Topic 3.3 - Examine the limitations of agencies in achieving social control Flashcards
Repeat offending
Recidivism rates
What shows that social control measures are not always effective?
Recidivism rates
What is meant by ‘recidivism’?
Repeat offending
What was the overall recidivism rate in 2019?
If we take all offenders who had been given a warning, fine, community sentence or suspended sentence in the previous 12 months, plus all the prisoners who were released from jail in that period, these people committed over half a million new offences - This is an overall recidivism rate of around 28%
How many further offences do those who re-offend commit?
On average, those who re-offend commit a further four offences each
What was the re-offending rate for offenders released from prison in 2017 for:
- All prisoners?
- Those who received a sentence of less than 12 months?
- 36%
- 64%
What is the re-offending rate for juvenile offenders within a year:
- For all offenders?
- For those who are released from custody?
- 37%
- 63%
The rising prison population
What has happened to the prison population today since 1993?
It has doubled
State one reason for the increase in prison population.
Repeat offending is one reason for this increase. For example, those released from prison on licence will be recalled to serve the rest of their sentence if they commit a further offence during the licence period
Give two examples of increases in prison sentences.
- In 2018, sentences for serious offences were on average over 26 months longer than in 2008
- The average minimum sentence for murder increased from 12.5 years in 2003 to 21.3 years in 2016
Who re-offends?
Give four examples of groups who are more likely to re-offend.
- The more previous convictions someone already has, the more likely they are to re-offend. For example, in 2018 almost half (47.5%) of offenders who already had more than 10 convictions offended again
- Offenders who served a prison sentence are more likely to re-offend than those who received a warning, fine or community sentence
- Males are more likely to re-offend than females
- Offenders with drug or alcohol addictions, those who are homeless, those with few qualifications and those who are unemployed are more likely to re-offend
What is meant by the ‘dark figure of re-offending’?
We should bear in mind that the above figures only refer to proven re-offending, in other words where the offender has been tried and found guilty. There is likely to be a dark figure of further offending for which they have not been caught and punished
Theory
According to right realists, why does prison work?
Right realists argue that ‘prison works’. Offenders are rational actors and so the fear of being jailed acts as a deterrent to offending. However, the high rate of re-offending shows that this is not so - a fact that right realists fail to explain
According to Marxists, why are unemployed offenders likely to re-offend?
Marxists argue that it is not surprising that unemployed offenders are more likely to re-offend, since they have little chance of meeting their needs if they have to survive solely on benefits
Civil liberties and legal barriers
Human rights abuses
Why are there likely to be human rights abuses in authoritarian states?
In some authoritarian states (or ‘police states’), social control agencies such as the police have few restrictions on their power to force citizens to behave as the state wishes them to. In such states, critics of the government may find they are not free to express their opinions and that they risk being locked up indefinitely - or worse
Briefly describe the human rights abuses in Turkey in 2018.
In 2018 the US Department of State’s annual report on human rights cited the following abuses in Turkey:
- Arbitrary killings
- Suspicious deaths in police custody
- Torture
- Arbitrary arrests
- Detention of tens of thousands, including opposition MPs, lawyers and journalists for peaceful legitimate speech
- Closure of media outlets and prosecutions for criticizing government policies
- Blocking websites
- Restrictions on freedom of movement and freedoms of assembly and association
What are civil liberties?
Give seven examples of civil liberties.
- Freedom of speech - The right to say what you like, including freedom of the press and the media
- Freedom of assembly and freedom to associate with others, including the right to gather together to protest peacefully
- Freedom of movement - The right to go where you want, within the law
- Freedom from arbitrary arrest
- Freedom from detention without trial
- Freedom of religion and conscience
- The right to privacy, especially from the state
Civil liberties infringements
Facial recognition
How does facial recognition work?
Works by matching the faces of people walking past special cameras to images of people on watch lists. Everyone in range is scanned and their biometric data is snatched without their consent
What do LIBERTY think about facial recognition?
Invades the public’s right to privacy by having their data stored on watch lists
What is LIBERTY calling for concerning facial recognition?
LIBERTY is calling for it to be banned altogether
Due process
Give an example of a civil liberty that is an aspect of the due process model.
Freedom from arbitrary arrest (where the police can arrest anyone they wish) and freedom from detention without trial (where someone can be held in custody indefinitely without being brought before a court) are both important protections for the individual against the state’s abuse of its power. Clearly, the legal processes involved in due process are a barrier to the state exercising control over its citizens without good cause
Access to resources and support
Resources and support inside prison
Explain four reasons why prisons can fail to rehabilitate offenders.
