3.4- Evaluate the effectiveness of agencies in achieving social control

Question 1

what are the police’s social control responsibilities?

Answer 1

main agency for detection, investigation and prevention of crime. Their work results in large number of cases being brought to trial, along with many out of court disposals by the police using their powers to issue fixed penalty notices, cautions and reprimands. They have specialist departments etc dealing with serious cases such as terrorism

Question 2

other agencies than the police responsible for dealing with crime such as:

Answer 2

HM revenue and Customs deals with deals with tax evasion, Department if Work and Pensions etc.

Question 3

5 problems police face in seeking their aims:

Answer 3

-offenses of public concern rates
-inefficiency
-current trends statistics: madre crimes but fewer sold
-dropped cases
-financial circumstances

Question 4

offenses of public concern:

Answer 4

+police have made progress in prioritizing cases of public concern such as domestic abuse cases being reported and recorded e.g. survey showed 2/3 of domestic abuse practitioners who work closely with victims felt the police’s approach had improved in the previous years
-same report however also shows: arrest rate falling, police not using bail conditions to protect victims, staff shortages are causing delays in responding to incidents putting victims at risk, body worn videos cameras are not always being used to gather evidence.
These illustrated that the fact the police are not always successful in achieving social control.
-

Question 5

inefficiency of police:

Answer 5

numerous complaints about police’s inefficiency when investigating an offense. E.g. Macpherson report notes failure of Metropolitan police to gather evidence and investigate leads in the murder of Stephen Lawrence that could have lead to a successful prosecution of the five leading suspects

Question 6

Current trends in police

Answer 6

-crime is increasing:rose from 4.5m in 2016 to 5.8m in 2020
-knife and gun crime: rose from 24000 to 35800 between 2014 and 2020. Firearms rose from 4900 to 9800. Police clear up rates have also been falling: 2015- 15% of cases resulted in someone being changed for an offense has fallen to 7%. Penalty notices and cautions issued have also
lowered.

Question 7

dropped cases in police

Answer 7

2018- Metropolitan police service dropped 2.9 times as many cases on the day they were reported as they had done in 2013. 2013-18 screened a total of 525000 the same day they were reported

Question 8

Financial circumstances in police

Answer 8

Adequate funding is a major factor in police maintaining social control. 2010- government made major cuts to the police budgets and this has caused police decisions to drop investigations. with limited budgets and officers, some cases have to be prioritized over others.

Question 9

Accuracy of statistical evidence:

Answer 9

-improved recording procedures
-Counter evidence from the CSEW

Question 10

Improved recording procedures:

Answer 10

one reason for increase in crimes could be due to police being better are recording them. in 2014 police recorded statistics were deemed not to meet standards required by Office for national statistics, and since then police have made efforts to improve them. e.g. Domestic abuse reports

Question 11

Counter evidence from CSEW

Answer 11

Over all crimes may not be increasing, as crime survey for England and Wales rates are falling e.g. 2020 by 9%
However this could be due to three reasons.

Question 12

Reasons CSEW data suggests crime rate is falling when it might not be?

Answer 12

• does not include crime against business or crimes against children under 10
  -only a sample of the population so underrepresents some less common but more serious crimes such as weapon offenses.
  -Police statistics tend to pick up more serious crimes and ones where a police crime number is needed for insurance claims

Question 13

Other criticisms of police performance include:

Answer 13

racism and bias

Media reports

Question 14

Racism and bias of police

Answer 14

Macpherson report in 1999 into murders of Stephen Lawrence found police to be institutionally racist. Other concern with:
-Recruitment: Officers of minority backgrounds has increased however they are still underrepresented in forces and senior ranks.
-stops and searches: Still disproportionate against Black people or minorities
-tasers: Disproportionately used against Black people and minorities
Lack of trust due to this creates failure to suffieienctly investigate crimes

Question 15

Media reports in issues of policing

Answer 15

Accusations of police playing to media to portray crime busters, such as police inviting BBC to film their raid on house of Sir Clifford Richard in history of child abuse allegations No charges were brought up and police and BBC had to pay damages

also accused it overreacting to media driven moral panics, drawing away police resources from other cases

Question 16

Evidence of success in CPS

Answer 16

-typical 3 month period: Prosecutes around 80000 cases in Crown court and 450000 in magistrates.
-around 80% that it prosecutes are convicted

Question 17

Three main topics for lack of success in Crown prosecution service

Answer 17

Media reports
Budget cuts
Failure to build cases
Other smaller criticisms such as being too close to the police

Question 18

Media reports in lack of success for CPS

Answer 18

-Handling of rape cases: Guardian revealed in 2018 that CPS specialist rape prosecutes had been advised to drop a number of ‘weak’ cases to make their over all performance better with successful prosecutions. They were told if they took 350 out the system rates would go up to 61%
-criticized by campaigners and experts who explained they were not getting justice
-e.g. Would spread the message more vulnerable people such as younger people are able to be attacked as their abuser will, not get prosecuted.

