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Criminology-unit 4 > AC 2.2-discuss the aims of punishment > Flashcards

AC 2.2-discuss the aims of punishment Flashcards

1
Q

What are the five aims of punishment?

A

1) Retribution
2) Rehabilitation
3) Deterrence
4) Public protection
5) Reparation

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2
Q

What is retribution?

A

Expressing society’s moral outrage at crime

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3
Q

What does retribution involve?

A

Inflicting punishment on an offender as vengeance for a criminal act

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4
Q

What are ‘just deserts’?

A

Offenders deserve to be punished and society is morally entitled to take its revenge
Offender should suffer for breaching society’s moral code

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5
Q

What does proportionality mean regarding retribution?

A

The punishment should fit the crime and should be proportionate to the harm dealt ‘an eye for an eye’

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6
Q

Where does the idea of proportionality lead to regarding retribution?

A

A tariff system/mandatory penalties for varying offences eg. several years of jail time for an armed robbery compared to a fine for speeding

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7
Q

What is/isn’t retribution a justification for?

A

It is a justification for crimes already committed, but not a way of preventing future ones

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8
Q

Give an example of retribution

A

Hate crimes
They carry higher tariff sentencing eg. if a crime is proven to be racially motivated, the sentence increases: grievous bodily harm is five years but can be increased to seven

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9
Q

What theory is retribution associated with?

A

Right realist theories such as rational choice theory

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10
Q

What do right realists assume regarding retribution?

A

That offenders are rational choice actors who consciously choose to commit crimes and are therefore fully responsible for their actions

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11
Q

What did Durkheim, a functionalist sociologist, state about retribution?

A

The moral outrage expressed through retribution performs the function of boundary maintenance, meaning the punishment of the offender serves as a reminder of what is right and wrong

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12
Q

What are three criticisms of retribution?

A

1) Offenders deserve forgiveness or a chance to make amends, not just punishment
2) Punishment has to be inflicted even where no good is going to come out of it
3) People disagree about which crimes are more serious, so how do we decide what is a proportionate penalty?

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13
Q

What is rehabilitation?

A

Making offenders change their behaviour

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14
Q

What does rehabilitation involve?

A

Using punishment to reform an offender so they no longer commit and can live crime-free lives

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15
Q

What are the three rehabilitation policies?

A

1) Education and training programmes
2) Anger management courses
3) Drug treatment and testing orders

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16
Q

What is the rehab policy regarding education and training programmes?

A

Prisoners can avoid unemployment and ‘earn an honest living’ on release

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17
Q

What is the rehab policy regarding anger management courses?

A

Violent offenders go to courses such as Aggression Replacement Training and other cognitive behavioural therapy programmes

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18
Q

What is the rehab policy regarding drug treatment and testing orders?

A

Offenders help get treated for alcohol dependence

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19
Q

In what way is rehabilitation a form of support?

A

Professional help is given from therapists, probation officers and others to ensure offenders achieve change
Helps offenders become reintegrated into the community upon release from prison

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20
Q

What theory is rehabilitation associated with?

A

Individualistic and sociological theories of criminality

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21
Q

What are the three individualistic theories associated with rehabilitation?

A

1) Cognitive theory
2) Eysenck’s personality theory
3) Skinner’s operant learning theory

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22
Q

Describe the cognitive theory in relation to rehabilitation

A

CBT teaches offenders to correct their thinking errors and biases which lead to aggressive or criminal behaviour

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23
Q

Describe Eysenck’s personality theory in relation to rehabilitation

A

It favours the use of aversion therapy to deter offending behaviour

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24
Q

Describe Skinner’s operant learning theory in relation to rehabilitation

A

Supports the use of token economy to encourage prisoners to produce more acceptable behaviour

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25
Q

How does left realism favour rehabilitation through sociological theories?

A

They regard social factors eg. unemployment, poverty and poor educational opportunities as causes of crime
Reducing these reduces offending

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26
Q

What are the two criticisms of rehabilitation?

A

1) Right realists argue rehabilitation has limited success, many reoffend even after undergoing behaviour changing programmes
2) Marxists argue rehabilitation shifts responsibility for offending onto the offenders failings rather than focussing on how capitalism may lead people to commit

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27
Q

What is deterrence?

A

Discouraging future offending

28
Q

What does deterrence involve?

A

The use of punishment to deter the individual from reoffending as it may convince them that its not worth repeating the experience

29
Q

What is the idea that prisons work based on for deterrence?

A

If sentences are tough enough, offenders will not want to go back to jail again

30
Q

What did Margaret Thatcher introduce in the 1980’s regarding deterrence?

A

A tougher system in juvenile detention centres which were a ‘short, sharp shock’ to deter young offenders

31
Q

What does general deterrence aim to do?

A

Deter society in general from breaking the law as seeing an offender being punished may show people how they will suffer if they go to jail

32
Q

How did people experience general deterrence in the past and now the present?

A

Past: executions, floggings, offenders placed in stocks
Present: social media reports

33
Q

What is severity verses certainty?

A

Severity of punishment and certainty of punishment

34
Q

What is severity versus certainty about?

A

How severe the punishment might be for a certain offence, if there is little chance of being caught and convicted, then its unlikely to deter potential offenders
However if an offender is likely to be caught then a punishment may be an effective deterrent

35
Q

Give an example of severity versus certainty

A

Though there is a three year minimum sentence, 5% of reported burglaries result in successful convictions, so the likelihood of facing punishments is low

36
Q

What theory is deterrence associated with?

