Criminal Justice System

Question 1

What is the criminal justice system ?

Answer 1

institutions responsible for delivering justice is the UK , (comprised of various governmental departments and agencies)

e.g police, ministry of justice , prisons

Question 2

what are the four aims/roles of the CJS?

Answer 2

deterrence - deter people from committing crime

public protection- police , maintain public order , courts-aim to stop criminals causing further harm

retribution- concerned with punishing criminals for their actions

rehabilitation- criminals should be reformed

Question 3

What is the functionalist viewpoint on the CJS?

Answer 3

CJS serves people by upholding the norms, values and laws of society

Question 4

What is the marxist viewpoint on the CJS?

Answer 4

CJS reflects interests of the ruling class and seeks to defend ruling class’ intrests

Question 5

What is the feminist viewpoint on the CJS?

Answer 5

the CJS is patriarchal and protective over women

OR

changing social attitudes have found women treated more harshly for more ‘masculine’ offences - such as drug dealing

Question 6

What did Phillips and Bowling say about the CJS?

Answer 6

CJS operates on processes/procedures that disadvantage minority groups.

Question 7

What did the McPherson report (1999) say about the CJS?

Answer 7

there is institutional racism

(e.g Stephen Lawrence case)

Question 8

What did the Lammy report (2017) find about the CJS?

Answer 8

25% in custody were from minority ethnic groups

Question 9

what percentage of prisoners in the UK, in June 2020, were women?

Answer 9

5%

Question 10

what are the functions of prisons?

Answer 10

to act as a deterrent
incapacitate offender, keeping public safe
rehabilitation (rejoin society)
punishment

Question 11

Durkheim (functionalist) argued there are two forms of punishment in society - what are they?

Answer 11

retributive (form of vengeance for acts they committed)

restitutive (allows them to make amend and become functioning member of society)

Question 12

What did Althusser (marxist) argue the CJS acts as?

Answer 12

a repressive state apparatus , prison is a way to control those who do not conform

punishment is about interests of ruling class (e,g providing cheap labour, especially in privately owned prisons)

Question 13

What was found in the Downing Street Strategy Unit 2013

Answer 13

‘no convincing evidence that putting people in prison prevents crime’

Question 14

What do symbolic interactionists , Goffman and Becker argue?

Answer 14

prison has its own subculture which provides a training ground for criminals and confirms a ‘master status’

Question 15

In recent decades, there has been an increase in the use of restorative justice - what is this?

Answer 15

restorative justice is a system of criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large

Question 16

What did Braithwaite (1999) claim?

Answer 16

restorative justice is most effective when it involves ‘reintegrative shaming’ - offenders face offenders and are publicly ‘named and shamed’ - makes them realise the extent society disapproves of them and take responsibility for their own actions.

Question 17

What did Newburn (2007) say are the 5 main reasons for punishing criminals?

Answer 17

discourage reoffending
force them to make amends (restorative justice)
protect society
reinforce social values and bonds
punish them for their actions

Question 18

What did Foucault (1991) (postmodernist) say about the changing forms of punishment?

Answer 18

Decline in public forms of physical punishment is due to changing structures of power in society. Brutal punishments were not concerned with deterring crime, rather as public demonstrations of supreme power of sovereigns/monarch.
As this declined , a new form of state power developed - disciplinary power.

This suggests criminals are controlled and disciplined by surveillance. Demonstrated change from sovereign to disciplinary power through the disciplinary mechanism of the panopticon. This is a prison design whereby the guards could see every prisoner, the prisoners did not know if they were being watched. This uncertainly of surveillance encouraged the prisoner to exert self surveillance and control their behaviour.
Constant external monitoring eventually internalised into self surveillance.

Question 19

What did Rusche and Kirchheimer (2007) (marxists) argue about the changing forms of punishment ?

