AC2.2- Discuss the aims of punishment Flashcards
What are the 5 aims of punishment?
Retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, public protection, reparation.
What is retribution?
The idea that criminals should get what they deserve- the offender should suffer for breaking society’s moral code.
How does proportionality link to retribution?
The punishment should fit the crime- it should be equal/proportionate to it.
There is a fixed scale of mandatory penalties for certain offences.
How does retribution link to right realism?
Retribution assumes offenders are rational actors who consciously choose to commit a crime as they believe the benefits outweigh the costs- meaning they are responsible for their actions so must suffer the punishments of society.
How does retribution link to functionalism?
Functionalists like Durkheim suggest that the moral outrage retribution expresses performs its function of boundary maintenance.
What are the 4 negatives of retribution?
1- Makes justice a transaction: does not understand the victim and offender as its main goal is to uphold authority of the law.
2- It makes it difficult to consider mitigation factors: may be in best interest for society or offender to have reduced sentence but this cannot be the case with retribution.
3- Prioritises punishment over treatment: common risk factor of crime is mental health yet funding for mental illnesses has decreased.
4- Other methods may be more effective: eg restorative justice which involves victims, the offender and the community.
What is rehabilitation?
The idea that punishment can be used to reform/ change an offender’s behaviour so they can be integrated into society free of crime.
Focus on future behaviour and addressing what led to their offending, instead of punishing their past.
What are token economy programmes and how do they link to Skinner’s operant conditioning?
A method where rewards and punishments are used to modify behaviour.
Eg- prisoners who make their bed are given a token which they can exchange for things like tobacco or sweets.
Tokens removed if behaviour is undesirable- encourages good behaviour.
What did Hobbs and Holt (1976) find about token economies?
They analysed effect of token economy on 125 adolescent males in state correctional institution, token economy introduced in the boys cottages, data collected for 14 months
Mean % of appropriate behaviour increased after token system introduced- eg from 47.3% to 75.9% Cottage A (baseline to experimental phases)
What are the strengths and weaknesses of token economies?
Strengths- relatively cheap, easy training
Weaknesses- their behaviour is manipulated so violation of human rights, prisoners do not receive same treatment when back in society so no long term benefits.
What are anger management programmes?
These aim to change the way a person handles anger and aggression, to reduce the anger in prison and recidivism rates for violent crimes
Links to cognitive theories as this method aims to address errors/ bias in someone’s criminal thinking patterns.
What are 3 other methods of rehabilitation used in prisons?
Education and training programmes - allowing offenders to gain qualifications and learn a trade reducing reoffending upon release from prison
Drug treatment and testing orders- offenders can overcome addictions so lower chance of reoffending
Community sentences- can include programmes to complete a part of a sentence.
What are weaknesses of rehabilitation?
Weaknesses- individual differences mean some people will not want to change their behaviour and engage in rehabilitation, these programmes may also require specialists and resources which can be costly.
How do left+ right realists and marxists link to rehabilitation?
Left realists favour rehabilitation as they regard social factors like unemployment or poor educational opportunities as a factor for crime-addressing these will reduce reoffending.
Right realists argue that rehabilitation only has limited success as some offenders are incapable of coping in civilised society.
Marxists criticise how rehabilitation shifts focus of offending onto the offender, not how capitalism leads to crime.
What is deterrence?
The action of discouraging an action/event through instilling doubt or fear of consequences- fear of being caught and punished may deter people from committing crime.
Difference between individual and general deterrence?
Individual deterrence can be when punishment of an offender may deter them from reoffending as they perceive the benefits of the crime not worth the consequences of repeating the experience.
General deterrence aims to deter society in general from breaking the law by making an example of offenders- discouraging others from committing the same crime.
Which Act references deterrence?
s.142 of Criminal Justice Act 2003 mentions deterrence as an aim of punishment.
How do right realists link to deterrence?
Right realists favour deterrence as a means of crime prevention as the offender is a rational actor who weighs up costs and benefits before offending, severe punishments have a higher chance of deterring offending.
What is reparation?
When the offender makes amends for their wrongdoing, to an individual, victim, society or both for the harm they have committed which can be material or social.
What are the types of amends that can be made for wrongdoings?
Financial compensation- to victim eg paying for the damage done to someone’s property, court can impose compensation orders.
Unpaid work- to make reparation to society through community payback eg removing graffiti from public buildings, court can impose this as part of community order.
What is restorative justice used as a type of reparation?
A scheme which brings the victim and offender together with the help of a mediator- allows victim to explain impact of the crime and offender to show remorse.
Could be form of custodial or non-custodial sentencing.
Reduces recidivism as offender would not normally have to face their victim.
What are the 3 core elements of restorative justice?
Encounter (bringing together the people affected),
Repair (addressing the 3 stakeholders; needs- victim healing, offender making amends, and community’s safety) and
Transform (where behaviour of offender is changed.)
How does restorative justice link to the labelling theory?
It enables the offender to show genuine remorse for their actions, they can challenge the cognitive biases of criminals being known as unremorseful, permits their reintegration into society and prevents them from being pushed into secondary deviance due to self-fulfilling prophecy.
How does restorative justice link to functionalism?
Restitutive justice (reparation to put things back to how they were before crime) is essential for the functioning of a modern society.
What are the weaknesses of reparation?
May not work for all types of crime- eg compensation for minor offences is straightforward but can reparation be made for sexual/violent crimes?
Right realists argue it is too soft and lets offenders off lightly
There is a high dropout rate in the people involved- a highly trained mediator is necessary and one of the 2 parties or the mediator may drop out.
How can reparation positively affect the economy?
Shapland (2007) concluded that reduction in reoffending due to restorative justice is cost effective- for every £1 spent on restorative justice, £8 is saved due to reduction in recidivism.
What is imprisonment as a form of public protection?
The main form of incapacitation in today’s society in order to protect the public from future crimes, incapacitation for public protection has influenced sentencing laws.
What is the act that has introduced mandatory minimum sentences?
The Crime Sentences Act 1997
What are 3 examples of sentences introduced by the Crime Sentences Act 1997?
Automatic life sentence for second serious sexual or violent offence
7 years minimum sentence for 3rd class A drug trafficking charge
3 years minimum sentence for 3rd burglary connection
Which Act introduced the IPP sentence?
The Criminal Justice Act 2003
What are IPP sentences?
Imprisonment for public protection
Enables the courts to imprison for an indefinite period those convicted of violent and sexual offences who are deemed dangerous, but offending is not serious enough for life sentence.
Example of when whole life sentence was given?
Given to those who society is most at risk from
Eg Wayne Couzens- for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard where he abused his police officer authority to trick her into his car.
What is public protection like in California?
3- Strikes law came into effect in 1990s to increase punishment for those convicted of a felony who have been previously convicted of 1 or more serious or violent felonies.
How does public protection link to Lombroso’s theory?
Lombroso argued that criminals have biological differences compared to others and it is not possible to change/ rehabilitate them. He believed they should be sent into exile, eg detained on an island away from the public for their protection.
How does public protection link to Right realism?
They see incapacitation as a way of protecting the public from crime as a small number of offenders are responsible for the majority of crime, so incapacitating them with long prison sentences would reduce crime rates.
What are the criticisms of public protection?
Overall cost for running a prison place in 2022-23 was £51,724, incapacitation leads to longer sentences and long term offenders which is not cost effective.
Incapacitation does not deal with the causes of crime and how to make people law abiding.
It imprisons people for crimes the law assumes they will commit.
