AC2.3 - How Forms Meet Aims

Question 1

How does prison meet the aims of retribution?

Answer 1

1. Prison deprives offender of their liberty and therefore can be seen as an ‘eye for an eye’
2. Whole life tariffs could be seen as ‘just desserts’ for this type of crime

Assessment:
- Subject interpretation;
- What length of prison
sentence is just desserts for a
set crime (London riots)
- Too nice;
- Glyn Travis - In British
toughest prisons, there is not
enough retribution for the
offender’s crime

Question 2

How does prison meet the aims for rehabilitation?

Answer 2

1. Offenders may attend rehabilitation programmes - education programmes e.g Cardiff prison has prisoners cooking and serving food

Assessment:
- Limited courses;
- Between 2009 and 2019, the
number of rehabilitative
courses that were started and
completed fell 62% despite
the prison population
increasing in this time.
- Reoffending rates;
- More than 4 out of 10 adults
are reconvicted of a crime
within one year of release
showing rehabilitation is
unsuccessful

Question 3

How does prison meet the aims of deterrence?

Answer 3

1. If an offender has been to prison before, they may not want to return
2. Fear of losing freedom and liberty should also put general society off committing offences

Assessment:
- Rise in prison numbers;
- Population has risen by 70%
in the last 30 years - the
highest imprisonment rates in
western Europe - not deterring
many.
- Reoffending rates;
- More than 4 out of 10 adults
are reconvicted of a crime
within one year of release
showing that prison doesn’t
provide individual deterrence

Question 4

How does prison meet the aims of public protection?

Answer 4

1. Longer sentences provide greater protection
2. Prison sentence means a loss of liberty for the offender but protection for the public while they are behind bars

Assessment:
- Reoffending rates;
- Protection may disappear
when the offender is released
unless rehabilitation has taken
place - if reoffending occurs, it
may suggest that prison isn’t
effectively protecting society
- Escape rates
- Only three prisoners in the
last 3 years have escapes -
prison successfully protects
the public

Question 5

How do community sentences meet the aims of retribution

Answer 5

1. Offenders suffer impact on their freedom and choice of activity
2. Can be expressed as a defendant getting their ‘just desserts’

Assessment
- Successful cases - Eric Cantona kung-fu kicked an opposition supporter was sentenced to training young footballers

Question 6

How do community sentences meet the aims of rehabilitation

Answer 6

1. Tackle the causes of their criminality (anger management, drug abuse etc.)

Assessment
- Better than short prison sentences - 8.3% more effective
- Fail to stop reoffending - Hamilton - 3/4 sent to prison have atleast one previous community sentence
- Country comparisons - in Scandinavia, community orders are main punishment, low recidivism rates

Question 7

How do community sentences meet the aims of deterrence?

Answer 7

1. If they have already had a community sentence they may not want to lose their freedom again
2. Public might be afraid of being named and shamed potential humiliation deters them

Assessment
- Not taken seriously - offenders given community orders left court ‘laughing their heads off’
- Completion rates - 70% complete
- Breach of conditions - 30% are in breach
- Country comparisons - Scandinavia

Question 8

How do community sentences meet the aims of public protection?

Answer 8

1. Heavily supervised, protecting the public during this time

Assessment
- Breach of conditions - 30%

Question 9

How do community sentences meet the aims of reparation?

Answer 9

1. A community order can require up to 300 hours of unpaid work

Assessment
- Completion rates - 70%
- Breach of conditions - 30%

Question 10

How do fines meet the aims of retribution?

Answer 10

1. Limit amount of money offenders have to spend - ‘just desserts’ if fine is proportionate to crime

Assessment
- Level of fine dependent - level of retribution is dependent on level of fine

Question 11

How do fines meet the aims of deterrence?

Answer 11

1. May not want to pay again
2. General deterrent as they dont want to pay a fine

Assessment
- Written off fines - 2009-2020, millions in court fines were being written off, offenders could not be traced

Question 12

How do fines meet the aims of public protection?

Answer 12

1. If offenders struggles to make payment, they are discouraged from reoffending

Assessment
- Wealth dependency - A struggle to pay is dependent on the wealth of the offender

Question 13

How do fines wmeet the aims of reparation?

Answer 13

1. A finance order can repay damage caused to a person or object (Christopher Jefferies)

Assessment
- Limited crimes - financial reparation can only fix some damage , some damages that connot be fixed

Question 14

How does discharge meet the aims of deterrence?

Answer 14

1. Conditional discharge - offender will not be punished unless they commit another offence

Assessment
- Re-offending statistics - many criminals return to court for longer sentencces in the future

Question 15

How does discharg emeet the aims of retribution?

Answer 15

1. Fails to compensate society for the crime committed (absolute discharge)

Assessment
- Level of crime - discharges are only for monor offences, society does not need any compensation of vengeance