Dealing with offending behaviour: Custodial sentencing.

Question 1

What is custodial sentencing?

Answer 1

Custodial sentencing involves a convicted offender spending time in prison or another closed institution e.g. young offender’s institute/psychiatric hospital.
- There are number of different ways in which different societies deal with offending behaviour, but most common form of punishment is custodial sentencing (prison).
- Surveys in UK suggest that majority of public would like to see harsher conditions in prison and tougher sentences.

Question 2

1. Deterrence.

Answer 2

The unpleasant prison experience is designed to put off the individual from engaging in offending behaviour.
Deterrence works on two levels:
1. General deterrence - aims to send a broad message to members of given society that crime will not be tolerated.
2. Individual deterrence - prevent the individual from repeating the same crime in light of their experience. This is based on the behaviourist idea of conditioning through punishment.

Question 3

2. Incapacitation

Answer 3

• The offender is taken out of society to prevent them from reoffending as a means of protecting the public.
• The need for incapacitation is likely to depend upon the severity of the offence and the nature of the offender.

Question 4

3. Retribution

Answer 4

• Society is enacting revenge for crime by making the offender suffer, and the level of suffering should be proportionate to the seriousness of the crime.
• This is based on biblical notion of an ‘eye for an eye’, that the offender should in some way pay for their actions. Many people see prison as the best possible option, alternatives are often criticised as soft options.

Question 5

4. Rehabilitation.

Answer 5

• In contrast to retribution, many commentators would see the main objective of prison as not being purely to punish, but to reform.
• Upon release, offenders should leave prison better adjusted and ready to take their place back in society.
• Prison should provide opportunities to develop skills and training or to access treatment programmes for drug addiction, as well as give the offender the chance to reflect on their crime.

Question 6

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing - Stress and depression.

Answer 6

Suicide rates are considerably higher in prison than in general population. The stress of the prison experience also increases the risk of psychological disturbance following release.

Question 7

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing - Institutionalisation.

Answer 7

Having adapted to the norms and routines of prison life, inmates may become so accustomed to these that they are no longer able to function on the outside.

Question 8

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing - Prisonisation.

Answer 8

Refers to way in which prisoners are socialised into adopting an ‘inmate code’. Behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of the institution.

Question 9

Research evidence - Curt Bartol (1995)

Answer 9

Suggested that for many offenders, imprisonment can be ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating’.
- In last 20 years, suicide rates among offenders have tended to be around 15x higher than those in the general population. Most at risk are young, single men during first 24 hours of confinement.

Question 10

Research evidence - Prison Reform Trust (2014)

Answer 10

• Found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms indicative of psychosis. Would seem that oppressive prison regime may trigger psychological disorders in those that are vulnerable.
• These findings question whether custodial sentencing is effective in rehabilitating the individual or whether it makes those that are vulnerable more prone to psychological disorders.

Question 11

Recidivism (reoffending)

Answer 11

• Recidivism refers to reoffending. Rates vary according to the type of offence committed.
• UK and US recidivism rates are amongst the highest in the world. 57% of UK offenders reoffend within a year. 14 prisons in UK report rates of 70% within 2 years.

Question 12

Limitation of dealing with offending behaviour - alternatives to custodial sentencing.

Answer 12

P: A limitation of dealing with offender behaviour is there are alternatives to custodial sentencing.
E: The research suggests that prison does little to rehabilitate offenders or deters others. Alternatives (e.g. community service) allow employment and family contact to be maintained.
C: The difficulty for politicians however, is that even just proposing these alternatives is seen as being ‘soft’ on crime.

Question 13

Limitation of custodial sentencing - individual differences.

Answer 13

P: Another limitation of custodial sentencing is the effect of individual differences.
E: Length of sentence, reason for incarceration and previous prison experience are likely to affect reactions.
C: Therefore, it is very difficult to make general conclusions which apply to every prisoner.

Question 14

Strength of custodial sentencing - opportunity for rehabilitation.

Answer 14

P: A strength of custodial sentencing is that it may be the opportunity for rehabilitation.
E: Many prisoners do access education, training and anger management schemes which suggest prison could be worthwhile. But evidence of long-term benefits is inconclusive.
C: The potential benefits of rehabilitation are a strength, but the lack of evidence undermines this argument.

Question 15

Limitation of custodial sentencing - prisons = ‘universities of crime’.

Answer 15

P: A further limitation is that prisons can become ‘universities of crime’.
E: Differential association theory suggest that time spent with hardened criminals may give younger inmates the chance to learn ‘tricks of the trade’ from experienced offenders.
C: This may undermine attempts to rehabilitate prisoners, making reoffending more likely.