Dealing with offending: Custodial sentencing

Question 1

Basic idea

Answer 1

Prison or institutional custody is designed to punish and deter future offending in several ways. It involves an offender spending time in prison or some other closed institution, and has four main reasons/functions.

Question 2

1. Deterrence

Answer 2

putting the offender (and wider society) off from engaging in future offending. This is based on the idea of operant conditioning, punishment and to an extent vicarious punishment.

Question 3

2. Incapacitation

Answer 3

while the offender is in prison they are unable to reoffend. This depends on the crime committed and the danger to the public the offender would present.

Question 4

3. Retribution

Answer 4

some people see prison as ‘an eye for an eye’, and prison can be a means of exacting revenge and removing someone’s individual liberty.

Question 5

4. Rehabilitation

Answer 5

In addition, some people feel prison should be an opportunity for someone to ‘turn their life around’ and reform prisoners so they leave prison ready to join society. This includes drug rehab and education/skills training to create long-term alternatives to crime.

Question 6

The psychological effects of custodial sentencing

A: Stress & depression

Answer 6

suicide and self-harm rates are higher in prison, and released offenders are at a higher risk of long-term psychiatric problems.

Question 7

B: Institutionalisation

Answer 7

some prisoners become adapted to the norms and routines of prison life and struggle to readjust to the civilian world.

Question 8

C: Prisonisation

Answer 8

some prisoners adopt an ‘inmate code’ of behaviour, which rewards behaviours that are unacceptable in the outside world and can lead to reoffending.

Question 9

Recidivism (reoffending)

Answer 9

The Ministry of Justice suggests that 57% of UK offenders will reoffend within a year of release.

Question 10

Evaluation strength: support for psychological effects

Answer 10

The Prison Reform Trust (2014) found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychotic illness, due to the oppressive regime and lack of freedom.

Question 11

Evaluation strength: Rehabilitative approach is more effective than retribution

Answer 11

Anger management and behaviour modification programmes in prisons, as well as drug rehabilitation systems have been related to a lower rate of recidivism in the long term. However, not all of these programmes are well funded.

Question 12

Evaluation weakness: individual differences

Answer 12

Different prisons are run in different ways. In addition, the length of the sentence, type of crime committed and previous experiences may also effect the experience and consequences for the prisoner.

Question 13

Evaluation weakness: creates opportunities for offenders to continue their criminal activities

Answer 13

This links to differential association theory - by spending a long amount of time with other criminals, their attitudes towards pro-crime behaviour may be distorted.