Crime Control Flashcards
What are the aims of the criminal justice system?
1.) Deterrence: putting people off
2.) Public protection: maintain order, prevent further harm
3.) Retribution: punishing for wrongdoings
4.) Rehabilitation: reforming criminals
What is said about changing approaches to justice?
GARLAND:
- 20th century —> rehabilitation
- 1970s —> retributive justice + harsher penalties (Newbury calls this their just desert)
Shown by a significant increase in imprisonment in the UK between 1970-2014.
What has there been uncertainty about within the changing approaches to justice?
- Uncertainty whether deterrents such as imprisonment are working.
- Crawford and Evans, 1980s —> crime reduction focuses on preventing future crime, there has been growing recognition that the CJS should also focus on rights protection and needs of victims.
What is said about the culture of control from left realism to right realism?
- A shift from Left Realists approaches to more Right Realist approaches.
- Left realist: causes of crime
- Right realist: focuses on criminals, reduces opportunities for crime.
GARLAND: culture of control —> concerned with reducing the risks of people becoming victims rather than rehabilitation of criminals. Accompanied by growing use of private security.
What is restorative justice?
- More attempts to divert people involved in minor offending away from formal sanctions.
- Allows avoidance of minor offenders entering universities of crime.
- Victims and offenders are brought together to repair the harm caused and take responsibility.
- BRAITHWAITE: more effective involving reintegrative shaming (name and shaming, face to face with victims)
What does Foucault suggest about surveillance?
FOUCAULT:
- Surveillance: monitoring + controlling behaviour of criminals.
- Leads to self surveillance.
What does Foucault say about the growth of surveillance?
- We live in an age of panopticism
What is the concept Foucault uses to describe contemporary societies?
- Carceral archipelago (a prison consisting of a series of islands) is used by Foucault to describe contemporary societies.
- Every public location like a small panopticon in which everyone is subject to surveillance.
- E.g. school government agencies gather huge amounts of data on every individual.
Surveillance is now used to not just track criminals but to also prevent potential crime and non conformist behaviour.
What is the role of surveillance technology?
Surveillance technology:
(Technologies of power and disciplinary technologies - FOUCAULT)
- Enables the state to exercise disciplinary power over the whole population.
What does Lyon argue about surveillance in modern societies?
- Enhanced by information and communication technologies (ICTs).
- Both suspects and ordinary peoples data’s are of interest.
- Argues that everyday life has become less private.
- Surveillance is a key part of everyday life, makes sense to talk of surveillance societies where ICTs enable total social control.
What are some round the clock surveillance technologies and what do they do?
- CCTV, face recognition software, automatic number plate recognition systems
- Monitor the movements of all people, become a means of controlling all crime and disorder, by avoiding the risk of it taking place in the first place.
- And by tracking potential offenders.
How many cameras are installed across the UK?
- According to the British security industry association, an estimated 5 million CCTV cameras are installed across the UK.
- This makes Britain one of the most heavily surveilled countries in Europe, with the police routinely using video footage to identify criminals.
What else is surveillance used for, other than around crime?
- Consumer tracking
- Where a large amount of data is collected on individuals.
- For example, Tesco Club card collects information about every product a customer purchases, providing a profile of the lifestyle of that person.
What are Internet Service Providers legally required to do?
- ISPs are now legally required to hang onto their users communications and often an individuals digital footprint which provides more information than direct, physical observation.
- Everything is visible to the state or large corporations such as Apple, Google and Amazon.
Who is monitoring us according to Foucault?
- FOUCAULT suggests we are now living in a carceral (prison-like) culture, in which the panopticon model of surveillance has been spread throughout society.
- Society itself has become a gigantic panopticon, where everyone is being watched by those with power (the judges of normality) in order to impose conformist behaviour through self discipline.
How can you evaluate Foucault with synoptic surveillance?
MATHIESEN:
- In a contemporary society, it is not just the few who monitor the many.
- The media enables the many to monitor the few, e.g. by media stories on corrupt or immoral behaviour by politicians —> we live in a synopticon.
- Another example is where the public monitor each other through dashcams or helmet cams.
- The widespread ownership of cameras and camera phones means people can monitor the monitors e.g. by filming illegal behaviour by the police.
How can you use surveillance assemblages to evaluate Foucault?
