2.2

Question 1

Public protection

Answer 1

Punishments can remove offenders from society, removing their physical capacity to commit crime.
Prisons are the main form, take prisoners out of society.

Theories to support:
Biological theories-
Favour exile.
Right realism- supports the public

Criticisms:
Incapacitation results in longer sentences, adding to increasing prison population.
Doesn’t acknowledge causes of crime.

Question 2

Retribution

Answer 2

Paying back to society, inflicting punishment on offenders as vengeance.

Just deserts- society is entitled to take revenge
Proportionality- punishment should fit the crime

Theories:
Right realism- offenders are rational actors and are fully responsible for their actions, support just desserts.
Functionalism- ‘boundary maintenance’, punishments remind society of right/ wrong.

Criticisms:
-Priorites punishments over treatment
-Makes it more difficult to consider mitigating factors
-Dehumanises offenders

Question 3

Rehabilitation

Answer 3

Idea that punishment can be used to change offenders.

Education and training programmes:
Prisoners gain skills/ qualifications.
Anger management, drug treatments

Theories:
Cognitive-
View of criminal behaviour as influenced by thoughts/ beliefs, favours CBT.
Eysenck-
Distinctive personality traits, favours aversion therapy.
Skinner-
Actions are influenced by consequences, supports token economies.

Criticisms:
Right realism believes rehab has limited success.
Marxism criticise rehab for shifting responsibility for offending onto individuals over capitalism.

Question 4

Reparation

Answer 4

Idea that offenders are making amends for their wrongful actions.

Restorative justice:
Offenders must take responsibility for their actions, brings the offender and victim together using a mediator.

Theories:
Labelling- favours restorative justice as a way of reintegrating offenders back to society.
Functionalism- essential for smooth functioning of society.

Criticisms:
May not work for all types of crime.
Some regard reparation as ‘too soft’.

Question 5

Deterrence

Answer 5

Convinces offenders that reoffending isn’t worth it through punishments, deters society though marking an example.

Severity and certainty:
Regardless how serve a punishment is, there is a low certainty of offenders being caught it wont act as a deterrence.

Theories:
Right realism- favours servere punishment and certainty to prevent crime.
Social learning theory- relevant to understand deterrence.

Criticisms:
About half of prisoners re-offend after a year or less of being released.
Assumes offenders are aware of all punishments and are still offending.
Assumes offenders act rationality.

Question 6

Denunciation

Answer 6

Act of accusing someone in public, confronting them aims to show offenders that society disapproves of their behaviour.

Boundary maintenance:
Set by functionalists, suggests that the solidarity of society would create social control. Punishing offenders strengthens as it helps to enforce moral and ethical conduct.