victims & punishment Flashcards
functionalists view of punishment
- Durkheim
- prison uphold social solidarity + reinforce shared values
- parsons : punishment unites us against crimes + remind of the rules - boundary maintenance
marxist view of punishment
- punishment maintains social order = capitalism by defending ruling class property etc
Thompson - 18th century Britain punishments e.g. hanging, deportation for theft all part of way to control and invoke fear over the poor - prison takes over thru RSA when ISA doesn’t work
- w/c overrepresented in prison population
realists view of punishment
- left:
prison works but alone is not enough,, need to tackle structural causes e.g. poverty & marginalisation to reduce crime + reoffending
-right:
pro prison approach, 0 tolerance policy for crime
- need to be harsh on sentencing for crime, pro life sentences for minor offences to reduce + deter crime
Willson & Kelling
garland
- marxist
- uk & us moving to mass incarceration which benefits capitalism as it improves unemployment rates and gives prisoners low paid jobs
- Transcarceration - trends of being institutionalised thru out lives e.g. care, young offenders, prison
- strategies to reduce transcarceration in place e.g. community based programmes, ASBO etc but have not been successful
contemporary prison examples
- dutch prison system
- aimed to rehabilitate + recreate society in prison by giving prisoners responsibility e.g. paying for own tv, have jobs etc
focused on rehabilitation = 1/3 cells empty - minor sentences let off with fines + tags etc
Benefits of prison
- deterrence : punishing stops further offending
- rehabilitation- punishment used to improve offenders behaviour
- incapacitation - removes offenders capacity to offend again e.g. taken out of community
- retribution - offenders deserve to be punished + society is entitled to take revenge on offender
cons of prison
- sentencing may not reflect the nature of the crime e.g. too harsh or too lenient
- costly to tax payers
- doesn’t rehabilitate offenders
- not seen as deterrent as prisons lack space leading to early release
- institutional racism - macpherson x baroness Casey report
- 1 in 25 criminals likely to be sexually victimised
contemporary example of rehabilitation
- Stanley Williams
- member of the crips + convicted for murder
- wrote anti gang + violence books, awarded Nobel peace prize + turned his life around on deaths row, victims families had forgiven him however was still executed despite this in 2005
role of the state
- victims defined in terms of social + physical characteristics
- tombs x Whyte : state fails to acknowledge victim status of those who r victims of cooperate + state crimes e.g. Mark Duggan
- state has power to deny or apply label of a victim e.g. when police decide to not press charges against a man for assaulting his wife denying her of victim status e.g. Gabby Petito
- women powerless in society + blamed in many rape cases
- ‘failure to label’ hides extent of crimes of the powerful
pros x cons of death penalty
- pros:
- retribution for victims family
- moral in terms of life for a life
- strong deterrent against committing crime
- prevent overcrowding, save space + money
cons:
- expensive to carry out than sentences
- permanent punishment, irreversible - may be proven innocent afterwards
- overpricing of EM groups
- easy way out + seen as immoral as no one has power to decide life or death
- no evidence to support reduction in crime rates however rate of murders increasing in places w death penalty
positivist victimology
- victims invite victimisation by the type of person they are e.g. displaying wealth, not having secure homes, being drunk etc
- miers: victims contribute to own victimisation
- Wolfgang - victim precipitation: victim triggered victimisation, higher levels of violent behaviour amongst poor
ev:
- victim blaming
- dark figure of crime
- ignores role of criminal + blames victim rather than condemning perpetrator e.g. 1980s high profile judges passed judgment on clothes rape victims wore @ time of assault
critical victimology
- structural factors
- powerless groups are at greater risk of being victimised & the cause is not behaviour but rather society e.g. due 2 poverty, patriarchy etc
crime survey England and Wales
foucalt
- surveillance
- modern society uses surveillance in key institutions to deter crimes
- awareness of being watched led to loss of individuality + conformity - we are trained to self monitor to regulate + assume we are always being observed
- used in CJS prison design e.g. panoptican design to force conformity
foucalt distinguishes between forms of punishment:
- sovereign power - before 19th century
- monarch had power over ppl + their bodies
- punishment on the body = means of asserting control + punishment was a spectacle e.g. public execution
- disciplinary power - new system of discipline seeks 2 govern not just body but
