control ,punishment and victims Flashcards
crime prevention and control - situational crime prevention
Clarke
situational crime is a pre-emptive approach that relies not on improving society but on reducing opportunities for crime
3 features of measures aimed at doing this
1. directed at specific crimes
2. managing or altering the immediate environment
3. increasing effort to reduce the rewards of crime
based on rational choice theory - criminals are rationally weigh up the cost and benefits of a crime opportunity before committing
need to focus on the immediate situation
Most crime is opportunistic - need to reduce the opportunities
crime prevention and control - situational crime prevention Ao2
Port authority bus terminal New York City was poorly designed and porvided opportunity for deviance
re-shaping the physicla environment reduced activity
crime prevention and control - situational crime prevention Ao3
focuses on opportunistic petty street crime - ignores white collar
assumes criminals make rational calculations - unlikely in crimes of violence
crime prevention and control - displacement
situational crime measures reduce crime, they displace it
displacement takes several forms:
target - choosing another victim
functional - committing another offence
crime prevention and control - displacement Ao3
1/2 of suicide was the result of gassing.
swapped to less toxic gas, and overall suicide rates dropped to near 0 = no displacement
crime prevention and control - environmental crime prevention
based on ‘broken windows’
stands for the various signs of disorder and lack of concern for others that are found in some neighbourhoods - includes graffiti.
levaing broken windows unprepared sends out a signal no one cares
in these neighbourhoods theres an absence of formal social control (police) and informal control (the community)
without action, the situation deteriorates = spiral of decline
police must adapt a zero tolernace policy - instead of merelt reacting to crime, must proactivelt tackle any signs of disorder
crime prevention and control - environmental crime prevention AO2
zero tolerance policing in New York
‘clean car programme’ in the subway
cars were taken out of service immediately if they had any garfitti
= grafitti was removed from the subway
crime prevention and control - environmental crime prevention Ao3
New York police department benefited from 7,000 extra officers
decline in the availability of crack cocaine
crime prevention and control - social and community crime
emphasis on the potential offender and their social context
aim to remove the conditions that predispose the individual to crime
long term strategies that tackle the root cause e.g poverty
crime prevention and control - social and community crime Ao2
perry pre-school project
for disadvantaged black children
experimental group of 3-4 year olds was offered a 2 year intellectual enrichment programme and received weekly home visits
by 40 they had significantly fewer lifetime arrests for violent crime
crime prevention and control - AO3 for all of the approaches , whats missing?
they take for granted the nature and definition of crime
focus on low-level crimes and so disregard the environmental crimes and those of the powerful
surveillance - foucalt: sovereign power
sovereign power = before 19thC when the monarch had the power over the people and their bodies. punishment was a spectacle - public execution
surveillance - foucalt: disciplinary power
From the 19th century, a new system seeks to govern the body and mind through surveillance
It replaced sovereign power because surveillance is more efficient
surveillance - foucalt: panopticon
example of disciplinary power
a design for a prison where each prisoner in his own cell, is visible to the guards from a central watchtower - but the guards aren’t visible to the prisoners
prisoners don’t know if they’re being watched so have to behave at all times = turns into self surveillance and self discipline
intensively monitoring
surveillance - foucalt: dispersal of discipline
prison is just one example of disciplinary power - e.g mental asylums
non-prison social control practices form part of a carceral archipelago
a series of ‘prison islands’ where professionals exercise surveillance
disciplinary power as dispersed throughout society
surveillance - foucalt ao3
The shift from sovereign power to disciplinary power is less clear than he suggests
he exaggerates the extent of control
Goffman - some inmates of prisons and mental hospitals are able to resist controls
CCTV is a form of panopticism - but not effective in preventing. caused displacement. feminists- its an extension of the male gaze
surveillance theories : synoptic surveillance
Foucault’s account only tells half the story
the panopticism allows the few to monitor the many, the media allows the many to see the few
increase in surveillance from below = ‘synopticon’ where everyone watches everyone
means citizens are able to control the controllers, e.g filming the police for wrong doing
surveillance theories : synoptic surveillance Ao2
powerful politicians fear the media’s urveillance of them may uncover damaging information about them = acts as a form of social control over their activities
surveillance theories : synoptic surveillance AO3
occasional bottom-up scrutiny may be unable to reverse established hierarchies of surveillance
e.g under anti-terrorism laws police can confiscate camera of citizen journalists
surveillance theories : surveillance assemblages
foucalt: surveillance involves the manipulation of physical bodies in confined space
surveillance technologies now involve the manipulation of virtual objects in cyberspace rather than physical bodies
trend towards combining different tecnologies = ‘surveillance assemblages’
e.g CCTV can be analysed using facial recognition software
surveillance theories : acturial justice and risk management
a new technology of power is emerging. differs from Foucault in 3 ways
focuses on groups rather than individuals
not interested in rehabilitating
uses calculations of risk
aim is not to correct, treat or rehabilitate - seeks to predict and prevent future offending
The purpose of social sorting is to be able to categorise people so they can be treated differently according to the level of risk they pose
surveillance theories : acturial justice and risk management AO2
airport security screening checks are based on known offender risk factors. young males may be spread higher than old females. anyone scoring above a given level is stopped and searched
surveillance theories : acturial justice and risk management AO3
dnager of a self-fulfilling prophecy
profiles of typical offenders are compiled using official crime statistics.
