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Topic 4 Punishment - Coggle Diagram
Topic 4
Punishment
The Criminal Justice System & Punishment
Refers to all agencies and organisations involved in law, order, crime and punishment within the UK (Police, Courts, Home Office)
Dominated by White, Middle Class Older Males = detrimental when distributing justice to the most disadvantaged in society
Role of the CJS
Deterrence
(deter committing crime)
Public Protection
(safety)
Retribution
(punishment)
Rehabilitation
(Reform behaviour)
Changing approaches to the CJS
There's been a shift in how we distribute justice within society
Garland
- society has shifted from rehabilitation to retribution with the 20th century
1)
Left Realism -> Right Realism -
Culture of Control
Garland
- changes in CJS being reflected in changing sociological theory (LR to RR)
Culture of Control = controlling and preventing people becoming victims of crime, rather than rehabilitating offenders --> New approach is accompanied by the growing use of private security, alongside official CJ agencies like the police (protect the public and prevent crime)
Restorative Justice - Naming, Shaming and Facing
Process bringing the offender and victim together allowing the offender to feel responsible for the harm caused, restores dignity and respect to the victim, reduces fear
Uses of these processes and community sentences for less serious offences are seen through unpaid work etc
Aims to avoid unnecessary criminalisation of those on the fringe of criminal activity helping them avoid "universities of crime"
Braithwaite
- RJ is the most effective when it involves 'redintegrative shaming' - where offenders not only face their victims but are 'named and shamed' making the offender aware of their public disapproval - shaming them into conformity and responsibility as a consequence
Reasons for Punishing Criminals
Newburn - 5 Reasons
1)
Discourage them from re-offending (rehab) or to deter them from future offending (deterrence)
2)
Force them to make amends to victims for the harm they've done to them (RJ)
3)
Protect society from danger (incapacitation / execution)
4)
To reinforce social values
5)
To punish them because they deserve it
Types of Punishment
Middle ages typically used highly brutal and sadistic punishment types that inflicted pain (stoning, hanging, burning, decapitating, quartering)
Now there are many forms of private punishment (curfews, tagging, imprisonment, fines)
Some countries still use brutal punishment (58 still use the death penalty, amputation of hands of thefts in Saudi Arabia)
Changing form of Punishment
Punishment has changed across time and cultures throughout the years , changing from public spectacle to more 'civilised' form - 2 main explanations for this:
Foucault - Sovereign power to Disciplinary power
Foucault saw this change from sovereign power to disciplinary power reflected in the way punishments have changed from the infliction of plain and cruelty to the development of prisons
Sovereign Power
- Public brutal punishment concerned with pain and not worried about deferring people from crime
Disciplinary Power
- Controlled discipline by surveillance
Rusche and Kirchheimer - Punishment, class denomination and control
Marxist perspective - punishment is part of a system of control and class denomination within an unequal society They believe that punishment changes alongside the changing economic interests of the ruling class
Brutality rose when the labour force was plentiful and fell when there was labour shortage
Sociological Approaches to Punishment
Marxist - Maintaining the Position of the powerful
Althusser
- Punishment used to be part of the ISA
Rusche and Kirschheimer
- Punishment is reflective of the ruling class interests
There is also evidence of an unequal distribution of punishment within society, the punishments given out by the CJS are directed and systematically against the most disadvantaged in society (unemployed, homeless, MEG)
People belonging to these groups are:
Be punished
Receive harsher punishments
Critics
Difficult to see all punishments as linked simply to interests of dominant class, much depends on what the purpose of punishment is
WC fill prisons due to most serious offences?
Weberian - The Rationalisation of Punishment
Weber
Believes that modern societies have gone through a process of rationalisation, based on rules, laws, and regulations
Only the state now has the power to punish (landowners, factory owners etc, no longer have the power)
Rationalisation of punishment is now based on
Rational-Legal authority
- Punishment is based on impersonal rules and regulations, and administered by complex bureaucracies of officials rather than by arbitrary treatment - Based on legal - justifiable means
Critics
Issues surrounding fairness of rules and regulations
Miscarriages of justice / judge discrimination (labelling)
Functionalist
Societies have Value Consensus creating a Collective Conscience regulating behaviour - expressed through laws
If a crime is committed it therefore threatens CC and VC suggesting punishment has many purposes
Durkheim
suggest 5 purposes of punishment
1)
Outlet for public anger of violation of CC and an opportunity to express disapproved criminal behaviour
2)
Reasserts boundaries between right and wrong - re-establishing social order
3)
Reaffirm collective values and laws
4)
Reinforces social control and regulation
5)
Helps build social solidarity and cohesion
Critics
Assumes laws reflect value consensus when others like Marxism think it reflects ruling class ideology
Surveillance and a Crime Control and Prevention
Do prisons work?
