Crime Control, Punishments And Victims Flashcards
Crime prevention and control
Situational crime prevention:
Clarke- describes SCP as not improving society or its functions but reduce the opportunity to commit crime. Involve managing and alerting the immediate environment of the crime. Increasing the fort and risk of committing the crime and reducing the reward. Doors/ window locks, alarms, CCTV cameras.
SCP is a rational choice theory or crime, the view that criminals will act rationally, weighing up the costs and benefits of committing the crime, hardening the target increases the cost of committing the crime.
+ SCP are effective in tackling street crime such as theft, mugging and drug dealing.
X Argues that this just simply displaces the crime to different areas were the targets are softer.
Crime prevention and control
Environmental crime prevention:
Wilson and Kellings- broken windows hypothesis. Leaving broken windows un repaired and tolerating the deviant behaviour will lead to more delinquency in the area.
There solution to crack down on any disorder:
Zero tolerance policing- police need to tackle down on any slight bit of disorder found, even if it’s not criminal as this will deter neighbours going into a spiral of decline.
+ Significant drop in crime rates which shows it was effective.
X ZTP can give police free rein to discriminate against different groups (young black males) or just displace the crimes to other areas.
Sociological Perspective on Punishment
Durkheim- A functionalist perspective:
Argues that the functions of punishment is to hold up social solidarity and reinforce shared values.
Retributive justice- when someone commits a crime it brings everyone together against the criminal, as they were seen as committing a crime against the whole of society.
Restitution justice- it is necessary to repair the damage through restitution, by restoring things how they were before the offence.
+ Explaining punishment as a way of restoring equilibrium (balance) in society.
Sociological Perspective on Punishment
Marxism- Capitalism and punishment:
How punishment relates to the nature of class society and how it serves the interests of the ruling class.
Repressive state apparatus (RSA)- it is a means of defending ruling class property against the lower classes. It forces to accept capitalist values, institutions involved and the governments.
Prison benefits the capitalist ruling class as it can be a cheap source of labour for people to use.
+ A lot of evidence from studies that the law is selectively punished and that the working class receive harsher punishments for crimes.
X Marxist provides a simplistic explanation for the relationship between punishment and power, doesn’t take into account gender and ethnicity.
