CRIME AND DEVIANCE TOPIC 9: CONTROL, PUNISHMENT AND VICTIMS Flashcards
according to CLARKE (RIGHT REALIST) , what is situational crime prevention?
- make potential targets more difficult/ riskier to potential offenders e.g. through target hardening (cctv/security/alarms)
what are 3 methods of situational crime prevention?
- increase efforts (use of physical barriers e.g. shutters on shops)
-make it more high risk
-reduce the reward
= crime is a rational choice, so should make it rationally harder to commit.
according to CLARKE, why should crime prevention focus on the immediate crime situation?
-to prevent the crime from happening place in the first place by being PRO-ACTIVE not REACTIVE to crime
according to FELSON, how does the NYC bus terminal an example to ‘design out crime’?
-poorly designed and provided opportunities for deviant conduct therefore= re-shaping the physical environment to ‘design crime out’ greatly reduced deviant activity.
according to WILSON & KELLING, what is ‘broken windows theory’ ?
-signs of disorder/ lack of care for local areas = this inc. the attractiveness for criminals
according to WILSON & KELLING, what are the 2 types of social control?
- formal social control: police don’t have the same presence as they used to e.g. in neighbourhoods (lack of officers)
-informal social control:
no community to prevent crime; lack of care from neighbours to challenge disorder (e.g. no neighbourhood watch)
what is the result of the breakdown of control in neighbourhoods?
-makes crime more attractive as the environment promotes crime due to lack of security
what are WILLSON AND KELLING’S solutions to crime?
- environmental improvement strategy: repair broken windows/ clean up litter= shows local community cares
-zero-tolerance policy strategy: police tackle any disorder even minor deviance
what is an example to demonstrate the success of zero-tolerance policing?
-‘clean car project’ NYC to remove graffiti from subways
=police crack down on offences e.g. drug dealing= dec. of crimes
what are 2 other factors that could’ve impacted the dec. in crime rates in NYC? (CRITICISM)
-there was a rise in homicides BUT more people were saved due to improved healthcare/ medical services
-there were 7000 extra officers on the streets= visible deterrence for criminals
how is displacement a criticism of situational crime?
-one criticism of situational crime prevention measures that they do not reduce crime, they simply displace it.
*if criminals are acting rationally, presumably they will respond to target hardening by simply moving to where targets are softer.
*e.g. a crackdown on subway robbers in New York were merely displaced onto the streets above.
what are the 5 forms of displacement?
}Spatial - moving elsewhere to commit crime.
}Temporal - committing it at a different time.
}Target - choosing a different victim.
}Tactical - using a different method.
}Functional - committing a different type of crime.
what are other criticisms of situational crime?
☹️It tends to focus on opportunistic petty street crime, it ignores white collar, corporate and street crime.
☹️It assumes that all criminals make rational calculations - this seems unlikely in many cases of violence committed under the influence of drugs/ alcohol.
☹️*It ignores the root causes of crime such as poverty or poor socialisation.
(LEFT REALISM) what are social and community crime prevention strategies?
*social and community crime prevention strategies place the emphasis firmly on the potential offender and their social context.
what is the aim of the social and community crime strategies?
*the aim of these strategies is to remove the conditions that predispose individuals to cause crime in the first place
why are social and community crime prevention strategies long term?
-they attempt to tackle the root causes of offending.
* since the causes of crime are rooted in social conditions such as poverty & unemployment are more general reforms addressing these issues may have a crime prevention role.
what was the field experiment ‘Perry preschool project’ ?
*This is one of the best known programmes to reduce criminality.
*They did it on 3-4 year olds who were disadvantaged, black and lived in Michigan in deprived areas.
*The experimental group were offered a two year enrichment programme during which time they had weekly home visits and received extra support.
*A longitudinal study followed the children.
*The experimental group were compared to a control group (who did not get anything).
what were the results of the project?
RESULTS:
*By the age of 40 the experimental group has fewer arrests, more likely to graduate from high school and were in employment.
A03 ☹️This project was costly 😀but for every dollar spent on the programme 17 dollars were saved on welfare and prison costs. ☹️It took a long time to see the effects of the programme.
what is missing?
