AC 4.1 Flashcards
What is the crime control policy for Freud’s psychological theory
Psychoanalysis
This involves therapist treatment for criminals/clients where their unconscious conflicts and repressed emotions are brought to the conscious mind so they can be resolved - Freud did this through hypnosis and free association
Aichhorn used these treatments for young offenders; as they had undeveloped superego
Airchhorn created a happy and pleasant environment that would develop the superego
How effective is Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis doesn’t seem effective
Only 44% of psychoanalysis patients treated for neurosis showed improved
Whereas 72% of patients treated by hospitals/GPs showed improvement
If it doesn’t work for neurosis its unlikely it would work for criminals
Cost: It’s costly and time consuming, so it could never be used on a large scale for treating criminals
Abuse: Psychoanalysis gave analysts power to define what’s good/bad or normal/abnormal, therefore this can give rise to discriminations toward homosexuality etc
What is the crime control policy for Skinner opulent learning theory
Operant Learning Theory/Behaviorism
This is based of the idea that behavior is learnt through reward and punishment
This developed the token economy within prison’s:
A prison outlines desired and undesired behavior
When an offender behaves in a desired way then are given a token
This can be redeemed for rewards
Through selective reinforcement, good behavior becomes more likely and undesirable behavior doesn’t
How effective are token economies
Some studies show improved behavior
Once the rewards stop, the behavior tends to stop
They do return to crime slower however
Rewards in real life aren’t a frequent so its not realistic
for when they get out
Does make prisoners more manageable however
What is the crime control policy for Eyencks theory
Aversion Therapy
Eyenck felt that conditioning must be stronger for neurotic and extraverted criminals - this policy focuses on sex offenders
Offenders are asked to think of an unacceptable fantasy until they are arosed
A strongly aversive stimulus is given (eg. a shock or nauseating substance)
The procedure is repeated until the offender comes to associate the deviant arousal and the stimulus to stop the thoughts and stop offending behavior
How effective is Aversion Therapy
Has very limited success, and is usually short term
It’s use to ‘cure’ gay people has also been critiqued
What it CBT, describe it.
Cognitive Brain Theory
- Aims to reintegrate offenders into society
Process:
- Offenders are asked to discuss their beliefs/ideas and thought patterns
- They are then asked to see what thought patterns are beneficial for them and which aren’t
- They then attempt to revive the offenders belief system
- This then develops positive thought patterns within the offenders
- This helps reduce re-offending and increases the chance of successful reintegration into society
What are the weaknesses of CBT
Relies on the offender being open to therapy
Offenders must want to change and be committed to it
May not be easy for offenders with learning difficulties
What is Penial Populism
When the public become outraged with certain sentences for certain crimes and want them to be harsher - therefore the agents of social control impose harsher sentences to please the public and respond to public outcry
What is an example of Penial populism
In 1950s “Three-strikes your out” law that was a response to public outcry in America regarding reoffending rates
What is Target Hardening
Target Hardening is based off Right Realism’s idea of creating harsher punishments to outweigh the rewards of crime (Rational Choice Theory)
Its about making specific targets of crime more difficult to access
Provide examples of policy’s based off Rational Choice Theory and their general purposes and weaknesses
CCTV
(deterrent, causes people to self-regulate, increases security of peoples movements)
(Invasion of privacy, violates civil liberties, expensive, blind spots, police can target minority areas/stereotype eg - Birmingham cameras on Muslim area )
Zero Tolerance Policy is when a punishment is imposed for every infraction of a stated rule
+ (Crime fell in NY after it was introduced in the 1990s with ‘serious’ offences falling by 44%)
- (ZTP and the military style policing can lead to targeting ethnic minorities, ZTP doesn’t tackle the underlying issues of why crim exists)
What is Restorative Justice
When a victim meets the offender face to face
Providing closure on the victims traumatic experience
Allows the offender to develop an understanding of how their actions/crimes have long lasting effect on others (hoping to prevent reoffending)
What are the Pros and Cons of Restorative Justice
+ Allows victim to have closure
lowered reoffending rates by 14%
allows an opportunity for an offender to serve a community sentence instead of prison time
Applies to left Realism’s bottom up approach to crime
- Requires both offender and victim to comply on meeting
Offenders mental health may suffer heavily with guilt etc after they realise their effect
Offender may not be remorseful and this can hurt the victim more
Time consuming
What is Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)
SCP is focused on reducing the opportunities of crime