HAGGERTY AND ERICSON:
- Surveillance technologies now ‘talk’ to one another, e.g. number plate recognition software and CCTV footage.
- Data doubles of individuals can be created and monitored e.g. through mobile phone communication, rather than monitoring the physical individual.
How can you use risk management to evaluate Foucault?
FEELY AND SIMON:
Surveillance is different now to Foucault:
1.) It focuses on groups rather than individuals.
2.) It uses calculations of risk
E.g. Airport screening checks, which are based on known risk factors.
The effect of this is to place entire social groups under suspicion. E.g. 2010 West Midlands police sought to introduce a counterterrorism scheme to surround two mainly Muslim suburbs of Birmingham with automatic number plate recognition cameras, thereby placing whole communities under suspicion.
—> The problem with risk management is the danger of a self fulfilling prophecy.
How can you use labelling to evaluate Foucault?
NORRIS AND ARMSTRONG:
- Research shows that CCTV operators make discriminatory judgements about who they should focus on. This results in targeting of young black males.
How can you use social media surveillance to evaluate Foucault?
LYON:
- Social media now means that we monitor each other.
- We often willingly volunteer information about ourselves which we upload to social media accounts.
- Enables us to be monitored.
- Social media companies then follow a market logic where they use this personal data to sell advertising which allows us to be targeted by companies.
What is Foucaults explanations for why punishments have changed over time?
Foucault: punishments have changed from sovereign power to disciplinary power.
- The decline in public forms of physical punishment is due to the changing structures of power in society.
- Public brutal punishments —> demonstrations of the supreme power of the sovereign over criminals. (Called this sovereign power).
- As sovereign power declined there developed a new form of state power and control over criminals. (Called this disciplinary power).
- Criminals were to be controlled and disciplined by surveillance
What does Rushe and Kirchheimer say about punishment, class domination and control?
RUSHE AND KIRCHHEIMER:
- Marxist perspective
- Punishments as apart of social control and class domination in unequal societies.
- They see the changing forms of punishment over time arising from the changing economic interests of the dominant class.
- Brutal punishments increased when there was plenty of labour and declined when there was a labour shortage.
What is the functionalist perspective to punishment?
DURKHEIM:
- Societies can only exist if they have value consensus that form moral ties binding communities together —> collective conscience. Laws are an expression of this.
What are the criticisms for the functionalist perspective to punishment?
- Assumes law reflects value consensus
- Ignores inequalities in wealth and power
- Imprisonment may not assist in social order but may threaten it as prisons often act as universities of crime
What is the marxist perspective to punishment?
- Marxists argue that laws are not an expression of so-called collective values, but of ruling class ideology.
- Althusser saw punishment as part of the repressive state apparatus which are the parts of the state that are concerned with mainly repressive, physical means of keeping a population in line through police, courts and prison —> helps reinforce ruling class ideology and protects the ruling class’s private property from the proletariat.
- Rusche and Kirchheimer regard the law and punishment as forms of social control of the working class, and as a means of reinforcing ruling class power in unequal class societies. The unequal distribution of power in society is reflected in the unequal distribution of punishment: some people and acts are criminalised more than others, e.g. the working class.
- The way the CJS and the media focus on working class crime diverts attention from the crimes of the middle and upper class who either escape punishment altogether or are treated leniently.
What are the criticisms for the marxist perspective to punishment?
- Difficult to see all punishments as simply linked to the interests of the dominant class.
- Some argue the working class fill the prisons because they commit some of the most harmful offences.
- Left Realists would argue victims of crime tend to be other disadvantaged people like the offenders.
What does retribution provide according to Durkheim?
Retribution provides:
- An outlet for public anger and outrage at the violation of the collective conscience
- An opportunity for society to express its disapproval of criminal behaviour
- Reasserts the boundaries between right and wrong and re-establishes social order
- Reaffirms and strengthens collective values and laws which are an expression of them
- Reinforces social regulation and social control
- Contributes to building social solidarity
What is the weberian approach to punishment?
Modern societies:
- Process of rationalisation, based around laws and regulations.
- Only the state has the open to punish offenders.
What is the rationalisation of the punishment of offenders based on according to Weberian theories?
- Rationalisation of punishment of offenders is based on legal-rational authority.
- Punishment is based on impersonal rules and regulations.
- It is administered through bureaucracies of officials rather than by arbitrary treatment handed out by sovereign power.
