Custodial sentencing- FORENSICS

Question 1

What are the 4 goals of custodial sentencing?

Answer 1

• incapacitation
• rehabilitation
• punishment
• deterrence

Question 2

What does incapacitation in custodial sentencing involve?

Answer 2

• removing the offender from society to prevent them from committing further crimes
• protects public
• expensive
• overcrowding problem

Question 3

What does rehabilitation in custodial sentencing involve?

Answer 3

• leads the offender to become a changed person
• use of : education, training and treatment to restore prisoners to a useful life on the ‘outside’

Question 4

What does punishment and deterrence in custodial sentencing involve?

Answer 4

punishment=
- revenge taken out on the offender
- they ‘pay’ for what they did

deterrence=
- unpleasant experience (or the threat of it) to prevent the behaviour from re-occurring.

• punishment is the idea that someone has been hurt by the offender and should pay for their actions, going to prison and losing freedom is a punishment
• punishment is an effective deterrent as the fear and threat of punishment can act as a deterrent to offending in the first place

Question 5

Effectiveness of prisons Ao1

Answer 5

• for many offenders, a period of probation is as effective in preventing re-offending as custodial sentencing

Question 6

What did Glasser say about the effectiveness of prisons?

Answer 6

• supervision in the community is better for new offenders since prison often encourages and reinforces criminal behaviour
• this was found in ‘low risk’ offenders in the early stages of offending
• a term of imprisonment was found more effective in reducing recidivism in habitual offenders.

Question 7

how does the length of a sentence impact the effectiveness of a prison?

Answer 7

• evidence indicates that longer prison terms are no more effective in reducing conviction rates than shorter ones.
• depends on the type of prisoner

Question 8

Studies into the effectiveness of prisons:

Answer 8

WALKER+FARRINGTON
- length of sentence made little difference to the rates of re-offending in habitual offenders, more than 85% go on to commit further crimes
—-> researchers argue that the minimum amount of intervention has the greatest effect

KLEIN
- cautions were more effective deterrents than arrests

DAVIES+RAYMOND
- criticise imprisonment as a means of meeting the goals
- don’t believe that longer prison sentences deter others or reduce crimes

• most studies indicate that when offenders do make rational choices, they weigh up the risk of being caught rather than the sentence they may get

—-> THE ONLY GOAL IMPRISONMENT ACHIEVES IS PUNISHMENT.