AC 2.2 Flashcards
What are the functions of sentencing according to section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003?
- Punishment of the offender
- Reduction of crime
- Reform and rehabilitation of the offender
- Protection of the public
- Making of reparations by offenders to persons affected by their offences
What is the main idea behind retribution in punishment?
The offender deserves punishment and it contains an element of revenge.
doesnt seek to alter future behaviour, only to inflict harm as a consequence
What must a court follow according to the Coroner’s and Justice Act 2009?
Guidelines unless it conflicts with justice.
What was the focus of punishment in the 19th century?
According to Garland, Public protection and retributive justice.
What significant change occurred in the 20th century regarding punishment?
A shift towards rehabilitation and reform.
What about imprisonment rates between the 1970s and 2014?
According to Newburn, the number of imprisonments doubled.
Increase in rhetoric in media and politicians cracking down
Define ‘penal welfarism’ as described by Garland.
A practice where the Criminal Justice System tried to catch, punish, and rehabilitate offenders for re-integration into society
What has the state abandoned according to the text?
‘Penal welfarism’.
Why did the state abandon ‘penal welfarism’?
Individual freedoms increased while social bonds weakened, life more uncertain and less predictable
Despite crime decreasing, public more worried about crime than ever
What are the state primarily concerned with?
Convincing the public that it’s taking a tough approach on crime and reassuring communities that something is being done about crime
What is the concept of ‘just desserts’ in relation to retribution?
A backwards-looking punishment linked to the idea of retribution.
What does proportionality in punishment refer to?
The idea that the punishment should fit the crime.
It should be equal or proportional to the harm done
Links to idea of a tariff system or fixed scale of mandatory penalities for different offences
What is the function of retribution?
A way in which society can reinforce the moral condemnation it feels at the crime
Seen as a justifiable reaction to the crime itself, not concerned with being a way of preventing future offences
What’s an example of retribution in the CJS?
Hate crimes can carry an ‘uplift’ or higher tariff sentence
Maximum penalty for GBH: 5 yrs prison time
- can increase to 7 if proven to be racially motivated
- reflects outrage of society at the event
What theories does retribution link to?
Rational choice theory: punishment reminds everyone of the consequences of breaking a law
Links to right realism and crime control model of CJS
What is penal populism?
Relates to longer sentences for certain crimes often driven by political decisions.
To please the public, government at the time will respond to the anger by giving longer tariff’s for certain crimes
- makes public more likely to vote for the government again for being hard on crime
What is the aim of rehabilitation?
To reform offenders and reintroduce them into society.
Forward looking aim with the hope that offenders behaviour will be altered and they wont reoffend
What does retribution/reformation pressume?
Criminal behaviour is a result of free will and rational choice
Where can the aim of rehabilitation be seen?
Community sentencing, probabtion order etc
Could involve unpaid work or completion of an education/training course
List some rehabilitation policies.
- Education and training programmes
- Anger management courses
- Drug treatment and testing orders
- Support: counselling
What theory does rehabilitation link to?
Individualistic theories of criminality
EG: cognitive theories, eysenck’s personality theory and skinner’s operant conditioning theory
What theories criticise rehabilitation?
Right realism: rehab has only limited success as offenders go on to reoffend
Marxists: shift responsibility for offending onto the individual rather than focusing on how its a reaction to social injustice
What does a deterrent look like in the CJS?
- Longer sentences for certain crimes
- Harsher prison conditions to prevent offending/recidivism
- Name and shame offenders in the media
- Boot camp type activities in Youth Offenders Institutes
- Confiscation of the proceeds of crime from convicted criminals
Does individual deterrents work?
Recidivism rates suggest they dont work
Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile (Autumn 2017) shows 46% of adults are reconvicted within one year of release
- Those serving less than 12 months, increased to 59%
