custodial sentencing

Question 1

Custodial sentencing

Answer 1

Decision made by court that punishment for a crime should involve time being in ‘custody’ - prison or some other institution

Question 2

Aims of custodial sentencing

Answer 2

Act as a deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation

Question 3

Deterrence

Answer 3

Unpleasant prison experience stops people offending and reoffending (punishment)

Question 4

Incapacitation

Answer 4

Takes offenders out of society to protect the public

Question 5

Retribution

Answer 5

Society’s revenge, offender pays for their crimes by suffering

Question 6

Rehabilitation

Answer 6

Offenders are reformed and helped to return to society (skills, education)

Question 7

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing

Answer 7

Stress and depression
Institutionalisation
Prisonisation

Question 8

Recidivism

Answer 8

Reoffending - tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behaviour. In the context of crime, a convicted offender who reoffends, usually repeatedly

Question 9

The problem of recidivism

Answer 9

Reoffending within a year of release - 45% in UK - Yukhnenko et al
Reoffending rates vary - US, Australia and Denmark - 60%
Norway - 20%
Norway - less emphasis on incarceration and greater emphasis on rehabilitation and skills development

Question 10

EVAL - psychological effects

Answer 10

P - limited as there are negative psychological effects
E - Bartol - imprisonment - ‘brutal, demeaning and devastating’ - in 2016 - 119 people killed themselves in England and Wales - increase of 32% from previous year - suicide every three days - 9 times higher than general population
E - young single men most at risk during first 24 hours of confinement - 25% and 15% of men reported symptoms of psychosis
L - supports the view the oppressive prison regimes may be detrimental to psychological health which could impact on rehabilitation

P - however - figures in prison reform trust study - do not include number of inmates experiencing psychotic symptoms before incarceration
E - many convicted have pre-existing psychological and emotional difficulties at time of conviction
E - importation model argues prisoners import some of their psychological problems so we do not know if problem with prison regime or trauma
L - confounding variables that influence the link between prison and its psychological effects

Question 11

EVAL - training and treatment

Answer 11

P - strength is it provides opportunity for training and treatment
E - rehabilitation - improved character means they may be able to lead a crime-free life
E - education and training increase employment - The Vera Institute of Justice - 43% less likely to reoffend following release and that prisons who offer programmes report fewer incidents of violence
L - Suggests prison may be a worthwhile experience assuming offenders are able to access these programmes

Question 12

EVAL - school for crime

Answer 12

P - limited as offenders learn to become better offenders
E - may also undergo dubious education as part of sentence
E - incarceration with long-term offenders may give younger inmates in particular the opportunity to learn tricks of trade - also acquire criminal contacts
L - this form of education may undermine attempts to rehabilitate prisoners and consequently may make reoffending more likely

Question 13

EVAL - the purpose of prison

Answer 13

P - survey by Onepoll - 47% of offenders saw primary purpose of prison as being punishment for wrongdoing
E - many saw current prison regimes as ‘too soft’, akin to a holiday camp that wont deter existing or would-be offenders
E - however, similar number of respondents - 40% - held the view that prison’s main emphasis should be on reform and rehabilitation, that prison should provide access to training and treatments
L - allows for offenders to be effectively reintegrated into society - overcrowding and lack of funding were seen as barriers to these