Forensic Flashcards
1
Q
What can crime be defined as?
A
Any act that breaks the law and warrants some form of punishment - legalistic definition
2
Q
Why is the legalistic definition of crime complicated?
A
As the laws are often subject to change and not all acts that break the la are punished
3
Q
Once we have settled on a definition of crime what happens next?
A
We are concerned with the extent of the crime, it helps government generate policies and direct resources to the most relevant areas
4
Q
What are the 2 major issues in defining crime?
A
Cultural issues - one crime in one country may not be judged as a crime in another, culturally specific e.g. having more than one wife is bigamy and forced marriage was made illegal in 2004 but still happens
Historical issues - definitions of crime change over time, historically specific e.g. parents right to smack a child outlawed in 2004 under Children’s Act and homosexuality was considered a crime until 1967 in UK
5
Q
What are the 3 methods of measuring crime rates?
A
Official statistics, victim surveys and offender surveys
6
Q
What are official stats?
A
total number of crimes reported to the police. Published every year by the home office, provides snapshot of crimes in the country and specific regions. Allows government to develop crime prevention strategies and policing initiative’s as well as direct resources.
7
Q
What is some evaluation of official stats?
A
Can be unreliable as they significantly underestimate the true extent of crime, some commentators suggest only around 25% of offences are included in official states, the other 75% refers to the dark figure of crime. Suggests there are obvious policing priorities which may distort official figures.
8
Q
What are victim surveys?
A
Record victims experiences of crime over a specific time period (1 year). 50,000 households are randomly selected to take part in the survey, which has been extended in 2009 for young people age 10-15. Published annually.
9
Q
What is some evaluation of victim surveys?
A
More likely to include details of crime not reported to the police, so a greater degree of accuracy. 2006/7 statistics suggested a 2% decrease in crime than the previous year, but British Crime Survey showed a 3% increase. However, they rely on the accuracy of the victim, when ‘telescoping’ can occur (misremembering).
10
Q
What are offender surveys?
A
Individuals volunteering the number and types of crime they have committed. Targets groups of likely offenders based on risk factors (age, social background etc.) Offender Crime and Justice Survey 2003-2006 was the first national survey of its kind in England and Wales
11
Q
What is some evaluation of offender surveys?
A
Provides insight into how many people are responsible for certain offences. Although confidentiality is assured, responses may be unreliable as offenders may want to conceal more serious crimes they have committed or even over exaggerate for their social status. Targeted nature of this survey (burglaries) may be over represented whereas ‘middle class’ offences (white collar crimes) are unlikely to be included.
12
Q
As all the methods of collecting crime stats have reliability and validity issues, researchers advocate a multi-disciplinary approach. What is this?
A
Combination of all methods to provide best insight into true extent of offending
13
Q
What would be gained from a combined approach?
A
Different measures are used for different purposes, they all fill in the limitations of each other so using all 3 gives us a fuller understanding of crime and the dark figure
14
Q
What is offender profiling?
A
Based on the idea that he characteristics of an offender can be deduced from the characteristics of the offence and the crime scene
15
Q
What is the aim of offender profiling used by the police?
A
To narrow down the field of suspects to a likely list
16
Q
What are the 2 approaches to offender profiling?
A
FBI in USA follow a top-down approach, in the UK we use a bottom-down approach
Both are used to work out what offender is like
Both used alongside conventional police work
17
Q
When was the top-down approach developed?
A
By the FBI in 1970’s, the FBI’s behavioural science unit carried out in depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers and used data to develop a categorisation system of crimes
18
Q
What are the categories in the top-down approach?
A
Organised or disorganised (based on the idea that the offenders have a ‘signature way of working’ - modus operandi) this correlates with social and psychological characteristics
19
Q
What are some characteristics of the crime scene and offender who is organised?
A
Planned crime, deliberately targeted victim, type, high degree of control, little evidence or clues left
Above average IQ, professional occupation, socially and sexually competent, usually married with kids
20
Q
What are some characteristics of the crime scene and offender who is disorganised?