Question 19

Media reports resulting to less success in CPS: Realistic prospect of conviction

Answer 19

Full code test includes evidential test- prosecutes must be happy there is a realistic prospect for conviction. however people argue they should be less focused on trial outcomes and more focused on bringing more cases to justice. number of rapes rose by 1/3 from 2016 to 2020, number of prosecutions fell by 60%.

Question 20

Budget cuts reason for less success for CPS

Answer 20

CPS has suffered budget cuts of 25% in recent years and has lost a third of its staff. Digital tech is imposing heavy additional workloads on staff so they cannot afford this budget cut. E.g. In one case it took 600 hours to analyse a phone.

Question 21

Budget cuts less success for CPS- evidence disclosure

Answer 21

number of rape and other prosecutions have collapsed due to polices failure to discover or disclose evidence on phones. After collapse of case Liam Allan in 2018, 30 other cases that were due to court were reviewed and some halted

Question 22

Failure to build the case- less success for CPS

Answer 22

in some cases they have failed to build an adequate case e.g. Damiola Taylor- rested its case on an lying witness when proper checks could have been conducted

Question 23

Other criticisms of CPS:

Answer 23

-too close to police
-too bureaucratic inefficient and slow in proceeding with cases
-failure to communicate with relevant parties- some people have learnt their case has been dropped through the media not officials

Question 24

what is the main suspicion of judges?

Answer 24

that they are bias, due to their mostly white old male appearance

Question 25

judges background percentages:

Answer 25

68% of judges are male
More than half are aged over 50, however under 40 51% are female showing increase in gender levels.
Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are under represented. Only 7% of judges are from minority backgrounds
They are from higher classes: 74% of judges were privately educated and the same percentage went to oxford or Cambridge. Two thirds of judges are former barristers
It is tricky to judge bias since e.g. age bias- most offenders are younger anyway

Question 26

what evidence is there of gender bias (judiciary)

Answer 26

clearly present in certain cases-
Judge James Pickles sentenced a man to probation after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 6 year old girl. Later that year he jailed a girl for contempt of court for refusing to give evidence against her ex boyfriend who assaulted her. He also charged a 19 year old girl with a ten week old baby to six months. He commented getting pregnant was no way to escape custody
How ever this gender bias was in 80s and is less of a current concern due to decreasing numbers in this occurring. How ever class bias still tends to be evident today

Question 27

how does media portray judges?

Answer 27

‘out of touch with mainstream modern society’ due to class and background
Issue of this makes their sentencing unreliable
However research in Australia suggests not:
study by Karen Warner showed jurors vote if they thought judges were out of touch. Most voted not, and those who did, did not count this as a criticism or did not apply this to the judge in the trial. It can be argued being in touch is bad as being out of touch due to possibility of opinion being swayed by public and media.

Question 28

judges and being too lenient:

Answer 28

Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme allows victim and prosecutors and public to apply to Attorney General or Solicitor General for a sentence to be reviewed if they think its too lenient. Applies for serious sentencing such as rape, murder. If minister agrees judge made an error it will be further reviewed or increased.
Very few applicants are made for it to be reviewed, and not all are referred to the court of appeal. E.g. 2018= 140 cases. This suggests that in general judges are not being to unduly lenient in their sentencing

Question 29

are judges unduly severe in sentencing?

Answer 29

some evidence for situations such as protests where big sentences were given out for minor offences

Question 30

what are the main 8 problems in prisons as a form of social control?

Answer 30

staff cuts, over crowding, not addressing rehab needs, drugs epidemic, security, safety, riots and disorder and re offending rates

Question 31

1) staff cuts: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 31

between 2010 and 2018 prison officers fell by 15% due to budget cuts. More experienced officers were likely to leave and 1/3 of prison officers had less than 2 years experience. Made it harder to maintain control over inmates

Question 32

2) overcrowding: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 32

doubled prison population: around 80,000 in 2021. Has meant more prisoners to control as well as bad conditions. In 2018 58% of prisons were overcrowded. It contributes to discontent and rule breaking. Numbers are projected to reach 98,700 by 2026

Question 33

3) not addressing rehab needs: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 33

Things such has budget cuts and staff shortages have lead to inability to look after and give people with mental health issues etc the resources they need. Short prison sentences have made this worse as they don’t have the time to get effective rehab.

