Control, punishment and victimisation Flashcards
Surveillance in the 14th century vs. now
Plague then, cameras and control now
Foucault - birth of prison
two types of control
- sovereign - monarch in charge. Brutality and public executions
- disciplinary - system aims to govern both mind and body
Panopticon
surveillance becomes self
control inside prisoner
What other types of discipline are there?
• Non – prison based control e.g. community service form part of carceral archipelago
What is synoptic surveillance?
media allow many to monitor few
What is actuarial justice and social sorting?
looks at risk of groups for limitation strategies
• Social sorting – entire group under ‘categorical suspicion’ e.g. stop and search for black males
Evaluation of surveillance
wrongly assumes emotional aspects of punishment are gone , CCTV simply causes displacement, CCTV as version of male gaze which doesn’t make women secure
Types of punishment
reduction (deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation) and retribution
Functionalist view of punishment
uphold solidarity and reinforce value consensus. Punishment as expressive.
• 2 types of justice – 2 different types of society
• Retributive for traditional (based on collective conscience); restitutive for modern society (based on interdependence)
Marxist view of punishment
society divided by class to serve capitalism • Rusche and Kirchheimer – economy reflects penal system and prison reflects factory discipline
How has the role of prisons changed?
traditional societal prisons were only pre – sentencing
• Enlightenment – prison to reform through labour, religion and surveillance
How effective are prisons?
• Now – proved ineffective (2/3 recidivism) and move towards populist punitiveness
Mass incarceration
from 1970s, prisoners became 3% of population
• May be ideological – soak up unemployment
What is transcarceration?
individuals become locked in cycle of control (always under agency control)
• Alternatives to prison – major goal of dealing with young people is diversion
• Cohen – growth of community controls casts net of control over more people
What is a victim?
victim is person who has suffered harm, loss or impairment through acts or omissions that violates law
What is an ideal victim
Young, female, white and blameless
Positivist victimology
interested in victim proneness
focus on interpersonal crimes of violence (where there may have been victim precipitation)
Miers’ 3 features (factors which produce patterns, interpersonal crimes of violence and victims who contribute to their own victimization)
Victim proneness
age, ethnicity, class etc.
Critical victimology
based on 2 factors (structural factors which place groups at greater risk and the withholding or applying of victim status - hides crimes of powerful
Class
poorest at most risk. Homeless are 12x more likely to experience violence
Age
young at most risk
Ethnicity
EM at greater risk (and feel under – protected and over controlled)
Gender
males at greater risk (70% of homicide victims are male)
Repeat victimisation
4% are victims of 44% of crime
Evaluation of victimisation
draws attention to role of power, focuses on women’s passivity instead of threat of patriarchal violence