Answer 19

see punishment as part of the system of social control and class domination in unequal societies

argue the changing forms of punishment overtime is as a result of changing economic interests of the dominant class (scale of brutality rose when labour was plentiful and decreased when there was a labour shortage)

Question 20

Durkheim argues societies can only exist with a _____________ ____________ , this forms moral ties and binds the community together through a _________________ ________________. This regulates behaviour.

Answer 20

Durkheim argues societies can only exist with a VALUE CONSENSUS, this forms moral ties and binds the community together through a COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE. This regulates behaviour.

Question 21

Durkheim argues laws are an expression of the ….

Answer 21

collective conscience

Question 22

Durkheim argues retribution has the following roles:

Answer 22

provides outlet for public anger - express disapproval

reassert boundaries and social order

contribute to building social solidarity

Question 23

Why is the functionalist perspective of punishment criticised?

Answer 23

• assumes law reflects value consensus

-ignores inequalities in wealth and power

-punishments (like imprisonment) may not assist in restabilising social order, but actually threaten it (as prisons often harbour crime)

Question 24

Althusser (1971) argues punishment is

Answer 24

Althusser (1971) argues punishment is part of the repressive state apparatus. This aims to remove dissent and rebellion towards ruling class.

Question 25

What does Weber argue about society and punishment?

Answer 25

Modern societies have undergone a process of rationalisation , based around laws and regulations.

Only the state now has the power to punish , meaning punishment is based on impersonal regulations administered by complex systems of officials.

In democratic societies, punishment is based on legislation decided by elected governments and therefore is arguably more legitimate.

Question 26

criticisms of Weber’s theory of rationalisation

Answer 26

there are many cases of miscarriages of justice where judges have discriminated unfairly.

Question 27

What do right realists argue about imprisonment?

Answer 27

Right realists argue prison is a key way of deterring people away from crime as it increases the cost of crime (what people could lose)

Question 28

Past 100 years, the number of people in prison has…

Answer 28

quadrupled

Question 29

Between 2001-2011, the prison population

Answer 29

rose by 30%

Question 30

England and Wales have the highest ____________________ rate out of European countries

Answer 30

imprisonment

Question 31

Ministry of Justice found in 2010, 47.5% of offenders ________________ within _______

Answer 31

Ministry of Justice found in 2010, 47.5% of offenders reoffended within a year.

Question 32

Boorman and Hopkins (2012)

Answer 32

68% of offenders reoffend within a year of being released

Question 33

How may prisons not help society?

Answer 33

make existing problems worse, such as destabilising family ties.

Goffman (1991) , an interactionist sociologist, argued prisons have own subcultures and confirm the ‘criminal’ label. This then becomes what Becker (1997) called, a ‘master status’.

Prisons become institutions for the manufacturing of crime rathe than the rehabilitation of criminals.

Question 34

Explain Foucault’s (1991) theory of surveillance

Answer 34

surveillance is a key way of monitoring and changing behaviours of criminals.

It is a form of disciplinary power, encouraging people to exert internal surveillance.

Contemporary society ahs been transformed into a surveillance/disciplinary society, in what he called the ‘age of panopticism’ - everyone is subject to the disciplinary gaze of the panopticon.

Question 35

Lyon (2009)

Answer 35

surveillance has been enhanced by information and communication technologies

Question 36

there’s an estimated ___________ cameras across Britain

Answer 36

5 million

Question 37

criticisms of Foucault’s theory of surveillance

Answer 37

• surveillance is so pervasive that people cease to be aware of it (especially on social media/internet)

-some people may resist surveillance , they are not deterred by it

-some crimes are committed behind closed doors, and therefore are not seen , such as domestic violence

Question 38

Outline crime prevention strategies that may help reduce crime.

Answer 38

increased surveillance deters people from committing cime, they are less likely to offend if they percieve the risk of getting caught to be high

zero tolerance strategies increase the risk of crime, risks begin to outweigh the benefits so decreases the likelihood of crime

reduction of poverty and unemployment - reduces feeling of relative deprivation and therefore the need to compensate for that with crime

punishment prevents people from being able to commit crimes , e.g prisons take people off the street