Topic 3.4 - Evaluate the effectiveness of agencies in achieving social control

Question 1

The police

Social control responsibilities

What is the police responsibilities surrounding social control?

Answer 1

The police are the main agency for the detection, investigation and prevention of crime. Police have the powers of issuing fixed penalty notices, cautions and reprimands. Police forces have specialist departments, units and sections dealing with serious and complex cases, such as terrorism

Question 2

Specialist policing

Give three examples of agencies apart from the police that are responsible for investigating crime. What types of crime are they responsible for?

Answer 2

HMRC - Deals with tax evasion

The Department of Work and Pensions - Deals with benefit fraud

The Border Force - Deals with immigration offences

Question 3

Name two specialist police forces.

Answer 3

• The British Transport Police
• The Civil Nuclear Constabulary, who protect nuclear installations

Question 4

Offences of public concern

According to the 2017 report of HM Inspector of Police, what have been the four shortcomings of the police in dealing with domestic abuse cases where the number of cases being reported and recorded is ever increasing?

Answer 4

• The arrest rate has been falling
• Police are not using bail conditions to protect victims
• Staff shortages are causing delays in responding to incidents, putting victims at risk
• Body-worn video cameras are not always being used to gather evidence

Question 5

What do these findings illustrate?

Answer 5

The fact that police are not always successful in achieving social control

Question 6

Inefficiency

Outline one example of police inefficiency in investigating an offence.

Answer 6

The Macpherson Report noted the failure of the Metropolitan Police to gather evidence and investigate leads in the murder of Stephen Lawrence that could have led to a successful prosecution of the five leading suspects in the case

Question 7

Current trends: More crimes but fewer solved

By what amount did the number of offences recorded by the police increase between March 2016 and June 2020?

Answer 7

Rose from 4.5 million to 5.8 million

Question 8

In the period of 2014 to 2020 by how much did recorded knife and firearm offences grow by?

Answer 8

Knife crimes rose from 24,000 to 35,000 and firearm offences rose from 4,900 to 9,800

Question 9

What percentage of cases resulted in someone being charged with an offence in 2015 compared to 2020?

Answer 9

15% to 7%

Question 10

Summarise the trend in cases being dropped by the Metropolitan Police.

Answer 10

In 2018, the Metropolitan Police dropped 2.9 times as many cases on the day they were reported as they had done in 2013. Over the period of 2013-2018, the Metropolitan Police screened out a total of 525,000 crimes on the same day as they were reported

Question 11

What has happened to police funding since 2010?

Answer 11

Since 2010, the government made major cuts in police budgets and this has been a cause of police decisions to drop investigations. With limited budgets and fewer officers, some investigations and prevention measures have had to be prioritised over others

Question 12

What did the Baroness Casey report highlight?

Answer 12

The misconducts of the police and showed Met Police as institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic with serious police failings including colleagues raping others and staff urinating on others. The report described the Met Police Force as a ‘boys club’ which was full of homophobia and discrimination

Question 13

Accuracy of the statistical evidence

What does the statistical evidence suggest about the police?

Answer 13

Suggests that the police are becoming less effective in achieving social control

Question 14

Improved recording procedures

Why might there been an increase in the total number of crimes on the statistics?

Answer 14

This increase could be because the police have become better at recording them. In 2014, police recorded statistics were deemed to not meet the standards required by the Office for National Statistics. Since then, the police have made some efforts to improve crime recording, for example in the area of domestic abuse, and this had led to a greater proportion of offences now appearing in the statistics

Question 15

Counter-evidence from the CSEW

How does the evidence from the CSEW contradict the police statistics?

Answer 15

The CSEW shows that the overall crime rate has generally been level or falling in recent years, rather than increasing as police statistics indicate. For example, in the year ending March 2020, the rate fell by 9%

Question 16

Outline three ways in which the two sets of statistics differ in how they deal with different crimes.

