Ac3.3 Examine the limitations of agencies in achieving social control

Question 1

Repeat offenders/ recidivism

Answer 1

• if offenders fail to rehabilitate and continue to commit crime then social control will never be achieved.
• Recidivism is one of the main reasons why the prison population has increased over the past 20 years.
• Recidivism rates and recalls to prison have increased over recent years with Overall – adult and juvenile offenders 23.1% and 31.8% of those convicted returning to the prison in 2023 with last year’s beeing 24.3%

Question 2

civil liberties and legal barriers

Answer 2

• Are basic rights and freedoms granted to citizens of the country
• These include freedom of speech, movement, religious worship etc
• These can limit social control as they restrict police from achieving social control.
• For example foreign nationals with criminal convictions who cannot be removed from the UK due to the prisoners being in danger in their home country

Question 3

access to resources and support

Answer 3

• limit prisoners from being able to rehabilitate and therefore limit success of social control
• prisoners face problems with finance accommodation and employment after being released from prison
• lack of support and resources may mean prisoners attempted to return to crime in order to survive

Question 4

Finance

Answer 4

• funding is limited and budget cuts have impacted the effectiveness of agencies in achieving social control.
• this then leads to a shortage of police officers on the streets and a lack of prison staff and specialist teams.
• this impacts the experience of prisoners by having less free time and more time in cells as well as higher rates of suicide and mental health issues.

Question 5

local and national politics

Answer 5

• local policy force certain crime to be prioritised over others depending on the scale of the problem in that area.
• this can mean some crimes are not investigated properly.
• national government policies focus on certain crimes at times for example knife crime and gang related crimes.
• this can lead police to focus on certain crimes over others leading to unreliable crime data.

Question 6

Environment

Answer 6

• when prisoners are released their home environment can be a large impact on whether or not they stay out of prison.
• if an offender returns to the same environment with the limited opportunities for social mobility and with criminal friends then it is likely an offender would return to prison.
• if an offender moves to a new environment they may have more opportunities.

Question 7

Crime committed by those with moral impurities

Answer 7

• a moral impurity is a strongly felt principle that compels a person to act.
• an ofender can commit crimes as they believe they’re doing the right thing from a moral point of view.
• for example assisted suicide
• when this happens social control is limited as a person’s moral compass surpasses rules of social control.