AC3.4 Evaluate the effectiveness of agencies in achieving social control Flashcards
1
Q
What are the police strengths in achieving social control?
A
- Can prevent crimes getting worse i.e. London Bridge terrorist attack 2017 - number of ARVs increased in UK officers equipped with weapons
- Specialist units train to deal with specific areas e.g., terrorism, for counter prevention. They have a wide range of specialist skills to achieve wider social control
- The presence of police officers can reduce crimes - in a review by Braga et al, it was found that 62/78 studies found that crime feel in areas that police were present. People control themselves because they are aware of police presence
- Police work with local communities so people feel comfortable with the police so won’t commit crimes and will be more likely to report them
2
Q
What are the police limitations in achieving social control?
A
- Police have been labelled as institutionally racist by both McPherson report and the Casey report. People may rebel against the police because of this and not cooperate
- According to ONS - police forces closed almost half of offences with no suspect identified which suggests they don’t have social control
- Novak et al found that areas of increased foot patrol, crime was controlled for only the first 30 days of 3 month intervention. People change where they commit crime to less populated areas - displaces
- Overall not effective in maintaining social control, ONS state that crime is increasing
3
Q
What are the CPS strengths in achieving social control?
A
- Bring an independent element to charging and prosecuting of offenders as they are a separate body from the police, this ensures that social control is fair and free from bias that may have occurred if the police were responsible for prosecutions - stops offenders being free who are guilty which enforces social control
- According to CPS statistics, 80% of cases that are prosecuted by them result in convictions. For social control, this means that people can’t reoffend and there us a high chance of criminals being prosecuted
- The CPS work with the police during the investigation to create a non-biased case from evidence gathered, but enough to pass admissibility and public interest for safety. Allow Due process model to be implemented fairly from previous issues identified before 1986
4
Q
What are the CPS limitations in achieving social control?
A
- CPS don’t always apply the full code test correctly, preventing social control. Rochdale grooming case: When CPS was presented with some evidence from one officer, Maggie Oliver after 11 months of trying to compile evidence for the case, the CPS stated from the full code test that the girls testimonial evidence of the attacks were not credible or admissible. This led to more attacks and the situation to continue not controlling criminal behaviour at all. Shows CPS aren’t always effective because they could have stopped it
- The CPS have been accused of sometimes deliberately preventing social control from being achieved. More than 58,000 rapes reported in 2018/19 however chargers prosecutions and convictions by CPS fallen to lowest levels in over a decade
- The CPS can be argued as not an effective agency in achieving social control due to the delays involved in prosecuting suspects. For some offenders, they may wait years before a court hearing meaning that social control is not achieved during this period. This can be due to a budget of over 25% and staff cuts which has increased the workload on CPS staff. In one instance it took 600 hours to analyse a mobile phone for evidence
5
Q
How can we see lack of social control from the police in a case study?
A
In April 2014, the Surrey police were heavily criticised for returning a killer’s shotgun and firearm certificate to him just months before a double murder. Seven months before, John Lower had his shot gun and certificate seized after his stepdaughter had reported to the police he had threatened to shoot her. John murdered his wife and stepdaughter
6
Q
What are the judiciary strengths in achieving social control?
A
- Have to be appointed to the role: Because they are chosen, this suggests that they are the most effective in achieving social control because not everybody can apply for this particular role and only the best in the positions can be appointed to this role meaning that they are amongst the best in achieving social control
- Have experience and expert knowledge: they will have multiple degrees within the legal field and also experience of previous cases so will have work as a lawyer, work as a trainee judge before they become a judge so are effective in achieving social control due to the vast amount of experience and expert knowledge so will be able to make decisions that are best suited to achieving social control
- Follow sentencing guidelines in their decisions: In terms of social control, it is fair so are effective in achieving this and it’s done fairly because they follow sentencing guidelines which avoids any bias or any unfair decisions made when trying to prevent criminal or deviant behaviour
- They have the ability to pass sentences to control a persons behaviour i.e. custodial sentence means that an offender is removed from society and is unable to harm or reoffend. This demonstrates social control
7
Q
What are the judiciary limitatinos in achieving social control?
A
- Might be less empathetic toward female victims in rape cases: They might give lighter sentences to male defendants which means that they are more likely to return to society sooner and therefore increases the risk of recidivism. Social control isn’t achieved fairly and it isn’t harsh enough to stop offending
- Judges can be very harsh: Ursula Nevin got a prison sentence of 5 months for accepting a pair of shorts during the Manchester riots this tells us that it is not effective in achieving social control because sometimes sentencing is too harsh on the wrong people
- Can lack empathy towards working class: social control not achieved fairly. Some middle class might not be punished as harshly in terms of the crime they’ve committed so are released back into society whereas WC are punished harshly based on their background.
- Not effective in social control evidence of increasing number of unduly lenient sentences. Attorney generals office said that 141 prison terms were increased in England and Wales in 2016 under the unduly lenient scheme. 4% were sex offences. This is a 17% rise from the previous year. Will go back into society sooner so social control not achieved
8
Q
What is a case study that links to the limitations of the judiciary?