Answer 16

• The CSEW does not include crimes against business (such as shoplifting and fraud) or crimes against children aged under 10
• The CSEW surveys only a sample of the population, so it under-represents some less common but more serious crime, such as weapon offences. Police and other statistics, such as hospital admissions for knife wounds, are more accurate
• Police statistics tend to pick up more serious crimes as they are more likely to be reported and ones where a police crime number is needed for insurance claims e.g. burglary and vehicle theft

Question 17

Other criticisms of police performance

Outline three concerns about the relationship between the police and minority ethnic groups

Answer 17

• Recruitment of officers from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased, but minority groups continue to be under-represented in the police force, including in senior ranks
• Stop and searches are still disproportionately used against Black and other minority groups
• Tasers are used disproportionately against people of minority backgrounds

Question 18

Give an example of the police using the media to portray a ‘crime-busters’ image of themselves.

Answer 18

In 2014, South Yorkshire Police invited the BBC to film their raid on the home of Sir Cliff Richard in connection with historical child abuse allegations. No charges were eventually brought and both the police and the BBC had to pay damages to the singer

Question 19

Why has the police’s response to moral panics led to criticism?

Answer 19

The police have been criticised for over-reacting to media-driven moral panics and calls for crackdowns on whatever crime the media chooses to focus on. This can draw police resources away from other areas of criminality that may be more serious or widespread

Question 20

The Crown Prosecution Service

Give two examples of the success of the CPS in 2018.

Answer 20

• In a typical three-month period, it prosecutes around 80,000 cases in Crown Court and 450,000 cases in magistrates’ courts
• Around 80% of the defendants that it prosecutes are convicted

Question 21

Lack of effectiveness

Give an example of unfavourable media reporting of the CPS’s performance.

Answer 21

There have been criticisms of its handling of rape cases. On 24th September 2018 The Guardian reported that the CPS’s specialist rape prosecutors had been advised to drop a number of supposedly ‘weak’ cases

Question 22

According to one prosecutor, how could the CPS improve its performance?

Answer 22

The aim was to improve the CPS’s overall performance by ensuring that a higher proportion of its prosecutions would succeed. One prosecutor said they were told if they took 350 weak cases out of the system, their conviction rate would go up to 61%

Question 23

Why was this move to remove weak cases out the system criticised?

Answer 23

Criticised by experts and campaigners, who warned that it would limit victims’ access to justice. For example, it could lead to cases involving younger victims, students and those with mental health problems being dropped, because these were cases where juries have been shown to be less likely to convict

Question 24

Realistic prospect of conviction

What is meant by a ‘realistic prospect of conviction’?

Answer 24

The evidence would be more likely than not to convince a jury to convict

Question 25

What do critics argue that the CPS should be focused on?

Answer 25

Critics argue that the CPS should be focused less on trial outcomes and more on bringing cases to justice. The number of rapes reported rose by 1/3 from 2016 to 2020, but the number of prosecutions actually fell by 60%

Question 26

Budget cuts

What has been the impact of budget cuts on the CPS?

Answer 26

In recent years the CPS has suffered budget cuts of 25% and it has lost 1/3 of its staff. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill QC, has said that the CPS cannot sustain further cuts because digital technology is imposing heavy additional workloads on its staff, with the need to analyse content of smartphones in the search for evidence and to comply with rules for its disclosure to the defence. In one case, it took 600 hours to analyse the content on one phone

Question 27

Evidence disclosure

Why have a number of rape trials and other prosecutions collapsed?

Answer 27

As a result of the CPS and police’s failure to discover and disclose evidence such as text messages stored on victims’ or defendants’ phones. After the collapse of a rape case against Liam Allen in 2018 due to evidence being disclosed only after the trial had started, around 30 other cases that were due to go to court had to be reviewed and some halted

Question 28

Failure to build the case

Give an example of the failure of the CPS to build a case.

Answer 28

In some high-profile cases, the CPS has failed to build an adequate case and this has led to the prosecution collapsing. For example, in the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, the CPS rested its case on an obviously lying witness, when proper checks would easily have established the unreliability of her evidence

Question 29

Other criticisms of the CPS

Give three other criticisms of the CPS.

Answer 29

• Despite its independent status, the CPS has been criticised for being too close to the police
• It has been criticised for being too bureaucratic, inefficient and slow in proceedings with cases. In some cases this can mean victims and defendants have to put their lives on hold for many months
• Failure to communicate with relevant parties. There have been examples of cases where suspects have only found out that the case against them has been dropped by reading about it in the media

Question 30

The judiciary

Media images of the judiciary

How are judges often portrayed by the media?

