A.C. 4.1- SOICAL CHANGE AFFECTING POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Question 1

Norms and the effects on the policy development of medicinal benefits of cannabis

Answer 1

Norms are something that is usual or typical (expected behaviour). This links to the medicinal use of cannabis in the UK because the government, legally allows doctors to prescribe cannabis- based medicines if they believe they will benefit from the treatment (case by case). This happened in 2018 and became the new norm due to research to say that these medicines can be effective to help things like MS, chronic pain, Parkinson’s, anxiety and depression and so on. The publics opinions and views have changed to believe this is no longer deviant.

Question 2

Values and the effects on the policy development of psychoactive substances

Answer 2

Values are principles or standards of behaviour or guides of how we should behave in society. This links to the policy development of psychoactive substances because these substances were developed after drug laws were made so they were technically legal and were being moved into prisons but were very dangerous because no one really knew what these substances were made of. Examples of these substances are drugs like Spice. It is now illegal to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, possess on custodial premises, import or export psychoactive substances intended for consumption. You could receive a maximum of 7 years in prison and this came into place in 2015-16

Question 3

Mores and the effects on the policy development of voyeurism

Answer 3

Mores are how society actually behave and is similar to morals. Up skirting is to put a camera or phone beneath someone’s clothing to take voyeuristic photos without consent. The voyeurism act came in in 2019 and this can often occur in crowded places such as public transport, concerts, festivals and so on. This has also been made easier due to advancements in technology and also means offenders cannot always be seen committing the crime.

Question 4

Penal populism (right realism)

Answer 4

Aim- Government attempts to propose laws to punish offenders that will be popular with general public- James Bulger (1993) media said ‘don’t be soft on crime’ and this fueled concerns of safety and there was a consensus between political parties to get tough on crime and automatic life sentences came into place for second serious offenders and minimum fixed term custodial sentences. This became like a 3 strikes and you’re out in England and Wales. This is in response to rare and terrible crimes that are over-represented by the media making the public demand that government put in things to prevent crime

Effectiveness-
- All these came in between 2011-12 and focusses on getting tough on crime and putting victims first. However, prisons could have problems with over-crowing and increasing assaults and riots in prison. Staff shortages mean that prisoners don’t have a very good quality of life and self injury and assault rates of staff have increased. Drugs are rife in prison along with mental illness. Illiteracy and innumeracy rates are also high

Question 5

Restorative justice (labelling)

Answer 5

Aim- This is a voluntary process involving the person who has suffered harm and the person who has caused the harm. Trained facilitators work with victims and offenders to talk about what happened, who has been affected and what can be done to repair them. Due to legislation, this can be done at any stage of the criminal justice process, both pre-sentence and after conviction where it can form part of the sentencing procedure

Effectiveness-
- Growing in popularity in prisons in the UK but this could bring up emotions and trauma for the victim and some victims may not agree to do this as they may be too scared to be with the offender

Question 6

Prison (right realism)

Answer 6

Aim- One of the main ways society tries to control crime

Effectiveness-
- The UK has the highest imprison rates in Europe and between 1993-2015 the prison population doubled. There is no consistent level between prison numbers and levels of crime. Short prison sentences are less effective than community sentences at reducing reoffending. People in prison (prisoners and staff) are much less safe that 5 years ago. More prisoners committed suicide, self-harm or were victims of assault and serious assaults have doubled recently. Prisons have been over-crowded since 1994. The cost of reoffending costs the economy £9.5-£13 billion annually

Question 7

Zero tolerance (right realism)

Answer 7

Aim- Demands all crimes are acted on, no matter how trivial they are. Favoured by right realists and was very successful in NYC in the 1990’s. This stems from the ‘Broken windows theory’- the idea that all crime should be dealt with to ensure criminals understand that no level of crime is acceptable

Effectiveness- Successful in NYC, King’s Cross (London), Middlesborough, Hartlepool and Strathclyde

Question 8

CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) (right realism)

Answer 8

Aim- One of the first requests made by the police at the start of their inquiries. Identification is very hard if CCTV isn’t available. Policy implications as deterrent to prevent crime and can show severity and nature of crime and can identify suspects and witnesses

Effectiveness-
- Relied upon heavily and is installed in lots of areas-including privately owned and commercially owned

Question 9

Examples of left realism theories influencing policies

Answer 9

• Multi-agency policing
• Community policing (informal policy making)