Crime: Effects of Imprisonment Flashcards
What are 4 purposes of sending someone to prison?
- Safety for the public
- Retribution
- Reform/rehabilitation
- Deterrent
What was the recidivism rates like in the UK in 2022?
25.5%
What is the prison situation in El Salvador?
- All prisoners locked away (esp. gang members)
- Maximum security prison
- Overcrowded
-Lowest murder rate worldwide
What is the difference between category A and C prisons in the UK?
- Category A is for the most severe crimes - high security
- Category C - focus on reform
What is a closed prison in the UK?
For prisoners who are a threat to others and are strictly monitored
How may rehabilitation be achieved in prisons?
- Therapy - anger management
- Teach skills eg. cooking
- Education programs to gain qualifications
What is an example of a UK company that will hire ex convicts?
Timpson
Why is reform effective?
- Raises self esteem
- Can get a job and be social
What did Gillis find?
Offenders who are employed while on conditional release (parole) are less likely to return to prison during that time. Planned employment aids integration into society.
What is Wansworth Prison, UK like?
- Drugs prevalent
- Guards under pressure and stress
- Corruption eg. phones smuggled in
- Overcrowding
What are Norweigen prisons like?
- Incarceration - 60 per 100,000
- Rehabilitation
- Access to kitchens
- Correctional officers have to have 2 years training
- Lowest recidivism rates
What were the 3 key findings in Pakes and Pakes’ study?
- 1/3 prisoners lose their house whilst in prison
- 2/3 lose their job
- 40% lose contact with their family completely
What was the aim of Zimbado’s key research?
To test whether it is the individuals or the situation that makes prisoners and guards act in their roles.
What was the sample for Zimbado’s study?
- 24 males (3 never engaged as they were standbys)
- Volunteers from newspaper advert
- Predominantly white and middle class college students
- Paid $15 for each day (14 days)
Where did Zimbado’s study take place?
A mock prison was built in the basement of the Standord university psychology building used. There were 3 rooms, each held 3 prisoners. Another solitary confinement
What was the procedure of Zimbado’s study?
- DV was the behaviour of pps. - video and audio recordings and direct observation
- Randomly allocated ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’
- Prisoners ‘arrested’ from their homes and taken to the mock prison, blindfolded
- Stripped, sprayed with deoderant, and given uniform
How did the participants dress?
- Guards wore khaki shirt and trousers, reflective sunglasses and had a baton
- Prisoners wore a loose fitting smock bearing their prisoner number on the front and back
What rights were the prisoners granted?
- Basic rights
- 3 meals and 3 bathroom breaks a day
What were the guards told before the experiment?
- Couldn’t use physical aggression
- Told to maintain a reasonable degree of order
- To do role call 3 times a day
What were the results of Zimbado’s study?
- Behaviour strongly affected by the role they were assigned
- Hostile and dehumanising encounters
- Study stopped after 6 days
- 5 prisoners had to be released due to extreme depression and crying
- Prisoners showed behaviour of a model prisoner (passive, dependent)
- 90% of conversations between prisoners were about their situation
- Some prisoners introuduced themselves as their number
What is pathology of power?
Guards enjoyed their positions of power and control
What is pathological prisoner syndrome?
Initial rebellion followed by either obedience or acting out of self interest and feigning being ill. This was due to the loss of personal identity
What conclusions can be drawn from Zimbado’s study?
- Deindividuation - behaviours dictated by role
- Deterioration due to loss of personal identity
- Behaviours explained by situational, not dispositional factors
- Findings should be used to inform guard training programmes
What are the 3 stages of anger managment?
- Cognitive preparation - identifying triggers eg. feeling ignored
- Skill acquisition - learning coping strategies eg. breathing and thought stopping
- Applying it - roleplay in a controlled environment (therapy)
