CONTROL, PUNISHMENT, AND VICTIMS

Question 1

what is surveillance?

Answer 1

• the monitoring of public behaviour for the purposes of population or crime control.
• involves observing behaviour to gather data and using data to regulate, manage, or correct behaviour.
• involves use of CCTV, biometric scanning, databases etc.

Question 2

what is foucault’s theory?

Answer 2

• differs forms of punishment into sovereign power and disciplinary power.
• sovereign is control asserted by visible and physical punishment such as public execution
• disciplinary seeks to govern not just the body but the mind through surveillance.
• disciplinary power is illustrated by the panopticon where each prisoner in their own cell is visible to guards in the central watchtower where guards are not visible to prisoners. they don’t know when they are being watched or not so the are under self-surveillance.

Question 3

criticism of foucault

Answer 3

• cctv cameras are a form of panopticism but crime still takes place.

Question 4

what are modern theories of surveillance?

Answer 4

• synoptic surveillance
• risk management
• social sorting

Question 5

what is mathiesen’s synoptic surveillance?

Answer 5

• surveillance from below is more common as everybody watches each other through media surveillance, video cameras, mobile phones.

Question 6

what is lyon’s social sorting?

Answer 6

• those deemed to be at risk are categorised and treated differently due to perceived risks/
• people are places under suspicion for belonging to a particular group or category such as class, gender, and ethnicity.

Question 7

what is feeley and simon’s risk management?

Answer 7

• focuses on groups rather than individuals
• aimed to prevent crime rather than rehabilitate it
• calculates statistical risk of particular events
• eg. airport security screening checks are based on known offender risk factors. using this info passengers can be profiled and given a risk score

Question 8

what is positivist victimology?

Answer 8

• aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimisation, especially those that make some individuals or groups more likely to be victims
• focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
• aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation
• eg. going to a high crime rate area at night increases chances of becoming a victim.

Question 9

evaluation of positivist victimology

Answer 9

• bookman argues this can lead to victim blaming
• ignores the situations where victims are unaware of their situation
• ignores wider structures such as poverty’s contribution to victimisation

Question 10

what is critical victimology?

Answer 10

• based on conflict theories
• focuses on structural factors such as patriarchy and poverty which make certain groups more vulnerable to crime and more likely to become a victim.
• the state’s power to apply or deny the label of victim

Question 11

evaluation of critical victimology?

Answer 11

• disregards the role victims may play in bringing victimisation on themselves through their own choices

Question 12

what are patterns of victimisation?

Answer 12

• the risk of being a victim is distributed unevenly among different groups including class, gender, age, and ethnicity.

Question 13

what is secondary victimisation?

Answer 13

people may suffer further victimisation at the hands of the criminal justice system eg. rape victims are treated poorly by police and courts.

Question 14

what is the fear of victimisation?

Answer 14

crime creates a fear of becoming a victim eg. women are more afraid to go out at night because of fear.