AC4.1 Assess the use of Criminological Theories in Informing Policy Development

Question 1

Policy development (biological) - Diet

Answer 1

Diet can be modified to change behaviour.
- Low blood pressure (hypoglycaemia) can trigger aggressive reactions. Brain lack the sugar it needs, can cause paranoia and aggression. Schoenthaler (1982) found that a reduced sugar diet reduced anti-social behaviour by 48%. Diet of low sugar, high protein, fibre, complex carbohydrates, small meals every 2 hours.
- Omega 3: Gesch (2002) studied 231 young male prisoners. Group that got supplements had 35% reduction in disciplinary action, and 37% drop in violent incidents.

Question 2

Policy development (biological) - Diet - Effectiveness

Answer 2

• Dr. Drew Ramsey led an Oxford University study that focused on how diet would effect mood and behaviour among a group of prison inmates. Junk food = aggression, irritability, violent tendency.
• After taking supplements, infringements of discipline, including violence, fell by 37% (results published in the British journal of psychiatry).
• £5.99 per prison per day for them to have a good health model.

Question 3

Policy development (biological) - Drugs - Sex offenders

Answer 3

• High levels of testosterone are linked with some violent crimes.
• Drugs which lower the level of testosterone can reduce sex drive.
• Anti-androgen drugs block the effects of androgens (male hormones). E.g. MPA.
• MPA administreted in form of injection every 7-10 days.
• Consists in female hormone )progesterone) that reduces testosterone levels.
• Reduces sex drive, deviant sexual fantasy and possibly aggression.
• Side effects include weight gain, breast development, decreased sperm production.

Question 4

Policy development (biological) - Drugs - Sex offenders - Effectiveness

Answer 4

• A three-armed trial of oral MPA, alone or in combination with psychological treatment, reported a 20% rate of reoffending amongst those in the combined treatment arm and 50% of those in the psychological treatment only group.

Question 5

Policy development (biological) - Drugs - Alcohol addiction

Answer 5

Alcohol abuse can trigger violent behaviour.
Antabuse - used in aversion therapy, causes extreme hangover affects to drinkers, make people vomit after a drink of alcohol.

Question 6

Policy development (biological) - Drugs - Heroin addiction

Answer 6

People commit crime to pay for the drug.
Methadone - synthetic drug, reduces withdrawal symptoms in heroin addicts; similar effects to other opioids but without the associated euphoria.

Question 7

Policy development (biological) - Drugs - Addictions - Effectiveness

Answer 7

• Some therapists think aversion therapy is unethical because it uses punishment as a therapeutic tool. Any punishment may lead to feelings of shame and guilt, which may impact your mental health.
• According to U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), treatment that uses methadone for opioid addiction recovery is the safest and most effective form of treatment currently available. (2009) patients on methadone had 33& fewer opioid-positive drug tests and were 4.44 times more likely to stay in treatments compared to controls.
• If not motivated, drop our rate high.
• Not enough funds.
  Putting people in prisons = $24k per person per year.
  Methadone = $4.7k per person per year.

Question 8

Policy development (biological) - Eugenics

Answer 8

The science of improving a population by controlled breeding to encourage the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. Eugenicists believed that behavioural characteristics were inherited.
Poor breeding faster than the higher classes.
Genetically unfit should be prevented from breeding.
Criminals should be subject to compulsory sterilisation, forced abortions and restrictions on the right to marry.
- Nazi racial purity policy: wanted to purify the Aryan master race, by eliminating those considered unfit to breed; lead to murder of 6 million Jews and 1.5 million Gypsies/Roma in WW2.
- In 2015 due to moral and ethical reasons, a UK judge gave order allowing mother of six with learning difficulties to be sterilised.
- Osborn and West (1970s): 40% of boys with criminal fathers were criminals themselves, compared to just 12% of boys with non-criminal fathers.

Question 9

Policy development (biological) - Eugenics - Effectiveness

Answer 9

• Not enough research done.
• Linked to past genocides, people forced by the government instead of having their own choice.
• Not given a chance to change and improve.