Answer 30

Old, White, upper-class males who are out of touch with modern society. They are often described as being too ‘soft’, handing down lenient sentences for serious offences

Question 31

Are judges biased in their judgements?

Give four ways in which judges’ backgrounds might make them biased in their judgements.

Answer 31

• 68% of judges are male
• More than half of judges are aged over 50. However, among judges under 40, a slight majority (51%) are female
• Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are under-represented: only 7% of judges are from minority backgrounds
• They are from higher classes. 74% of judges were privately educated and the same percentage went to Oxford or Cambridge. 2/3 of judges are former barristers

This may meant that judges are biased towards people from similar backgrounds to themselves, or against people who are different from themselves

Question 32

Evidence of gender bias

Describe how the decisions of Judge James Pickles in 1989 could be seen to show gender bias.

Answer 32

Gender bias is clearly present in certain cases. In 1989 Judge James Pickles sentenced a man to probation after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl. Later that year, he jailed a woman for contempt of court for refusing to give evidence against her ex-boyfriend, who had assaulted her. In 1990 he sentenced a 19-year-old single mother with a 10-week-old baby to 6 months on a charge of theft. He commented that getting pregnant was no reason to escape custody

Question 33

Currency

Give an example of a case that represents class bias in sentencing.

Answer 33

In 2017, 24-year-old Lavinia Woodward was convicted of stabbing her boyfriend. Woodward was an Oxford University medical student. Judge Ian Pringle QC told her that a jail sentence could damage her prospects of a medical career so instead gave her a suspended sentence. The judge said that prison would be too severe a punishment because it would prevent her from being able to be a heart surgeon. The journalist and barrister Afua Hirsch argues that Woodward’s treatment sharply contrasts that of other women in the justice system due to the fact that Woodward didn’t come from a deprived background with the majority of those who do come from these backgrounds receiving custodial sentences

Question 34

How is black crime treated differently to white crime by the media?

Answer 34

When one Black youth stabs another, the media call it ‘Black on Black crime’ but when White youths commit crime to other White youths the media never calls it ‘White on White crime’

Question 35

Are judges out of touch?

In what ways are judges not typical members of society?

Answer 35

Their age, education and class backgrounds

Question 36

According to Karen Warner et al, do jurors think judges are out of touch with public opinion on sentencing? If so, was this a problem?

Answer 36

Warner interviewed Australian jurors about judges. They found that most jurors did not think judges were out of touch with public opinion on sentencing. Even some of those who did think judges were out of touch said this was not a criticism, or said that while they thought judges in general might be out of touch, this did not apply to the judge in the trial they themselves had been involved in

Question 37

Why might it be a problem if judges are ‘in touch’?

Answer 37

This could mean being swayed or unduly influenced by public opinion, media outrage and moral panics. Being out of touch might just mean remaining independent

Question 38

Are judges too lenient?

The Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme

What does the ULS scheme allow for? For which crimes?

Answer 38

The scheme allows victims, prosecutors and members of the public to apply to the Attorney General or Solicitor General (government law ministers) for a sentence to be reviewed if they feel it was unduly lenient. The scheme applies to sentences for serious offences such as murder, rape, robbery, child sex crimes and people trafficking

Question 39

Who will review the sentence?

Answer 39

If the minister agrees that the judge made a gross error in their sentencing decision, they will ask the Court of Appeal to review the sentence and if necessary increase it. If the Court of Appeal finds that the sentence is significantly below the one that the judge should have passed, they will increase it

Question 40

In 2018, how many cases were referred and how many of these had changes made to their sentences?

Answer 40

140 were referred, of which 99 had their sentences increased. These figures need to be set against the many thousands of sentences passed each year for serious offences. This suggests that in general, judges are not being unduly lenient in their sentencing

Question 41

Unduly severe sentences

Give an example of when judges and magistrates have imposed what might be considered unduly severe sentences.