Short sentences - Do not give enough time to do the extensive work needed to address deep-seated problems, such as drug dependency, illiteracy and anger management. The problem is worsened by the fact that there are limited places on such courses
Inadequate resources for education and training - The 2020 report of the chief inspector of prisons said that half the prisons inspected had too few programmes of useful activity and fewer than two-fifths were delivering ‘good’ or ‘reasonably good’ activities
A 15% cut in the number of prison officers - Means that there are fewer officers to supervise prisoners undertaking activities that would help their rehabilitation. Staff shortages mean that prisoners are often locked up by 6 pm, denying them access to recreational and educational facilities such as use of the prison library
Release on temporary licence (ROTL) - Is intended to allow trusted prisoners out to attend training, employment and job interviews, yet very few are able to take advantage of this scheme due to shortages of staff to supervise it
Resources and support in the community
Give three examples of difficulties faced by newly released prisoners.
Lack of money - Prisoners earn very little from working in prison and receive only a £46 discharge grant on their release
Lack of a job - Only 1/4 of prisoners have a job to go to on their release
Homelessness - According to Nacro, 1/9 prisoners has no settled accommodation to go to upon release. Prisoners lose entitlement to housing benefit if they are expected to spend more than 13 weeks in prison. This means that they will usually lose any tendency they had
The ‘End Friday releases’ campaign
Explain the problems for offenders of being released on a Friday.
Over 1/3 of all releases from prison happen on a Friday, and charities and pressure groups such as Nacro and the Howard League have supported a campaign to end Friday releases from prison. Being discharged on a Friday can mean a race against the clock to access services such as accommodation, drug medication and benefits before the weekend shutdown. This can result in people having to sleep rough and survive on their discharge grant until services re-open on Monday. This leaves them vulnerable to re-offending - in some cases, simply to get a roof over their heads for the night. Unsurprisingly, some ex-prisoners quickly breach the conditions of their release and are recalled to prison as a result
Community sentences
Give three reasons why a significant majority of offenders who are given community sentences re-offend. However, community sentences are more successful in reducing recidivism. For example, only 34% re-offend within 12 months of starting their sentence, compared with 64% among those serving sentences of less than 12 months
Inadequate support for complex needs - Such as drug addiction, mental health problems and homelessness. There are often too few places on specialist programmes to address such needs
Inadequate supervision by probation services - There have been criticisms that the service is too lax in allowing offenders to miss supervision appointments
Failures by the privatised community rehabilitation companies - These companies have been criticised for failing to meet their targets and for poor supervision of offenders. As a result, the CRC’s contracts were ended in 2020
Finance
The police
What has been the effect of cuts in funding on police numbers?
Between 2010 and 2018, the overall police budget was cut by 19%. The cuts led to a fall of 20,000 in police numbers in the same period and there is a national shortage of detectives
What has been the other impact of decreases in police funding?
There is evidence that police forces are dropping investigations into crimes, including sexual offences, violent attacks and arson. For example, the Metropolitan Police dropped 2.9 times as many cases on the day they were reported in 2018 as they did in 2013. The force said this was necessary to balance the books
Why might police forces be tempted to drop serious cases?
Police forces may be particularly tempted to drop serious cases because they take much longer to investigate. For example, rape cases take an average of 129 days to solve compared with two days for theft or criminal damage
Prisons
What happened to the prisons budget along with staff levels between 2010 and 2018?
Prisons budget fell by 16% and staff levels by 15%
How are prisons described by critics?
As being in crisis, with rising levels of assaults, self-harm and suicides
What are the impacts of overcrowding and staff cuts in prison?
Prisoners lack opportunities for activities that would help them rehabilitate, such as education, training and work experience. Recidivism rates are around 60% within a year of release for those serving short sentences
What evidence is there of privatisation contributing to the crisis in prisons?
In 2016, the worst UK prison riot in 25 years took place at HMP Birmingham, a prison privately run by G4S. The official report concluded that staff had become worn down by chronic staffing shortages and that prisoners ‘were in effect policing themselves’. As a result, in 2020 the government took HMP Birmingham back into public control
The probation service
What did the annual report in 2019 by chief inspector of probation, Glenys Stacey, highlight?
A range of problems, including staff shortages, failures by the private CRC’s, and a lack of confidence in the service by judges, victims, the public and offenders
What has happened since in 2020? What did the new chief inspector warn in 2020?
The probation service was taken back into public control. However, the new chief inspector Justin Russell warned in 2020 that it “must be properly funded, vacancies for probation officers must be filled and staff properly trained”
The Crown Prosecution Service
What happened to the CPS’s budget between 2010 and 2018? What happened to the staff levels as a result?
The budget was cut by 1/4 and the CPS lost 1/3 of its staff
What crimes did the head of the CPS say that the police were failing to investigate in 2018?
Rape, fraud and modern slavery
What has the CPS also been accused of doing to charges?