A
Little evidence of planning, spontaneous, body usually left, very little control of offender
Lower than average IQ, unemployed, history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships, live alone and close to where offence was committed
21
Q
What are the 4 steps to constructing an FBI profile?
A
Data admission - profiler reviews the evidence
Crime scene classification - either (dis)organised
Crime reconstruction - hypothesis of events and behaviour
Profile generation - hypothesis related to likely offender (demographic background, physical characteristics, behaviour)
22
Q
What are the 4 weaknesses to the top down approach?
A
Can only be applied to certain crimes (murder and rape - very rare), not others as crime scene reveals very little about offender
Based on outdated models of personality (static personality, recent research suggests personality is more dynamic - less patterns of behaviour)
Classification is too simple (combination of both, Holmes 1989 suggested 4 types of serial killers; visionary, mission, hedonistic and power/control)
Relied on self-report data of 36 American killers
23
Q
What did Pinizzotto and Finkel 1990 find about the effectiveness of profilers?
A
Compared 5 groups on ability to write profiles of a murder case. Expert profilers, detectives with and without profiling experience, clinical psychologists and undergraduates. Detectives without profiling were significantly more accurate, so profilers not as effective as they should be
24
Q
Who developed the british bottom up approach and what is it?
A
David Canter in the 1980’s
Forensic psychologists work up from evidence collected at crime scene to develop hypothesis about offender, no fixed classifications in mind unlike FBI
25
What is the bottom up approach more grounded in?
Psychological theory and is more scientific and objective than top-down approach
26
What are the 2 examples of the bottom up approach?
Investigative psychology and geographical profiling
27
What is investigative psychology?
Details of crime scene matched with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns. Details matched against a statistical database to reveal offender characteristics to determine whether a series of offences was by same person
28
What do the key variables of investigative psychology include?
Interpersonal coherence - way offender behaves including interaction with victim
Significance of time and place - may indicate where offender is living
Forensic awareness - describes individuals who have been subject to police interrogation before, can track those who may be 'covering their tracks'
29
What is geographical profiling?
Proposed by Rossmo in 1997 - idea of crime mapping
Based on idea of spatial consistency, offenders home may be discovered through place of offences and possible future offences (jeopardy surface). Circle theory - if a circle is drawn that encompasses all of a series of linked crime, offender will usually live within the circle
30
What were Canter's 2 models of offender behaviour?
The marauder - operates in close proximity to home
| The commuter - likely to have travelled a distance
31
A criminal follows a mental map of an area so their offences can make inferences about them. What example did Canter use?
John Duffy - Railway rapist, predicted Duffy must know knowledge of railway network more than a casual rail user. Turned out he was a carpenter employed by British Rail
32
What are the 3 strengths of the bottom up approach?
Supporting evidence from Lundrigan and Canter 2001 - got info from 120 serial killers in USA and examined in computer programme 'smallest space analysis' which revealed spatial consistency in offenders behaviours, offenders base was in centre creating a 'centre of gravity'
It can be applied to wider range of offences than top-down approach
More scientific approach, less driven in speculation, more grounded in evidence and can help with the rest of the investigation
33
What is the 1 weakness of the bottom up approach?
Studies into effectiveness have found mixed results - Copson 1995 surveyed 48 british police forces and found advice was useful in 83% of cases but only led to identification of offender in 3% of cases
34
What are the 2 umbrellas underneath the biological explanations?
Lombroso and genetic and neural explanations - both share assumption that crime is an innate tendency and may be genetically determined or result of abnormalities in brain structure and/or function
35
What is Lombrosos theory called and what is the main assumption?
Atavistic form theory stating that criminals are 'genetic throwbacks'
36
What does Lombroso believe criminals are?
Biologically different from non-criminals, they have failed to evolve and therefore have a savage, animal nature meaning they cannot cope with the demands of living in a civilized society
37
What is Lombrosos theory nowadays considered as?
Speculative and naive, although he is credited with moving criminology to a more scientific realm as the ideas have laid the foundations for modern offending profiling approaches
38
What did Lombroso believe criminals have?
Distinctive, physical characteristics or physiological markers particularly in the face and head
39
What are some of the typical features Lombroso labelled as 'criminal'?
