AC 3.3 Examine the Limitations of Agencies in Achieving Social Control

Question 1

What are the 8 ways agencies are limited in achieving social control?

Answer 1

1. Recidivism
2. Lack of Resources and Support
3. Civil Liberties and Legal Barriers
4. Finance
5. Local and National Police
6. Moral Imperatives
7. Policy
8. Environment

Question 2

How does recidivism limit social control?

Answer 2

• Those who are more likely to reoffend = males, criminal history, children, unemployed, addictions, homeless, lack qualifications
  1. POLICE = keep arresting same criminals, wasted funding
  2. CPS/Court/Judiciary = keep going back to court for increased sentence, waste of time when other people could be getting justice
  3. Probation = officers have to keep monitoring the same offenders they know are not reforming when could be helping someone else
• Probation = 25% recidvism
• Prison Reform Trust 2014 - 47% adults, 69% children
• (2021 report) adults released less than 12 month prison sentence = 55% (shorter sentences = higher recidivism)

Question 3

Which theories link to recidivism limiting social control?

Answer 3

• Right Realism
  
  • Believe that prisons work because offenders are rational actors and the fear of a prison sentence deters them from offending
  • (H) High rate of reoffending shows this is not true
• Marxism
  
  • Unemployed offenders are more likely to reoffend because they have little chance of meeting their needs to survive solely on benefits,
• Functionalism too because structure of society means they have to reoffend

Question 4

How does a lack of resources and support limit social control?

Answer 4

• When people are released from prison, they face problems with finance, accommodation and employment
• The lack of support means they are likely to return to crime because they have no other choice to support themselves

Question 5

Stats to support lack of resources and support limiting social control

Answer 5

• 1/3 ppl in custody have a learning disability, HM Inspectorate of Prisons “more needs to be done to adapt prison regimes”
• Self harm 778/1000
• Most prisons schedule 30 mins outside each day, 1/2 of what is expected
• 92% prisons understaffed (2017)
• (H) The government has planned to introduce a prisoner apprenticeship programme with a guaranteed job on release, would provide more support = social control

Question 6

Give examples of Civil Liberties

Answer 6

• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of movement
• Freedom from arbitrary arrest
• Freedom of religious worship
• Right to remain silent
• Right to a phone call
• Right to food and reasonable light
• DUE PROCESS Model (innocent until proven guilty)

Question 7

How do Civil Liberties and Legal Barriers limit social control?

Answer 7

• If don’t comply with them = breach of human rights
• When make arrests, police have to wait until suspect has a lawyer before interview. Delays investigation so may not find critical evidence
• Mohammed Ibrahim = asylum seeker caused the death of a young girl in driving accident but couldn’t be deported to Iraq because he had the right to a family life under ECHR
• Abu Qatada v UK - could not be deported to Jordan over the risk he may be tortured

Question 8

Theories linking to Civil Liberties and Legal Barriers limiting social control

Answer 8

• Herbert Pecker Due Process Model
• Left Realism - individuals rights perspective, must abide
• Right Realism - crime perspective, punish people to limit crime

Question 9

How does Finance impact agencies ability to achieve social control?

Answer 9

1. Police = budget cuts from 2010, (H) police uplift programme in 2019 to recruit lost officers
2. CPS = budget cuts 25-30% recent years, lost 1/3 staff. Hire less layers to prosecute cases, increase backlog
3. Prison = not enough officers to maintain social control inside the prison,
   - Need tornado riot police squads to go in and regain control when lost e.g. HMP the Mount at Hertfordshire, 47 staff short led to prisoners taking control of 2 wings
   - STAT, 92% understaffed in 2017
4. Probation = understaffed, 13 offenders for every staff member

Question 10

How does National Police limit social control?

Answer 10

• From 2010 to 2015 the police were focused on tackling knife, gun and gang crimes nationwide, they also introduced new offences incl gang injunctions to increase prosecution rate
• Sends a message to all criminals that the police are taking those crimes seriously because they made the policy national
• Means other crimes may be seen as not a priority

Question 11

How do Local Police limit social control?

Answer 11

• Prioritise specific crimes in the local area, based on targets set by the government
• Have been allegations that the police wont investigate or prosecute certain crimes so they can follow the targets, leads to less social control e.g. focus too much on trivial crimes
  
  • E.g. lancashire constabulary firearms surrender 2022

Question 12

What 2 acts should I refer to when talking about police? (local+national)

Answer 12

• Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1996 = stop and search, ‘reasonable suspicion’
• PACE

Question 13

What is a person with moral imperatives?

Answer 13

People with such strong belief that the police and other agencies will struggle to socially control them because the punishment does not outweigh their moral reason for the crime

Question 14

Examples of moral imperatives

Answer 14

• Kay Gilderdale
  
  • Caring for younger daughter
  • To end her suffering she gave her daughter a lethal dose of heroin and she dies in her sleep
  • Police couldn’t stop this, she was entirely devoted to caring for her daughter but didn’t want her to suffer for longer
• Alan Blythe
  
  • Grew cannabis for his terminally ill wife to ease her pain
  • Police could not deter him as purely done for the purpose of easing his wife’s pain which was more important than avoiding punishment
• Stanstead 15- broke into airport and tied to plane stop deportation flight

Question 15

Moral Imperatives links to theory

Answer 15

• Functionalist
  
  • Poor socialisation and inequality result in the absence of norms and values being taught.
  • Crime allows for boundary maintenance and, adaptation and change.
• Emile durkeim
  
  • A stable structure based on shared norms, values and beliefs about right and wrong
  • People who commit these crimes don’t have the same shared norms and values, and deviate from them in an attempt to create social change

Question 16

How does Policy limit social control?

Answer 16

1. Police = priorities shift to government’s aims to meet targets. E.g. in covid gatherings, other crimes overlooked
2. CPS = backlog already, trying to improve conviction rate for specific offences to achieve targets
3. Prison = if prisons full of criminals in there for similar reasons e.g. gangs then more likely self fulfilling prophecy and violence between opposing gangs
4. Probation = pressure to meet targets and improve recidivism rates, however already understaffed

Question 17

How does the environment limit social control?

Answer 17

Criminal areas, gang crime, County Lines, areas in poverty
- Broken Windows
Police struggle to investigate crimes because they are not trusted/”snitch” - not welcome so leave the area alone and accept it as a place of crime