A
Natalia Sikorka receive da conditional discharge for 13 months for trying to stal almost £1000 with of clothes from Harrods. She was ordered to pay £85 costs as well as a £20 victim surcharge. Outrage saying that the magistrate and justice system favour middle and upper classes and that she was given an unduly lenient punishment because she was a model. Social control isn’t achieved because she was let go with a light sentence resulting in possibility of her reoffending
9
Q
What are the prison strengths in achieving social control?
A
- Prisons physically incapacitates criminals so prevents them committing further acts of criminal behaviour but only to some extent
- Rehabilitates offenders through courses which prisoners can enrol on such as NVQs which can change their criminal thoughts and motivate them to seek employment than reoffend. Gov UK found in 2022 48,855 prisoners enrolled on courses
- People don’t want to go back to prison - individual deterrence and also as a general because people don’t want their freedom to be taken away from them so public won’t commit crimes
10
Q
What are the prison limitations in achieving social control?
A
- Tougher prison sentence don’t always reduce reoffending rates so social control isn’t achieved for 44% of adult offenders
- Expansion of prisons extra 4000 too many criminals
- Use of force against inmates doubles - shows that prison on uts own isn’t effective in social control
- Corruption in prisons and people bringing in contraband items
- Only prevents further C+D behaviour, inmates have already done it dos doesn’t prevent first offence
- Might encourage more crime - university
- Staff cuts has meant prison officers have fallen by 15% whilst prisons have become overcrowded which might lead to riots (HMP Birmingham)
11
Q
What is a case study that links to the limitations of prisons?
A
Birmingham riots 2016: More than 500 inmates took control of 4 wings of the prison setting fire to things and rioting due to staffing shortages. Little social control in this prison especially due to staffing shortages and overcrowding
12
Q
What are the probation strengths in achieving social control?
A
- Sarah Payne, director of the service, stated that the NPS leading towards privatisation was positive nad effective when trying to achieve social control due to increased funding to support workers in their training further and create right expertise to stop crime
- An inspection report from HM inspectorate of Probation with the Durham area found that overall, the quality of work undertaken by the service was good and leadership was strong so are good at stopping crime/social control
- As probation officer keep close supervision over the offender this can achieve social control as the offender might be deterred from offending knowing the risk that they might end up in prison
13
Q
What are the probation limitations in achieving social control?
A
- With the move to privatisation, the national audit office has warned that the government has no way of knowing how well the companies responsible for running the countries probation service are performing. To save money, companies may cut corners so not achieve social control eg.., offender may not have been supervised all the time so social control not achieved
- Too many prisoner have been released not knowing where they would sleep that night - might resort to crime recidivism
- Prisoners risk to public have been inadequately assessed before release - no social control, core crime. They could only find one prisoner out of a sample of 98 that had been mentored. No chance to rehabilitated so more crime
- A report by HM Inspectorate of probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons 2017 says staff are focused on paperwork and targets at the expense of prisoners. The work done by 21 community rehabilitation companies are having a negligible impact on reducing prisoner offending rates
14
Q
What is a case that links to the limitations of the probation service?
A
Jordan Davidson:
He was released from jail after serving a 3 1/2 year sentence for burglary, plus an additional 12 months for possession of an offensive weapon whilst inside. He breached his licence conditions on numerous occasions before killing Nicholas Churron. Probation service weren’t effective in achieving social control because there wasn’t enough supervision
15
Q
What are the charities strengths in achieving social control?
A
- Sarahs law (campaign): Parents and guardians can request access to a database of sex offenders in their area. Child sex offender disclosure scheme. This helps to achieve social control because parents will keep their kids away from those people therefore stopping crimes. Precautions to keep child aware from offender and will do more to protect them
- Ann Ming’s doubly jeopardy rule (campaign): Now you can bring a defendant back to court if there is new evidence and they were originally found not guilty. This achieves social control because it prevents recidivism if they are found guilty
- Harper’s law (campaign): Anyone found guilty of killing an emergency services worker on duty to be jailed for life. Prevents recidivism btu will also preent people from committing that crime saving lives and stopping crime. General deterrence. A result of Harper a police officer who was killed on duty
- The Howard League for Penal Reform (pressure group): Don’t see books as essentials as privileges they see it as a necessity. This allows for education for prisoners - rehabilitation stops recidivism. Keeps prisoner occupied and prevents crime in prison as it occupies their time
- The Prince’s trust (charity): Free support to develop skills to help people get jobs by building confidence and employability through course e.g., interview techniques, residential trips, work experience, community projects, courses for STEM, music etc. This enforces social control because they have skills from young age to get a job instead of committing more crime
- NACRO (charity): Helps people to build the independence and resilience they need. Support people in education, housing, justice and health and wellbeing. Provide supported housing to people who have been through the CKS including most recently out of prison. Reduces offending because they aren’t homeless so won’t commit crimes such as theft and crime for survival. Assessing poverty means a person has less reason to offend