A03 - ☹️weaknesses of all crime prevention techniques.
*The approaches discussed take for granted the nature and definition of crime.
*They generally focus on low level crimes or violence AND ignore crimes of the powerful (corporate crime and white collar crime) and environmental crimes (green crimes).
what is surveillance?
-monitor people’s behaviour to control crime can be proactive or reactive
how is surveillance carried out in late modern society?
-A02 - Surveillance often involves the use of CCTV, scanning, number plate recognition, electronic tagging, databases that hold our information.
according to FOUCAULT, what are the 2 types of power that gave different punishments?
- discipline and justice contrasts between two different forms of punishment through sovereign power and disciplinary power.
what is sovereign power?
- typical before the 19th century, monarch had power over people
= Inflicting punishment on the body meant asserting control.
= punishment was a spectacle for fear e.g. public execution.
what is disciplinary power?
- dominant from the 19th century onwards.
=In this form of control a new system of discipline seeks to govern not just the body but the mind (psychological approach)
= done through surveillance.
what is the Panopticon and how does it lead to self-surveillance?
-It was a design for all prisons, the cells are visible to all guards from a central point; guards are not visible to the prisoners.
=Thus, prisoners don’t know if they are being watched, but they do know that they might be being watched so have to self-regulate behaviour ‘just in case’
what is the ‘dispersal of discipline’ ?
- the prison was the 1st institution to introduce conformity through self-surveillance; now hospitals, factories, businesses and schools use it.
what are some criticisms of FOUCAULT?
-He exaggerates the extent of control; Goffman argues that some people in prison and mental hospitals are able to resist the control.
- NORRIS: CCTV - we are aware of the presence but not sure if they are recording is and this has little or no effect on crime, as people still commit crime in places where there is CCTV.
- Feminists: KOSKELA: argue that CCTV is an extension of the male gaze (used to control women) - it does not make women feel more secure.
according to MATHIESEN, how do the media enable surveillance?
- in late modernity there is an increase in top down centralised surveillance but that there is a ‘bottom up approach’ where the media allows the masses to see the crimes of the powerful
=Synopticon - where everyone watches everyone -social media, people watching, video.
according to THOMPSON, how are powerful groups affected by surveillance?
-powerful groups e.g. politicians fear the media’s surveillance of them as they may uncover damaging information about them = this acts as a form of social control over their activities
how do the public carry out synoptic surveillance (sousveillance)
- surveillance done from ‘below’
the public monitor each other: e.g. mounted video recorders in cars/ on cycle helmets.
-can film police wrong doings.
according to FEELY & SIMON. how is technology of power different from disciplinary power from FOUCAULT?
-focuses on groups instead of individuals
-not interested in rehabilitating offenders but simply in preventing them from offending -it uses calculations of risk (actuarial analysis) calculates the statistical risk of events happening to particular groups.
what is an example of actuarial analysis in airports?
- Airport security screening checks are based on known offender risk factors. Using information gathered about passengers (rage, sex, religion, ethnicity), they can be profiled and given a risk score. High scores can be stopped, questioned and searched.
according to YOUNG, what is actuarial justice?
- it’s based on analysed limitation strategy by using statistical information to pick out offenders
according to LYON, what is the purpose of social sorting?
- categorises people so they can be treated differently according to the level of risk they pose.
according to GARY MARX, what is categorical suspicion?
- where people are placed under suspicion of wrongdoing because they are in a particular category or group.
-e.g. in west midlands, introduced a counter-terrorist scheme in mostly Muslim areas
what is one issue (CRITICISM) of actuarial justice?
- in danger of the self-fulfilling prophecy and police prejudice.
e.g. DITTON- CCTV operators make discriminatory judgements about who are potential ‘suspects’ = focus on it’s massively disproportionate by targeting young black males
{PUNISHMENT} what are the 4 punishments that reduce crime?-
-DETERRENCE
-REHABILITATION
-INCAPACITATION
-RETRIBUTION
{PUNISHMENT} what is deterrence?
