Week 11 - The Psychology of Justice Flashcards
What are the 4 theories of punishment?
- incapacitation
- Deterrence
- Rehabilitation
- Retributive justice vs. restorative justice
What is the key idea of incapacitation?
limiting the opportunity to re offend.
What is is collective incapacitation?
longer sentences for ALL
What is selective incapacitation
Incarcerate individuals predicted to re offend. Most effective for high risk offenders.
What are some assessment techniques we rely on to assess re offending rate:
- actuarial/mathematical
- clinical/human
- static factors (gender, age, SES)
- dynamic factors (behaviours, treatment, current), (these are changeable)
What are some criticisms of incapacitation as to why we inaccurate offenders?
- expensive
- collective incapacitation is inefficient
- assessment techniques can be inflexible
What is a criticism of static factors?
This doesn’t address all aspects.
What is the key idea of detterence?
Punishment discourages future offending.
What is specific deterrence?
punishment to defer future offending by a particular person
What is general deterrence?
threat of punishment deters other potential offenders
What are some criticisms of deterrence?
It doesn’t seem to work. According to a meta analysis, there is a slight increase in reoffending. “because of my work, every now and again I will have to spend SOME time in jail”.
Criticisms of deterrence doesn’t only depend on severity of penalty, but also:
perceived likelihood of getting caught (offenders underestimate odds of apprehension).
How many countries have the death penalty?
58 countries
There are death penalty arguments in favour of the death penalty, including:
- effective deterrent
- reduces homicides/saves lives
Homicide rate negatively related to execution rate. Every execution read to:
5 fewer homicides.
What were some arguments against the execution study which stated that as executions went up, homicides went down?
most US states had 0 executions, few had more than 1. Dodgy stats.
What else may explain the results in the homicide rates?
Abortion laws introduced, a reduction in homicides.
The death penalty models violence. It legitimises ___ as an ___
killing, acceptable reaction
What is one of the strongest argument against the death penalty?
How certain do we have to be before we charge someone as guilty (case of Try Davis, wrongfully killed).
What is the key idea of rehabilitation?
prepare offender for re integration.
What does the evidence point to for rehabilitation?
That “nothin works” (mixed evidence).
More recent research shows that rehabilitation:
with CBT is effective, solve on problems solving and communication skills, incorporate family where possible.
Violent offender programs offen had difficulty:
getting prison officers to stick to programs.
What is the key idea for retributive justice?
“and eye for an eye” (pervasive idea in moral philosophy and psychology).
What are some criticisms of the retributive justice system?
- expensive (leads to huge numbers in prison)
- problems associated with involving victims in sentencing process
- judicial discretion in sentencing
One retributive justice study shows great ___ between ____
disparity, judges
What is the key aim in restorative justice?
Restore victim, offender, and community (used only for non violent crimes, juvenile offenders, involves community members).
What are the positive results of restorative justice approaches?
- increased court attendance
- can reduce re-offending
- less severe re-offending
What are the criticisms of restorative justice approaches?
-only applicable to some crimes
-potentially traumatic for victims
may encourage false remorse?
What is one of Wenzel’s key ideas in restorative justice?
concerned with reaffirming shared values.
Links between brain physiology and
- criminal behaviour
- antisocial behaviour
- moral reasoning
David Eagleman says what about your brain?
“You are your brain”
David Eagleman believes that your biology:
Governs who you are: when your biology changes, you change.
What is the prefrontal cortex activity heavily responsible for?
Executive control and emotional regulation. Lesions result in behavioural disturbances.
Raine (1994) had a studied which looked at the PET scanning of murderers.
Showed damaged/deficiency in PFC
impaired performance on sustained attention task.
War veterans showed that after a OET scan?
reduced executive function
Anterior cingulate cortex activity associated with:
- risk/reward assessment
- anticipation of consequences
- sensation seeking etc
What does the orbital frontal cortex activity show?
- rules of social convention
- anticipation of consequences
Damage orbital frontal cortex shows:
-poor social judgement
PFC, ACC, OFC, implicated in:
- decision making
- impulse control
- emotional regulation
When does the PFC usually develop?
late adolescence
US supreme court states that adolescents are seen as:
less morally culpable
legal system is faced with difficult and important questions about
- free will vs determinism
- prevention
- rights of the individual vs society
- purpose of punishment