A

Right realism as a mean of crime prevention

37
Q

What are the two right realism theories associated with deterrence?

A

1) Rational choice theory
2) Situational crime prevention strategies

38
Q

Describe rational choice theory in relation to deterrence

A

Individuals are rational actors who weigh up the costs and benefits before deciding whether to offend, so harsh punishments and the high likelihood of being caught can deter offending

39
Q

Describe situational crime prevention strategies in relation to deterrence

A

Target hardening makes it harder for offenders to commit therefore acting as a deterrence

40
Q

How is social learning theory associated with deterrence?

A

If potential criminals see a model being punished for offending, they will be less likely to imitate that behaviour

41
Q

What are the six criticisms of deterrence?

A

1) Little evidence that ‘short, sharp shock reduce youth offending
2) Within a year of release half of the prisoners reoffend, prison isn’t efficient in deterring
3) How do we decide how severe a punishment needs to be for it to deter potential criminals?
4) Assumes potential criminals know what the punishments are (may ignore penalties given)
5) Assumes criminals act rationally weighing up the risks, some act irrationally driven by emotions
6) It’s unlikely for those who break laws to be deterred via punishment

42
Q

What is public protection?

A

Protecting society from offenders

43
Q

What does public protection involve?

A

Incapacitating offenders through the use of punishment to remove the criminals physical ability to reoffend

44
Q

What are the six policies regarding public protection?

A

1) Execution of offenders
2) Cutting thieves hands off
3) Chemically castrating sex offenders
4) Banishment to another country (exile to Australia, 19th century)
5) Bans for foreign travels
6) Electronic tagging and curfews

45
Q

What is the main method of incapacitation regarding public protection?

A

Imprisonment

46
Q

How does imprisonment work?

A

Takes offenders out of circulation, leading to less further offences committed against the public

47
Q

What are the three mandatory minimum jail sentences for reoffending introduced by the Crime Sentences Act 1997?

A

1) Automatic life sentence for a second serious sexual/violent offence
2) Seven years minimum for third Class A drug trafficking offence
3) Three years minimum for third domestic burglary conviction

48
Q

What did the Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduce and what did it allow?

A

‘Imprisonment for public protection’ (IPP) allowed courts to give indeterminate sentences (no fixed release date) to ‘dangerous’ offenders convicted of certain seriously violent/sexual offences

49
Q

What two theories are associated with public protection?

A

1) Biological theories
2) right realists

50
Q

Describe the biological theories associated with public protection

A

Lombroso argued criminals are biologically different thus its not possible to rehabilitate them
Some biological theories favour chemical or surgical castration to incapacitate sex offenders

51
Q

Describe the right realists theory associated with public protection

A

Incapacitation is a way of protecting the public from crime
Incapacitating a small number of persistent offenders to a long prison sentence could reduce crime rates

52
Q

What are the four criticisms of public protection?

A

1) Incapacitation leads to longer sentencing with little hope of being released, leading to rising prison populations with additional costs
2) Incapacitation is a risk management doing nothing to deal the cause of crime or changing criminals into law abiding citizens
3) The ‘three strikes’ principle re-punishes criminals for previous crimes
4) Unjust as it imprisons individuals the law thinks may commit a crime in the future

53
Q

What is reparation?

A

Turning the harm caused by crime into something good

54
Q

What does reparation involve?

A

The offender making amend for a wrong they have done

55
Q

What kind of harm can be caused regarding reparation?

A

Material and social

56
Q

What two amends can be done regarding the harm caused in reparation?

A

1) Financial compensation eg. paying for the repair cost of damage
2) Unpaid work to make reparation to society through Community Payback eg. removing graffiti off buildings

57
Q

What is restorative justice regarding reparation?

A

Making amends between offender and victim by bringing them together with the help of a mediator

58
Q

What can the victim do through restorative justice regarding reparation?

A

They can explain the impact the crime has had on them to the offender

59
Q

What can the offender do through restorative justice regarding reparation?

A

They can appreciate the harm caused, express remorse and seek forgiveness

60
Q

What is the aim of restorative justice?

A

Bring closure to the victim and reintegrate the offender into society

61
Q

What two theories are associated with reparation?

A

1) Labelling theory
2) Functionalists

62
Q

Describe labelling theory regarding reparation

A

It favours restorative justice as a way of reintegrating offenders into a mainstream society
By showing genuine remorse, it permits the offenders reintegration and prevents them from being pushed into secondary deviance

63
Q

What is secondary deviance in labelling theory regarding reparation?

A

Deviant behaviour that results from being labelled as a deviant by society

64
Q

Describe functionalism regarding reparation

A

Durkheim argued restitutive justice is important for the smooth functioning of complex modern societies

65
Q

What is restitutive justice in functionalism regarding reparation?

A

To put things back to how they were before any crime was committed

66
Q

What are the two criticisms of reparation?

A

1) It may not work for all types of offences eg. can reparation be done for sexual/violent offences? a rape victim may not want to forgive their assaulter
2) Some regard reparation too soft as a form of punishment since it lets offenders off lightly

67
Q

Does retribution aim to change the offenders future behaviour?

A

No, that’s rehabilitation only
Retribution does punish in proportion to the severity of the offence but its not to change the offenders behaviour

Criminology-unit 4 (10 decks)

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