Narrow brow, strong jaw, high cheekbones, dark skin and extra toes/fingers/nipples
40
What were some of the features of the subtypes of criminals Lombroso mentioned?
Murderer - bloodshot eyes and curly hair
Sex offender - glintng eyes, swollen lips
Fraudster - thin and reedy lips
41
How did Lombroso conduct his research?
examining skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3839 live ones and concluded 40% of criminal acts were due to 'atavistic form'
42
What are the 3 weaknesses of Lombrosos biological explanation?
Poor control in his research to support as did not compare to a non-criminal group, features could have disappeared, also failed to account for other important variables (history of psychological disorders)
Matt DeLisi 2012 bought attention to distinct racial undertones most likely of people of African descent
Causation issue - facial differences may not necessarily cause their offending, they could just be influenced by other factors e.g. poverty
43
What did Lombroso later realise about his work?
That criminals can be made as well as born due to some environmental factors
44
What is the 1 strength of Lombrosos biological explanation?
He is credited as shifted emphasis of crime research away from moralistic discourse towards a more scientific/credible realm, he heded the beginning of criminal profiling
45
What is the assumptions of the genetic and neural explanations to offending behaviour?
Continue to investigate roles of genes and neural factors in criminal behaviour, in particular genes associated with extreme aggression which can link to murder
They claim to have established important neural differences between us and criminals
It may be that there is an underlying abnormality causing structural and functional differences in the criminal brain
46
What does the genetic explanation suggest?
Would-be offenders inherit a gene(s) that pre-disposes them to criminal behaviour. The explanation looks at; twin studies, candidate genes and the diathesis stress model
47
What study illustrates the importance of genes in twin studies?
Lange (1930) 1st criminal twin study. 13 MZ twins and 17 DZ twins where one had served time in prison, found 10 of MZ twins had too but only 2 of the DZ twins
Shows genetic basis for offending behaviour as MZ twins share 100% same genetic make up
(Christiansen 1977 also studied concordence rates for criminal behaviour in 87 MZ twins and 147 DZ twins, 33% rate for MZ and 12% DZ)
48
What study illistrates the idea of candidate genes in the genetic explanation?
Tiihonen et al 2014 - looked at genetic analysis of nearly 900 offenders, revealed abnormalities on 2 genes that could be related to crime
MAOA gene (warrior gene) - extreme agression which alters levels of dopamine and serotonin
CDH13 gene - linked to substance abuse and ADHD
49
What does the diathesis stress model suggest in the genetic explanation?
If geentics have some influence on offending it is likely that this is partly moderated by environmental effects
Tendency towards criminal behaviour may come about through combo of genetic pre-disposition and bio/psychological triggers
50
What does the neural explanation suggest?
There may be neural differences in criminal brains, much of evidence had investigated people with anti-social personality disorder which is associated with reduced emotional responses and lack of empathy, a condition which characterizes many criminals. We look at the pre-frontal cortex
51
What is the pre-frontal cortex in the neural explanation concerned with?
Impulse control and therefore abnormality here may mean a person is less able to control what they do - resulting in criminal behaviour
52
What is one aspect of impulse control in the neural explanation?
Control of aggressive behaviour. People diagnosed with APD have been found to have reduced activity in pre-frontal cortex. Raine found 11% reduction in amount of grey matter with people with APD compared to controls - therefore likely to commit crimes
53
What is one strength of the genetic and neural explanations?
Support for diathesis stress model of crime - Mednick et al 1984 found when 13,000 danish adoptees had committed a crime 13.5% of their adoptee parents did too and rate rose to 20% when adoptee and biological parents also had convictions
54
What are the 3 weaknesses of the genetic and neural explanations?
Genetic explanation relies on twin studies - porly controlled as based on zygosity rather than DNA, so may lack validity, also used small samples when twins are already small, also raised in same environment.
Reductionist as reducing criminal behaviour to genes may be overly simplistic, crimes do run in families but so do mental disorders etc which could trigger the criminal behaviour, also MZ pairs concordance rates were not 100% so suggests not completely genetic.
