AC 3.1 Flashcards
Which act established the police?
The police were established by 1829 Metropolitan Police Act
What are the aims of police?
- reduce crime
- maintain law and order
- protection of life and property
- first agency involved in a crime
What are the statutory powers the police have?
- arrest
- detention
- search
- interview
What set out the statutory powers of the police?
These powers are set out by PACE 1984
What was the police budget in 2018/19?
in 2018/19 the total budget was £12.3 billion, which comes from taxation
What are PCSOs and what do they do?
- act as a liaison between community and police
- provide a visible, accessible and approachable to offer reassurance to community
- hold designated PCSO legal powers
- defuse conflict
Give an example of 3 police working practices?
- mounted police
- firearms
- anti-terrorism
- river police
How many police forces are there in England and Wales?
43 geographical police forces
What are the strengths of the police in achieving social control?
- specialist forces to deal either complex cases
- highly trained, superior expertise
Which statistic can be used to demonstrate the strengths of the police?
- in 2017, 2/3 of non-police professionals working in domestic abuse say the polices approach to dealing with DA has significantly improved
What case study can be used to show the strengths of the police?
Alex Skeel
- he experienced abuse from his girlfriend
- when police were involved for a domestic disturbance, they both lied that it was his self harm
- the police pulled him aside and turn of the camera to make him feel more comfortable
- officer was persistent at finding the truth
What are the 4 weaknesses of the police?
- budget cuts
- unreported crime
- new technology
- corrupt
How much has the police budget been cut since 2010?
by 18% since 2010
Why do budget cuts negatively impact the police’s ability to achieve social control?
- investigations are forced to be selective and prioritise some
- investigations forced to be dropped
- fewer officers
- tells criminals they won’t get investigated
Why does unreported crime negatively impact the police’s ability to achieve social control?
- shows crime won’t get reported and they won’t get caught
- impacts police prioritisation
- police procedures change
- leads to decriminalisation
- leads to crime becoming normal
How does new technology negatively impact police’s ability to achieve social control?
- police may struggle to keep up with latest technology and being outsmarted by criminals
- technologies may have problems with accuracy
- new technologies rely on specific infrastructure like signals which aren’t in remote areas
- require training and investment
- facial recognises raises significant privacy concerns
How does the police being corrupt negatively impact police’s ability to achieve social control?
- causes a lack of trust which impact on both reporting and policing
Why was the CPS set up?
- independence of charging decisions
- separate from police
- allows them to be objective about cases
What are the aims and objectives of the CPS?
- independently assess evidence, prepares and presents prosecution case
- supports victims
- decides whether to prosecute and what charges should be brought
- advise police about lines of enquiry and the evidence needed to build a case
What was the CPS budget in 2016-17?
Over £500 million
Along with government funding, where do the CPS get their money from?
- cps recovers some of the costs of its prosecutions from defendants
- gains funding from criminal assets through its confiscation activities
- therefore its in the interest of the CPS to only prosecute cases that are likely to win to save money
What type of offender and offence does the CPS deal with?
the CPS deal with all types of offender and offences
What is the reach of the CPS?
There are 14 regional CPS areas
What are the strengths of the CPS at achieving social control?
- CPS prosecutes 80,000 cases every 3 months in the Crown Court
- and 450,000 cases in the mags court
- around 80% of defendants that it prosecutes are convicted
How many cases do the CPS prosecute every 3 months in the Crown court?
80,000
How many cases do the CPS prosecute every 3 months in the Magistrates court?
450,000
How many defendants that the CPS prosecutes are convicted?
Around 80%
What are the weaknesses of the CPS in achieving social control?
Budget cuts
- between 2010 and 2018, budget was cut by 25%, 1/3 staff lost
New technology
- added burden on the CPS
Criticised on their handling of rape cases
- CPS should be less focused on trial outcomes and more on bringing cases to justice
What are the aims and objectives of the judiciary?
- includes Judge, Jury, Barristers
- manage a trial
- ensures fairness
- explain legal issues and procedures to Jury
- sum up for Jury
- pass sentences
how are courts funded?
through the ministry of justice which is funded by taxation
What is the reach of the judiciary?
crown and mags court are regional, court of appeal is national
what are the working practices of the judiciary?
- independent of government
- decisions are made based on law
- free from political influence
- ensures fairness
How many cases are waiting to be tried in mags court?
500,000
What are the strengths of the judiciary in achieving social control?
- independent from government
- means public have more confidence
- pass sentences and act as deterrence
- legally trained
How is jury equity a weakness of the judiciary?
- jury can empathise and not inform laws
- the question is how can we enforce laws and social control if jurys are clearing them
- eg case of kay gilder kale - helped her ill daughter die
How are sentencing guidelines a weakness of the judiciary?
- judges cannot achieve the level of social control they would like
- eg case of Sean Hogg, committed rape of 13yo at 17, got community service, but if he was older he would have got a different sentence tells other 17 year olds that they won’t go to prison
How is judicial bias a weakness of the judiciary?
- law has not been applied fairly
- eg lavinia woodward, oxford student that stabbed her boyfriend, judge said she had a promising career
- doesn’t achieve social control as it tells others they won’t get convicted
How are budget cuts a weakness of the judiciary?
- lead to a backlog of cases being heard in court
- 41,000 cases waiting to be heard in mags court
- courts are empty on same days to save money
What are the 3 main aims of prisons?
- protect the public
- rehabilitate offenders so they contribute positively to society
- keep offenders in custody and implement sentences given by courts
how are prisons funded?
prisons receive funding through the ministry of justice, which is funded through taxation
How much does it cost a day to keep a prisoner?
£122 per day per prisoner
How many prisons are there in England and Wales?
123 prisons in England and Wales
How much was the prison budget in 2018?
£3 billion
What are the 4 categories of prisons?
A
B
C
D
Give an example of a Category A prison?
Belmarsh
Give one strength of prisons at achieving social control?
- their ability to incapacitate them and protect them from public harm which is achieved through whole life orders
- whole life orders are used in cases of murder and means they cannot be released
How are staff cuts a weakness of prisons?
- 2/3 of officers only have 2 years of experience
How is overcrowding a weakness of prisons?
- in 2018, 58% of prisons are overcrowded
- leads to discontent and rule breaking among inmates
How is drug use a weakness of prisons?
- between 2013 and 2016, 64 deaths in prison were due to spice
- the availability of drugs undermines prison discipline
- reduces inmates participation in rehab
- creates debt and violence among prisoners
How is ineffective rehabilitation a weakness of prisons?
- short sentences aren’t long enough to rehabilitate offenders
What are the statistics to show security is a weakness of prisons?
- by 2018, there were 8,400 assaults on staff and 22,000 assaults on inmates
What are the aims of the national probation service?
- supervise offenders released into the community
- support offenders during rehab
- work in partnership with courts, police to manage offenders safely and effectively
How is the national probation service funded?
through taxation
What was the budget for the national probation service in 2018?
£4.6 billion
what are the two types of offenders that the national probation service work with?
- offenders serving community sentences
- offenders out on license after a prison sentence
what is the reach of the national probation service?
12 regions in england and wales
What is the national probation service responsible for?
- preparing pre sentence reports for court
- managing approve premises
- help offenders meet the requirements set out by court
- supervising offenders on community orders
