crime prevention, control and punishment

Question 1

what are the types of crime prevention strategy?

Answer 1

1. situational crime prevention (at the point crime occurs)
2. environmental crime prevention (making an area less attractive for criminals and clamping down on it quickly
3. social and community crime prevention (intervening with individuals at risk of becoming criminal and alternatives to crime

Question 2

Situational explanation

Answer 2

• most crime is opportunistic- people happen to see opportunities
• CCTV, street lights, barricades, barbed wire, spiky fences, no climb paint etc
• less opportunity for crime (risk/reward) which increases chances of getting caught
• however, they are displaced to an easier target
• example: NYC bus port authority bus terminal- Marcus Felson 1998

Question 3

pros and cons of situational crime prevention

Answer 3

PROS
- low cost depending on sich
- simple solution
- easy and quick fix
- reduce opportunisitc crime
- protects a whole area
- cost effective
- visible and people feel safe

CONS
- displacement
- ignores root causes (Garland 2001)
- not long term
- crime might get more severe
- Crawford and Evans (2013): fortress society created, people feel like they’re being watched and punished when they’re not supposed to be, reduces civil liberties and harms most vulnerable
- inconvenience

Question 4

environmental crime prevention explanation

Answer 4

• clean up grafitti and vandalism immediately- clean cars program NYC
• zero tolerance and broken windows theory
• deal with all crime no matter how petty
• dispersal order, alcohol ban, panopticon

Question 5

environmental crime prevention pros and cons

Answer 5

PROS
- investment in local areas more effective than 0 tol
- long term cost effectice
- long term effects

CONS
- unaffordable to employ enough police (short term fix)
- different governments and reduction in budgets affect it

Question 6

social and community crime prevention

Answer 6

• troubled families programme (2012-2015)
• create sens of community to counteract feelings of marginalisation
• left realists- cause of social crime, prevents crime by improving community

Question 7

pros and cons of social and community crime prevention

Answer 7

PROS
- long term benefits, engaging people
- shared responsibility, we help each other
- cost effective in the long term
- wider unintentional projects
- addresses root causes and tackles LR factors

CONS
- time consuming to take effect, lots of crime happens in meantime and the programme may be stopped before taking effect
- romanticising criminality
- expensive and people demand gov results immediately
- won’t always be effective on everyone
- resource heavy and requires a lot of support

Question 8

what is surveillance?

Answer 8

a method of exerting control over individuals by collecting data on their actions, this is commonplace now through digital technologies

Question 9

Focault (the panopticon)

Answer 9

• physical punishment has been replaced by psychological punishment due to the advancement of civilisation which allows more effective punishments within a carceral culture
• The panopticon was a circular prison where there was a central guardtower, but prisoners were unaware whether they were being watched at any given time which led to self-regulation of behaviours
• they regulated their own behaviours since they wouldn’t be caught behaving deviantly, giving self-discipline
• we now have an electronic panopticon which uses data to monitor our behaviours and alter our opinions (eg cambridge analytica scandal!!)

Question 10

Surveillance of elites/Sous surveillance- Mathiesen

Answer 10

• suggested that due to digital tech and mass media, this led to bottom up surveillance
• many people were able to monitor the behaviour of the few

Question 11

Synoptic surveillance

Answer 11

• the idea that everyone monitors each other which alters our behaviour
• individuals surveill each other by recording videos of crimes happening or monitoring others’ social media for content which might cause offence
• recording equipment in vehicles exemplifies this

Question 12

Integrated surveillance

Answer 12

• surveillance systems communicate with each other to gain data and capture movements of individuals
• this leads to internalised forms of surveillance, where people adjust their behaviour as they know they’re being watched

Question 13

Actuarial justice (feely and Simon)

Answer 13

• the data used to predict behaviours based upon their activities
• Lyon- people are categorised according to levels of risk they present
• the state monitors individuals it believes to have potetial for committing crime

Question 14

Evaluations of surveillance

Answer 14

• actuarial justice is often based upon racial stereotyping of individuals
• there are impacts of labelling individuals as criminal
• assume human behaviour is subject to rational thought processes
• CCTV often captures crime, but doesn’t act as deterrent
• mass media can manipulate images and bury news that is harmful to the status quo

Question 15

Liquid surveillance (Bauman)

Answer 15

a constant flow of data and information seeping into every part of one’s life, the ways you are monitored and tracked which happen all around you all the time

Question 16

Surveillance society (Lyon)

Answer 16

• our lives are transparent with a lack of privacy but we are also accepting of this and take it as a given that the government has information on us
• we experience external surveillance through CCTV cameras and online tracking and internalised surveillance where we monitor ourselves

Question 17

Self surveillance/ internalised

Answer 17

when we monitor and control behaviours because we know we’re being watched

Question 18

Surveillant assembleges

Answer 18

• masses of data assembled to create a ‘data double’ or a ‘digital self’- you can be known even if never met in person

Question 19

what 4 ways does the CJS use to punish existing crime and prevent future crime?

Answer 19

1. deterrance
2. protection
3. retribution
4. rehabilitation

Question 20

Garland 2001 (USA prison stats + theory)

Answer 20

• ‘penal welfarism’ has moved to ‘mass incarceration’ to ‘transcarceration’
• in the USA, 3% of the adult population is in Prison (37%= black american), higher than EU imprisonment rates
• 30-40% of US prison population is unemployed
• diversion= early intervention diverts people away from crime (LR solutions)
• culture of control has been established- care more about punishment and prevention rather than rehab

Question 21

Theoretical perspectives on crime punishment

Answer 21

• Func- punishments are needed for boundary maintenance
• Marxism- ISA and RSA enable rich to maintain control over the poor, can prevent revolution, divert attention from structural inequality
• Rusche and Kircheimer- capitalism uses punishment depending on what type of economy- prison allows workers to be recalled. Bureaucracy of the CJS now prevents the rich from personally punishing the poor

Question 22

The role of Prison through time

Answer 22

• pre 18thC= prison was used to hold people before they were punished
• enlightenment- prison itself became the punishment rather than torture
• mordern era- prison is punishment but isn’t inhumane, prisoners are treated well and rehab is the focus