

Answer 11

• There have been accusations of the police playing to the media to portray a ‘crimebusters’ image e.g., in 2014 South Yorkshire Police invited the BBC to film their raid on the home of Sir Cliff Richard in connection with historical child abuse allegations
• No charges were eventually brought and both the police and the BBC had to pay damages to the were eventually brought and both the police and the BBC had to pay damages to the singer
• The police have also been criticised for over-reacting to media-driven moral panics and calls for crackdowns on whatever crime the media chooses to focus on
• This can draw police resources away from other areas of criminality that may be more serious or widespread.

Question 12

CPS: evidence of success and lack of effectiveness

Answer 12

The CPS has had some success in achieving its aim. For example, in 2018:
• it prosecuted 80,000 cases in Crown Court and over 450,000 cases in magistrates’ courts
• 84.1% of the defendants that it prosecuted were convicted.

Lack of effectiveness
- Despite the high proportion of convictions, the CPS to some extent fails to achieve social control by successfully prosecuting offenders.

Question 13

Realistic prospect of conviction

Answer 13

• The CPS’s Full Code Test includes the evidential test. Prosecutors must be satisfied that there is a ‘realistic prospect of conviction’ - in other words, that the evidence would be more likely than not to convince a jury to convict
• However, critics argue that the CPS should be focused less on trial outcomes and more on bringing cases to justice. The number of rapes reported more than doubled between 2014 and 2018 while the number of prosecutions actually fell.

Question 14

CPS budget cuts

Answer 14

• CPS has suffered budget cuts of 25% and it has lost a third of its staff.
• The Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill QC, said in 2018 that the CPS cannot sustain further cuts because digital technology is imposing heavy additional workloads on its staff, with the need to analyse content of smartphones in the search for evidence and to comply with rules for its disclosure to the defence. In one case, it took 600 hours to analyse the content on one phone.

Question 15

CPS: Evidence disclosure

Answer 15

• number of rape and other prosecutions have collapsed as a result of the CPS and police’s failure to discover and disclose evidence such as text messages stored on victims’ or defendants’ phones
• after the collapse of a rape case against Liam Allan in 2018 due to evidence being disclosed only after the trial had started, around 30 other cases that were due to go to court had to be reviewed and some halted.

Question 16

CPS failure to build case

Answer 16

• In some high-profile cases, the CPS has failed to build an adequate case and this has led to the prosecution collapsing.
• For example, in the murder of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor, the CPS rested its case on an obviously lying witness, when proper checks would easily have established the unreliability of her evidence.

Question 17

Other criticism of CPS

Answer 17

• Despite its independent status, the CPS has been criticised for being too close to the police.
• It has been criticised for being too bureaucratic, inefficient and slow in proceeding with cases.
In some cases this can mean that victims and defendants have to put their lives on hold for many months.
• Failure to communicate with relevant parties. There have been examples of cases where suspects have only found out that the case against them has been dropped by reading about it in the media.

Question 18

Media images of the judiciary

Answer 18

In the media, judges are often presented as old, white, upper-class males who are out of touch with modern society. They are sometimes also described as being too ‘soft’, handing down lenient sentences for serious offences. How accurate is this image?

Question 19

Are judges biased in their judgements?

Answer 19

Because judges tend to come from a narrow, unrepresentative section of society, they are sometimes suspected of making biased judgements as a result.

Question 20

Judges backgrounds

Answer 20

• 71% of judges are male.
• More than half of judges are aged over 50. However, among judges under 40, a slight majority (51%) are female.
• Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are under-represented: only 5% of judges are from minority backgrounds
- They are from the higher classes. 74% of judges were privately educated and the same percentage went to Oxford or Cambridge. 2/3 of judges are former barristers.
- may mean that judges are biased towards people from similar backgrounds to themselves, or against people who are different from themselves. However, although there are examples of male judges showing a lack of empathy for female victims of sexual assault, it is hard to demonstrate a clear pattern of bias. Likewise, most offenders are young, so it is hard to know if age makes a difference in a judge’s sentencing decisions.

Question 21

Judiciary: evidence of gender bias

Answer 21

• Gender bias is clearly present in certain cases.
• For example, in 1989 Judge James Pickles sentenced a man to probation after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl. - Later that year, he jailed a woman for contempt of court for refusing to give evidence against her ex-boyfriend, who had assaulted her
• In 1990 he sentenced a 19-year-old single mother with a ten-week-old baby to six months on a charge of theft
• He commented that getting pregnant was no reason to escape custody.

