Crime and punishment - present
Law Enforcement
Changes in intention/method
Motorised transport (improved technology) allows police to reach crimes more quickly - also allowing there to be less police on duty
Some (specialised) police are now armed
Special Police Units
National Crime Agency (NCA)
Detects and prevents organised crime (e.g drug trafficking)
Economic Crime Unit
Investigates large-scale fraud etc.
Requires specialist understanding of improved technology and finances
Police E-crime Unit
Tackles serious cybercrime and increases awareness
Special Branch
Deals with terrorism locally
Neighbourhood Watch
Formed in 1982, Neighbourhoods form groups to increase deterrence, vigilance and education
Move towards prevention
PCSOs (2002) work with local groups to improve education
Police play a major role in 'Prevent', which challenges extremism and radicalisation
Technology
Rapid advances in technologies have had big impacts
E.g. fingerprinting, CCTV, DNA, Computers
National Fingerprint System provides a database to identify criminals from
Improved the accuracy and rate of convictions
Punishment
The Death Penalty
Controversy
Timothy Evans
Hanged for killing his wife + baby; later proven innocent
Derek Bentley
Hanged for murdering a policeman
Ruth Ellis
Hanged after killing her abusive boyfriend
Abolition
Last used in 1964, abolished in 1999
Reform and paying back society are now more important
Controversial cases led people to question the use
Prison
Increased use as a punishment
Cater for different types of criminals, as prisons range from high-security to more open, community service ones
Probation - prisoners are released, but are put back in if they re-offend
1948, hard labour and corporal punishment abolished
Special prisons
Majority male (84%), and prisons differ gender-wise
Borstals, early 1900s, used work and education for young people
Youth Offenders Institutions are similar, and retain high re-offending rates
New Punishment
Community service/sentences, e.g. working on community projects
ASBOs are used as an alternative punishment
Electronic tagging
Restrict freedoms, are 'warnings' per say
Rehabilitation
Prisons have moved from deterrence towards reducing re-offending rates through education, and giving them work
Have mixed success rates, and are controversial due to the 'going easy' factor
Conscientious objectors
Conscription
States in law that all those who are asked, and are fit and healthy must fight in the armed forces
COs had to make their case before a tribunal to justify their objections
Attitudes
Very different between the two wars; however, it was similarly hostile
People considered them traitors etc. as they didn't make sacrifices like their families
Comparison in treatment
WW1
WW2
16,000 men total
Tribunals were military/professional, lead to prejudice
Only 400 given total exemption
'Alternativists'/those on partial leave given non-combat roles
'Absolutists' imprisoned, brutally treated and hard labour - 10 died in prison
Excused by a clause in law
59,000 men AND women refused
Tribunals were chosen more through a jury-process ( i.e. military influence removed)
All aside from 12000 were exempted (total/partial)
Very small percentage sent to prison, treated much better
General Public
Seen as cowards and traitors; violence was common against them, and it was much more difficult to get/keep work
WW2
WW1
Order of the White Feather handed out white feathers, symbolising cowardice
Press was less harsh, and less organised campaigns
Derek Bentley #
Had a mental disability, and a mental age of 10.
While he and his friend burgled a warehouse, the police cornered them - Craig shot and injured one, and shot/killed another, on Bentley's 'Let him have it!'
Both convicted for murder, Craig getting prison as he was a minor, and Bentley to death - after a failed appeal hearing, he was hanged in 1953
Public opinion
Public outcry, led to a motion in parliament with support from 200 MPs
Lots of media coverage, mostly sympathetic
Eventually pardoned in 1993, and his conviction overturned in 1998
Significance
Highlighted the inequal punishments for murder
Illustrated how the repreival system of the Home Secretary was a lottery
Increased the controversy of the death penalty
Metropolitan Police
Recruits
Came from outside London due to the good pay - generally soldiers or labourers
Some problems e.g. absenteism and not enough on the beat to police effectively
On the beat
Patrolling a set route for deterrence, breaking up crimes etc
The CID
To detect crime
Separate from the rest who prevented crime
Under the control of the Home Secretary
Allowed policing of certain troubling groups e.g. socialists and anarchists
Attitudes
Varied - working class often felt they were against them, with riots and the economic depression etc.
Commissioner Sir Charles Warren
Former army general
Banned the Trafalgar Square riots, leading to violent clashes (Bloody Sunday)
Couldn't solve Jack the Ripper (1888), so lost his job