AC2.2

Question 1

what does reparation mean?

Answer 1

paying back

involves the offender making amends for a wrong they have done.

can be to an individual victim or society as a whole.

Question 2

what are some types of reparation?

Answer 2

financial compensation to the vicitim - e.g: paying for the cost of repairing damage - courts can impose this

unpaid work to make reparation to society in general through community payback - e.g: painting public fences at a park. Imposed by courts as part of a community order.

Question 3

what is restorative justice?

Answer 3

involves the offender recognising the wrongfulness of their actions.

schemes bring offenders and victims together, usually with a mediator.

Question 4

which 2 theories relates to restorative justice and how?

Answer 4

labelling theory - restorative justice reintegrates offenders into mainstream society. It enables them to show real remorse. This permits reintegration and prevents them being pushed into secondary deviance.

functionalists - Durkheim called it ‘Restitutive Justice’ - aims at putting back to how things were through reparations, back to before the crime was committed. This is essential if society is to function smoothly.

Question 5

what are some criticisms of restorative justice?

Answer 5

it may not work for all types of crime such as sexual and violent crimes. A rape victim may not want to face their offender again or forgive them.

can be viewed as too soft and lets offenders off too lightly.

could bring back trauma for victim.

offender could lie and not truly mean what they say.

Question 6

what is retribution?

Answer 6

an expression of society’s outrage at a crime.
Offenders should suffer for breaching the moral code of society.

Question 7

How does proportionality link to retribution?

Answer 7

punishments should fit the crime. For example, a murderer should be given the death penalty.

This leads to a tariff system - a fixed scale of mandatory penalties for different offences.

Question 8

How does expressing moral outrage link to retribution?

Answer 8

The effect of retribution may be to deter offenders, but its purpose is is for society to express its moral outrage.

punishment is morally good, regardless of whether it changes the offender’s future behaviour.

retribution justifies the punishments for crimes already committed - not a means of preventing further crime.

Question 9

How does right realism link to retribution?

Answer 9

Retribution assumes that offenders are
rational actors –they made a conscious
choice to commit crime. They are
responsible for their actions.
Punishment is justified because they
made an active choice to break a moral code.

Question 10

How does functionalism (Durkheim) link to retribution?

Answer 10

The moral outrage expressed through
retribution performs the function of
boundary maintenance. It reminds
people of what is right and wrong.

Question 11

criticisms of retribution

Answer 11

it can be argued that offenders deserve forgiveness.

If there is a fixed tariff or penalties, discretion cannot be used.

there will be disagreement on which crimes are seen as more serious than others.

Question 12

how does capital punishment link to retribution?

Answer 12

The word punishment means to inflict pain.

The Bloody Code - 18th Century:
- Aim to protect liberty and property
- Retribution is showing the ‘King’s’ anger at criminals.

Kant - his view was that retribution is all punishment should be, not even to deter others.

The deterrent element of capital punishment was the fact that the public had to witness it.

The Victorians changed the idea of punishment and moved to proportionality. The conviction rates then increased.

The Bloody Code was dismantled and you could only be hung for murder.

Victorians start to go for rehabilitation so in the 1840s they built prisons and used them as a deterrent and to rehabilitate offenders.

They were distinctive buildings and all prisoners were in the same area and had to work.

The Enlightenment (late 1600s-1800s) - scientific research development. Criminals think in a rational and logic way so make the choice to commit crime, therefore their liberties should be taken away as punishment.

Question 13

what is rehabilitation?

Answer 13

making offenders change their behaviour.

Punishment can change a persons behaviour or reform it.

Repeat offending will decline and people will go on to live a crime free life.

The focus is not on past crimes as retribution does this, but on addressing the issues that led to the offending.

Question 14

Anger management policy - rehabilitation

Answer 14

Used with violent offenders. ART or Aggression Replacement
Training and other cognitive behavioural therapies may be used here. Offenders will learn to manage their anger and violent behaviour.

Question 15

Educational and training programmes policy - rehabilitation

Answer 15

: This will improve employability - give them new skills to be able to earn “an honest living” on release.

Question 16

Token economy programmes policy - rehabilitation

Answer 16

used to train people to understand that they get rewards if they put the work in.

Question 17

Drug treatment and therapy orders policy - rehabilitation

Answer 17

These are programmes used to deal with drug and
alcohol dependence. Addiction may often be connected to reasons for offending. Community
sentences may also include a requirement to enroll on these programmes. This can tackle causes of crimes.

Question 18

support policy - rehabilitation

Answer 18

There will be a lot of input of resources and professional support from therapists,
probation officers and organisations to achieve change.

supporters say prisoners are made to engage and actively want to change.

Question 19

how do cognitive theories link to rehabilitation?

Answer 19

CBT - cognitive behavioural therapy teaches offenders to correct their thinking
errors and biases that may have led them into crime.

theorists say it is the only way to amend behaviour.

Question 20

how does Eysenck’s personality theory link to rehabilitation?

Answer 20

This favours the use of aversion therapy to deter offending behaviour.

Question 21

how does Skinner’s operant learning theory link to rehabilitation?

Answer 21

Supports the use of token
economies to encourages offenders in prison to reward more acceptable
behaviour.

Question 22

how does left realism link to rehabilitation?

