Custodial sentencing

Question 1

What is custodial sentencing?

Answer 1

Punishment consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison or another institution

Question 2

What are the 4 main reasons for custodial sentencing?

Answer 2

• Deterrence
• Incapacitation
• Retribution
• Rehabilitation

Question 3

What is deterrence?

Answer 3

An unpleasant experience which is designed to put individuals off committing a crime again.

Question 4

What does general deterrence aim to do?

Answer 4

To send a broad message to members of a given society that crime will not be tolerated

Question 5

What is the purpose of individual deterrence?

Answer 5

To prevent the individual from repeating the same crime

Question 6

What is individual deterrence based on?

Answer 6

The behaviourist principle of punishment

Question 7

What is incapacitation?

Answer 7

The offender being taken out of society as a means of protecting the public

Question 8

What is incapacitation dependent on?

Answer 8

The severity of the offence

E.g society needs protecting from murderers but not the elderly’s dangerous driving

Question 9

What is retribution?

Answer 9

Society is enacting revenge and the level of suffering should be proportionate to the crime

Question 10

What is retribution based on?

Answer 10

The idea of an eye for an eye

Question 11

What is rehabilitation?

Answer 11

Many see prison as not just a punishment but an opportunity to reform offenders

Question 12

How does rehabilitation benefit the prisoners?

Answer 12

They will be better adjusted to deal with society and develop skills through training programmes

Question 13

What are the psychological effects of custodial sentencing?

Answer 13

Stress/psychological difficulties
Depression
Suicide - rates are higher in prisons than general population
Institutionalisation - hard to adapt to a normal society
Prisonisation - adopt behaviours and inmate code acceptable in prison but not in a normal society

Question 14

What is recidivism?

Answer 14

the rate of reoffending

Question 15

What did Bartol (1995) suggest?

Answer 15

That imprisonment can be ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating’.
In the last 20 years suicide rates are 15x higher than in normal population

Question 16

What did the Prison Reform Trust (2014) find?

Answer 16

25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms indicative of psychosis.
Prison regimes may trigger psychological disorders.
Suggests that custodial sentencing is not effective in rehabilitating the individual particularly those psychologically vulnerable

Question 17

What opportunities for treatment and training does custodial sentencing provide?

Answer 17

• Rehabilitation works on the theory that incarcerated people become better and this means that they are able to live a crime free life on release
• Prisoners get qualifications to gain employment when they leave
• Take part in anger management schemes
• Take part in social skills workshops

Question 18

What is a limitation of the prisons providing treatment and training?

Answer 18

They may not have the resources to provide for the programmes and the benefits of such are not conclusive

Question 19

Why might incarceration of younger inmates with older inmates be a problem?

Answer 19

The younger inmates may learn how to commit crimes and learn the tricks of the trade
Make reoffending more likely

Question 20

What did Davies and Raymond (2000) find?

Answer 20

That the government tends to exaggerate the benefits of prison in a bid to appear tough on crime
In reality they do little to deter or rehabilitate offenders.

Question 21

What alternatives to custodial sentencing are there?

Answer 21

Community service

Restorative justice