YES
Safe for vulnerable offenders
Keeps danger away from society
NO
Training grounds for crime / 'universities of crime'
Too lenient
Most people re-offend
Does imprisonment prevent crime
Prison or Young Offender Institutions (10-21) - most serious sanction available to the CJS
Right realists see prison as a key deterrent (tough on crime)
Downing Street Strategy Unit 2003 = 22% increase in the prison population since 1997
2012 all time high (47% prisoners released in 2010 reoffended)
Boorman
&
Hopkins
- SPCR = 54% of sample committed at least 1 offence within 1 year after release
Goffman
- prisons have their own subcultures = training ground for crime confirming the 'criminal' label
Prison can make pre-existing problems wore such as destabilizing family ties and stigmatizing the offender
Becker
- master status of 'ex-con'
Foucault - Surveillance and crime control and Prevention
-
Panopticonism
- A style of prison whereby the perceived surveillance of a guard will create social order - even if there is no guard people will still conform
Control is disciplinary power which creates fear of being watched - which is enough to case people to
Self survey
their own behaviour and control their behaviour
Self surveillance means that even if we are not being watched we still believe there is the threat of being watched = obedience
Surveillance is across our while lives "
age of panopticonism"
where everyone is exposed to a disciplinarily gaze
Technologies of powers / ITC's (Information and Communication Technologies) enable total social control
CCTV - 1 Camera for every 13 people - internet, mobile banking ' digital fingerprints'
We are now living in a
Carceral
culture in which panopticon model has been applied
Continuously watched by those in 'power', therefore powerful and wealthy are now judges of normality
Evaluation
Surveillance is now everywhere and because of this it is likely people have stopped noticing it, we are conditioned to think it is a normal part of society, so may not feel 'fearful' towards being watched
Foucault
has a very negative view on surveillance, when it actually has so many benefits of society (exposing terror threats)
Right Realism – Environmental crime prevention
ECP – changing/controlling the environment to change/control crime
Wilson’s broken window thesis
:
Idea that if a broken window – a symbol for social disorder – is not repaired then others are likely to be broken and further neglect will follow
Wilson and Kelling
Areas that are well maintained with low crime rates allow people to feel party of a community but unless 'incivilities' are kept to a minimum, the society ill begin to deteriorate = no social control, loss of belonging and a damaged society
Environment should be kept in good physical condition, any sign of broken window or graffiti must be tackled - and that the police should have a policy of zero tolerance - cracking down on all antisocial behaviour, protecting communal space (All public housing shouldn't exceed 3 floor)
Routine activity Theory
Felson
and
Clarke
suggests crime occurs as part of everyday routines when three conditions are met
1)
Suitable target
2)
No ‘capable guardian’
3)
Offender present, the first conditions are met and a rational choice is made whether or not to commit the crime.
Rational choice and opportunity theories
Cornish
and
Clarke
focus on the decision making of the potential offender
They state when opportunity available, offenders act rationally and weigh up the risks/rewards before making a choice to commit the crime or not
The only way to stop this process is through:
1)
Reduce opportunities
2)
Increase the risks
3)
Conformity offers greater benefits
The broken window thesis, routine activity theory and rational choice theory has led right realist to adopt two main approaches to crime prevention
Situational Crime Prevention
Increased Social Control
Left Realist: Tough on the Causes of Crime
LR recognise that both the offenders and the victims of crime are most likely to be disadvantaged
They believe we need to tackle material and cultural deprivation to truly tackle crime
Kinsey
– The police should spend more time
’tackling crime’
to act as a deterrent, but shouldn’t rely on militant tactics such as heavy policing and surveillance
This only causes a lack of confidence in the system, and creates hostility within the community, particularly with ethnic minority groups who tend to be the victim of this ‘zero tolerance’ policing style
Lewis
– found resentment of a perceived lack of respect for the police was a key factor in engagement in the London Riots in 2011. Many individuals interviewed had experienced targeted policing through stop-and-searches, and believed this was purely based on their ethnicity.
Preventing crime involves addressing these social issues through policies such as:
1)
Building community cohesion and strong communities, enabling them to develop more informal controls, creating local solutions to local crime problems
2)
Multi-Agency working (Community safety Partnerships ) Agencies all work together with locals to tackle crime taking pressures away from just the police and CJS
3)
Democratic and community control of policing, becomes more responsive to local needs - Police work more with community and don't harass non-white people in society
4)
Tackling social deprivation and the other risk factors for crime by improving community facilities
5)
Intensive parenting support, getting parents and young offenders to work out solutions - SureStartCentres to get children in the poorest communities
Criticisms of Left Realism
Soft on crime downplaying choices of the offender
Inadequate explanations as majority of derived communities that share the same situation don't turn to crime
Deflect attention away from more practical crime prevention measures (tighter control)
Ignore WCC and CC