What is punishment based on in democratic societies according to weberian approaches?
- Based on legislation decided by elected governments, giving some legitimacy and it is reasonable for offenders to comply with these punishments.
What are the research statistics by the Downing Street strategy unit that show that prison doesn’t work very well?
- 2003 = 22% increase in the prison population since 1997 was estimated to have reduced crime by only 5% at the time when crime had fallen by 30%.
This suggests that there is no convincing evidence that putting people in prison reduces crime.
What does the ministry of justice research show about imprisonment?
- 47.5% of prisoners released in 2010 were proven to have reoffended within a year of being released.
- For juveniles, the reoffending rate was 70%
What were the 6 reasons for reoffending?
- Complex social causes: Boorman and Hopkins cite evidence that reoffending prisoners had chaotic childhoods, experienced abuse, witnessed violence in the home and had been taken into care.
- Unemployment
- Problems with accommodation
- Histories of mental illness
- Prisons may make pre-existing problems worse such as destabilising family ties, and disrupting employment opportunities by stigmatising offenders.
- Goffman suggests prisons have their own subcultures, which provides training grounds for criminals and confirms the criminal label, becoming the master status.
What is the era of mass incarceration which can lead to imprisonment not working?
GARLAND:
- USA and UK are moving into an era of mass incarceration.
- 200,000 inmates in state and federal prisons in USA 1970s, now there is 1.5 million.
—> Once imprisonment reaches this scale, it becomes the imprisonment of the whole population (young black males).
What does Downey’s argue about mass incarceration?
- Downes argues mass incarceration has an ideological function. The US prison system soaks up about 30-40% of the unemployed, thereby making capitalism look more successful.
What does Garland argue mass incarceration is due to?
- Garland argues mass incarceration is due to the politicisation of crime control.
- Since the 1970s, there has been a move towards a political consensus around tough on crime measures.
- This has led to higher rates of imprisonment and longer sentences.
What does Simon argue the era of mass incarceration is due to?
- Another reason is due to the war on drugs.
- As Simon argues, because drug use is so widespread this has produced an almost limitless supply of imprisonable offenders.
What is transcarceration?
- There is also a trend towards transcarceration which is the idea that individuals simply move between different carceral agencies during their lives. —> This results in them being locked into a cycle of control.
- E.g. Someone might be brought up in care, then sent to a young offenders’ institution, then adult prison, with bouts in a mental hospital in between.
- Some sociologists see transcarceration as a product of the blurring of boundaries between criminal justice and welfare agencies. E.g. health, housing and social services are increasingly being given a crime control role in multi-agency working.
What are the alternatives to prison?
- Growth in community based controls e.g. curfews and electronic tagging.
- At the same time, there has been a growth in the number of people in custody.
What is environmental crime prevention?
WILSON AND KELLING:
- Right realist policy
- Developed what has become known as the broken windows thesis. –> This is the idea that if a broken window (a symbol for social disorder and a lack of community concern) is not repaired, then others are likely to be broken and further neglect will follow.
- Unless anti-social behaviour of all kinds are kept to the minimum, then there will be a gradual deterioration of neighbourhoods and a sense that no one cares will develop.
- This will lead to more anti-social behaviour and petty crimes will eventually grow into more serious crimes.
Therefore two things should happen:
1) Any broken window must be repaired immediately, abandoned cars towed away etc.
2) There should be zero tolerance policing on all anti-social behaviour, even if it isn’t
strictly illegal.
What is routine activity theory?
Felson and Clarke suggest a crime occurs as party of everyday routines when there are three conditions present:
1) There is a suitable target for the potential offenders, e.g. a person, place or object.
2) There is no capable guardian, e.g. neighbour, police, CCTV, to protect the target.
3) There is a potential offender who thinks the first two conditions are met and then
makes a rational choice whether or not to commit the crime.
What is situational crime prevention?
- This is concerned with preventing crime in particular locations rather than catching offenders.
- It aims to make crime a less attractive choice and reduce opportunities for crime.
- This is achieved by ‘designing out crime’ and target hardening measures, e.g. post coding goods, anticlimb paint, CCTV, alcohol free zones.
- Other examples include hostile architecture such as public benches with graffiti resistant
surfaces or spikes outside buildings to deter rough sleepers. - These measures aim to make possible targets more risky for potential offenders. It is argued
these could be combined with signs warning people of surveillance in an area which would encourage people to regulate their behaviour or face punishment.
