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History - Crime & Punishment > Attitudes to Punishment - Topic 5 > Flashcards

Attitudes to Punishment - Topic 5 Flashcards

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1
Q

what are the five key aims of punishment?

A
  1. deterrence - to discourage someone from committing a crime by making them afraid of the consequences
  2. retribution - to give an equivalent punishment for a crime (revenge)
  3. protection - protect society from the criminal
  4. restitution - to fix a mistake
  5. reformation - to change a criminal so they can live a crime-free life
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2
Q

what was the overall attitude to punishment in the early modern period?

A
  • a very harsh approach with a focus on humiliation and pain
  • harsh so people would be afraid to commit the crime
  • also retribution to make people suffer
  • no thought of reformation
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3
Q

what was the overall attitude to punishment in the industrial period?

A
  • very similar to early modern but punishment had been adapted due to population increase
  • introduction of bloody code in early 18th century
  • however this became ineffective so banishment was introduced and new prisons were experimented with
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4
Q

what was the overall attitude to punishment in the modern period?

A
  • significant change
  • less tolerant of harsh punishment and more focus on rehabilitation
  • belief that prisons are not always suitable so new punishments like community service were created
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5
Q

how has fear of crime influenced attitudes to punishment?

A
  • can lead to calls for tougher punishments. - the government typically responded by
  • the fear of a sharp rise in crime in the late 17th century resulted in the introduction of the bloody code.
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6
Q

how has social change influenced attitudes to punishment?

A
  • because society has been changing throughout the decades, people’s views and positions on matters such as crime have changed with it.
  • the industrial revolution caused a sharp rise in the population of Britain and the growth of towns so there was an increased opportunity for crime.
  • the growth of poverty in the Tudor period also resulted in more crime through things like vagrancy.
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7
Q

how has the role of the media influenced attitudes to punishment?

A
  • the media were a key source of informing people of day-to-day news and so were extremely influential and could alter their stories to promote a certain viewpoint.
  • the circulation of 18th century newspapers reported more crime, creating the impression of a drastic increase in crime.
  • the newspapers had a strong influence on people’s attitudes to punishment.
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8
Q

how has the attitude of the government influenced attitudes to punishment?

A
  • the government can change old laws to reflect changes in social attitude towards punishment and introduce new punishments where they see fit.
  • the government is the body who decides what a crime is and the punishment for it.
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9
Q

EARLY MODERN PERIOD
can you describe capital punishment?

A
  • The aim of capital punishment was death as opposed to pain and humiliation.
  • most common method of execution was by hanging which would lead to death by strangulation.
  • being burnt at the stake, which was the punishment for heresy.
  • The punishment for treason was beheading or being hung, drawn and quartered.
  • Royalty were typically beheaded out of the two due to their higher status.
  • Most people in the early modern period supported capital punishment as it fulfilled their desire for retribution.
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10
Q

EARLY MODERN PERIOD
can you describe corporal punishment?

A
  • commonly used to inflict pain and humiliation
  • The stocks and pillory were commonly used as it was a public form of punishment
  • Flogging was also used as a form of retribution and mutilation and branding were also used at times.
  • Women who were said to scold their husbands were often punished with the ducking stool or led around wearing a Scold’s Bridle.
  • The different punishments for women reflect the attitude towards, and status of, women in the early modern period.
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11
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what was the bloody code? when was it introduced and when did it end?

A

it increased the number of crimes punishable by death from 50 to 225

introduced in 1723, abolished in 1841

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12
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what are some examples of crimes did the bloody code included?

A
  • stealing a horse and/or sheep
  • smuggling
  • blackmail
  • wrecking a fish pond
  • writing a threatening letter
  • cutting down a tree
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13
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
why was the bloody code introduced?

A
  1. attitude to punishment - common belief was that punishment needed to be harsher
  2. increased media reporting - newspapers began to report on crime
  3. fear of rise in crime - late 17th century, sharp rise in crime
  4. influence of land owners - they had the power to pass laws which they did to protect their property and wealth
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14
Q

EARLY MODERN PERIOD
can you describe public punishment in the 16th and 17th centuries?