Question 34

4) drug epidemics: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 34

drug usage in prisons is rising rapidly. E.g.: spice epidemic: 100 times more potent than cannabis, can cause aggression, psychosis and depression. between 2013 and 2018, 117 death in prison were related to NPS use. (new psychoactive substances) Despite this being known, chief inspectors in prisons have reported that some prisons still had no strategy for reducing the supply of drugs. Over all this creates debts in prisoners, reduces want of rehab for them an creates an aggressive environment

Question 35

5) security: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 35

there have been almost no escapes from closed prisons since 2010 and a few from open prisons. However there have been many breaches of security: drugs, sim cards etc by drones sometimes

Question 36

6) safety: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 36

assaults, self harm and suicides have risen. 9800 assaults on staff, 32,000 assault incidents, five murders, 76 suicides, 65,000 self harms, 3.2 incidents of self harm for women per person

Question 37

7) riots and disorder: problems for prisons as a form of social control

Answer 37

loss of control is increasing: e.g. riot at Birmingham in 2016, partly due to staff shortages. In 2018 there were serious disorders at several prisons e.g. the mount. Described as run down and rat infested by chiefs.

Question 38

reoffending rates: problems for prisons as a form of social control (after release)

Answer 38

Within one year of release:
36% of all ex prisoners re offend
Those who already had previous convictions: more than half r offended
64% of those on short sentances
37% of juvenile offenders
Over all prisons are evidently in effective inside prison and after in rehab

Question 39

overall- probation service results:

Answer 39

mixed results in achieving social control- difference in performance of the National Probation service and the privatized sector of the community rehab companies. The evidence from official reports strongly demonstrates the failure of CRC’s to achieve social control, and undermines the ability to keep the community safe e.g. domestic abuse victims and children lack of protection

Question 40

what is privatization ‘rehab revolution’ and why was it created (probation)

Answer 40

conservative government under Justice Secretary Chris Grayling launched what he claimed was a rehab revolution aimed at reducing re offending. Key part of the policy was the part privatization of the probation service.
21 community rehab companies (CRC’s) were set up to deal with low risk offenders

Question 41

how did the CRC’s perform? (probation- privatization)

Answer 41

19/21 companies failed to reach targets for rehabilitation of offenders, and had to have an extra 342m pounds.
Compared to NPS:
-housing needs were met less often: 54% in CRC and 70% of NPS.
-offenders were often supervised by phone only.
-one CRC had meetings in open plan offices playing white noise to prevent people from eavesdropping
-provided inadequate protection for victims and their children when domestic abusers were returned into their community
-higher case loads than those in NPS due to staff cuts to save money
this resulted in the termination of CRC’s contract early, bringing them to an end by 2020

Question 42

privatization of probation problems: bias:

Answer 42

Bias towards privatization due to political ideologies of conservative party that favors the idea of privatization. They believe it can provide a more cost effective service. Therefore the government followed a policy of privatization in both probation and prison service.
-Head of probation service said that the part privatization was flawed, explaining the concept should be in the public hands

Question 43

Success of the National Probation Service:

Answer 43

more successful than CRC’s- half the rate of re offending compared with prison.

Question 44

limits of the National Probation Service

Answer 44

-critical national shortage of probation officers
-high workloads have lead to pro standards being compromised
-lack of pro leadership
-probation premises are outdated and in some cases not secure
-no national strategy to provide enough local specialist services
-shortage of places on specialist programmes to address causes of re offending.

Question 45

what is a charity and pressure group?

Answer 45

charity: provides services to specific groups if people such as ex prisoners
pressure groups: campaign for changes to government policies

Question 46

why are charities good for social control?

Answer 46

sometimes better than reducing re offending or offending than government as they have strong commitment to a particular issue and wide knowledge in that area. They are extremely motivated to help and therefore may go the extra mile the government may not.

Question 47

what is an example of a pressure group?

Answer 47

Nacro, woman in prison

Question 48

what does nacro fight for?

Answer 48

example: stop friday releases (a third of releases take place on friday resulting in many sleeping rough etc) and is a charity that provides services for ex offenders and those in danger of offending. E.g. accommodation provision. Homelessness is a major drive for re offending and tackling it helps social control

Question 49

what does Women in Prison fight for?

Answer 49

recognises half of the women in prison are victims of domestic or sexual violence> presses government and agencies to change policies such as:
-drop its plans to build five new prisons for women, instead for money to be invested in woman’s specialist centres and community based solutions such as housing or mental health support that would reduce offending
-court to follow the Sentencing Guidelines and use prison as only a last resort, for the most serious of offences and to protect the public from harm. Yet 84% of women’s prison sentences are for non violent offences such as TV licences non pay. Has won the support of MPs and public

Question 50

what does WIP (pressure group) do to support Women in Prison?

Answer 50

-free phone help line to provide support and guidance to prisoners.
-referring them to specialist agencies
delivering the CARE programme to women with violent charges with a history of self harm, suicide, drug misuse etc

Question 51

what are the issues/ limits of charity and pressure groups

Answer 51

-voluntary organisations: Means they exist only when people care about a certain issue or group e.g. more concern about child abuse and less concerned about the abusers and rehabilitating them. This means opportunities to prevent re offending may be missed.
-Media reporting plays a big role in this: harder for charities to build support for those who are demonized
-Funding: easier to persuade the public to donate funds for some groups or causes than for others. Although government may provide funds to some charities they only od this if it fits their political and financial demands