Crime control, prevention, punishments, victims and the role of the cjs. Flashcards
What is the CJS and what is its role ?
Criminal justice system- formal agent of social control. it’s made up of the government, police, judiciary and prison. It’s role is to protect society, deter, punish and reform criminals.
List 5 ways the CJS try and control crime ?
Dispersal orders, Asbo’s, ABC’S, parenting contracts and curfews.
What are dispersal orders and are they effective in controlling crime ?
Dispersal orders- introduced under the Anti social behaviour act 2003. They provide police they power to break up groups if they believe they are or are going to cause a nuisance, harassment or distress.
They aren’t effective as they’re only a short term solution and they target young people.
What are Asbo’s and are they effective in controlling crime ?
Asbo’ are anti social behaviour orders. They are civil orders against a person on the balance of evidence to have engaged in anti social behaviour.
They aren’t effective as they are sometimes seen as a badge of honour. Statistics show that 53.7% were breached in 2005, 69.4 % in 2006 and 70.3% in 2007.
What are ABC’S and are they effective in controlling crime ?
Acceptable behaviour contracts. They’re voluntary contracts between someone who is anti social and the people concerned e.g. police or social worker.
They need constant monitoring to be effective.
They are cheap and easy to achieve
Mainly used on young people, occasionally on adults.
What are parenting contracts and are they effective in controlling crime ?
A supportive measure which offers a structured and balanced way for agencies to work with parents on a voluntary basis to improve the behaviour of a young person up to the age of 17. They can include parenting programmes and lessons on ways to improve their child’s behaviour e.g. walking them to school to improve attendance.
parents and children can work together to comprise on a contract.
Once signed it must be followed or there will be consequences.
What are curfews and are they effective in controlling crime ?
Curfews were first introduced in 1998 in the crime and disorder act. They were introduced in areas were the police and council agree that gangs are causing trouble. They can last for 6 months at a time.
They think the worst of people
don’t encourage good behaviour.
Identify prison statistics ?
There is around 9 million people in prison.
The UK has the highest rate in Europe with 140 people per 100,00
there are roughly 87,000 prisons today.
it costs around £40,000 per year per person.
The UK has 157 prisons.
What is situational crime prevention and what view point is it from ?
Pre emptive approach that simply aims to reduce the opportunities to commit crime. It was derived from routine activity theory and rational choice theory, and is a right realist perspective.
What is routine activity theory and rational choice theory/ what do they suggest ?
Routine activity theory suggests that a crime occurs as part of everyday routine, when there 3 conditions present- suitable target, no capable guardian to protect the target (police, CCTV or neighbour) and finally someone who thinks both conditions are met.
Rational choice theory suggests that offenders weigh up the benefits and risks before committing each opportunity before choosing whether or not to commit the offence.
How does situational crime prevention aim to reduce crime opportunities ?
Through target hardening measures e.g. anti climb paint, CCTV or alarms.
Evaluate situational crime prevention
Good: Through the use of target hardening it will cut down the amount of crime that occurs
Bad: It assumes criminals act rationally in committing crime and not acting on impulse.
Bad: It simply displaces crime ( spatial, temporal, target, tactical and functional)
Bad: Ignores root cause of crime e.g. poverty or poor socialisation making it difficult to develop a long term solution.
What do right realists believe ?
Right realists believe that crime is not socially constructed, therefore crime will happen no matter what difference you make or how much you try to prevent it happening. They are concerned with the significant rise in the crime rates and feel that other theories don’t offer a realistic practical solution to help tackle crime. They say that ‘‘crime is a real and growing problem that destroys communities, undermines social cohesion and threatens societies work ethic”. They argue there is two causes of crime which are biological differences and socialisation of the underclass.
Other than rational choice theory, routine activity theory, target hardening and situational crime prevention, what other theory does right realism talk about ?
Wilson and George Kellings broken window theory and solution- zero tolerance policing.
Explain the broken window theory ?
Broken windows stand for signs of disorder and lack of concern for others. This includes graffiti, noise, vandalism etc. and if this isn’t repaired it shows no one cares.
In some areas where there is an absence of both formal and informal control the police are only focusing on major crimes and turn a blind eye to petty crimes leaving respectable members of society intimidated and powerless. So they move out and other delinquents move in making the area a magnet for delinquents and crime.
Explain the Kellings solution to crime (zero tolerance policing).
The idea that the absence of control leads to crime. The solution is that police should crack down on all crime no matter how petty it is. secondly to implement a environmental improvement strategy, effectively repair all broken windows.
Is there any evidence that the zero tolerance policy and environmental improvement strategy works ?
‘Clean car programme’ in New York subway. cars were taken out of transit if there was signs of graffiti and clean and then put back into transit. Resulted in graffiti largely being removed.
Crackdown on squeegee merchants discovered many had outstanding warrants for violent and property crimes. Between 1993 and 1996, there was a significant drop in crime including a 50% drop in crime including the homicide rate from 1927 986.
However unclear if it was due to the policies as:
NYPD had 7000 new officers
There was general decline in crime even in cities where the policies weren’t implemented.
What do left realists believe ?
left realists believe that reform is the way to make social change happen. They believe we need to develop explanations of crime so that we can develop practical strategies for reducing it right now rather than waiting for a revolution that could take time. Left realism developed in the response to the need to take the crime rate seriously and to offer practical solutions to crime, but not only that, it developed in response of right realisms influence on the government. Lea and Young said that left realists don’t discount white collar crime and corporate crime, they just believe that street crime is the most transparent of all injustices.
What reasons do left realists give for the causes of crime ?
3 explanations of crime; subculture, marginalisation and relative deprivation.