Punishment

Question 1

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What did Newburn argue the five purposes of punishment are?

Answer 1

1. Rehabilitation
2. Boundary Maintenance
3. Retribution
4. Protection of society
5. Restorative Justice = This aims to repair the harm done which Braithwaite argues is best done with reintegrative shaming which is naming and shaming to show disapproval

Question 2

What does Functionalism argue about punishment?

Answer 2

• People who broke these beliefs were seen as committing serious acts that offended the whole community
• Law is based on retributive justice, offenders wee severely punished and all members of society accepted strong punishment
• Restitutive justice involves trying to return society to the state before the illegal behaviour took place
• Durkhiem saw law as less vindictive and less severe but they still portrayed moral outrage
• Durkheim saw punishment as important for boundary maintenance to reinforce what is wrong

Question 3

What do Marxist’s argue about punishment?

Answer 3

• Law is not a product of shared beliefs but the product of interests and beliefs of the ruling class
• Rusche and Kirchheimer outlined a Marxist approach to understanding punishment
• The systems corresponded to the economic system in which they developed
• Punishment is a way of enforcing laws that protect the private property of the wealthy. The working class are more likely to suffer punishment even if it is less harm

Question 4

What do Weberianism argue about punishment?

Answer 4

• Modern societies have under gone rationalisation which is based on laws and regulations
• The state has the power to punish offenders based on legal-rational authority
• Punishment is based on impersonal rules and adminstered by officials rather than the arbitrary
• Rules and regulations governing punishments are based on decided legislation which is seen to be justifable and reasonable

Question 5

What does Foucault argue about changing forms of punishment?

Answer 5

• There has been a move from sovereign power which is a public and physical show of power
• There is now a move to disciplinary power which is done though surveillance and monitoring

Question 6

What does Garland argue about the changing forms of punishment?

Answer 6

• In the 1950’s, the state practiced penal welfarism which is where the CJS attempted to rehabilitate the offenders so they could reintegrate back into society
• However we have now moved to a punitive state which is enforced by a culture of control. The state seeks to control crime and punish offenders which is seen in politicians as they attempt to be tough on crime

Question 7

What do Rusche and Kirchheimer argue about the changing forms of punishment?

Answer 7

• This is a Marxist approach who argue that punishment changes as economic need changes.
• This can be seen in the change of punishment of physical, to then transportation and now cheap prison labour
• This reflects the changing economic needs of the dominant class

Question 8

What are the statistics of prison?

Question 9

Are prisons effective?

Answer 9

• People can have a bad experience in prison which may encourage them to behave and not go back
• Prisons may reform and rehabilitate criminals back into society through a form of resocialisation

Question 10

Are prisons not effective?

Answer 10

• It can make reoffending/recidivism more likely as it leads to the prisoners being labelled. This may lead to things such as deviant careers
• It can also become a school of crime, a form of resocialisation for criminals to teach them how to commit crime