Biological determinism - legal system based on that we have responsibility for our actions, only taken away with we claim we do not have freewill so raises ethical issues about what society does with people who are suspected of carrying criminal genes
55
What is Eysencks theory of criminal personality?
In 1947 Eysenck proposed personality can be measured across 3 dimensions - introversion/extraversion, neuroticism/stability and psychoticism
56
What do all psychological explanations rely on?
It focuses on psychological and social influences including family dysfunctions, learning environments, cognitive factors and personality
57
What does Eysenck suggest about criminal personality?
It scores high on extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism measured using EYSENCKS PERSONALITY INVENTORY (EPI)
58
What would someone with high E N and P be like on Eysencks personality inventory?
E - seek excitement due to underactive nervous system, engage in risk-taking behaviours
N - nervous, jumpy, anxious, behaviour difficult to interpret
P - cold, unemotional, prone to aggression
59
What else did Eysenck emphasise the role of socialisation?
Saw criminal behaviour (neurotic-extravert) as developmentally immature as concerned with immediate gratification. As children we learn the respond to anti-social impulses with anxiety, this has not been properly conditioned in criminals as they dont feel guilt/anxious
60
What is one strength of Eysencks theory?
Supporting evidence - Eysenck and Eysenck 1977 compared 2070 male prisoners EPI scores with 2422 male controls, across all ages prisoners scored highly on the EPI, supporting theories predictions
61
What are 3 weaknesses of Eysencks theory?
Opposing evidence - Farrington et al 1982 very little evidence of consistent differences in EEG measures used to measure corticial arousal between I's and E's which casts doubt on psychological basis of theory.
Simplistic - Digman 1990 developed 5 factor model which suggests additional dimensions of openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
Cultural bias - Batrol and Hokanchock 1979 studied hyspanic and African Americans in max security prison in NY divided into 5 groups based on nature of offence and found all groups were found less extravert than non-criminal controls. Barton said that because sample was so culturally different to Eysencks group it questions generalisability of Eysencks idea
62
What are the 2 umbrellas under cognitive explanations for offending behaviour?
Kohlbergs theory of moral reasoning and Cognitive distortions
63
What is the main assumption of cognitive explanations?
Crimes are committed by those who have a lower level of moral reasoning (K) or,
Criminal behaviour is a result of faulty cognitive information processing, known as cognitive distortions (C)
64
What is the main assumption of kohlbergs theory?
Our attitudes regarding issues of right and wrong can be summarized in a series of stages, the higher the stage the more sophisticated the reasoning
65
What did Kohlberg base his theory on?
Peoples responses to a series of moral dilemmas such as the Heinz dilemma (woman dying from cancer one drug could save her but druggist charging $4000 for it even though cost him $400 to make. Husband told druggist if he would sell it cheaper or let him pay it later, after trying to borrow money, druggist said no so should he steal it or not?
66
What are the 2 stages in the pre-conventional morality level?
Stage 1 - punishment orientation (rules obeyed to avoid punishment)
Stage 2 - instrumental orientation or personal gain (rules obeyed for personal gain)
67
What are the 2 stages in the conventional morality level?
Stage 3 - 'good boy/girl' orientation (rules obeyed for approval)
Stage 4 - maintenance of the social order (rules obeyed to maintain the social order)
68
What are the 2 stages in the post-conventional morality level?
Stage 5 - morality of contract and individual rights (rules obeyed if they are impartial; democratic rules are challenged if they infringe on rights of others)
Stage 6 - morality of conscience (individual establishes his/her own rules in accordance with a personal set of ethical principles)
69
What was the study Kohlberg conducted to support his theory?
In 1973 using moral dilemma found group of violent youths significantly lower in moral development than non-violent youths. Studies suggest criminals tend to have a lower level of moral reasoning as they think they can get away with it or gain rewards. Also likely to be more egocentric and display poorer social skills
70
What is the main assumption of cognitive distortions?
Faulty, irrational and biased ways of thinking mean we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately (usually negatively), so criminals interpret other people's behaviour and justify their own actions
71
What study supports the cognitive distortions theory?
