CONTROL, PUNISHMENT AND VICTIMS Flashcards
What is situational crime prevention?
A pre-emptive approach that reduces opportunities for crime rather than improving society.
What are the three features of situational crime prevention measures?
- Directed at specific crimes. 2. Involve managing or altering the immediate environment. 3. Aim to increase effort and risks of committing crime while reducing rewards.
What is the underlying theory of situational crime prevention?
An opportunity or rational choice theory of crime, suggesting criminals weigh costs and benefits before committing a crime.
What is displacement in the context of crime prevention?
The phenomenon where crime is not reduced but moved to another location or form.
What are the forms of displacement?
- Spatial - moving elsewhere. 2. Temporal - committing at a different time. 3. Target - choosing a different victim. 4. Tactical - using a different method. 5. Functional - committing a different type of crime.
What is an example of situational crime prevention’s success related to suicide?
The replacement of toxic coal gas with less toxic natural gas in Britain led to a decline in suicides without displacement to other methods.
What are the criticisms of situational crime prevention?
- It may cause displacement. 2. Ignores white-collar and corporate crime. 3. Assumes rational calculations by criminals. 4. Ignores root causes like poverty.
What does the term ‘broken windows’ refer to in environmental crime prevention?
Signs of disorder and lack of concern in neighborhoods, indicating a decline in social control.
What is the zero tolerance policing strategy?
A strategy that involves cracking down on any disorder to prevent serious crime.
What was the Clean Car Program in New York?
A zero tolerance policing success where cars with graffiti were immediately taken out of service, leading to reduced graffiti in the subway.
What is the focus of social and community crime prevention?
To remove conditions that predispose individuals to crime, addressing root causes like poverty.
What is surveillance in the context of crime control?
The monitoring of public behavior to gather data for regulating and managing behavior.
What is Foucault’s concept of sovereign power?
A form of control where the monarch had absolute power, often enforced through visible punishment.
What is disciplinary power according to Foucault?
A form of control that governs not just the body but the mind through surveillance.
What is the Panopticon?
A prison design where prisoners are always visible to guards, promoting self-surveillance.
What is the ‘dispersal of discipline’?
The spread of disciplinary power beyond prisons to other institutions like schools and mental asylums.
What are some criticisms of Foucault’s theory?
- Exaggerates the extent of control. 2. Overestimates surveillance’s power to change behavior. 3. Feminist critiques of CCTV as a male gaze.
What is synoptic surveillance?
A concept where the many monitor the few, enabled by media and technology.
What are surveillant assemblages?
The combination of different surveillance technologies to create a ‘data double’ of individuals.
What is the justification for punishment in terms of reduction?
Punishment prevents future crime through rehabilitation and deterrence.
What is retribution in the context of punishment?
A justification for punishment based on the idea that offenders deserve to be punished for breaching society’s moral code.
What is Durkheim’s functionalist perspective on punishment?
Punishment upholds social solidarity and reinforces shared values, expressing society’s moral outrage.
What are the two types of justice identified by Durkheim?
- Retributive justice - severe punishment in traditional societies. 2. Restitutive justice - repairing damage in modern societies.
What is the Marxist view on punishment?
Punishment serves ruling-class interests and maintains the existing social order.
What is the Marxist view on punishment?
Marxists see punishment as a means to maintain the existing social order and defend ruling-class property against the lower classes.
Thompsons describes 18th-century punishments like hanging and transportation as part of a ‘rule of terror’ by the landed aristocracy over the poor.
How does the economic base of society influence punishment?
The form of punishment reflects the economic base of society, with each type of economy having its own corresponding penal system.
Under capitalism, imprisonment becomes the dominant form of punishment.
What is the trend in imprisonment since the 1980s?
There has been a move towards ‘populist punitiveness’, where politicians call for tougher sentences to gain electoral popularity.
New Labour governments after 1997 viewed prison as a deterrent for persistent petty offenders.
What is transcarceration?
Transcarceration refers to individuals becoming locked into a cycle of control, shifting between different carceral agencies throughout their lives.
For example, someone might transition from care to a young offenders’ institution, then to adult prison.
How does the UN define victims?
The UN defines victims as those who have suffered harm through acts or omissions that violate the laws of the state.
What are the three features of positivist victimology according to Miers?
- It identifies factors producing patterns in victimisation. 2. It focuses on interpersonal crime of violence. 3. It identifies victims who contributed to their own victimisation.
What did Hans Von Hentig identify about victims?
Hans Von Hentig identified 13 characteristics of victims, suggesting that certain individuals, such as females or the elderly, are more vulnerable to victimisation.
What is an example of positivist victimology?
Marvin Wolfgang’s study found that 26% of homicides involved victim precipitation, where the victim triggered the events leading to the homicide.
What are criticisms of positivist victimology?
Critics argue it overlooks the randomness of victimisation and fails to account for situations where victims are unaware of their victimisation.
What does critical victimology focus on?
Critical victimology focuses on structural factors that increase victimisation risk and the state’s power to label victims.
What is a criticism of critical victimology?
It is valuable for highlighting how ‘victim’ status is constructed by power, benefiting the powerful at the expense of the powerless.
What patterns exist in victimisation related to class?
The poorest groups are more likely to be victimised, with crime rates highest in areas of high unemployment and deprivation.
How does ethnicity affect victimisation rates?
Minority ethnic groups are at greater risk of being victims of crime, including racially motivated crimes.
What gender patterns exist in victimisation?
Males are at greater risk of violent attacks, while women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence and sexual violence.
What are the impacts of victimisation?
Crime can lead to serious physical and emotional impacts, including disrupted sleep and feelings of helplessness.
What are ‘indirect’ victims?
Indirect victims include friends, relatives, and witnesses to a crime who may also experience trauma.
What are ‘message’ crimes?
Hate crimes against minorities create ‘waves of harm’ that intimidate entire communities and challenge societal values.