Downgrading them so it can prosecute cases in magistrates’ courts, because this is quicker and therefore cheaper than taking them to Crown Court. This also means that offenders get off with lighter sentences than they deserve, because magistrates’ sentencing powers are more limited
Local and national policies
National government policies
Give an example of a national government policy that has affected the work of the police.
In April 2019, the Home Secretary announced that he was making it easier for police officers to stop and search anyone for an offensive weapon without first having reasonable suspicion that they are carrying one. This power is available to police throughout the country under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
What is the aim of the national serious violence strategy?
This aims to involve other agencies such as youth services, the NHS, social services and education. For example, children excluded from school may be at risk of being groomed by gangs to deliver drug deals, which are a major factor in violence offences
Local policies
Give an example of a local policy that a police force might adopt.
In areas where knife crime is particularly high, police may respond with extra measures such as increased stop and searches
What do weapon amnesties involve?
Police forces take in illegal weapons which have been surrendered by people without arresting them
What did a two-week guns amnesty in London in 2017 lead to?
350 firearms and 40,000 rounds of ammunition being handed in
What is the purpose of holding amnesties?
To reduce the criminal use of weapons in the local area
When may amnesties be used by police forces?
When new laws are introduced which will make it an offence to possess a weapon that was not previously banned
CPS priorities
What was the CPS’s priority in 2017?
Tackling and prosecuting hate crime
How many cases of hate crime did they tackle in 2017?
10,000 cases were persecuted with 86% of defendants being found guilty of one or more crimes and in 79% of the cases the judge increased the offenders sentence because they agreed that the crime was a hate crime
Crime committed by those with moral imperatives
What is meant by a ‘moral imperative’?
It is an overriding sense of what is right - a sense that is so strong it compels a person to act to uphold it, even if it means breaking the law
How and why did the following people break the law?
- Clive Ponting
- Kay Gilderdale
- Rosie James and Rachel Wenham
- Alan Blythe
- Broke the law by passing secret information to an MP about the sinking of the Argentinian ship the General Belgrano during the Falklands War. He argued that he had done so in the public interest
- Broke the law by assisting the suicide of her daughter, who had been seriously ill for 17 years
- Committed criminal damage to a nuclear submarine to try and prevent it leaving the port, arguing that they were preventing a war crime
- Was charged with cultivating cannabis with intent to supply. He did so in order to provide it to his terminally ill wife to relieve her pain
What do all these cases have in common?
In all above cases, the defendants were either acquitted, found guilty of a lesser charge or had charges dropped when the jury could not agree on the verdict
The Suffragettes
What did the Suffragettes campaign for in the early 20th century?
The Women’s right to vote in parliamentary elections
In what ways did the Suffragettes break the law?
Set fire to post boxes, smashed the windows of public buildings, cut telegraph wires and attacked a portrait of the Duke of Wellington with an axe
What did the Suffragettes do when convicted?
Refused to pay fines
What moral imperative motivated the Suffragettes to commit crime?
To force Parliament to change the law and end the injustice that women were denied the right to vote
What did the government issue in response? What did this law do?
In 1913, the government responded by passing the Prisoners Act, commonly known as the Cat and Mouse Act because, like a cat playing with a mouse, it allowed hunger strikers to be temporarily released but then re-imprisoned them once they had recovered their health. As more and more Suffragettes refused food in prison, the authorities began force-feeding hunger strikes through a nostril or stomach tube, in many cases causing permanent health problems
What was the partial victory achieved by the Suffragettes?
In 1918 the vote was given to women aged over 30. Finally, in 1928 the voting age was equalized at 21 for both sexes
The Stansted 15
What is the potential sentence for the crime with which the Stansted 15 were charged?
The 15 were convicted of ‘endangering an aerodrome’, which carries a potential life sentence.
What sentences did the Stansted 15 receive?
All 15 had their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2021
What happened to the individuals that the Stansted 15 were campaigning for?
Some were later proved to have been victims of human trafficking, and one had been raped and forced into sex work. Eleven of those due to be deported were later given leave to remain in the UK. The Stansted 15 case came in the wake of Windrush scandal, in which people who had spent most of their lives in the UK were illegally deported to the Caribbean by the Home Office
Theory
According to Durkheim why is deviance, such as that of the Suffragettes, important?
Functionalists such as Durkheim argue that without deviance, new social values could not emerge, no change would be possible and society would stagnate. For example, the Suffragettes’ law-breaking drew attention to the injustice of denying women the vote and promoted equality between the sexes as a basic value of UK society
Environment
Give some examples of environments that can impact re-offending rates of released prisoners.
- Lack of employment and prisoners returning to their old circles leads to re-offending
- Prisoners are less likely to re-offend if they live with family - only 61% of them do so
- Prisoners are less likely to re-offend if they receive family visits - only 32% do so
- Less than 50% of prisons received a positive rating from inspectors about their rehabilitative work
So the environment inside prisoners, and on release, can limit the effect of agencies