Answer 41

There are examples of judges and magistrates imposing what some regard as unduly severe sentences, as in many cases arising out of the 2011 riots, when offenders often received custodial sentences for minor theft offences

Question 42

Prisons

How do prisons aim to achieve social control over prisoners, both when they are inside and when they are released?

Answer 42

The prison service aims to achieve social control by punishing offenders and by rehabilitating them so that they follow a crime-free life after they released. It also aims to exercise social control over offenders while they are inside prison so that they follow the prison’s rules and behave in an orderly manner

Question 43

Social control within prisons: the evidence

What has been the impact of budget cuts on prisons? How has this affected the ability to control inmates in prison?

Answer 43

Between 2010 and 2018, the number of prison officers fell by 15% as a result of budget cuts. More experienced officers were more likely to leave and by 2018, 1/3 of prison officers had less than two years’ experience. This has made it harder to maintain control over inmates

Question 44

What has been the impact of the increased prison population?

Answer 44

The prison population has almost doubled from 43,000 in 1993 to around 80,000 in 2021. This has meant more prisoners to control as well as overcrowded conditions for many inmates. In 2018, 58% of prisons were overcrowded. In turn, overcrowding contributes to discontent and rule-breaking

Question 45

Why are prisons unable to deal with the rehabilitation needs of prisoners?

Answer 45

Increased numbers of prisoners, staff shortages and budget cuts means that prisons are often unable to deal with the causes of prisoners’ offending. This is made worse by the fact that many prisoners are serving short sentences, so there is not enough time to address their often complex needs

Question 46

What is ‘Spice’ and what effect does it have on an individual’s behaviour?

Answer 46

Spice is a ‘new psychoactive susbtance’ which is synthetically produced and can be 100 times more potent than cannabis and can cause aggression, psychosis and intense depression. Between 2013 and 2018, 117 deaths in prison were linked to NPS use

Question 47

Why has the mandatory drug testing programme not been effective in some prisons?

Answer 47

Due to the availability of drugs which undermines prison discipline and control by reducing inmates’ participation in rehabilitation activities, creating debt among prisoners and increasing levels of violence

Question 48

What type of security breaches have there been in prisons?

Answer 48

There have been almost no escapes from closed prisons since 2010 but there have been numerous breaches of security, with drugs, sim cards and other forbidden items being smuggled into prisons, sometimes by the use of drones

Question 49

Note the statistics for incidents of assaults, self-harm and suicide in prisons in 2017.

Answer 49

• 9,800 assaults on staff
• 32,000 assault incidents
• Five homicides
• 76 suicides
• 65,000
• Self-harm was particularly high among women prisoners, with an average of 3.2 incidents per prisoner recorded

Question 50

Give examples of riots and disorder in prisons in 2016 and 2018.

Answer 50

• HMP Birmingham 2016 - worst riot in 25 years in a UK prison due to staff shortages
• In 2018 there was serious disorder at several prisons, including The Mount, Long Lartin and Bedford

Question 51

After release : the evidence on re-offending

What are the statistics for re-offending within one year of release?

Answer 51

• 36% of all ex-prisoners re-offended
• Among ex-prisoners with many previous convictions (11 or more), nearly half re-offended
• 64% of those on short sentences (less than 12 months) re-offended
• Around 37% of juvenile offenders re-offended

Question 52

Conclusion

Overall, how effective are prisons in achieving social control?

Answer 52

The evidence shows that the prisons are ineffective both in achieving social control over offenders while they are in prison, and that they are ineffective in rehabilitating them so that they lead a crime-free life after they have left prison

Question 53

Probation

Privatisation

What was the ‘rehabilitation revolution’ launched by the Conservatives in 2014?

Answer 53

Aimed at reducing re-offending. A key part of the policy was the part-privatisation of the probation service

Question 54

What were the community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) set up to deal with?

Answer 54

The CRCs were to deal with low-risk offenders and would earnt their profits on a payment-by-results basis, with targets to reduce re-offending by their clients

Question 55

What evidence did the 2018 probation service inspection report present about CRCs after it was discovered that 19/21 companies failed to meet their targets for rehabilitating offenders?