Schonenberg and Justye 2014 - presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions compared to non-violent control group, violent offenders significantly more likely to perceive images as angry and hostile
72
What are the 2 types of cognitive distortions related to offending behaviour?
Hostile attribution bias - (S and J 2014 support this), the tendency to judge ambiguous situations or actions of others as aggressive/threatening (such as being looked at) when in reality they may not be
Minimalisation - attempt to downplay or deny seriousness of an event or emotion, common strategy for dealing with guilt
73
What studies can be used to support the concept of minimalisation in the cognitive explanation?
Barbaree 1991 - 54% of incarcerated rapists denied they have committed an offence and a further 40% mimimalised the harm they caused to their victim
Pollock and Hashmall 1991 - 35% fo child molesterors argued crime was non-sexual and 36% stated victim had consented
74
What are 2 strengths of cognitive explanations?
Supporting evidence for Kohlbergs theory - Palmer and Hollin 1998 compared moral reasoning between non-offenders (male and female) and convicted offenders using 11 moral dilemmas, found delinquent group were less moral.
Good application of research - nature of cognitive distortions proven beneficial in treatment of criminal behaviour (rehabilitation of sex offenders therapy which encourages offenders to 'face up' to what they have done)
75
What are the 2 weaknesses of cognitive explanations?
Individual differences, level of moral reasoning depends on type of offence. Thornton and Reid 1982 found people who commit crimes for financial gain are more likely to show pre-conventional morality which tends to be associated with crimes where offenders believe they have a good chance of not being punished.
Good at describing criminal mind but cannot explain it, they may be useful in predicting reoffending but they do not give much insight into why they committed the crime in the first place
76
What is the differential association theory?
A social learning theory of criminal behaviour developed by sociologist Sutherford 1939 - proposing individuals learn values, attitudes, techniques and motives for crime through association and interaction with different people
77
What is the main assumption of differential association theory?
Offending behaviour is acquired in the same way as any other behaviour through process of learning. Criminality arises from 2 factors; learning of pro-criminal attitudes and learning of specific criminal acts
78
What is the idea of learning pro-criminal attitudes in the differential association theory?
When you socialise with a group you are exposed to values and attitudes of their group, if the number of pro-criminal attitudes a person acquires outweighs the number of anti-criminal attitudes they will go on to offend. The type of crime they go on to commit will depend on the nature of the attitudes they have learned
79
What is the idea of learning criminal acts in the differential association theory?
Offender may learn particular techniques for committing crime. This could account for why so many convicts reoffend when released from prison as they have learned more techniques from other offenders and are eager to practise new skills
80
What are the 2 strengths of the differential association theory?
```
Supporting research - Farrington et al 2006 Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, longitudinal study, development of behaviour in 411 males, all aged 8 in 1961, working class deprived in South London, followed until 50, looked at official recordings and self-reports, found 41% convicted of at least 1 offence between 10-50, criminal career lasted from 19-28 included on average 5 convictions. Risk factors for offending were family criminality, risk-taking, low academic achievement, poverty and poor parenting. 70% of offenders were chronic offenders (half of all offences recorded).
Theory can account for crime within all sectors of society, some types are inner-city (burglary) some are more prevalent among affluent social groups (white collar crime)
```
81
What are the 2 weaknesses of differential association theory?
Not everyone who is exposed to criminal influences goes on to commit crime, stereotyping saying they are 'unavoidably criminal', ignores that many people choose not to reoffend - environmental determinism.
Theory is difficult to test - Sutherford promises a scientific mathematical framework but hard to see number of criminal attitudes a person has/has been exposed to, without being able to measure this we cannot say this is why criminal behaviour occurs
82
What are the two explanations under the psychodynamic explanations?
Blackburn's idea of inadequate superego and Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory
83
What is the main assumption of the psychodynamic explanations?
Criminality is formed in childhood due to the unconscious mind affecting your behaviour
84
What did Freud say that personality is made up of?
3 components; ego, superego and ID, if the superego doesn't develop properly then criminal behaviour may occur as you don't feel bad for your actions (suggested by Blackburn)
85
What were the 3 types of superego that Blackburn suggested?