If these show young black inner-city males are the group most likely to carry a weapon = the police are more likely to stop them, and = are stopped over other types of people = and they appear in statistics more
punishment - 2 justifications for it
reduction - instrumental, a means to an end
retribution - expressive view of punishment
justifications of punishment - reduction
deterrence - discourages future offending. making an example of them can be a deterrent to the public - e.g Thatcher’s ‘short, sharp, shock’ regime in young offenders institutions
rehabilitation - punishment used to change offenders so they no longer offend - includes education
incapacitation - use of punishment to remove the offenders capacity to offend again
justifications of punishment - retribution
‘paying back’
justification for crimes that have already been committed rather than preventing future crimes
society is entitled to take its revenge
functionalist (durkheim) perspective on punishment
The function is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values
punishment is expressive - e.g moral outrage
2 types of justice:
retributive justice: in traditional society, solidarity is based on similarity. produces a strong collective conscience which, when offended, responds with passion to repress the wrongdoer
= expressive
restitutive justice: modern society, solidarity is based on interdependence between individuals. crime damages this, so it’s necessary to repair the damage e.g compensation. aims to restore
= punishment is expressive of collective emotions
functionalist (durkheim) perspective on punishment Ao3
in traditional societies, they often have restitutive rather than retributive justice
e.g blood feuds are often settled by a payment of compensation rather than. execution
marxist perspective on punishment
how punishment is related to the nature of class society, and how it serves ruling class interests
function = maintain existing social order
as part of the RSA it means defending ruling class property against lower class
Each type of economy has its own penal system - under capitalism, it becomes the dominant form of punishment
it reflects production:
- The prison and the capitalist factory have a similar strict disciplinary style
marxist perspective on punishment AO2
Thompson
18th C punishments such as hanging were part of a rule of terror by the landed aristocracy over the poor
punishment - imprisonment today
only since enlightenment that imprisonment was seen as a form of punishment itself
since the 1980s, over towards ‘populist punitiveness’ where politicians have sought electoral popularity by calling for tougher sentences - e.g New Labour, prison should be used for petty crimes too to serve as a deterrent = prison population doubles in size 1993-2021
the prison population is larger, male, young, poorly educated
punishment - prisons Ao3 - reoffending
2/3 prisoners commit further crime on release
punishment - era of mass incarceration
From the 1970s, the numbers of prisoners rose rapidly
3% of the adult population is under the supervision of the CJS
Garland - there is systematic imprisonment of whole groups
= black americans 12% of the US population but 33% of the prison population
has an ideological function as the US prison system takes in 30-40% of the unemployed, making capitalism look more successful
reason for mass incaerceration = move towards punitive tough on crime policies
punishment - transcarceration
trend towards transcarceration - idea that individuals become locked into a cycle of control shifting between different carceral agencies
is a product of the blurring of boundaries between criminal justice and welfare agencies
punishment - alternatives to prison
‘diversion’ - diverting young offenders away from CJS to avoid the risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy turning them into serious criminals
community-based controls - curfews
Cohen - this has just cast the net of control over more people. the increased range of sanctions available simply enables control to penetrate deeper into society
