Crime Control, Punishment And Victims

Question 1

What does Clarke say about situational crime prevention (SCP)

Answer 1

Clarke describes it as pre-emotive approach that isn’t about improving society but reducing opportunities to commit crime in 3 ways:

• directed at specific crime
• involve managing or altering immediate environment of crime
• aim to increase effort and risk of crime and reduce its rewards

Eg- doors and window locks or alarms to reduce burglary, CCTV cameras to catch crime

Question 2

What underlys SCP approach

Answer 2

Rational choice theory of crime saying criminals act rational when commuting crime weighing up its costs and benefits

So hardening the target increases cost if committing crime and therefore reduces amount they benefit from crime

Question 3

What is critism of SCP prevention from Chaiken

Answer 3

They don’t reduce crime but displace it to different location, Chaiken found crackdown on subway robberies displaced it into streets above

Question 4

What is environmental crime prevention?

Answer 4

Right realist advocate for crime prevention based on Wilson’s and Kellings “broken windows hypothesis” which says broken window symbolises disorder and lack of community like graffiti, litering and vandalism

Leaving them unrepaired and tolerating incivilty leads to delinquency and lower community so a single broken window has to be fixed to show ppl care

In those neighbourhoods there abscence of formal social control (police) and informal social control (community) as police fousces on travelling serious crime and so community feel powerless about petty crime

Leads to communties falling into spiral of decline with petty crimes growing into serious crimes

Question 5

What is Wilson and Kellings Zero tolerance policy?

Answer 5

Use a twofold strategy:

• environmental improvement strategy: any broke window must be repaired immediately otherwise more will follow
• Zero tolerance policing: instead of reacting to crime police must proactively tackle slightest disorder even if it’s not criminal preventing neighbourhood crime and serious crime from taking root

Question 6

What is some support evidence for zero tolerance policing?

Answer 6

New York did clean car programme in the subway where subway cars taken out of service immediately if they had graffiti and then returned largely removing graffiti from subways

Later some approach extended to police precincts like crackdown on squeegee merchants, many had outstanding warrants for violent crimes

This led to fall in crime in the city from 1993-96 and 50% drop in homicre rates

Question 7

What is some critical evidence for zero tolerance policing?

Answer 7

Other factors may be reason for reduced crime like:

• 7000 new police on the streets
• crime rates declined even in areas with zero tolerance policy
• new jobs from 1994 reduced unemployment
• improved medical emergency services reduced homicide deaths

Question 8

What is social and community crime prevention (SCCP)

Answer 8

A left realist theory placing emphasis on potential offender and their social context, aim to remove conditions that make people turn to crime

They long term strategies as tackle root cause like poverty, unemployment and poor housing

Question 9

Weikarts high scope Perry pre-school project

Answer 9

Project for disadvantaged black children in USA run by Weikart. Over 5 years a group of 3-4 year olds offered a 2 year intellectual enrichment programme.

It focuses on decision making and problem solving skills weekly home visits to involve mothers

Kids in the programme showed big achievement through adulthood, had fewer lifetime arrest for violent or property crime and drugs and more graduated from high school and employed

Question 10

What did the high scope pre school project calculate dollars saved for every dollar spent

Answer 10

For every dollar spent on the programme $17 was saved on welfare and prison costs

Question 11

What is a critisms of SCCP strategies

Answer 11

Only focuses on low level interpersonal crimes of violence and disregard greater problem of crimes of powerful or environmental crimes

Question 12

What is Focaults birth of the prison theory?

Answer 12

Focuses on changes in punishment from direct physical forms eg torture
To indirect, long term focus on incarceration and rehabilitation.
This move is illustrated in 2 ways:

• sovereign power: before 19Cent monarch had absolute power and control was asserted by visible punishment on body with punishment being brutal and emotional eg public execution
• disciplinary power: frok 19Cent onwards this form of control sought to govern not just body but mind and soul which it does through surveillance

Question 13

Why does Foucault reject the view that western societies abandoned sovereign power because it was more civil?

Answer 13

He says disciplinary power replaced insert power here power because it is a more ‘efficient technology of power’ (more effective way of controlling people)

Question 14

What prison thing does Foucault illustrate disciplinary power

Answer 14

Using idea of Panipticon which was design for a prison where prisoners are visible to guards in central watch tower but prisoners can’t see the guard, so prisoner don’t know they being watched

So prisoners have to behave at all times and servallince turns to self-surveillance and discipline becomes self-discipline

Question 15

What is Durkheims perspective on pubishment?

Answer 15

Identifies 2 types of justice:

• retributive justice: in society there is solidarity between Individuals as they do similar. When someone commits a crime it brings consciousness together against criminal as it seen as crime against all society and punishment is severe.
• Restitutive justice: modern society solidarity based on interdependence between individuals. Crime damage’s this and have to repair this through restitution by restoring things to how they were before offence. Punishment is less severe and purely instrumental as a sims to restore societies equilibrium

Question 16

What is Marxist perspective of punishment?

