Crime Control, Punishment And Victims Flashcards
What does Clarke say about situational crime prevention (SCP)
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
What underlys SCP approach
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
What is critism of SCP prevention from Chaiken
They don’t reduce crime but displace it to different location, Chaiken found crackdown on subway robberies displaced it into streets above
What is environmental crime prevention?
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
What is Wilson and Kellings Zero tolerance policy?
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
What is some support evidence for zero tolerance policing?
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
What is some critical evidence for zero tolerance policing?
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
What is social and community crime prevention (SCCP)
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
Weikarts high scope Perry pre-school project
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
What did the high scope pre school project calculate dollars saved for every dollar spent
For every dollar spent on the programme $17 was saved on welfare and prison costs
What is a critisms of SCCP strategies
Only focuses on low level interpersonal crimes of violence and disregard greater problem of crimes of powerful or environmental crimes
What is Focaults birth of the prison theory?
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
Why does Foucault reject the view that western societies abandoned sovereign power because it was more civil?
He says disciplinary power replaced insert power here power because it is a more ‘efficient technology of power’ (more effective way of controlling people)
What prison thing does Foucault illustrate disciplinary power
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
What is Durkheims perspective on pubishment?
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
What is Marxist perspective of punishment?
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
What is mellossi is and pavarinis view on capitalism and prisons
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
What does interactionist Goffman say about mental asylums and prisons as institutions
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.
What does post modernist Garland say about shift towards punishment in UK and US
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’
What does Garland say about the punitive state and culture of control
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
What percent of males are likley to be victims of murder and what crimes women more likely to be victim of
70% of murder victim es are males
Women more likely to be cities of domestic violence, stalking, rape and harassment
What percent of males were victims of homicide compared to women in 2019
73% of men compared to 27% of women
What does tombs and whyte say about safety crimes and victims
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
Who criticised Foucaults theory and says surveillance not effective in preventing or reducing crime
Norris says it only leads to crime displacement
What is actuarial justice and risk management
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
What is critical victimology?
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
What is secondary victimisation
further victim-blaming from criminal justice authorities following a report of an original victimisation.
What is fear of victimisation
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.
What did Lees find about men and women who killed their partners
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
What’s are 2 types of ethnic minority victimisation
- 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