-DETERRENCE: Punishing the individual discourages from future offending, ‘making an example’ of them may also serve as a deterrent to the public.
{PUNISHMENT} what is rehabilitation ?
-REHABILITATION: used to reform or change offenders so they no longer offend.
= rehabilitation policies incl. providing education and training for prisoners so that they are able to ‘earn an honest living’ on release and anger management courses for violent offenders.
{PUNISHMENT} what is incapacitation?
-INCAPACITATION: use of punishment to remove the offenders capacity to re-offend
=this includes imprisonment, execution, cutting off hand, chemical castration.
{PUNISHMENT} what is retribution?
-RETRIBUTION: REVENGE (‘eye for an eye’) a justification for punishing crime that have already been committed rather than preventing future crimes
=offenders deserve to be punished and that society is entitled to take its revenge on the offender for having breached moral code.
according to DURKHEIM, what is the function of punishments?
- to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values
what are the 2 types of justice?
- RETRIBUTIVE: punishment is severe and cruel, and its motivation is purely expressive in response to anyone breaking the collective conscience of traditional society
- RESTITUITIVE: aims to restore to how they were before the offence was committed (restitution) in modern society
according to marxists, what is the function of punishment?
- maintain existing social order.
= as part of the ‘repressive state apparatus’ it is a means of defending ruling class property against the lower classes.
what is a form of punishment under capitalism?
- imprisonment becomes the dominant form of punishment because the capitalist economy is based on the exploitation of wage labour.
according to MELOSSI & PAVARINI, how does imprisonment reflect capitalist relations of production?
- capitalism puts a price on the time, so prisoners do time and pay for their crime/ repay debt
= the prison and the capitalist factory both have a similar strict disciplinary style, involving subordination & loss of liberty.
how did the role of prisons change (enlightenment) ?
-until the 18th century prison was used for holding offenders prior to their punishment
=after the enlightenment period it began to be seen as a form of punishment in itself - offenders would be reformed.
why may imprisonment not be an effective method of rehabilitation?
- 2/3 of prisoners go on to commit further crime on release
why have prison populations increased in England & Wales?
- populist punitiveness: politicians gain popularity by creating tougher sentences
- prisons became a place for not only serious offenders
according to GARLAND, what is the impact of high rates of incarceration?
- incarceration= time in prison
-> high rates= becomes the systematic imprisonment of the whole group of the population
according to DOWNES, what is the ideological function of imprisonment?
- US prison system soaks up about 30-40% of the unemployed thereby
=making capitalism look more successful.
according to GARLAND, what is penal welfarism?
- theory of criminal justice whereby prisoners should have the right & positive motivation to gain opportunities for advancement within the criminal justice system
what is transcarceration?
- locked in a cycle of different agents of control throughout your life
how does transcarceration a product of the blurring of boundaries between the CJS and welfare agency?
- e.g. those brought up in care/foster homes tend to go on to be young offenders, then they may end up in an adult prison and then a psychiatric hospital.
-health, housing & social services are increasingly being given a crime control role
=often engage in a multi-agency working with the police, sharing data on the same individuals.
what community based controls are used as ALTERNATIVE to prison?
- more sanctions e.g. curfews, fines, electronic tagging
= gives state opportunities to criminalise people
according to COHEN, how does community based control cast a ‘net’ of control over more ppl?
- the increased range of sanctions available simply enables control to penetrate even deeper into society.
what is victimology and what are the 2 definitions of a victim?
Victimology = study of the relationship between victims and their offenders.
*United Nations = victims ‘those who have suffered harm through acts that violate the laws of the state’
*Christie (1986) takes a different approach highlighting the notion that ‘victim’ is a social construct.
why is it important to study victims?
- play a key role in the justice system due to their evidence and behaviour contributes towards conviction statistics
according to MIERS, what are 3 features of POSITIVIST victimology?
-1. aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimisation - especially those that make some individuals/ groups more likely to be victims.
- focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence (crimes between people).
- aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation e.g. going out at night, substance and alcohol abuse, provoke someone.
how did early positivist studies use the idea of victim proneness and what is the implication of this?