Answer 22

Favours rehabilitation as it may present an opportunity to address the
social causes of crime.
They believe the causes of crime are connected to poverty, unemployment
and a lack of educational opportunity. If offenders can be given skills and
training their needs will be met and will be less likely to reoffend.

Question 23

criticisms of rehabilitation

Answer 23

right realists argue that rehabilitation has limited success. Re-offending rates are high despite prisoners
completing these programmes. Argued that offenders deserve forgiveness.

Marxists sat these programmes shift the blame onto the individual offender and their failings.
The real cause of crime is capitalism.
There is a fixed tariff of penalties, discretion cannot be used.

Question 24

what is deterrence?

Answer 24

something that prevents individuals from committing crime or going against society’s values.

to stop someone doing something by having a punishment attached to that action or behaviour.

the fear of being caught can also be a deterrent.

discourages future offending.

Question 25

what is individual deterrence?

Answer 25

This uses punishment to deter an individual from reoffending.

Punishment may convince the offender that it is not worth repeating the experience

Example:
Margaret Thatcher’s “Short, Sharp, Shock” juvenile detention centres in 1980s UK and “boot camps” in USA were believed to work because they were so tough- young offenders would not wish to return.

However, this does not tackle the causes of an offence.

Question 26

what is general deterrence?

Answer 26

this is to deter all in society from criminal behaviour.

If we all see an individual punished, we will not commit the offence.

Punishment teaches everyone a lesson: If the public sees how an offender is punished they will see what they will also suffer if they commit a crime.

In the past, in the UK ,this was done through public
executions.

Today in the UK the media informs us about the costs of offending.

Deterrents are more effective if you are certain to be caught.

Question 27

severity vs certainty - deterence

Answer 27

It is important to distinguish between the severity of punishment and the certainty of punishment.

A severe punishment will only be a successful deterrent where the offender is likely to be caught.

A mild punishment may be more effective where the offenders have a greater chance of being caught.

Eg. The mandatory minimum sentence for a 3rd burglary is 3 yrs in prison but only 5% of reported burglaries result in a conviction so this would not deter a burglar.

Question 28

how does right realism and rational choice theory link to deterrence?

Answer 28

they say deterrence is really central to preventing crime.

This sees individuals as rational actors who weigh
up the costs and benefits of committing a crime.
Severe punishment increases costs and so will
deter offenders.

all individuals are capable of making decisions.

Question 29

how does situational crime theory link to deterrence?

Answer 29

target hardening deters crime in areas because people know there is a high chance of being caught due to factors such as security cameras.

locks on doors makes it more difficult for the offender and so they would abandon the target.

Question 30

how does social learning theory relate to deterrence?

Answer 30

using role models to deter offenders - so if one of their peers is punished, this will deter the rest of them.

Question 31

criticisms of deterrence

Answer 31

no evidence that ‘short sharp shocks’ or ‘boot camps’ work to deter re-offending. We know this because about half reoffended within a year.

how do we decide what degree of punishment will deter offenders?

it assumes that potential offenders are aware of the risks, but this may not be the case.

it ignores acts that are irrational and driven by emotion.

if people think a law is unjust, they are less likely to be deterred by punishment from doing it.

Question 32

what is public protection?

Answer 32

involves protecting the public from offenders.

Incapacitation - this removes the offenders physical capacity/ability to offend again.

Question 33

policies relating to incapacitation

Answer 33

execution - preventing offenders from committing repeat crimes or any further crimes in general.

cutting of the hands - prevent stealing

chemical castration - sex offenders

banishment - in the early 19th century, convicts were often transported to Australia.

foreign travel bans - to prevent football hooligans attending matches abroad.

curfews and electronic tagging - to prevent further offending by restricting offenders movements.

Question 34

definition of imprisonment

Answer 34

the main means of incapacitation

important part of the claim that prison works - by taking offenders out of circulation.

Question 35

what is the Crime Sentences Act 1997?

Answer 35

Introduced mandatory minimum jail sentences for repeat offenders;
* Automatic life sentence for a second serious sexual or
violent offence
* 7 yrs minimum for a third Class A drug trafficking
offence
* 3 yrs minimum for a third domestic burglary conviction.

Question 36

what does the Criminal Justice Act 2003 include?

Answer 36

Introduced –”imprisonment for public protection” (IPP).

This allowed courts to give an indeterminate sentence (with no fixed release date) to a dangerous offender who is convicted of certain serious violent or sexual offences.

Question 37

how does Lombroso’s biological theory link to public protection?

Answer 37

Lombroso argued that criminals are biologically different from the rest of the population and it is not possible to change or rehabilitate them.

he supported detaining criminals rather than trying to rehabilitate them. - suggested housing them on islands away from the public.

Other biological theories of criminality support surgical or chemical castration for sex offenders.

Question 38

how does right realism link to public protection?

Answer 38

they see incapacitation as a way of protecting the public from crime.

a small number of persistent offenders are responsible for the majority of crime, so incapacitating them with long prison sentences would significantly reduce the crime rate.

Question 39

criticisms of public protection methods

Answer 39

incapacitation leads to longer sentences and long term ‘warehousing’ of offenders with little hope of release. This leads to an ever-rising prison population and associated costs.

incapacitation is a strategy of containment or risk management. It does not deal with the causes of crime or change offenders into law-abiding citizens.

the ‘3 strikes’ principle re-punishes individuals for their previous crimes.

it is unjust because it imprisons individuals for crimes that the law assumes they may commit in the future.