Unit 4 2.2- Aims of Punishment

Question 1

Retribution : Example

Answer 1

hate crimes deserve a longer sentence, such as that for grievous bodily harm being 5 years imprisonment, but it can be increased to 7 years if it is found to be racially motivated.

Question 2

Retribution : Theory

Answer 2

• offenders should be punished and society is morally entitled to take revenge on offenders for their crimes.
• punishment should fit and reflect the severity of the crimes that have been committed. This is the idea of proportionality, whereby there is a set of mandatory minimum sentences that offenders must serve based on their crimes.
• doesn’t focus on preventing future crimes, rather it is a justification for punishing crimes that have already been committed.
• right realist theory of criminality, such as rational choice theory. This assumes that criminals are rational actors and make a conscious decision to commit crime and are therefore responsible for their actions.
• the concept of moral outrage of society is based on functionalist ideology, as the moral outrage of society that retribution expresses maintains society’s boundaries and reminds its members of the distinction between right and wrong and the consequences.

Question 3

Retribution : Critism

Answer 3

• it can be argued that offenders deserve forgiveness in order to be rehabilitated and return to society as productive members.
• due to the fixed sentences for certain crimes, offenders who are remorseful or who have no previous convictions cannot be given any mercy.
• there is no objective definition or guidelines as to which crimes are classified as most serious or what is the appropriate punishment for each crime, so there are inconsistencies in sentencing.

Question 4

Rehabilitation : Example

Answer 4

• punishment can be used to reform and change offenders so they no longer pose a risk to society through offending.
• programmes are used to engage offenders and help them to overcome and deal with underlying problems that manifest themselves in offending behaviours. These include drug treatment and testing orders, anger management courses and training programmes so prisoners can avoid unemployment and earn an honest living.

Question 5

Rehabilitation : Theory

Answer 5

• left realists favour rehabilitation as they see social factors like poverty, marginalisation and unemployment as the causes of crime- rehabilitation addresses these inequalities and reduces reoffending.
• individualistic theories argue that rehabilitation is the main aim of punishment.
• eysenck’s personality theory: favours the use of aversion therapy to deter offending.
• operant learning theory: supports the use of token economies to reward conforming behaviour upon release.
• cognitive theories: favours CBT to teach offenders the correct ways of thinking and to understand their offending behaviours.

Question 6

Rehabilitation : Critism

Answer 6

• right realists argue that many offenders return to offending patterns upon undergoing programmes aimed to change their behaviour, showing they have limited success.
• marxists argue that rehabilitation programmes shift the responsibility of offending onto the offender’s failings, rather than examining how capitalism leads people to commit crime (e.g. criminogenic capitalism)

Question 7

Deterrence: Example

Answer 7

• where punishment is used to deter an individual offender from reoffending, rather than a larger population.
• the ‘prison works’ idea is based on the concept that if sentences are tough enough, offenders will not want to return to prison again upon release and therefore will not reoffend. This was constructed under thatcher’s conservative government, along with juvenile detention centres described as a ‘short sharp shock’ to reduce offending in young people quickly.
• aims to deter wider society from breaking the rules by committing crimes through the public seeing an individual offender being punished and seeing themselves in the same position if they were to commit the same crime. Previously, this was done through executions and public hangings (sovereign power), but is now done through media reports.

Question 8

Deterrence: Theory

Answer 8

• right realists favour deterrence as a form of crime prevention. They see criminals as rational actors (RCT) who are responsible for their own actions because they are able to calculate the costs and benefits of committing a crime.
• they also favour situational crime prevention strategies such as target hardening that make it harder for offenders to commit crime by making individuals harder targets for criminals, however, this can be argued to only displace crime rather than reduce crime.

Question 9

Deterrence: Critism

Answer 9

• there is a high reoffending rate in the UK (37.5% of all offenders reoffend, 40% of juveniles), showing that prison doesn’t work as well as RR argue.
• people often follow the law because it is the right thing to do, not because it is a deterrent.
• assumes offenders act rationally, but some are driven by their emotions, drugs, alcohol and mental health issues

Question 10

Public Protection: Example

Answer 10

• incapacitation: the use of punishment to remove the offender’s physical ability to commit crime. This is done through methods such as chemical castration of sex offenders, electronic tagging and curfews, travel bands and in the past, cutting of the hands of thieves and executions.
  PRISON IS THE MAIN FORM OF PUBLIC PROTECTION IN OPERATION TODAY

Question 11

Public Protection: Theory

Answer 11

• biological theories, such as lombroso’s theory argued that criminals were biologically different from non-criminals and couldn’t be rehabilitated because of their biological predisposition causing crime (RIGHT REALIST). He favoured sending criminals to remote islands away from the general population, while others favoured chemical castration of sex offenders and other dangerous individuals.

Question 12

Public Protection: Critism

Answer 12

• incapacitation leads to longer sentences with little hope of releasing offenders, leading to increased prison population and raised costs.
• doesn’t deal with the causes of crime, nor does it change offender’s behaviour to become productive citizens.
• it is unjust because the prison system imprisons individuals for crimes that they may commit in the future.

Question 13

Reparation: Example

Answer 13

• the offender makes amends for the crimes they have committed, often through financial compensation which is often paying for the damage of property. Courts have the power to impose this as a condition of their sentence. It can also be in the form of unpaid work to make amends to the community in the form of payback. This is imposed as a community order.
• restorative justice programmes are also a method of reparation, where the offender meets with the victim or their families to discuss the actions and provide closure to the victims. The victim is able to explain the impact that the crime has had on them and the offender is able to reflect on the harm they have caused.

Question 14

Reparation: Theory

Answer 14

• functionalists argue that restorative justice is essential for the smooth functioning of complex modern societies.
• interactionists favour this as a way of reintegrating offenders into society. By allowing them to confront their actions and express their remorse, it prevents them from being pushed into secondary deviance and permits their integration.

Question 15

Reparation: Critism

Answer 15

• it is not an universal solution to all offences, such as sexual or violent offences and by definition, reparation for homicide victims is impossible.
• some regard reparation as a soft form of punishment that lets offenders off lightly.