2.2 Flashcards
(33 cards)
what are the aims of punishment?
- retribution
- rehabilitation
- deterrence
- public protection
- reparation
what does retribution mean?
a punishment/payback
what does rehabilitation mean?
making offenders change their behaviour
what does deterrence mean?
discouraging future offending
what does public protection mean?
protecting the public from offenders
what does reparation mean?
involves the offender making amends for a wrong they have done
what does ‘just deserts’ mean in terms of retribution?
offenders deserve to be punished and society is morally entitles to take its revenge. the offender should be made to suffer for having breached societies moral code
what does proportionality mean in terms of retribution?
- punishment should fit the crime - should be equal or proportionate to the harm done.
- and eye for an eye
- lead to ‘tariff’ system, mandatory sentences
what is expressing moral outrage in terms of retribution?
- a way for society to express its moral condemnation or outrage at the offender
- regardless of whether it changes the offenders future behaviour, punishment is morally good in itself
what is an example of expressing moral outrage ?
- hate crimes (racially aggravated offences) carry higher tariff sentences.
how does right realism relate to retribution?
- assumes that offenders are rational actors who consciously choose to commit crimes and are fully responsible for their actions (rational choice theory).
-they must therefore suffer for their actions
how does functionalism relate to retribution?
- the moral outrage that retribution expresses performs the function of boundary maintenance. punishing the offender reminds everyone else of the difference between right and wrong
what are the criticisms of retribution?
- offenders deserve forgiveness, and a chance to make amends, not just punishment
- fixed tariffs mean that punishment has to be inflicted even where no good is going to come from it ( remorseful offender who will commit no further crimes)
- how do we agree on a proportionate penalty, ‘just deserts’, people disagree which what crimes are more serious than others
what do rehab policies include?
- education and training programmes
- anger management courses
- drug traatment and testing orders
how do cognitive theories relate to rehabilitation?
- favour cognitive behavioural therapies, to teach offenders to correct the thinking errors and biases that lead to aggressive or criminal behaviour
how does Eysenck’s personality theory relate to rehabilitation?
- favours the use of aversion therapy to deter offending behaviour
how does Skinner’s operant learning theory relate to rehabilitation?
- supports the use of token economies to encourage prisoners to produce more acceptable behaviour
how does left realism relate to rehabilitation?
- they favour rehabilitation in that they regard social factors such as unemployment, poverty and poor educational opportunities as causes of crime, therefore addressing these needs among offenders will help to reduce offending
what are the criticisms of rehabilitation?
- right realists argue that rehabilitation has only limited success, in that many offenders go on to re-offend even after undergoing programmes aimed at changing their behaviour.
- marxists criticise rehabilitation programmes for shifting the responsibility for offenders onto the individual offenders failings, rather than focusing on how capitalism leads some people to commit crimes
what is individual deterrence?
- uses punishment to deter the individual offender from re-offending (punishments may convince the offender that it inst worth repeating the experience)
what is general deterrence?
- aims at deterring society in general from breaking the law. if the public see an individual offender being punished, they will see what they themselves will have to suffer if they commit a similar crime.
what are the criticisms of deterrence?
- about half of prisoners re-offend within a year of release suggests that prison isn’t that effective
- offenders may be ignorant to what the punishments are
- assumes offenders act rationally, but some act irrationally driven by their emotions without thought of likely punishment
what is incapacitation in relation to public protection?
the use of punishment to remove the offenders ability to offend again
give some examples of incapacitation policies?
- execution
- cutting off the hands of thieves
- chemical castration of sex offenders
-curfews and electronic tagging
