Application : the changing nature of punishment Flashcards
The effect of punishment and deterrents in reducing criminal/ anti social behaviour
Direct reinforcement ( EXPLAIN WHAT IT IS ) - if criminal is punished though it will remove the reward and reduce chances of it happening again as people generally want to avoid negative consequence.
Prison - living conditions poor - take away freedom, rights and privileges so criminals avoid consequences in the futures .
Fines = take away reward, usually a form of punishment for minor crimes such as failure to pay taxes. Money can be incentive to committing certain types of crimes , less of funds has opposite effect, its disincentive
Community service = recent form of punishment, offender pay money back to society, often give up time to contribute to community. Its obvious to public that they are doing community service so psychological punishment of shame and guilt is part of process.
Making punishment public using the media to report imprisonment or issuing fine son the spot act as deterrent ( Explain what this means ). Many people do not commit crimes in the first place as they want to avoid negative consequences they have seen from others who suffer. In SLT, if people imitate what they see is rewarded then it makes sense to not imitate what they seen getting punished
The role of rehabilitation is reducing criminal/ anti social behaviour ad increasing pro-social behaviour
Punishing offenders is not enough itself to reduce crime but they need to unlearn their criminal ways and learn how to behave instead = rehabilitation. Punishment more about reducing criminal , anti-social behaviour whereas rehabilitation is about promoting pro-social behaviour.
One way of rehabilitating offenders is through restorative justice- victim meets offender. Offender directly held to account by facing victim so they are aware of their actions against individuals and communities, not faceless society. Offender encouraged to apologise, take responsibility , repair harm by doing something like community service . It brings them into community rather than exclude them.
Another way of rehabilitating offenders is through use of positive role models. Offenders need to observe others in pro-social ways, so they have something to imitate. See behaviour of rewarding and also believe that they can be ‘good’ citizens. Role models are sometimes mentors and matched with offender so they are likely to identify with them. For example : reformed criminal themselves or people from similar background as offender but found success. Role models may also be professionals who lead training programmes perhaps to improve offenders social skills or teach them to manage anger which demonstrated how to deal with difficult situations better and gets offender to role play this.