A
  • nearly all punishment took place in public e.g. vagrants being whipped and petty criminals in stocks and pillories
  • hangings also took place in public to deter others and humiliate
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15
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
can you describe public punishment in the 18th and 19th centuries?

A
  • public punishment was used but became less common
  • in 1864 a Royal Commission on Capital Punishment said executions should no longer be done publicly
  • the huge crowds attending executions caused pickpocketing and the crowds were often difficult to control
  • the crowds saw execution as a form of entertainment, rather than having the effect of deterrence
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16
Q

MODERN PERIOD
can you describe public punishment in the 20th and 21st centuries?

A
  • community service is the only form of public punishment
  • December 2008, the Home Secretary Jack Straw introduced the wearing of high visibility vests to make public punishment more visible
  • the media also provide vehicle for public humiliation because they can report on punishments handed down by courts and local and national papers report on sentences and publish images of celebrities
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17
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
between which years were criminals sent to America as banishment?

A

1717 and 1776

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18
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
between which years were criminals sent to Australia as banishment?

A

1787 to 1868

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19
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what was transportation used as?

A

an alternative to the death penalty

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20
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
why was banishment considered a good form of punishment?

A

the criminal was removed from the country and so could no longer commit more crimes

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21
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what did banishment help Britain to do as well as get rid of its criminals?

A

gain control of, cultivate and colonise Australia

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22
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
how many convicts were transported to Australia between 1787 and 1868?

A

160,000

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23
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
how was transportation still a deterrent?

A
  • the sentence was 7 years, 14 years or life
  • conditions on the journey and once there were harsh
24
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
how did transportation also show a change in attitudes?

A

the were opportunity for reformation through hard work

25
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
why was transportation ended?

A
  1. attituded to punishment were changing over to reforming and rehabilitating
  2. it seemed unfair sending prisoners to Australia when increasing numbers of British people were paying to emigrate there
  3. the free settlers in Australia began to be resentful at having thousands of criminals dumped on them
26
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what were the 4 reasons why the bloody code was abolished?

A
  1. juries not willing to convict - felt punishment was unfair or out of proportion
  2. alternative punishment - new punishments like transportation were successful
  3. public executions failing - attracted large crowds, hard to keep order. increased risk of riots when offender sentenced for a minor crime
  4. changing ideas - some thought it was excessive. pubic execution made heroes of criminals.
27
Q

what were prisons used for in the 16th and 17th centuries?

A

they were rarely used because they were not seen to provide retribution or deterrence. They were used to hold people before trial and before their capital or corporal punishment.

28
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
when did John Howard publish his report on the conditions of prisons? What was it called?

A

1777

The State of Prisons in England and Wales

29
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what were John Howard’s main observations he gave in his report? (5)

A
  1. prisoners were not separated by gender or type of crime
  2. many were dying of illness and disease
  3. jailers were often corrupt
  4. too few people were employed to make the prisons secure and safe
  5. many prisoners stayed in prison beyond their sentence because they could not afford the jailers fees to be released
30
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
describe the work of John Howard

A
  • recommended prisoners kept in solitary confinement
  • believed prisons could be places that reformed criminals
  • influential change in prison functions
31
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
describe the work of George O Paul

A
  • prison had chapel, work rooms and exercise yards
  • designed new prisons
  • based on 4 key principals - security, health, separation and reform
32
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
describe the work of Elizabeth Fry

A
  • focused on women prisoners e.g. Newgate prison
  • said the prisoners couldn’t change without skills
  • focused on the inhumane and uncivilised conditions
  • campaigned for the rights of inmates
  • wanted women in prison to have education, discipline, useful work to do and be taught religion
33
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what were the new conditions of the 1823 Gaols Act?

A
  • prisons should be made secure
  • jailers should be paid
  • females kept separate from males
  • doctors and chaplains should visit prisons
  • attempts should be made to reform prisoners
34
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
how many prisons were built or extended between 1842 and 1877?

A

90

35
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
can you describe the separate system?

A
  • operated under the belief that criminals had been exposed to be influences and that if exposed to good influences they could change
  • separated from others and given time through Christian teaching to reflect
  • worthwhile tasks such as making boots, prison clothes, sewing mailbags or coal sacks
  • when they left their cells they had to wear masks
35
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
can you describe the silent system?

