Crime Prevention and Control: Punishment Flashcards
What is the LR perspective on punishment
Most punishment is currently ineffective as it does not tackle the structural root causes - employment and poverty
- rehabilitation and education centres are the solution
What is the RR perspective on punishment
Increase risk of punishment so decrease rate of crime
Zero tolerance and harshness increase risk of being caught and prevents people thinking crime is a rational choice
What is the Labelling perspective on punishment
Disintegrative shaming is a form of punishment - ‘criminal’ label causes deviant career
What are the two main justifications for punishment
Reduction: Deterrence, rehabilitation and Incapacitation
Retribution
What is meant by Reduction as a justification for punishment
Punishment is to prevent future crime (means to an end - instrumental)
What is meant by Deterrence as a part of Reduction
Punishment can put people off future offending as well as general public
Makes an example out of the criminal
What is meant by Rehabilitation as a part of Reduction
Punishment is used to reform/ change the offender
Through education, training, Anger management schemes
Surveillance -> self-surveillance
What is meant by Incapacitation as a part of Reduction
Punishment is to remove the offender capacity to offend again
Through imprisonment, death penalty, cutting off hands
What is meant by Retribution
Punishing for revenge/ make the offender ‘pay back’ without the aim of preventing future crime
The idea that the offender deserves to be punished for breaking the societal moral code - ‘an eye for an eye’
What is the Functionalism perspective on punishment
Overall aim = reinforce shared moral boundaries and uphold social solidarity
Type of punishment we have depends on the type of society
What are the two types of punishment based on differing societies according to Durkheim
Traditional society: Retributive approach to punishment:
-Social solidarity based on similarities between each the, when offended, society responds by cruel and severe punishment to repress the criminal and express outrage
Modern society: Restitutive approach:
- repair damage and restore society to how it was before the offence
- Restorative justice and punishment is instrumental
What is one negative evaluation of Durkheim’s traditional society and modern society form of punishment theory
Traditional societies still had an element of restitutive justice - Blood fueds (when a member of one clan s killed by another) were often paid off by compensation as opposed to execution
In modern society people still want revenge and harsh punishment for people like Axel Rudakabana
What is the marxism perspective on punishment
Punishment serve RC and maintain capitalism
CJS example of RSA (Althusser)
- punishment maintains the existing social order by physically defending RC power and preventing the wc from revolting
Type of economy impact the type of punishment - prisons in capitalism as it ensure the cirminals pay for crimes and reflect capitalist wokrplace by using a disciplinary style and loss of freedom
What did Dowes say for prisons and there functions (Marxism)
Prisons also provide an ideological function
- high level of wc prisoners makes crime appear as a wc problem - disgising capitalism which is the true cause
- Prisons soak up the unemployed to make capitalism look more successful
How does the Marxism perspective on punishment link to the Neo-marxists Halls ‘policing the crisis’
Harsher punishment of ethnic minority groups, particularly black people for ‘mugging’ intentionally served as a scapegoat to distract attention from the real problem
It also divided the wc revolution on racial grounds
What are two evaluation points of marxism
Not all punishment are linked to the interests of the ruling class
RRR - the wc fill the prisons because they commit more crime - not just because it helps to prevent a revolution and maintain capitalism
How many changes of prisons do we look at in sociology
4
What was the view of prisons before the 18th century
Prison not seen as a form of punishment itself
It was a place to hold people awaiting punishment
What was the view of prisons After the Enlightenment Period
Prison was viewed as a punishment to ‘reform’ offenders through hard labour and surveillance
What is the view of prisons Today due to Liberal Democracies
In most socities, prison is seen as the most severe form of punishment
What is one criticism of the statement on how prisons are viewed today due to Liberal Democracies
Critics argue prison is just an expensive way of making bad people worse - there is no evidence it works to rehabilitate (25% re-offennd)
What was the view of prisons after the era of mass incarceration
Garland - ‘Penal welfarism’
Previous agreement that punishment was to support and reintegrate those who needed it however..
Prison Punitiveness: 1970s politicians have used a ‘tough on crime’ approach to win elections and now prisons are overcrowded and inadequate to integrate individuals
Which country has the highest prison intakes in Europe
Britain
What % of prisons in Englands and Wales are classed as overcrowded
61%
How many prisoners were released early in 2024 to ease overcrowding in prisons
1,000
What is meant by transcarceration
Individuals become locked in a cycle of control, moving between different insitutions
Care system -> Young offenders prison -> adult prisons -> mental health care
How does transcarceration effecting CJS and welfare
It is blurring the lines between CJS and welfare - ‘Health, housing and social services are being given a crime control role’
What types of punishment are made as a result of diverting individuals from transcarceration
Increase in non-custodial community based control: curfews, electronic tagging, probation
What are two negative evaluations of community controls instead of custodial ones
Cohen: increase use of community controls has allowed a bigger net of control over people
Community controls do not divert young people away from the CJS but towards it: ASBOS were a way of fast-tracking young people into custodial sentences
How are prisons and punishment different in Norway than Britian and what are the effects
Norway removed the ‘lock up’ approach and spend 2x as much on prisons that britian
Effects: Recidivism rate at 20% compared to Britians 50%
How do RR criticism Norways approach to prisons and punishment
No form of justice from harsh punishment of criminals - ‘too soft’ on the criminals