- identify the social & psychological characteristics of victims that make them different from non-victims.
HENTIG: identified 13 characteristics of victims e.g.
-they are more likely to be female, elderly or ‘mentally subnormal’ (low IQ)
=these factors can also include lifestyle factors such as those who display there wealth.
what are criticisms of positivist victimology?
-☹️ignores wider structural factors such as poverty (marx.) and patriarchy (fem.)
☹️uses victim blaming, e.g. 1-5 are victim precipitated= they deserve what happens to them
☹️ignores situations where victims are unaware of their victimisation
what are 2 elements of CRITICAL victimology?
- it’s based on conflict theories such as Marxism and Feminism.
- Structural factors = such as patriarchy and poverty, which place powerless groups e.g. women & the poor at greater risk of victimisation.
- The state’s power to apply or deny the label of the victim = ‘victim’ is a social construct as CJS are the one with the power
e.g. when the police decide not to press charges against a man for assaulting his wife, therefore denying her victim status.
according to TOMBS & WHYTE, why do safety crimes deny people victim status?
- health & safety breaches at work cause death/injury rarely result in criminal convicts
- rape victims under the influence receive less sympathy
according to TOMBS & WHYTE, what is the ideological function of failure to label?
- failure to recognise victimisation= hides the extent of crimes of the powerful
=creates hierarchy of victimisation as the powerless aren’t acknowledged as victims
what are criticisms of critical vicitmology?
☹️draws attention to the way the victim status may be given to interpretation
☹️disregards the role victims may play in bringing victimisation on themselves through their own choices e.g. by not making their how secure or their own offering.
PATTERNS OF VICTIMISATION: what is the pattern for class?
*The poorest groups are more likely to be victimised.
*e.g., crime rates are typically the highest in areas of high unemployment and deprivation.
A03 - MC people are more likely to display their wealth.
PATTERNS OF VICTIMISATION: what is the pattern for age?
-*Younger people are more at risk of victimisation.
*those most at risk are infants , whilst teenagers are more vulnerable than adults to offences including assault, sexual harassment, theft and abuse at home.
A02 - Baby P and Sarah Payne.
PATTERNS OF VICTIMISATION: what is the pattern for ethnicity?
-Minority ethnic groups are at greater risk than whites of being victims of crime in general as well as of racially motivated crimes.
*In relation to the police, ethnic minorities, the young and the homeless are more likely to report feeling under protected yet over controlled.
PATTERNS OF VICTIMISATION: what is the pattern for gender?
-males are at greater risk than females of becoming victim of violent attacks, especially by stranger e.g. 70% of homicide victims are males.
-women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and harassment, people trafficking and in times of armed conflict - mass rape as a weapon of war
PATTERNS OF VICTIMISATION: what is the pattern for REPEAT VICITIMISATION?
=refers to the fact that if you have been a victim once you are very likely to be a victim again.
-According to the British Crime Survey about 60% of the population have not been victims of any kind of crime in a year whereas 4% of the population are victims of 44% of all crimes in that period.
IMPACT OF VICTIMISATION:
-crime has serious physical and emotional impacts on its victims.
-e.g. research has found a variety of effects (depending on the crime) including disrupted sleep. feelings of helplessness, increased security consciousness and difficulties in social functioning.
IMPACT OF VICTIMISATION- how might crime affect those who are not direct victims?
- crime may also create indirect victims such as friends, relatives and witnesses to the crime.
-Similarly hate crimes against minorities may create ‘waves of harm’ that radiate out to effect others.
IMPACT OF VICTIMISATION- what is secondary victimisation?
- the idea that in addition to the impact of the crime itself individuals may suffer further victimisation at the hands of the criminal justice system.
-Feminists argue that rape victims are often poorly treated by the police and courts and this amounts to double violation.
IMPACT OF VICTIMISATION- what is the fear of vicitmisation?
- crime may create a fear of becoming a victim. Some sociologists argue that surveys show this fear is often irrational.
e.g. it is women who are more afraid at going out at night due to fear of attack, yet it is men who are more likely to be victim of an attack.