Question 10

Policy development (biological) - Capital punishment

Answer 10

• Most extreme biologically driven policy.
• According to Amnesty International, in 2016, 1032 people were executed worldwide (excluding China).
• In the UK, death penalty abolished in 1969.

Question 11

Policy development (biological) - Capital punishment - Effectiveness

Answer 11

• In the USA, the murder rate is lower in states without the death penalty.
• People often kill without thinking rationally, it is unlikely that the prospect of the death penalty forms part of a rational choice.

Question 12

Policy development (individualistic) - Psychoanalysis

Answer 12

Based on Freud’s theory of personality. Highlights the unconscious conflict between the id (instincts) and superego (conscience).
Psychoanalysis based on the idea that a weak superego is the cause of criminality, since individual lacks a moral force to curb their selfish instincts. A weak superego can result from inadequate socialisation of the child.
Treatment - make the unconscious conscious, as it is repressed thoughts that are believed to have led to criminal activity. Once conscious, the thoughts can be dealt with.
Freud’s study
- The symptoms of the patients were an expression of the thought that to their conscious mind had to be pushed away.
- Thoughts pushed away because it was unacceptable to the conscious mind.
- Once patients were able to talk to him about their thoughts the symptoms began to go away.
- Freud saw his patients 6 days a week.

Question 13

Policy development (individualistic) - Psychoanalysis - Suitable for criminals?

Answer 13

Because criminals’ conscious minds have already accepted and acted on the unacceptable thoughts in their unconscious. If their conscious mind has already integrated, which is what psychoanalysis helps people do, then there’s no point in the treatment.
However, they may have acted upon those actions because they didn’t have any other way of letting them out, and talking to a professional is a good alternative instead of doing what those thoughts want.
It’s expensive.

Question 14

Policy development (individualistic) - Psychoanalysis - Effectiveness

Answer 14

• Costly, time consuming and unlikely to provide quick answers. Never been used in large scale to treat criminals.
• Analysist is able to abuse their power. Could implant fake memories in their patients.
• Patient could remember things that could cause great distress. There was a reason the memory was repressed.
• However, a study in 2010 concluded that it works as well as other psychotherapy treatments such as CBT.

Question 15

Policy development (individualistic) - Learning theories - Behaviour modification - Token economy

Answer 15

Operant conditioning and the token economy.
- According to OC, criminal behaviour is learned through reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcements strengthens the behaviour, punishment weakens the behaviour.
- If it is learned, it can be unlearned.
Token economy - behaviour modification program used in some prisons.
- When offender behaves in desirable way, they receive a token.
- Tokens accumulated may be exchanged for privileges/rewards.
- Through selective reinforcement, good behaviour becomes more likely and undesirable behaviour less likely.

Question 16

Policy development (individualistic) - Learning theories - Behaviour modification- Token economy - Effectiveness

Answer 16

:)
- Token economies have short-term effectiveness on both young and adult offenders.
- Make prisoners more manageable while in prison. Promote disciplined and controlled environment.
- Offenders return to crime much slower.
:(
- Token economy only effective within the confines of the institution. Once offender leaves prison, behaviour tends to disappear.
- There have been cases in the USA of food or drink being withheld and used as ‘rewards’. This is unacceptable.
- Ignores other reasons why people commit crimes.

Question 17

Policy development (individualistic) - Behaviour modification - Aversion therapy and Eysenck’s theory

Answer 17

Eysenck states the criminals tend to be extraverted and neurotic. This makes them harder to condition because they are more resistant to learning through punishment.
Aversion therapy:
- Offenders are asked to think about an unacceptable sexual fantasy until they are aroused.
- A strongly aversive stimulus is then administered - such as an electric shock or nausea-inducing drug.
_ The procedure is repeated until the offender comes to associate the deviant arousal and the stimulus. The aim is to stop the thoughts and thus stop the offending behaviour.
Aversion therapy has only limited success - usually on short term.
Human rights abuse.
Used to try to treat homosexuality.