Question 22

Judiciary currency

Answer 22

While there have been cases of gender bias in the judiciary such as Pickles, these seem less common today than in the 1980s or 90s and may be less a cause of current concern. However, class bias continues to be current in some sentencing decisions, as the case study suggests.

Question 23

Are judges out of touch

Answer 23

• Media stereotypes often portray judges as out of touch with mainstream society and public views on sentencing, exemplified by Judge Pickles’ famous question, “Who are the Beatles?”
• Judges’ age, education, and class background may make them atypical, but it is unclear if this impacts their sentencing reliability.
• Australian research found most jurors did not think judges were out of touch with public opinion on sentencing, and those who did often did not view it as a criticism.
• Judges being “in touch” with public opinion could be problematic, as it might lead to being influenced by media outrage and moral panics, whereas being “out of touch” might ensure judicial independence.

Question 24

The unduly lenient sentence schemes

Answer 24

• The Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme allows victims, prosecutors, and the public to request a review of sentences for serious offences if they believe they are too lenient.
• The Attorney General or Solicitor General can refer cases to the Court of Appeal if they agree the sentence was a gross error, potentially leading to an increased sentence.
• In 2017, out of 173 referred cases, 137 had their sentences increased, slightly down from 141 in 2016.
• These reviewed cases are a small fraction compared to the thousands of sentences passed annually for serious offences.

Question 25

Unduly severe sentence

Answer 25

Equally, there are examples of judges and magistrates imposing what some regard as unduly severe sentences, as in many of the cases arising out of the 2011 riots, when offenders often received custodial sentences for minor theft offences.

Question 26

Social control within prisons: staff cuts

Answer 26

• Between 2010 and 2018, the number of prison officers fell by 15% as a result of budget cuts.
• More experienced officers were more likely to leave and by 2018, a third of prison officers had less than two years’ experience
• this has made it harder to maintain control over inmates.

Question 27

Social control within prisons: overcrowding

Answer 27

• The prison population has almost doubled from 43,000 in 1993 to around 83,000 in 2019. This has meant more prisoners to control as well as overcrowded conditions for many inmates: in 2018, 58% of prisons were overcrowded. In turn, overcrowding contributes to discontent and rule-breaking.

Question 28

Social control with prisons: not addressing rehabilitation needs

Answer 28

• Increased numbers of prisoners, staff shortages and budget cuts mean that prisons are often unable to deal with the causes of prisoners’ offending, including mental health needs, drug and alcohol dependency, illiteracy and lack of qualifications.
• This is made worse by the fact that many prisoners are serving short sentences, so there is not enough time to address their often complex needs.

Question 29

Social control within prisons: drugs epidemic

Answer 29

• Drug use among prisoners, especially new psychoactive substances (NPS) like Spice, has risen rapidly, causing severe mental health issues and linked to 64 prison deaths between 2013 and 2016.
• The 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act outlawed NPS possession in prisons.
• Despite being labeled a ‘game-changer’ for prison safety, ineffective drug testing due to staff shortages was reported in 18 prisons in 2018.
• Drug availability undermines prison discipline, reduces rehabilitation participation, creates prisoner debt, and increases violence.

Question 30

Social control with prisons: security

Answer 30

• The most basic requirement of prison is to hold prisoners in custody. There have been almost no escapes from closed prisons (about two a year) since 2010 and few absconders from open prisons
• However, there have been numerous breaches of security, with drugs, sim cards and other forbidden items being smuggled into prisons, sometimes by the use of drones.

Question 31

After release: the evidence on re-offending

Answer 31

Although rehabilitation is a primary aim of the prison system, many ex-prisoners re-offend and quickly find themselves back in the criminal justice system. For example, in 2017, within one year of release:
• 37.5% of all ex-prisoners re-offended
• among ex-prisoners with many previous convictions (11 or more), nearly half re-offended
• 64.1% of those on short sentences (less than 12 months) re-offended
• around 40% of juvenile offenders re-offended.

Question 32

Probation: privatisation

Answer 32

• In 2014, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling initiated a ‘rehabilitation revolution’ to reduce re-offending, featuring the part-privatisation of the probation service.
• 21 private community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) were established, each serving a specific geographical area.
• CRCs managed low-risk offenders and operated on a payment-by-results model, with targets to reduce re-offending among their clients.

