AC 2.2- Discuss the Aims of Punishment Flashcards
What are the 6 aims of punishment?
Retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, public protection/incapacitation, reparation, denunciation
Where are the aims of punishment laid out?
Section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003
What is meant by retribution?
Based on idea that offenders deserve punishment, can be seen as revenge, e.g. the death penalty for murder fulfilling the biblical idea
What is meant by just desserts?
Getting what you deserve, offender should be punished for breaking the moral code
What is meant by proportionality?
Punishment should fit the crime
How does an offenders sentence change if found to be a hate crime and how does this link to retribution?
Sentence for assault is usually 6 months, becomes 2 years if motivated by hate, public want harsher punishment that reflect the reason of the crime (GBH can go from 5 to 7 years)
How are crimes punished in other countries?
Saudi Arabia uses beheading and stoning to death, some US states use the death penalty, Indonesia use chemical castration for pedophiles’
How does retribution link to right realism?
Believe crime is a rational choice, offender weighs up cost v benefit, therefore punishment will deter people and protect the victim
How does retribution link to functionalism?
Durkheim, crime is inevitable, harsh punishment can act as a general deterrent, boundary maintenance reminds us of whats right and wrong
How can we criticize the idea of retribution?
No focus on the root causes of crime (LR), doesn’t think about future offenders only looks backwards, can lead to miscarriages of justice and ethical issues, could displace crime, too traditional
What is meant by rehabilitation?
Hopes to change the offenders behaviour and reintegrate them back into society, help them realise their mistakes and apologise
What are some types of rehabilitation?
community sentence, probation orders, drug treatment and testing order
How do cognitive theories link to rehabilitation?
Favour behaviour modification treatments like anger management to extinguish undesirable behaviors and stop thinking errors
How does Eysenck’s personality theory link to rehabilitation?
favor the use of aversion therapy to deter offending behavior
How does operant conditioning link to rehabilitation?
Supports the use of token economies to encourage prisoners to produce more acceptable behavior
How do left and right realism link to rehabilitation?
Left realism favors rehabilitation as they want to tackle the root cause of crime and stop reoffending right realist favor punishment and believe if a person if a person has committed a crime they should be punished
How can we critically evaluate rehabilitation?
Marxist say it shifts responsibility onto visual offenders rather than why capitalism causes crime, doesn’t work for all crimes and depends on the criminal, no retribution and seen a soft justice lack of just desserts, expensive
What is meant by deterrence?
Can be individual or general individual is punishment on the offenders eg conditional discharge general deterrence stops the wider public from offending as they see the consequence of crime eg mandatory minimum life sentence for murder
How do statistics show that prison does not act as a deterrent?
46% of adults are re convicted in the year increased to 59% for sentences more than 12 months
Which theories do the statistics on recidivism link to?
Sutherland, learned through imitation and socialization universities of crime, Bandura vicarious reinforcement and role models
How do the sentences and the 2011 London riots link to deterrence?
Four times longer sentences for property crimes more convictions in the summer of 2010, Ursula Nevis jailed for five months for accepting looted pair of shorts
How does deterrence link to Marxism?
Used to control the proletariat, doesn’t act for the upper class as law enforcement is selective
How does deterrence link to Right Realism?
Crime is a rational choice therefore can be deterred, situational crime prevention strategies, making an area harder to commit crime in e.g. CCTV and bollards
How does social learning theory link to deterrence?
Would be offenders see a model of their peers being punished therefore are less likely to imitate that behavior (vicarious reinforcement)
What are the criticisms of deterrence?
High recidivism rates, assumes that offenders know the punishment, assumes offenders are always rational, people follow the law because they believe it is right to do so
What is meant by public protection/incapacitation?
Protect us from dangerous criminals, keeping them off the street and limiting their freedom
What was brought in under the Crime Sentences Act 1997?
Courts must impose life imprisonment on a second time serious offence e.g. murder, rape
What is meant by an intermediate public protection sentence (IPP)?
Offender is not given time limit on sentence, kept behind bars until they are sure they won’t reoffend
How does incapacitation link to Lombroso’s theories?
Certain activistic features make you a criminal, no point in trying to help offenders should instead keep them off the street
How does incapacitation link to right realism?
Believe in getting tough on crime, crime is choice and better to get criminals off the street as they know the cost and benefits of crime
What are the criticisms of incapacitation?
Longer sentences and warehousing of offenders, strategy of containment/risk management doesn’t deal with the causes, imprisons based on past offenses as well as making future assumptions
What is meant by reparation?
Offend making amends for the wrong either to the victim or society as a whole
What are some examples of financial compensation?
Unpaid work, paying the costs of damage, compensation order
What is meant by restorative justice?
Offender and victim meet, can hear both sides of the story and defender can apologize, gives Peace of Mind to both sides
How does reparation link to labeling theory?
Favors restorative justice as a way of integration, by showing genuine remorse this stop secondary deviance
How does reparation link to functionalism?
Durkheim, argues reparation helps put things back to how they were before crime was committed
What are the criticisms of reparation?
May not work for all offenses e.g. violent or sexual crimes like rape or murder, regarded as too, soft letting off offenders lightly
