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AC 2.2 - Discuss the aims of punishment - Coggle Diagram
AC 2.2 - Discuss the aims of punishment
Retribution
Means paying back - Involves inflicting punishment on an offender as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act
Criminals should get their 'just deserts' - offenders deserve to be punished and society is morally entitled to take its revenge --> offender should be made to suffer for a breach of society's moral codes
Proportionality - punishment should fit the crime, equal or proportional to the harm done
The idea of proprotionality leads to a 'tariff system' or fixed scale of mandatory penalties for different offences
Expressing moral outrage - it is simply a way for society to express its moral condemnation or ourtrage the offence
Retribution is a justification for punishing crimes already committed, not a way of presenting future ones
Theory
Linked to right realist theories of criminality such as rational choice theory
Retirbution assumes that offenders are rational actors who consciously choose to commit their crimes and are fully responsible for their actions, therefor they must suffer
For functionalist sociologists such as Durkheim, the moral outrage that retribution expresses performs the function of boundary maintenance --> punishing the offender reminds everyone else the difference of right and wrong
Criticisms
Can be argued that offenders deserve forgiveness, mercy or a chance to make amends, not just punsihment
If there is a fixed tariff or penalties, punishments has to be inflicted even when no good is going to come from it eg. a remorseful offender who will not commit any further crimes
How do we decide what is a proportionate penalty or a 'just desert' for each crime
Prioritise punishment over treatment, a lot of mentally ill people find themselves in prison rather than being treated for their disorder
It dehumanises offenders, most people view offenders as worthless and that they deserve less
Makes justice into a transaction
Rehabilitation
Idea that punishment can be used to reform or chnage offenders so they they no longer offend
Rehab uses various treatment propgrammes to change offenders future behaviour by addresing the issues which led to their offending
Rehab policies include:
Education and training programmes for prisoners so they can avoid unemployment and ‘earn an honest living’ on release
Anger management courses for violent offenders, such as aggression replacement training and other cognitive behavioural therapies
Drug treatment and testing orders, and programmes to treat alcohol dependence
Community sentences often include requirement for offenders to engage in such programmes are part of their sentence
Support rehabilitation policies generally require offenders to actively want to change their lives, but they also often require considerable input of resources and professional support from therapists, probation officers or others to help them achieve change
Theory
Individualist theories of criminality see rehab as a signifies ant aim of punishment
They advocate various way of changing behaviour
Cognitive theories favour CBT to teach offenders to correct their thinking errors and biases that lead to aggressive or criminal behaviour
Eysenck's personality theory supports the use of token economies to encourage prisoners to produce more acceptable behaviouur
Sociological theories such as left realism also favour more rahabilitation in the they regard social factors such as unemployment, poverty and poor educational opportunities such as causes of crime. Therefore, addressing these needs among offenders will help to reduce offending
Criticisms
Right realists argue that rehabilitation only has limited success, in that many offenders go on to reoffend even after under-going programmes aimed at changing their behaviour
Marxists criticise rehabilitation programmes for shifting the responsibility for offending onto the individuals offender’s failings, rather than focusing on how capitalism leads some people to commit crime
Deterrence
To deter someone from doing something is putting it off
Then fear of being caught and punished may deter people from committing crime. It can either be individual or general deterrece
Individual deterrence -
Uses punishment to deter individual offender from re-offending
Punishment may convince the offender that it is not worth repeating the experience
For example, the argument that 'prison works' is based partly on the idea that if sentences are tough enough, offenders will not want to go back there
In 1980s Margeret Thatcher introduced a tough new system in juvenile detention centres described as a 'short, shark shock' to deter young offeders. The USA introduced similar military style boot camps around the same time with the same aim
General deterence -
Aims at deterring society in general from breaking the law
If the public see an individual offender being punished, they will see themselves what they will haver to suffer if they commit a similar crime
In the past this was often dine through public punishments such as executives
Today the public are more likely to learn about the costs from the media
Severity versus certainty
Important to distinguish between the severity of the punishment and the certainty of the punishment
For example, however severe the punishment might be for a particular offence, if there is very little chance of being caught and convicted, then it will be unlikely to deter many would-be offenders
The likelihood of facing punishment for a third domestic burglary is very low as only about 5% of reported burglaries result in succesful conviction therefore this may not be a deterrent
On the other hand, if offenders are likely to be caught, then even relatively mid punishment may be an effective deterrent
Theory - Right realism favours deterrence as a means of crime prevention: Rational choice theory sees individuals as rational actors who weigh up the costs and benefits before deciding whether to offend. Therefore, severe punishments and a high chance of getting caught will deter offending
Situational crime prevention strategies such as target hardening make it harder to commit an offence and therefore act as a deterrent
Social learning theory is relevant to understanding general deterrence. If would-be offenders see a model being punished for offending, they will be less likely to imitate that behaviour
Criticisms - There is very little evidence that short, sharp shocks or bootcamps reduced youth offending either in the ~UK or `uS~a
The fact that about half of all prisoners reoffend within a year of release suggests that prison is not an effective deterrent
how do we decide how severe a punishment needs to be in order to act as a deterrent for would-be offenders
Deterrence assumes offenders act rationallu, carefully weighing up risks. But some act irrationally, driven by their emotions without thought for the likely punishment
When people do follow the law, it might be because they believe its right to do so, not because of deterrence
Public protection
Punsihment may be used to protect the public from further offending by incapacitating offenders.
