Effect Of Imprisonment (social) Flashcards
What types of punishment are there for offenders
Non custodial - fines, community sentences, probation
Custodial - prison or a secure hospital
Purpose of punishment
Rehabilitation = preventing the detainee from reoffending through a variety of methods, often including education or training
Incapacitation = protect the public from offences being committed by reducing their liberty + movement
Deference = deter the general population form offending in the first place + steer offenders from committing future offences
Retribution = just world hypothesis pay for the crime you have committed so he victims feel like justice has been done
What the psychological principles suggest that prison should reduce crime
- Main assumption of behaviourist perspective is that we are born a blank slate that all behaviour is learned through conditioning
- prison should work as a deterrent due to operant conditioning, learning that the consequence of their criminal behaviour is unpleasant so should discontinue it.
- prison should work as deterrent to others through social learning theory + principle of vicarious reinforcement, observing negative consequences of the behaviour of others + therefore do not imitate behaviour
- behaviourist perspective also points out prison doesn’t work as prisoners learn negative behaviours from those around them through social learning.
- public opinion generally in favour of prison as opposed to other sentencing options + of harsh sentences
background - Dooley (1990)
in 2017 prison population was 85,365, today its 95,526.
Dooley aimed to investigate all unnatural deaths that occurred in prison in England + Wales between 1972-1987.
he used government records + found of the 442 unnatural deaths recorded (300 were suicide + 142 were misadventure)
most deaths occurred at night and were not yet sentenced.
he attributed the deaths to overcrowding + prison stress.
indicates prison may make things worse for some offenders.
is prison effective - positives
+ as prison takes a person’s freedom it is seen as highly effective of preventing reoffending.
+ prison may act as effective deterrent, through vicarious reinforcement.
is prison effective - negatives
- rates of reoffending have remained high in Britain for a decade (1 in 4 prisoners will reoffend).
- prison makes things worse for criminals. 1/3 of prisoners loose their house while incarcerated, 2/3 lose their jobs + 40% lose contact with family completely.
- prisoners develop mental health issues + drug problems.
- likely to have limited educational skills and illiteracy age around the same as an 11yr old.
- prisoners then find it difficult to integrate back into society once released.
do employment plans work - background + application
implications are that employment programs play an important role in last few months of an offenders sentence, giving them some of the skills they need to help integrate into community
planning return of offender to community can mean that they are less likely to re-offend
- changing offenders skills + outlooks on life can help them to make a positive change. Gillis + Nafekh (2005)
some stats on re-offending + cost of imprisonment
- 2021/22 = 24.9% of offenders who were released from custody in England/wales went on to re-offend. (low)
- 2021/22 = average cost of a prison place in England + wales was £46,696, compared to £48,162 the previous year.
- annual cost increased by around £11,500 since 2015/16
theorists suggested
- theorists suggested powerful individuals + the state create crime by labelling some behaviours as inappropriate
- some criminological efforts (such as rehabilitation efforts) may move offenders closer to lives of crime because of the label they assign the individuals engaging in the behaviour
- stigmatisation from society leads the individuals to begin to accept + internalize they label which results in self-fulfilling prophecy. offenders come into views themselves in the same ways society does + therefore continue to engage in crime.
Haney et al (1973) aim
to create a mock prison + investigate how readily people could conform to the roles of guard + prisoner in a role-playing exercise that stimulated prison life
Haney et al (1973) hypothesis
assignment of the treatment of “guard” or “prisoner” would result in significantly different reactions on behavioural measures.
Haney et al (1973) method
- lab experiment
IV = which role you were assigned to
DV = behaviour of the prisoners/guards - DV assessed through direct observation, self-report + audio footage
- roles were assigned using a coin toss
Haney et al (1973) sample
- newspaper ad - male volunteers willing to take part
- $15 per day
- 75 men responded - questionnaire about health, family background, attitude towards crime
- 24 selected - most able + mature
- least anti-social - majority middle class
- college students that were strangers
- 2 acted as reserves, 1 dropped out, 10 played prisoner + 11 played guards
Haney et al (1973) procedure
- separated into “guards” + “prisoners”
- all ppts signed contracts which guaranteed basic living needs (food, clothes, housing, medical care, payment)
- clear to prisoners they would have little privacy + some civil rights would be suspended - except physical abuse
- prison had 3 small cells, each cells had bed (3 in each cell)
- doors had steel bars
- solitary confinement cupboard
- guards had living quarters
- guards worked in 3’s on 8 hour shifts
guards
- attended training meeting day before prisoners were involved
- task = to maintain a reasonable degree of order within prison necessary for effective functioning without aggressive physical punishment
- guards under impression research was on behaviour of prisoners (deceived)
- uniform = plain khaki shirt + trousers, reflective sunglasses, whistle + wooden baton.
