Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
THEORIES INFLUENCING POLICIES - Coggle Diagram
THEORIES INFLUENCING POLICIES
Biological Theories
Eugenics
RESEARCH
criminal fathers are more likely to have criminal children than non-criminal fathers (Osborn and West)
inheritance can explain the presence of human behavioural characteristics- including criminality. reinforces ideas of determinism and claims biology had
EXAMPLE: Nazi Germany Sterilisation
Sterilisation of people with undesirable traits was promoted
laws would prevent incarcerated criminals from giving birth to "criminal" offspring
Unethical to do now- no longer practiced in England and Wales
Death Penalty
Ending someone's life will prevent that person participating in criminality and may provide deterrent for others
Death by hanging was legal in England and Wales for the crime of murder until the temporary abolition in 1965. As murder did not soar, it was permanently abolished for murder in 1969
Most extreme- involves ending a life by state execution
policy is operative in some states of the US, eg texas.
statistics suggest that it is not a deterrent to the crime of murder- states with capital punishment do not have lower murder rates compared to others without.
Neurochemicals - Castration
RESEARCH
Mixed research was found regarding the success of surgical castration in reducing crime
Chemical:
volenteers given placebo or pill to reduce sex drive- pisitively recieved showing effectiveness
Changing the neurochemicals can be linked to criminality
Surgical:
stops production of sex horomones by removing testicals or ovaries
Neurochemicals - Diet
Neurochemicals are linked with criminality- lower than average serotonin levels were found in violent offenders
serotonin enriched diets with food such as salmon may reduce crime- trialled on prisoners
RESEARCH
reduced-sugar diet reduced anti-social behaviour
Gesch et al - involved taking pills by young male prisoners, showed reduction in disciplinary incidents (35%) and reduction in violent incidents (37%)
Improved diet is thought to reduce criminality
Balance of good health model in prisoners (Edwards et al)
Sociological Theories
Prisons
custodial sentences
may be lengthy , as prison sentences aim to ensure that society has its retribution on offenders (right realists)
individulas are deprived for their liberty and society is protected at least for the duration of the prison sentence
There may be as assessment of whether prison sentences achieve rehabilitation or whether recidivism ates porevent rg#his from occurring
Punishg, deter and protect public
EFFECTIVENESS
CCTV
Closed Circuit Television
invaluble technique in investigations- very effective for catching criminals and providing evidence for them to be punished
EFFECTIVENESS
acts as a deterrent for crimes like theft but wasnt effective/ no impact for violent crimes
Unsed in many cases to help solve- e.G. James Bulger- Thompson and Venables were identified using CCTV and London Riots also used CCTV to help puinish perpetrators
Penal Populism
gov attempts to propose new laws to punish offenders
hoped that such policies are popular with the public and will elicit public support
sometimes the harsh policies may e ##be out of proportion to the criminal offence
3 strikes and your out, increase in minimum sentence
Zero Tolerance
Individualistic Theories
Behaviour Modification - Token economy
believed behaviour can be modified through being rewarded and reinforced and strengthened
Punishment- stops bad behaviour- decreasing behaviour
In prisons- incentives given to prisoners for good behaviour- confectionary, visiting hours, tv etc
Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme
Effectiveness
short term- both young offender (Hobbs and Holl1976) and adult offenders
improvements tend not to have an impact beyond the institution in the longer term
Behaviour modification - Buddy system
lean behaviour through observation and imitation- SLT
Fo and Odonnel;- adults volunteered to be partnered with young offenders to model behaviour and provide consistent reinforcement
improved serious offenders but had mixed impact on those with less serious offences
Psychoanalysis
criminality is caused by repressed childhood experiences/ trauma
this can be resolved by bringing these from the unconscious and dealing with them in the conscious
dream analysis and free association is used to get the patient to express what enters their mind
EFFECTIVENESS
least favoured policy in contemporary approaches to working with offenders- time consuming
ethical issues- psychological harm in uncovering repressed trauma
CBT is thought to be a better and more appropriate treatment and works just as well
Blackburn- very few positive evaluations of classic psychoanalysis as a treatment with offenders
Andrews et al- traditional psychodynamic therapies are to be avoided with general samples of offenders
Anger Management
CBT used to help offenders deal with their feelings and anger
reduced violent offenders in particular
Social Skills
make offenders more socially competent and avoid offending