A
  • emphasis on tough punishment
  • hardened regime of strict discipline, harsh punishment and complete isolation
  • prisoners hard to perform daily monotonous tasks of pointless nature e.g. walking the treadmill
  • belief that constant punishment would not cause prisoner to reoffend
36
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what was the Gladstone committee?

A

a committee set up by the government that looked into the effects of harsh punishment on prisoners

37
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
What did the Gladstone committee find?

A

long periods of isolation were not reforming criminals but having a negative impact on their mental health.

Juvenile prisoners should not have the same treatment as adults (should be educated and trained)

38
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
when was the gladstone committee formed?

A

1895

39
Q

INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
what changed did the gladstone committee make based on their findings?

A

passed the prisons act of 1898 which reduced the amount of time prisoners could be isolated for. Young offenders were kept separate.

40
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what are the modern attitudes to punishment? what are some methods that align with these attitudes?

A

rehabilitation and restitution

prison, community service, fines and court orders

41
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what is parole?

A

allowing prisons to leave early before the end of their sentence for good behaviour. They had to promise to follow a set of rules

42
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what are community orders?

A

offenders were required to do a number of hours of unpaid work for the community. Community Service Orders were first introduced in 1972

43
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what are probation centres?

A

probation service began in 1907. From 1907 offenders could be put on probation instead of prison. Had to follow a set of rules, keep in touch with probation officer and report regularly to the police.

44
Q

MODERN PERIOD
how did the change in attitudes towards prisons at the start of the 20th century change prisons?

A
  • increasingly prisons were seen as a punishment themselves as opposed to flogging, isolation and silence which were no longer working
  • the change in attitudes led to improvements e.g. prisoners could wear own clothes, food was improved and more education courses became available
45
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what are some arguments in favour of the death penalty?

A
  • hanging is the ultimate deterrent
  • keeping a murderer in prison is expensive
  • a dead murderer cannot kill again
  • hanging satisfies the victim’s family and the public generally
  • murderers who have completed their sentence may kill again once released
46
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what are some arguments against the death penalty?

A
  • the wrong person may be hanged
  • no one has the right to take a life as it is barbaric
  • hanging can make criminals martyrs
  • some people ae mentally ill or do not understand the seriousness of their actions
  • other countries abolished capital punishment and their crime rates have not increased
47
Q

MODERN PERIOD
can you briefly describe the case of Timothy Evans?

A
  • born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1924
  • hung for murdering his baby daughter on 9th March 1950
  • when police found bodies of his wife and child he confessed to killing both but his statement changed several times before trial
  • in 1953 a man called John Christie confessed to killing Timothy’s wife
  • timothy was given a posthumous pardon in 1966
48
Q

MODERN PERIOD
can you briefly describe the case of Derek Bentley?

A
  • found guilty of being accomplice to a murder of a police officer during a burglary
  • his hanging causes controversy because he had learning difficulties and had the mental age of 11 despite being 19
  • trial was widely reported and provoked public outcry
  • 4-5 year campaign to win a posthumous pardon in 1998
49
Q

MODERN PERIOD
can you briefly describe the case of Ruth Ellis?

A
  • last woman to be hanged in the UK
  • convicted of the murder of her lover David Blakely who she shot after an affair during which she had been violently assaulted by him
  • despite the appeal that it had been a crime of passion, it was not accepted as provocation
  • was hanged at Holloway prison on 13th July 1955
50
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what was the 1965 murder act?

A

ended the death penalty for five years, made permanent in 1969

51
Q

MODERN PERIOD
when was the first borstal opened in the UK? Why?

A

in 1902 in Kent

opened for young offenders under the age of 21 as a juvenile alternative to prisons

52
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what was the purpose of borstals?

A

to reform the young person through training and specialist care

53
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what happened to borstals in 1982?

A

they were closed and replaced by youth detention centres

54
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what is an example of a Young Offenders Institute being opened?

A

a young offenders institute was opened in 1997 at Parc Prison in Bridgend

55
Q

MODERN PERIOD
what new types of youth punishments have been introduced since the start of the 21st century?

A

Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) (first in 1999)

tagging and curfew orders first introduced in 2003

History - Crime & Punishment (7 decks)

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