Question 33

Probation: evidence

Answer 33

• The CRCs underperformed, with 19 of 21 failing rehabilitation targets, requiring an extra £342 million.
• The 2018 inspection report revealed several issues:
  
  • Housing needs met for only 54% of CRC-supervised offenders versus 70% for NPS.
  • Supervision often done by telephone.
  • Meetings in open-plan offices with ‘white noise’ for privacy.
  • Inadequate protection for victims of domestic abusers.
  • Higher caseloads for CRC probation officers due to staff cuts.
• The government decided to end CRC contracts early by 2020 due to these failings.

Question 34

Probation: bias

Answer 34

• The Conservative government’s ideological favoritism towards privatisation drove policies in the justice sector, believing private companies to be more efficient and cost-effective for social control.
• This led to the privatisation of probation and the prison service.
• Dame Glenys Stacey, former head of the probation service, criticized this approach in 2019, calling it ‘irredeemably flawed’ and stating that public confidence is undermined when services are driven by commercial pressures.
• She advocated for core tasks like engaging with offenders and supporting rehabilitation to remain under public control.

Question 35

Probation: evaluation

Answer 35

The evidence from the most current and up-to-date official reports strongly indicates a failure by the CRCs to achieve social control of offenders. This failure also undermines the objective of keeping the community safe, for example where domestic abusers are returned to the community without adequate supervision.

Question 36

The national probation service

Answer 36

The NPS has been more successful than the CRCs in achieving social control. Overall, it has about half the rate of re-offending compared with prison. However, the service has limitations that reduce its effectiveness in achieving social control. These include:
• a critical national shortage of probation officers
• high workloads have led to professional standards being compromised
• a lack of professional leadership
• probation premises are dated, shabby and in some cases not secure
• there is no national strategy to provide enough local specialist services
• there is a shortage of places on specialist programmes to address the causes of offending.

Question 37

Charities and pressure groups

Answer 37

Charities and pressure groups are non-governmental, voluntary organisations:
• Charities provide services to specific groups of people, such as ex-prisoners
• Pressure groups campaign for changes to government policies to benefit those whose interests they serve.
In practice, organisations such as Nacro and Women in Prison combine these two roles.

Question 38

Charities and pressure groups: strong committment

Answer 38

• Charities are sometimes better placed to reduce offending and re-offending than government agencies
• This is because they have a strong commitment to one particular group or issue and specialist knowledge of people’s needs
• They are also strongly motivated to help and may therefore go the extra mile in a way that government or privatised agencies may not do.

Question 39

Nacro

Answer 39

• Nacro functions as a pressure group, advocating to end Friday releases from prison due to their impact on access to vital services and potential for homelessness and re-offending.
• As a charity, Nacro provides services for ex-offenders and those at risk of offending, including accommodation support to prevent homelessness and long-term reintegration.
• Addressing homelessness is crucial in reducing re-offending and achieving social control, highlighting Nacro’s multifaceted role in both advocacy and service provision.

Question 40

Women in prison

Answer 40

• Women in Prison (WIP) recognises that over half of women prisoners are victims of domestic or sexual violence
• They face problems of homelessness, poverty, mental illness and substance misuse
• WIP is committed to tackling the root causes of women’s offending.

Question 41

Pressure group campaigning

Answer 41

• Women in Prison (WiP) advocates policy changes to reduce female incarceration rates.
• They urge diverting funds from building new women’s prisons to specialist centers and community-based solutions like housing and mental health support.
• WiP emphasizes using prison as a last resort for serious offences, as many female sentences are for non-violent crimes.
• Their campaigns have gained support from MPs and the public, aiming to reform how the criminal justice system treats women.

Question 42

Support for women in prison

Answer 42

As a charity, WIP provides a range of support for women in prison. This includes:
• a freephone helpline to provide support and guidance to women prisoners
• referring women to other specialist agencies
• delivering the CARE programme (Choices, Actions, Relationships, Emotions) for women in prison for violent offending who have a history of self-harm, suicide attempts, mental health problems or substance misuse.

Question 43

Gaps in provision

Answer 43

• Charities and pressure groups are limited in their ability to achieve social control as voluntary organizations, existing only where there’s concern about specific issues or groups.
• Concern for victims may lead to support for charities aiding them, while less attention to offenders may hinder rehabilitation efforts, potentially missing opportunities to prevent re-offending.
• Media portrayal influences public perception and support for charities, with sympathetic victim portrayal garnering more backing than demonized offender categories.
• Funding availability is impacted by public perception, with some causes receiving more support than others, regardless of equal importance or deservingness.
• Government funding for charities is contingent on political and financial priorities, further shaping the landscape of social control efforts.