Question 18

Policy development (individualistic) - Behaviour modification - Anger management programs

Answer 18

• Focus on people with aggressive behaviour that needs to be controlled. Involves identifying what triggers anger and learning to control those triggers.
• AMPs tend to be used in prisons and on ex-offenders who are serving a probationary period.

Question 19

Policy development (individualistic) - Behaviour modification - Anger management programs - Effectiveness

Answer 19

:)
- Ireland (2004) compared offenders who were offered AMP with those who weren’t. She found that those receiving treatment showed significant improvement in their behaviour than the control group.
:(
- However, studies claiming success of the programmes use self report data, where prisoners might want to look good and say the groups were useful.
- Damien Hanson completed course for 24 anger management sessions and convinced parole review board panel that he should be released from prison. He went on to murder John Monckton. Anger management training increased his ability to manipulate the situation to his advantage.

Question 20

Policy development (sociological) - Tackling inequality (Merton, subcultural theories, left realism)

Answer 20

• ‘Innovation’ is the result of failing to achieve society’s goals through legitimate opportunities Merton’s strain theory).
• Subcultural theorists argue that crime is caused by blocked opportunities that drive people into becoming professional criminals, joining gangs or dropping out.

Question 21

Policy development (sociological) - Tackling inequality (Merton, subcultural theories, left realism) - What policies make society’s structure more equal?

Answer 21

Policies to tackle poverty - better welfare benefits, wages and job security would reduce crime by giving more equal opportunities to all.
Equal opportunities in school - Treating working class children equally would reduce their failure rate, making them less likely to suffer status frustration and join delinquent subcultures.
Education in prison - half of UK prisoners have a reading age of 11. Better education in prisons would help inmates gain skills to get a good job and go straight.
Evidence - societies that spend more money on welfare jail fewer people and those with greater inequality, like the USA, have higher crime rates.

Question 22

Policy development (sociological) - Tackling inequality (Merton, subcultural theories, left realism) - Left realism policies

Answer 22

Policies to reduce inequality - involves tackling discrimination, lack of opportunity and unfairness of rewards, providing good jobs and housing for all.
Democratic policing - reduction of ‘military policing’ such as stop and searches to win back public support - particularly in poorer areas. Police focus should be on victims of domestic abuse and hate crimes, rather than offences such as cannabis possession.
Multi-agency approach - involvement of schools, youth services, housing of departments, social services, local councils, the NHS to improve facilities, opportunities and provide alternatives to crime.

Question 23

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Situational crime prevention (SCP)

Answer 23

• Aim to reduce opportunities for crime by increasing the risks or difficulty of committing the crime and by reducing the rewards.
• Based on rational choice theory.
• SCP involves target hardening – e.g. locking cars, security guards etc; and designing out – e.g. sloping seats in bus shelters (to prevent people sleeping on them), designing housing cul-de-sacs to reduce through-flow etc.

Question 24

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Situational crime prevention (SCP) - Effectiveness

Answer 24

• One problem is displacement. If criminals are rational actors, then when they find a target too hard to crack, they will simply look for a softer one. E.g. they will commit crimes at a different time or place; or use a different method; or choose a different target.

Question 25

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Environmental crime prevention

Answer 25

Based on broken windows theory.
Environmental improvement strategy – where all signs of disorder are tackled promptly – removal of graffiti, litter, abandoned housing etc
Zero tolerance policing (ZTP) strategy – taking a tough ‘zero tolerance’ stance towards all crime, no matter how trivial. This includes tackling ‘quality of life’ offences such as aggressive begging, prostitution and vandalism. ZTP was pioneered by New York Police, under the guidance of mayor Rudy Guiliani. It is favoured by right realists. ZTP has been used in various places in the UK, such as Kings Cross (London) and Strathclyde (Scotland).

