ADVANCED INFO: Topic 6 (Evaluating Agencies of Social Control)

Question 1

Which limitation is the focus for advanced information?

Answer 1

Finance

Question 2

Who are the police funded by?

Answer 2

The government, who get their money from taxes.

Question 3

Give 3 limitations of finance for the police

Answer 3

• Police do not get enough funding, which has led to staffing cuts and therefore a time of austerity (consistent cuts).
• There has been an extra £2.2 billion pledged by the government, though they have not specified how and when the police will receive these funds.
• Over the last decade, police have made significant cuts to their budget- between 2010-2018, budgets were cut by 19% and a total of 20,000 police officers lost their jobs.

Question 4

Give 3 limitations of finance for the CPS

Answer 4

• 2010-2018, ending was cut by a 1/4, resulting in a loss of 1/3 of all staff.
• The CPS struggle to effectively investigate all crimes as they lack the staff and resources.
• CPS may ‘downgrade’ charges, so that they can be prosecuted in a Magistrates Court, as this is cheaper- but this obviously results in lighter sentences.

Question 5

Give 3 limitations of finance for HM Prison Service

Answer 5

• A limited budget must be spent on an increasingly large prison population, which further reduces available resources.
• The government is putting in £3.5 billion to fund 18,000 additional prison places, though this is just for building- it doesn’t help fund the staff or the cost of prisoners.
• Prisons are in crisis, with an increase in self harm, assault and suicide, and this is due to a lack of staffing (budgets cut by 16% between 2010-2018) meaning prisoners lack rehabilitation opportunities.

Question 6

Who are the national probation service funded by?

Answer 6

The government

Question 7

Give 3 limitations of finance for the National Probation Service

Answer 7

It is responsible for managing high risk offenders within the community:

• The agency is part privatised, which means that people are self funded and so are working for a profit- impacting social control because they will not be focusing on rehabilitation and reintegrating offenders back into society– reliant on the money from the government.
• National staff shortage and over-reliance on agency staff who may be under qualified.
• Private rehabilitation services and companies are sub standard.