responses to crime - non custodial sentencing

Question 1

what are the main non custodial sentences?

Answer 1

• community payback order
• tagging
• fines

Question 2

explain community payback orders?
give an example

Answer 2

• forces offenders to make amends for crimes by doing unpaid community work
• they typically provide a criminal with between 10 to 250 hours of unpain work
• also gives criminals the chance to enhance their life skills and give back to the community
  FOR EXAMPLE: this could mean that a person who smashed a window would be given a CPO of repairing windows as compensation

Question 3

what are the successes and failures of CPOs?

Answer 3

SUCCESS: they allow for families to stay together and for jobs to be kept
FAILURES: around one thiurd of CPOs go unfinished and they are seen as a ‘soft touch’

Question 4

explain tagging?

Answer 4

• offender is placed on a curfew and restricted to a named place, usualky their home for 12 hours a day - (typically between 7pm and 7am)
• offender wears an electronic tag on their ankle that alerts a control room if the offender is outside permitted zones
• offenders can be excluded from certain places for up to a year and cannot go there

Question 5

what are the successes and failures of tagging?

Answer 5

SUCCESS: the cost of tagging is minimal, it costs 3K a year compared to 37K a year for prisons - again keeps familys together and keeps jobs
FAILURE: tags fail to prevent people from committing crimes, murders have taken place by people on tags

Question 6

explain fines?

Answer 6

• courts use fines as a way of punishment for less serious offences which woudnt involve going to prison
• fines can be handed out as a form of compensation to a victim
  FOR EXAMPLE in 2018 ant mcpartlin was fined £86,000 and given a 20 month driving ban after being over double the drink driving legsal limit