What is a criticism of situational crime prevention?
- Displacement theory suggests situational crime prevention doesn’t prevent crime and
simply displaces it to other areas where the risks of being caught are lower. - However, a review of situational crime prevention found it led to a diffusion of benefits with neighbouring areas also seeing reductions in crime.
- This review found potential offenders instead find legitimate activities more appealing.
What is increased social control?
- This is linked to Hirschi’s control theory. The focus is on tighter family and community control to promote conformity and isolate deviant individuals through community pressure.
- This approach also suggests it is possible to predict crime, and therefore prevent it, by identifying those from at risk backgrounds.
Policies linked to this include:
–> Making parents take more responsibility for the supervision of their children and socialising them into conformist behaviour. Those who don’t may be issued with Parenting Orders which compel a parent to attend parenting classes or counselling etc.
–> Schemes like Neighbourhood Watch, which help to build community controls over
crime.
–> Cracking down on anti-social behaviour through measures like Criminal Behaviour Orders or Dispersal Orders.
–> Supervision of offenders, e.g. electronic tagging to restrict and monitor their movements.
–> Adopting zero tolerance policing which involves taking steps against all crimes. This
links to the broken windows thesis.
–> Heavier policing and more arrests particularly in high crime areas to deter potential offending.
–> Fast track punishment of offenders with more imprisonment and harsher sentences.
What are the left realist policies?
- Focus on social and community crime prevention
Policies such as:
–> Building community cohesion, enabling them to develop more informal controls over behaviour.
–> Multi agency working, e.g. Community Safety Partnerships, where a variety of agencies such as the police, the local council etc, work together with local people to tackle crime rather than just relying on the police.
–> Democratic and community control of policing so it is more responsive to local needs.
The police need to be more tolerant of those with different lifestyles or those from non-
white ethnic groups. By building more public confidence victims and the community will be encouraged to report crime. Examples include: Safer Neighbourhood teams,
Community Forums and the election of Police and Crime Commissioners.
Tackling social deprivation and other risk factors by improving community facilities,
reducing unemployment and improving housing.
Intensive parenting support and early intervention strategies, e.g. Sure Start Children’s
Centres.
What are the suggested feminist solutions to crime?
NEWBURN:
- Making previously ignored forms of victimization visible., e.g. domestic violence,
- Exposing the extent to which violence against women is primarily an issue of men’s
violence against women, rather than violence perpetrated by strangers.
- Recognising that sexual violence is primarily an issue of male power and in some cases
misogyny (hatred or dislike of females), not of sex.
- Showing how a patriarchal criminal justice system holds stereotyped views of women
and fails to respond appropriately to crimes against them.
- Identifying the features of the criminal justice system that lead to further victimization of women, e.g. the questioning of female victims in rape trials.
- Liberal feminists emphasise improving the circumstances that might encourage women
to report crimes against them, e.g. more specialist training of police officers to deal with intimate crimes.
What do feminists say about the crimes committed by women policies?
- Mainly related to poverty, debt and drug abuse, there need to be more supportive welfare policies and better paid jobs.
- These policies would involve
similar approaches to the Left Realists but with more focus on the circumstances of women.
What do marxist feminists focus on in accordance to crimes committed by women?
- Focus on how inequality in a capitalist society has its hardest impact on women, particularly working class women, which drives them to commit ‘female’ crimes, e.g. prostitution and shoplifting, through economic necessity, as well as making them the main victims of crime.
- Tackling female crime therefore involves tackling social inequality focus on how inequality in a capitalist society has its hardest impact on
women, particularly working class women, which drives them to commit ‘female’ crimes, e.g.
prostitution and shoplifting, through economic necessity, as well as making them the main
victims of crime.
–> Tackling female crime therefore involves tackling social inequality.
What do radical feminists focus on in accordance to crimes committed by women policies?
- Emphasise the way women sometimes turn to crime as a result of the responsibilities placed on them by a patriarchal society, e.g. housework and childcare.
- Radical Feminists emphasise policies such as opening more rape crisis centres, highlighting the abuse of women through things like ‘slut walks’ and ‘reclaim the night’ marches.
- Men need to undergo re-socialisation so they no longer treat women as sexual objects.