Answer 16

Punishment maintains existing social order as part of the repressive state apparatus (RSA) and is a means of defending ruling class property against lower classes

Question 17

What is mellossi is and pavarinis view on capitalism and prisons

Answer 17

Imprisonment is dominant punishment in capitalism as it reflects capitalist relations of productions.
Prisons control proletariat as most prosecuted crime is blue collar and reinforces power of ruling class

Melsossi and pavarini say:

• capitalism puts price on workers time, prisoners do time to pay for their crime
• prison and capitalist factory both have similar strict disciplinary style involving subordination and loss of liberty

Question 18

What does interactionist Goffman say about mental asylums and prisons as institutions

Answer 18

These places act as ‘total institutions’ closed off to outside world and inmates are in complete control of it

This Involves a process of ‘mortification of the self’ as inmates degraded anf individual identity removed. Eg personal items confiscated, they strip searched, shaved and given ID number being surveyed with no privacy.

This is to separate inmates former self and institutional self. Inmates lose individual identity and can’t function independently so make a sick people more insane in asylums and criminals more criminal in prisons.

Question 19

What does post modernist Garland say about shift towards punishment in UK and US

Answer 19

This has occurred with the move away from ‘penal welfarism’ as justice system didn’t just catch/punish ppl but tried to rehabilitate them back into society but in late 20thC it was regarded as failing

In late modernity individual freedoms have increased and social bonds weaker. Life is uncertain and unpredicatabke so ppl worried about crime.

So state moved away from penal welfarism towards punishments as a way of convincing the public they are ‘tough on crime’ to reassure communities they doing something about it which is called ‘populist punitiveness’

Question 20

What does Garland say about the punitive state and culture of control

Answer 20

We moved into new era where “a punitive state” enforces a “culture of control” seeking to control crime and punish offenders in 3 ways:

• state identifying groups who at risk of offending and implement early interventions
• state uses mass incarceration to control offenders
• politicians using “tough on crime” rhetoric to win elections so control of crime now about winning power than reducing crime

Question 21

What percent of males are likley to be victims of murder and what crimes women more likely to be victim of

Answer 21

70% of murder victim es are males

Women more likely to be cities of domestic violence, stalking, rape and harassment

Question 22

What percent of males were victims of homicide compared to women in 2019

Answer 22

73% of men compared to 27% of women

Question 23

What does tombs and whyte say about safety crimes and victims

Answer 23

Safety crimes, where employers in violation of law that lead to injury or death are explained as fault of “accident prone” workers

This failure to label or de-label crimes serves to conceal extent of victimisation and it’s causes while hiding crimes of powerful

So I’m “hierarchy of victimisation” the powerless are most likely to victimised but least likely to have this acknowledged by the state

Question 24

Who criticised Foucaults theory and says surveillance not effective in preventing or reducing crime

Answer 24

Norris says it only leads to crime displacement

Question 25

What is actuarial justice and risk management

Answer 25

Feely and Simon argue new type of surveillance focusing on groups and preventing ppl from offending.

Uses caladualtions of risk or actuarial analysis like insurance companies

They argue it is used in airports with passengers getting points on gender, age, ethnicity and criminal record

Lyon says this categorises ppl into risk subjecting ppl to categorical suspicion and become suspects jusy cause of pshycial features

Labelling theorist would say it creates SFP

Question 26

What is critical victimology?

Answer 26

Based on conflict theories and focuses on 2 key elements:

Structural factors: patriarchy and poverty place groups at greater risk of victimisation and is form of structural powerlessness

Failure to label: concepts like crime are socially constructed the state can apply the or deny that label eg police decide to press charges

Question 27

What is secondary victimisation

Answer 27

further victim-blaming from criminal justice authorities following a report of an original victimisation.

Question 28

What is fear of victimisation

Answer 28

crime may create fear of becoming a victim. Some sociologists argue that surveys show this fear to be often irrational. For example, women are more afraid of going out for fear of attack, yet it is young men who are the main victims of violence from strangers.

Question 29

What did Lees find about men and women who killed their partners

Answer 29

Men who killed partners seemed to be “crime of passion” provoked by females nagging or promiscuity

Females who kill partner often subjected to prolonged violence and abuse prior and wait till partner asleep or drunk, so premeditated

Question 30

What’s are 2 types of ethnic minority victimisation

Answer 30

• racist incidents: which are seen by victim or other to be racist in nature
• racially or religiously aggravated: offender motivated by hate of religion or race of victim

Home office stats say: all ethnic minority groups more likely to be victims than whites, black and Indian more likely to be robbed and blacks more likely to be assaulted or murdered than whites