Question 26

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Environmental crime prevention - Effectiveness

Answer 26

• Crime fell after ZTP was introduced in New York in the 1990s – the murder rate reduced by 49%. However, this may have been due to other factors – such as falling use of crack cocaine. There were also reductions in crime in US cities that did not adopt ZTP.
• In the UK, crime was cut by 20% in 18 months after the introduction of ZTP.
• Males and Macallair found that ZTP curfews actually increased juvenile crime. By removing law abiding youths from the streets, they leave them emptier and more favourable to crime.
• ZTP can lead to the targeting of ethnic minorities due to police racism, and heavy-handed ‘military policing’.

Question 27

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Penal populism

Answer 27

• Criminals make rational choice to offend by weighing up the costs and benefits of offending. Higher costs such as tougher penalties should therefore deter criminals.
• Penal populism refers to the government’s attempts at proposing laws to punish offenders that will be therefore be popular with the general public.
• Penal populism has also led to rising numbers in jail – from 45000 in 1993, to 83000 in 2018 – England and Wales imprison a bigger proportion of their population than any other European country.
  Crime (Sentences) Act 1997
• Automatic life sentences for second serious sexual or violent offence
• A minimum of seven years for a third Class A drug trafficking conviction.
• A minimum of three years for a third domestic burglary conviction.

Question 28

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Imprisonment - What % of those serving short-term sentences (less than a year) are likely to reoffend?

Answer 28

70%

Question 29

Policy development (sociological) - Right realism - Imprisonment - Effectiveness

Answer 29

Incapacitation – prison works ‘temporarily’. Offenders can’t commit crimes against the public while they are in jail. They can still offend against fellow inmates and staff.
Rehabilitation – overcrowding and budget cuts means many prisoners lack access to education, skills training or treatment programs that would help them become law-abiding citizens.
Recidivism – imprisonment is ineffective in preventing recidivism (repeat offending). 48% of adults are re-convicted within a year of release.
Deterrence – right realists argue that the risk of jail deters would-be criminals, who make rational choices about offending. However studies show that the risk of imprisonment doesn’t deter offenders enough to affect overall crime rates.
- England and Wales have the highest imprisonment rate in western Europe (147 people per 100,000 of the population).

Question 30

Policy development (sociological) - Restorative justice and crime control

Answer 30

This is a voluntary process involving the person who has suffered harm AND the person who caused harm.
Trained facilitators (people who assist in finding a solution/making a task easier) talk with victims and offenders about:
- what happened
- who was affected and how
- what can be done to repair the harm
- Restorative justice can occur at any stage of the criminal justice process – e.g. after conviction and pre-sentence – in which case it can form part of the sentencing procedure.
It is used by prisons and police forces and is growing in popularity. Government funding has been provided to the police and crime commissioners to make the process available to the victims of crime.

Question 31

Policy development (sociological) - Restorative justice and crime control - Effectiveness

Answer 31

It allows the victim a voice in the criminal justice system and cam make offenders accountable for their actions by allowing them to take responsibility for them.
According to the Prison Fellowship (2017) website, RJ can reduce PTSD in victims, and in some cases motivate offenders to turn away from a life of offending.
In 2001, an independent report by the Ministry of Justice found that:
- The majority of victims choose to participate in face-to-face meetings.
- 85% of victims who took part were satisfied with the process
- RJ reduces reoffending rates by 14% and is therefore cost-effective.
RJ both reduces reoffending and improves victim satisfaction (Campbell Collaboration, 2013)

Question 32

Policy development (sociological) - CCTV

Answer 32

Can be used to both prevent and investigate crime.

Question 33

Policy development (sociological) - CCTV - Effectiveness

Answer 33

• According to the College of Policing’s (2013) briefing – it can make ‘a small, but statistically significant, reduction in crime’. However it is more effective in reducing theft of and from vehicles. It has no impact on violent crime.
• CCTV can provide compelling evidence. It can show the nature and severity of a crime and identify both suspects AND witnesses.