Effect of imprisonment Flashcards
Whats
non-custodial punishments
custodial sentences
fines, community service or probation
prisons, secure psychiatric hospitals, residential centres for young offenders
What did Dooley find
Investigated unnatural deaths that occurred in prisons in England and Wales between 1972 and 1987
Found overcrowding and prisoner’s stress levels can lead to suicide and unnatural deaths
Dooley
- Sampling bias
- Ethnocentrism
- Reliablility
SAMPLING BIAS
- only looked at unnatural deaths in prisoners imprisoned in England and Wales
- differences in crowding, rehabilitation between countries
ETHNOCENTRISM
- views on imprisonment, rehabilitation, overcrowding differ country to country
RELIABILITY
-content analysis was standardised
- used data from gov records and checklist of offenders history
Effectiveness of prisons
Not always effective at reducing recidivism
- commits same crime after being punished for it
When offenders released, they have poor job prospects which makes them turn to crime again
Doesn’t work as 29% prisoners reoffend
Because prisons fail to rehabilitate prisoners by helping them learn new skills/ changing their behaviour
Forms of rehabilitation
Anger management - therapy used to help prisoners understand how to manage anger
Social skills training - help them have relationships
Background - Gills
- aim
- sample
AIM - too see relationship between employment and recidivism
SAMPLE - 23,000 CANADIAN offenders released on parole between JAN 1 1996 - JAN 1 2005
- 95% sample were men
Background - Gills
- findings
Both employed men and women were less likely to reoffend and remained on parole till sentence was complete
Employment decreases recidivism/reoffending
Background - Gills
- Sampling bias
-ethnocentrism
SAMPLING BIAS
- large sample of 20,000 offenders
- however androcentric sample (95% men)
ETHNOCENTRIC
- Canadian offenders so recidivism rates may be different in other countries
- non-western countries have different views on imprisonment
- Middle East have harder punishments so likely to affect recidivism rates
Background - Gills
- Reliability
- Validity
RELIABILITY
- collected quantitative data on reoffending
- data analysed using computer software
VALIDITY
- matched two groups of offenders on participant variables eg, age, length of sentence
- low experimenter bias as content analysis using computer software
KEY RESEARCH - HANEY
- Aim
- Sample
AIM - to see if his participants would conform to their roles as guards or prisoners
SAMPLE - 22 healthy male, US college students were selected from a pool of 75 respondents. They were paid $15 a day to take part. Anyone with mental health issues weren’t used.
KEY RESEARCH - HANEY
- Procedure
A mock prison was created in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford University
Participants were randomly allocated role of ‘guard’ or ‘prisoner’. Prisoners remained in mock prisons for 24 hrs a day, while guards worked three-man 8 hr shifts
The guards were allowed to make up the rules but no physical aggression was allowed. The prisoners were referred by their number + supervised all the time
In order to promote feelings of anonymity, participants in each group were issued with identical uniforms eg. loose smocks
The guards wore khaki shirts and trousers, tinted glasses and carried batons
KEY RESEARCH - HANEY
- Results
The participants quickly lost their true identity and took on their assigned roles
Participants given role of ‘prisoner’ demonstrated range of negative emotions eg. crying, some release early due to acute anxiety or depression
Pariticpants given role of ‘guards’ used their power and authority to control the prisoners eg. punishment
The experiment was supposed to last 2 weeks but stopped after 6 days
Explanation
Zimbardo and pathological prisoner syndrome
explains social deterioration of prisoners as pathological prisoner syndrome
at start, prisoners rebelled against conditions, but guards undermined every attempt at rebellion, any solidarity between prisoners collapsed. - mentally ill
Processes contributing to syndrome
- loss of personal identity
- arbitrary control exercised by guards
- dependency and emasculation
Loss of personal identity
- stripped of individuality, name, dress, appearance, behaviour style and history
- living with strangers who don’t know your true identity weakened self-identity
Arbitrary control exercised by guards
- on post-experimental questionnaire, prisoners said they disliked the way the they were subject to arbitrary + changeable rules of guards
- smiling at joke could be punished in the same way failing to smile might be
- unpredictable environment meant prisoners behaviour showed signs of learnt helplessness