Custodial Sentencing

Question 1

What’s custodial sentencing?

Answer 1

A judicial sentence determined by a court, where the offender is punished by serving time in a prison (incarceration) or in some other closed therapeutic and/or educational institution such as a psychiatric hospital.

Question 2

What are the aims of custodial sentencing?

Answer 2

1. Deterrence
2. Incapacitation
3. Retribution
4. Rehabilitation

Question 3

What’s deterrence?

Answer 3

-the unpleasant prison experience is designed to put off the individual (and society) from engage in offending behaviour
- it works on two levels:
1.general deterrence - sends a broad message to messages of society that crime will not be tolerated.
2. Individual deterrence - should prevent the individual from repeating the crime due to conditioning through punishment.

Question 4

What’s incapacitation?

Answer 4

The offender is taken out of society to prevent them reoffending as a means of protecting the public. The need for this will be dependent on the severity of the offence and the nature of the offence. Society needs more protection from a serial murderer or rapport than someone who’s not paying their council tax.

Question 5

Whats Retribution?

Answer 5

Society is enacting revenge for the crime by making the offender suffer. The level of suffering should be proportional to the seriousness of the crime. It’s based on the biblical notion of an ‘eye for an eye’

Question 6

What’s Rehabilitation?

Answer 6

The purpose of prison is to reform offenders. Upon release the offenders should leave prison better adjusted and ready to take their place back in society. Prison should provide opportunities to develop skills and training or to access treatment for drug addiction for example , and the give the offender a chance to reflect on their actions.

Question 7

What are the psychological effects of custodial sentencing?

Answer 7

1. Stress and Depression.
2. Institutionalisation
3. Prisonisation

Question 8

Stress and Depression

Answer 8

-suicide rates are considerably higher in prison than in the general population as are incidents of self-mutilation and self-harm. The stress of the prison experience also increases the risk of psychological disturbance following release.

Question 9

Institutionalisation

Answer 9

Having adapted to the norms and routines of prison life, inmates may become so accustomed to these that they are no longer able to function on the outdife.

Question 10

Prisonisation

Answer 10

Prisoners are socialised to adopt an ‘inmate code’. Behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside prison.