LO4 - 4.1 - theories developing policy development

Question 1

policies from biological theories

Answer 1

-diet and aggression
-neurochemicals and sex offenders
-genes and eugenics
-death penalty

Question 2

explanation of eugenics

Answer 2

idea that genetic inheritance can play a role is transmitting ‘criminal genes’ - encourages desirable people to reproduce and non-desirable people to not (enforced sterilisation) - Osborn and West 1970 40% of boys had a criminal record who’s fathers were criminal

Question 3

eugenics evaluation

Answer 3

-UK doesnt have a policy of eugenics due to moral and ethical reasons a result of awareness pf social issues
-however a UK judge allowed a mother of 6 with learning difficulties to be sterilised

Question 4

drug treatments (alcohol, heroin + sex offenders)

Answer 4

-alcohol abuse can be treated with aversion therapy and a drug called Antabuse as part of a rehabilitation programme where if they intake alcohol they vomit
-heroin addiction can be treated with methadone as its a long-term alternative and can prevent withdrawal symptoms
-male sex offenders can be treated with ALI’s that reduce testosterone to prepubescent levels which can bring about impotence and SSRI’s increase serotonin levels

Question 5

how can diet be modified to change anti-social behaviour with research

Answer 5

-Gesch et al found that supplementing prisoners’ diets with vitamins, minerals and fatty acids caused a remarkable reduction of up to 37% in violent incidents compared to only 10% for prisoners taking a placebo
-Schoenthaler found a reduced sugar diet reduced anti-social behaviour by 48%
-Kirkkunen found violent offenders had low levels of serotonin production

Question 6

evaluations of drugs

Answer 6

+p’s positively took their drugs
-side effects e.g breast growth, hot flushes so some volunteers stopped taking the drug
-doesn’t automatically lead to reduced re-offending
-ethical issues as they had to be 18+ and give consent

Question 7

death penalty in relation to biological theories

Answer 7

removing them from society means they cant turn to crime again and reproduce to have criminal children = crime will go down and their criminal features are removed from society

Question 8

death penalty evaluations

Answer 8

-biology cant explain offending behaviour so crime control policies shouldn’t have biological strategies
-statistics show in America murder rates are lower in states which don’t use the death penalty so it isn’t an effective penalty
-people often commit crime as a result of a ‘heat of the moment’, influence of alcohol or drugs so its not influenced by the fear of consequence

Question 9

policies from individualistic theories

Answer 9

psychoanalysis
behaviour modification and token economy
aversion therapy
social skills and anger management

Question 10

psychoanalysis description

Answer 10

based on Freud’s theory - where the therapist asks the client to access unconscious repressed thoughts which led to criminal activity - treatment is very lengthy and it brings the unconscious thoughts to the conscious so they can be resolved - uses free association where the client faces away from the therapist lying down - aims to strengthen their superego to bring back their morals away from the selfish id

Question 11

psychoanalysis evaluation

Answer 11

-time consuming and expensive and unlikely to give a quick answer so not favoured for prison population so may only be useful for long-term inmates
-Eysenck found only 44% of psychoanalysis patients treated for neurosis showed improvement against 72% in hospitals
-could have ethical issues as patient may recover painful memories that were deliberately repressed which may cause more issues

Question 12

operant learning and token economies definition

Answer 12

says behaviour is learnt through maladaptive learning, reinforcement and punishment so some prisons use token economy as a behaviour modification programme - works by the institution drawing up a list of desirable behaviour e.g obeying rules and then when the offender behaviours in the desired way they receive a token which can be exchanged for rewards e.g sweets

Question 13

operant learning and token economies evaluation

Answer 13

-once the reinforcement stops when they leave prison the desirable behaviour tends to disappear however offenders often return to crime more slowly
+makes prisoners more manageable in prison
-critics argue having food and drinks withheld only to receive as a reward is going against our human rights

Question 14

aversion therapy - Eysenck definition

Answer 14

applies his theory to sex offenders who states criminals are strongly extroverted and neurotic so they’re harder to condition because they’re more resistant to learning through punishment, so conditioning needs to be stronger:
offenders are asked to think about an unacceptable sexual fantasy until they’re aroused and then a strongly averse stimulus is then administered e.g electric shock, the procedure is repeated until the offender associates the deviant arousal with the stimulus

Question 15

aversion therapy - Eysenck evaluation

Answer 15

-limited success and usually only short term
-its use to attempt to ‘cure’ gay people has been criticised as human rights abuse

Question 16

social skills and anger management training definition

Answer 16

social skills aims to improve skills to avoid offending and be more socially competent
anger management aims to avoid violent offenders any helping people control intense emotions using CBT which comes from cognitive theories which helps offenders to deal with their emotions and give them moral reasoning training

Question 17

social skills and anger management evaluations

Answer 17

-Ainsworth argues its effective but only if managed properly (given right resources and targeted at right offenders)
-Howitt argues some offenders act violently to achieve a goal not out of anger so they don’t benefit from anger management
-Rice found psychopaths given these treatments were more likely to offend as skills acquired raised self-esteem and allowed them to manipulate others more easily

Question 18

policies developed from sociological theories

Answer 18

punitive laws
custodial sentences
zero tolerance
restorative justice
CCTV
multi-agency approach

Question 19

zero tolerance (right realism) definition

Answer 19

introducing stricter enforcement of laws through zero tolerance where all crimes should be acted on no matter how trivial they are - ‘broken window theory’ = visible signs of decay (graffiti) are signs of public disinterest so it encourages criminals to move in so need to be harsh on small crimes to prevent bigger ones

Question 20

zero tolerance evaluation

Answer 20

+works well in highly populated areas with high policing levels and large amounts of petty crime
-in areas where crime is low and low population it would have little effect

Question 21

restorative justice definition

Answer 21

a voluntary process which involves the person who suffered harm and the person who caused it - facilitators work with victims and offenders and they talk about what happened, who was affected and how and what can be done to repair the harm

Question 22

restorative justice evaluations

Answer 22

+used by prisons and police forces and is growing in popularity
+can allow a victim a voice in the criminal justice system and can make offenders accountable for their actions
and reduces re-offending by 14%
+can reduce PTSD in victims
+85% of victims who took part were satisfied

Question 23

surveillance theories - CCTV definition

Answer 23

a surveillance system which records to catch criminals and is also used in prisons for guards to observe over inmates without them knowing they’re being watched

Question 24

CCTV evaluations

Answer 24

+some success such as the identification of David Copeland who was a right-wing terrorist
-critics argue CCTV is just to reassure the public and it never really catches people in the act
-questions whether it goes too far and it could be easily abused - no free will to people and gives too much power to government