Answer 55

• Offenders’ housing needs were met less often: only 54% of cases supervised by CRCs, compared with 70% of NPS-supervised cases
• Offenders were often supervised by telephone-only
• One CRC held meetings with clients in open-plan offices, playing ‘white noise’ to prevent people from eavesdropping
• CRCs provided inadequate protection for victims and their children when domestic abusers were returned to the community

The government decided to terminate the CRCs’ contracts early, bringing them to an end by 2020

Question 56

Bias

Why was the Conservative government in favour of privatisation? What do Conservatives see as the benefits?

Answer 56

The political ideology of the Conservative government biased it in favour of privatisation. Conservatives see privately-owned commercial companies as the most effective means of achieving social control in the justice sector. They believe that private companies can provide both a more efficient and a more cost-effective service. For this reason the Conservatives followed a policy of privatisation in both probation and the prison service

Question 57

Evaluation

What does the evidence from the most current official reports indicate about the CRCs?

Answer 57

The evidence indicates a failure by the CRCs to achieve social control of offenders. This failure also undermines the objective of keeping the community safe, for example where domestic abusers are returned to the community without adequate supervision

Question 58

The National Probation Service

What are the limitations of the NPS?

Answer 58

• A critical national shortage of probation officers
• High workloads have led to professional standards being compromised
• A lack of professional leadership
• Probation premises are dated, shabby and in some cases not secure
• There is no national strategy to provide enough local specialist services
• There is a shortage of places on specialist programmes to address the causes of offending

Question 59

Charities and pressure groups

Strong commitment

Why are charities sometimes better placed to reduce offending and re-offending?

Answer 59

This is because they have a strong commitment to one particular group or issue and specialist knowledge of people’s needs. They are also strongly motivated to help and may therefore go the extra mile in a way that government or privatised agencies may not do

Question 60

Pressure groups - Nacro

Give an example of a campaign by Nacro.

Answer 60

It campaigns along with other organisations to end Friday releases from prison. 1/3 of all releases take place on a Friday, which means people have no time to access vital services and may end up sleeping rough, going without medication and re-offending

Question 61

Give an example of charity work carried out by Nacro.

Answer 61

Nacro provides services for ex-offenders and those in danger of offending. For example, it provides accommodation for those released from prison and supports them to find long-term accommodation. Homelessness is a major driver of re-offending and tackling it helps to achieve social control

Question 62

Women in Prison (WIP)

What is WIP?

Answer 62

A pressure group that campaigns to reduce the numbers of women in prison. It presses government and criminal justice agencies to change their policies

Question 63

Give two examples of campaigns by WIP.

Answer 63

• WIP calls for the government to drop its plans to build five new prisons for women. Instead it calls for the money to be invested in specialist women’s centres and community-based solutions such as housing and mental health support that would reduce re-offending
• WIP calls on the courts to follow the Sentencing Guidelines and use prison only as a last resort, for the most serious offences and to protect the public from harm. Yet 84% of women’s prison sentences are for non-violent offences, including non-payment of council tax or TV licences

Question 64

Support for women in prison

What support does WIP provide for women in prison?

Answer 64

• A freephone helpline to provide support and guidance to women prisoners
• Referring women to other specialist agencies
• Delivering the CARE programme (Choices, Actions, Relationships, Emotions) for women in prison for violent offending who have a history of self-harm, suicide attempts, mental health problems or substance misuse

Question 65

Gaps in provision

What is a limitation of charities and pressure groups in achieving social control?

Answer 65

They are voluntary organisations. This means that they only exist where people are concerned about a particular issue or group. For example, people may be concerned enough about victims of child sexual abuse to set up charities to support them. They may be less concerned about the abusers and less likely to set up organisations to support them. This may mean that opportunities to prevent re-offending are missed

Question 66

What impact does media reporting have on the work of charities?

Answer 66

If a group of victims is portrayed sympathetically, this may increase support for charities that work with the group. If the media demonise a particular category of offender, it will be harder for charities that work with them to build support

Question 67

How does media reporting affect the funding for groups?

Answer 67

It is easier to persuade the public to donate funds for some groups or causes than for others that might be equally (or more) important or deserving

Question 68

What types of groups will local or national government fund to provide services?

Answer 68

Groups that fits with their political and financial priorities