Topic 4 - Crime, Control And Prevention Flashcards
What is the CJS one of?
The major public services in this country
What are the core agencies of the CJS?
- Police
- CPS
- The courts
- Youth justice board
- National offender management service
What are some services and initiatives within the CJS run by?
Voluntary groups e.g. victim support and NACRO
What are the 3 departments responsible for the CJS and its agencies?
- The ministry of justice
- The home office
- The attorney general
The ministry of justice
- oversees the magistrates courts, the crown court, the appeals courts, the legal services commission and the national offender management service
- manages justice processes from end to end
- responsible for criminal law and sentencing policy, for legal aid, reducing re-offending and prisons and probation
The home office
- oversees the police
- protects the public from terror, crime and anti-social behaviour - helps build security, justice and respect that enables people to prosper in a free and tolerant society
- responsible for crime and crime reduction, policing, security and counter-terrorism
The attorney general
- oversees CPS, serious fraud office and revenue and customs prosecution office
- assisted by the solicitor general is the chief legal adviser to the government - responsible for ensuring law is upheld
- certain public interest functions e.g. taking action to appeal unduly lenient sentences and bringing proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act
What is the purpose of the CJS?
To deliver justice for all by convicting and punishing guilty and helping them to stop offending while protecting the innocent
What is the CJS responsible for?
- Detecting crime and bringing it to justice
- carrying out orders of court e.g. collecting fines
- supervising the community and custodial punishment
What is the problem with the CJS?
Dominated by older- middle class - crown courts senior judges are predominantly white males from privileged backgrounds therefore those dispersing justice to the most disadvantaged are amongst the most advantaged in society
What are the key goals of the CJS?
- to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the CJS in bringing offences to justice
- increase public confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of the CJS
- increase victim satisfaction with police, victim and witness satisfaction with the CJS
- consistently collect, analyse and use good quality ethnicity data to identify and address race disproportionately in the CJS
- increase the recovery of criminal assets to ensure crime doesn’t pay
What does restorative justice mean?
Naming, shaming and facing the victim
Where is restorative justice greater used?
Less serious offences where the offender undertakes unpaid work
Braithwaite- restorative justice
Restorative justice is more effective when it involves ‘reintegrative shaming’ where offenders face their victims and also are publicly named and shamed so that they realise society disapproves of their actions and so they can be shamed into conforming and taking responsibility for their actions
Post modernists - growth of localised arrangements
Post modernists identify a growing detachment of the CJS from centralised control to more informal localised arrangements as it starts to consider peoples different lifestyles and needs
Growth of localised arrangements - Sharia courts
Voluntary use of Sharia courts based on Islamic rather than British law to deal with disputes shows growing informality and localism of criminal justice
Growing use of private security example
Liverpool One is a privately owned and controlled area
Right Realists thoughts on crime and crime prevention
People choose to commit crime because the benefits outweigh the cost of crime therefore society needs to increase cost of crime
Garland - increased social control
- There is now a ‘culture of control’ concerned with controlling, preventing and reducing risks of people becoming victims of crime.
- Linked to Hirschi’s control theory: strong social bonds integrating people into communities encourages individuals to choose conformity over deviance and crime - the focus is on tighter control and socialisation by strengthening social institutions and isolating deviant individuals through community pressure
Policies flowing from increased social control:
- Making parents take more responsibility for the supervision of their children and socialising them more effectively into conformist behaviour - those who don’t issued with Parenting orders - September 2024 mother didn’t take her son to court and was in Ibiza issue a 6 month parenting course.
- Schemes like neighbourhood watch helping to build community controls over crime.
- Cracking down on anti-social behaviour through ‘naming and shaming’ measures like ASBOs.
Clarke - situational crime prevention
Describes situational crime prevention as a preventative approach that relies on reducing opportunities for crime
What are situational crime preventions?
- directed at specific crimes e.g. dispersal orders in West Kirby after GCSE exams to prevent anti social behaviour
- involve managing the environment of the crime
- aim to increase effort of committing crime and reducing rewards
Examples of target hardening
Post-coding goods, anti-climb paint, CCTV, locks, premises and car alarms
What does target hardening do?
Reduces the opportunities for crime in particular locations and poses greater risks for offenders and encourages them not to commit capital offence