Crime And Deviance - Surveillance & Punishment

Question 1

SOCIOLOGIST: What is the role of punishment in crime control & prevention, according to Newburn?

Answer 1

Discourage from reoffending (rehabilitation/deterrence)
Force them to make amends to victims (restorative justice)
Protect society from those who are dangerous
Reinforce social values & bonds
Punish them (because they deserve it)

Question 2

How has punishment changed over time?

Answer 2

Public spectacles e.g. public hanging -> more private (life imprisonment/fines etc)

Sadistic punishments still found in some societies today (public executions still found in some Muslim countries today)

Question 3

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Foucault say about the changing form of punishment?

Answer 3

Decline in public punishment is related to changes of structures of power (sovereign power-> disciplinary power)
Change is due to the panopticon -> prisoners had to exhibit self-discipline (internalised disciplinary power) & changes their behaviour

Question 4

What is the panopticon?

Answer 4

A prison design where prisoners are visible to the guards at all times

Question 5

SOCIOLOGISTS: What do Rusche & Kircheimer (Marxists) say about the changing form of punishments?

Answer 5

Punishments are a part of a system of social control & class domination in unequal societies
Punishments have changed from public spectacles to contemporary use of criminals as cheap labour in prisons (due to changing economic interests of dominant class)
Brutality rose while there’s lots of labour & declines in labour shortage

Question 6

What do Functionalists say about punishment?

Answer 6

Argue society can only function in a value consensus that forms a collective conscience & laws are expressive of it

Punishment can:
Reasserts boundaries between right or wrong (reestablishes social order)
Reinforces social regulation & control
Reaffirms collective values & laws (expression of them)

Question 7

EVALUATION: What are some criticisms of the functionalist approach to punishment?

Answer 7

Marxists -> assumes laws follow value consensus & ignores inequalities in £££ & power
Punishments may not assist in reestablishing social order but instead threatens it & makes it worse (prisons often prove to be manufacturing crime then deterring it)

Question 8

What do Marxists say about punishment?

Answer 8

Argue laws are expressive of the ruling class ideology
Rushe & Kirchenheimer
Unequal distribution of punishment reflected in the unequal distribution of power & criminal law & CJS is directed against most disadvantaged in society e.g. poor/minority ethnic groups
CJS & media focus on w class crime (diverts from crimes of the powerful)

Question 9

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Althusser say about punishment?

Answer 9

Punishment part of the repressive state apparatus (means of keeping population in line)

Question 10

EVALUATION: What are some criticisms of the Marxist approach to explaining punishment?

Answer 10

Left realists -> It is difficult to see all punishment linked to the dominant ideology (some argue w class fill prisons because they commit more harmful crimes & their victims are often other disadvantaged individuals)

Question 11

What is the weberian approach to explaining punishment?

Answer 11

modern societies undergone rationalisation -> legal-rational authority
• Punishment based on impersonal rules & regulations administered by complex bureaucracies of officials rather than arbitrary treatment by monarchs
• Democratic societies -> rules governing punishment based on legislation decided by elected govts -> gives them claim to being legitimate in eyes of the public & reasonable for offenders to comply with
- State only has power to punish offenders
- CJS has complex hierarchical bureaucratic organisation with range of professional groups e.g. police dealing with offenders in tightly managed impersonal process which governs form of punishment e.g. type/length of sentences

Question 12

EVALUATION: What is a criticism of the Weberian approach to explain punishment?

Answer 12

Issues surrounding extent to which rules & regulations are fair & extent to which officials follow them (many miscarriages of justice)

Question 13

What do right realists say about prison?

Answer 13

It is a key way of deterring people from crime

Question 14

AO2: What is the research by the Downing Street strategy & what does it suggest?

Answer 14

There has been 22% increase in prison pop since 1997 & estimated to reduce crime by 5% (prisons often prove doesnt seem to work well)

Question 15

SOCIOLOGISTS: What does Boorman & Hopkins say about imprisonment?

Answer 15

Crime has a range of social causes (former prisons had chaotic childhoods (many experience abuse)) & prison can make pre-existing problems worse e.g. stigmatisation (reduces job opportunities).

Question 16

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Goffman (Interactionist) say about imprisonment?

Answer 16

prisons have own subcultures (provide training grounds, confirming criminal label -> Becker (master status)
o Prison an institution for manufacture of crime rather than prevention

Question 17

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Foucault say about surveillance, crime control & prevention?

Answer 17

surveillance extends across many institutions in contemporary society & penetrates into many spheres of life (including private)

• Argued contemporary society transformed into disciplinary society (‘age of panopticism’ – everyone subject to disciplinary gaze of panopticon)
• Surveillance technologies (‘technologies of power’) means for the state & others to exercise disciplinary power by casting net of surveillance over entire pop.
• Foucault -> carceral archipelago (every public location is a small panopticon where everyone subject to surveillance
• Surveillance not just used to track criminals -> can prevent potential crime & monitor non-conformist behaviour
• Suggests we live in carceral (prison like) culture which panoptic model of surveillance is spread throughout society, everyone is being watched by the ‘judges of normality’ in order to impose conformist behaviour through self-discipline

Question 18

SOCIOLOGIST: What does Lyon say about surveillance, crime control & prevention?

Answer 18

surveillance in technologically advanced societies has been amplified by ICTs

• Emphasised that those who are suspects, ordinary people find their personal data is in interest to others (their life is less private)
• Surveillance = pervasive & inescapable -> makes sense to talk of surveillance societies where ICTs enable total societal control

Question 19

How is technology a key mean of controlling crime?

Answer 19

CCTV, face recognition & autonomic recognition systems now monitor the movements of all people & surveillance is also in the form of consumer tracking (e.g. Tesco clubcard -> collects data of purchases of the person which can provide a profile of the lifestyle of the individual) -> allows the state to track activities of individuals throughout their lives

Question 20

EVALUATION: What is a strength of Foucault?

Answer 20

shows how power of surveillance can increase power of the state

Surveillance is so pervasive that people are unlikely to be aware of it (particularly towards use of social media) -> even when they’re aware they take steps to avoid it

Question 21

EVALUATION: What are some limitations of Foucault’s viewpoint?

Answer 21

• Questionable how far surveillance may alter peoples behaviour

• Surveillance can be useful e.g. hospitals/ reducing crime in problem areas -> evidence suggest those living in most deprived areas welcomed surveillance to increase their sense of security & reducing crime
• Surveillance also is in growing assistance in reducing terrorism & threats it poses to public safety (some regard as convenient excuse by state to undermine civil liberties & justify increasing surveillance on everyone)