AC 2.2 Flashcards
retribution - revenge
defenders deserve punishment
contains element of revenge, society and victim are being avenged for wrong doing.
defendant getting just desserts - defines justice system in terms of fairness and proportionality, supported by sentencing council.
retribution example
police record rise in hate crime after israel - gaza
anti semitic hate rose rapidly
was 15 a year in manchester now 74
retribution theories
right realism - rational choice, defendant made decision to commit crime, punish you because you are responsible - don’t focus on reoffending
functionalism - boundary maintenance, consequences are important to deter others.
public punishment show society justice has been served.
Criticisms retribution
defendants deserve forgiveness and chance to make amends- reduce offending
- how do we decide what a proportionate penalty is? people disagree on severity of crime.
Rehabilitation
forward looking theory of punishment, hope offenders behaviour will be altered and wont be reoffended.
behaviour result of free will and rational choice- can work on.
Probation orders or unpaid work, addiction
theories rehabilitation
cognitive theory - cbt - helps to address the cause
operant - token economy, reward good behaviour.
left realism - relative deprivation and marginalisation, society is to blame.
criticisms rehabilitation
marxism - rehabilitation, shifts blame on offender instead of looking at issues in society e.g poverty.
some offenders cannot be rehabilitated = waste of time.
short term sentences cant access this aim of punishment.
seen as soft justice, may be controversial ( right realism) recidivism still high 70%
deterrence - put of/fear
fear of being caught is enough. to prevent people committing crime.
both individual and general
crimes where you are less likely to get caught carry harsher sentences.
2011 london riots, punishment used in the past, harsher sentences - execution = public saw consequences
theories - deterrence
- right realism - rational choice, situational crime prevention, criminals make a choice to offend.
- social learning - general deterrence, vicarious reinforcement, seeing others being punished/ rewarded and imitate behaviour, public punishment reduces offending.
criticisms of deterrence
little evidence that short, sharp shocks or boot camps reduce youth offending.
- when people follow the law might be because they believe it is the right thing to do so not deterrence.
- half of all prisoners reoffend within in a year of release- prisons not effective.
- some people act irrationally driven by emotions without thought for punishment.
- assumes offenders know what they are being punishments there are, maybe ignorant.
public protection
remove offenders physical capacity to offend again.
focused on protecting public, rather then change behaviour
prison sentence incapacitates offender
example public protection
chemical castration sex offenders
foreign travel ban
imprisonment intermediate sentence criminal justice act 2003
theories public protection
lombroso - favoured exiling - put on island away from people, born criminal cant stop so they need to incapacitate.
right realism - harsh punishment to protect public, stops people offending.
public protection - criticism
cost - very expensive to keep in prison
no rehabilitation
Incapacitation leads to longer sentences and warehousing little hope for release.
- over rise in prison population.
- does nothing to deal with cause of crime or to rehabilitate.
- 2 strikes principle re punishes individuals for a previous crime, imprisoned for a crime the law thinks they will commit in future.
reparation
community orders
- involves offenders making amends for a wrong they have done, whether to individual victim or society.
- material damage: financial compensation to the victim, courts have power to impose compensation.
- unpaid work reparations through community e.g remove graffiti