Incapacitation i the use of punishment to remove the offender's physical capacity to offend again
There have been many types of incapacitation policy at different times and places such as the following:
Execution of offenders, preventing them from committing any further crimes
Cutting off the hands of thieves
Chemical castration of sex offenders
Foreign travels bans to prevent football hooligans attending matches abroad
Curfews and tagging restricting offenders movements
Imprisonment
The main means of public protection in today's society
Incapacitation for public portection has unfluenced sentencing laws such as Crime (sentences) Act 1977 introduced mandatory minimum jail sentences for repeat offenders
Automatic life sentences for a second serious sexual or violent offence
7 years minimum for a third class A drug trafficking offence
3 years minimum for a 3rd domestic burglary conviction
Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced the idea of imprisonment for public protection. This allows courts to give an indeterminate sentence (one with no fixed release date) to a dangerous offender who is convicted of a certain serious violent or sexual offences
In US, '3 strikes and you're out' laws were introduced in 1990s giving offenders long prison sentencing for a 3rd offence, however minor, if either of the two earlier offences was a serious crime
Theory
Biological theories - Lombroso argues that criminals are biologically different from the rest of the population so it is no ttpossible to change or rehabilitate them
He favoured sending habitual criminals into exile (detaining them on islands)
Other biological theories of criminality have favoured chemical or surgical castration to incapacitate sex offenders
Right relaists
See incapacitation as a way of protecting the public from further crime
A small number of persistent offenders are responsible for the majority of crimes, so incapacitating them with long prison sentences would significantly reduce the crime rate
Criticisms
Incapacitation leads to longer sentences and long-term ‘warehousing’’ of offenders with little hope of release. This leads to an ever-rising prison population and associated costs
Incapacitation is a strategy of containment or risk management. It does nothing to deal with the causes of crime or to change offenders into law-abiding citizens
The 'three strikes' principle re-punishes individuals for their previous crimes
It is unjust because it imprisons them for crimes that the law assumes they may commit in the future
Reparation
Involves the offender making amends for a wrong they have done, whether to an individual victim, society as a whole, or both. The harm can be both material and social
Making amends for material damage can include:
Financial compensation to the victim eg. paying for the cost of repairing damage done
Unpaid work to make reparation to society thorough community payback, eg. removing graffiti from public buildings
Restorative justice
Making amends for social damage fone involves the offender recognising the wrongfulness of their actions → done through restorative justice schemes, which bring offender and victim together, often with the help of a mediator
Allows the victim to explain the impact the crime has had. The offender can come to appreciate the harm they have caused, express their remorse and seek forgiveness.
Can bring closure to the victim and reintegrate the offender into society
Theory - Labelling thoery - Favours restorative justice as a way of reintegrating offenders into mainstream society
By enabling them to show genuine remorse, it permits their reintegration and prevents them being pushed into secondary deviance
Functionalists
Such as Drukheim agues that restorative justice - reparation to put things back to how they were before the crimes are committed - is essential for the smooth functioning of complex modern societies
Left realists approach may see punishments as a way of providing practical measures to reduce crime and produce long term change to a more caring equal society
Criticisms -
Reparation may not work for all types of offences. Compensation for damage to porpoerty or minor offences may be straightforward, but can reparation be made for sexual or violent crimes? a rape victim may not want to face or forgiving the rapist. And by definition, reparation to homicide victims is impossible
Some regard reparation as a too soft form of punishment that lets offenders off lightly
Denunciation - Aims to show offenders that society disapproves of their behaviour and that it is an unacceptable conduct
Reinforces moral and ethical codes or boundary maintenance