Weak - same sex parent is absent in phallic stage then child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego as no identification
Deviant - if the child identifies with parent who has immoral values then it will lead to offending
Over-harsh - crippled by guilty and anxiety where you are unconsciously driven to commit crimes to satisfy overwhelming need for punishment
86
What does Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory suggest about offending?
When we are deprived from our mother (monotropic attachment figure) then we will never have an attachment, known as disinhibited where one side effect is affectionless psychopathy
87
What is a strength of the psychodynamic explanations?
Supporting evidence for Bowlby (44 thieves study where 14/44 were affectionless psychopaths and 12 had experienced loss of mother before age of 2)
88
What are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic explanations?
Alternative explanations - very little evidence that if you are not raised by same sex parent that this makes you more likely to commit crimes. Most people try to hide their crimes, opposing the idea of over-harsh superego and need for punishment
Theories are gender biased as Freud stated girls develop weaker superegos as they don't experience castration anxiety
89
What are the 3 ways of dealing with offending behaviour?
Custodial sentencing (punished by being sentenced to time in an institution), psychological effects and recidivism (criminal who reoffends)
90
What are the 4 aims of custodial sentencing?
Deterrence - prison is meant to put you off offending and send a general message to society about the consequences (individual and general)
Incapacitation - taken out of society to protect public
Retribution - society wanting revenge by making offender suffer
Rehabilitation - prisoner should leave better to be able to fit back into society
91
What are the 3 psychological effects that prisons may have on inmate behaviour once they leave?
Stress and depression - common reaction at start and end of sentence, sleeplessness and anxiety are symptoms, self-harm and suicide can be considered
Institutionalisation - difficult to adjust when released
Prisonisation - behaviours amongst prisoners may not be acceptable in society
92
What are the 2 types of recidivism?
Labelling - labelled as criminal will affect how they are viewed outside of prison, greater likelihood of reoffending
Positive effects - in prison there is an opportunity for positive change
93
What is the strength of psychological effects?
Evidence to support that prisons have this effect, prison suicide rates are 15 times higher than in the general population, Heather 1977 found 1/5 of people sentenced to life had psychotic symptoms
However individual differences could affect different people
94
What is a weakness of recidivism?
Comparing Norway to UK recidivism rates are high as we fail to rehabilitate offenders. Glaser 1983 found rates were lower when new offenders were supervised in the community than when sent to prison, Walker 1981 found 85% of offenders went on to commit further crimes
KEEPING PEOPLE IN PRISON IS VERY EXPENSIVE - ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
95
What is behaviour modification?
Also known as token economy, a system which forms part of custodial sentencing reducing likelihood of reoffending and that they can fit into society (generalisation)
96
What is used in behaviour modification?
Positive and negative reinforcement to control behaviour of inmates so they co-operate. Based on operant conditioning, given rewards in stages
97
What should all the prison staff be in token economy?
Made aware of the rules so they are consistent
98
What is a strength of behaviour modification?
Evidence to support - Hobbs and Holt studied 3 behavioural units using the programme and 1 control unit and found significant increase in positive behaviour in the 3
Token economy is easy to implement as no need for expertise and specialist professionals that there would be for other treatments e.g. anger managment
99
What are 3 weaknesses of behaviour modification?
Long term effectiveness can be questioned as Cohen and Fillipczak found that after 3 years recidivism rates went back to national stats
Once a criminal is released they may return to old behaviour as they are no longer being reinforced
Token economy only deals with behaviour on the surface as the individual is not required to reflect on own responsibility
100
What is anger management?
A form of CBT which is based on the belief that if prisoners can learn to control their anger then bad behaviour and recidivism rates will drop
Novaco suggests that cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal which often comes before the aggressive act
101
What does anger management help to recognise?
Signs of when they become angry and what triggers it so they are taught techniques to deal with this conflict so anger decreases. It does not aim to get rid of anger issues
102
What are the 3 stages in anger management?
1 - cognitive preparation (discuss the trigger and therapist draws attention to irrational thinking)
2 - skill acquisition (selection of CBT techniques which encourage them to think of themselves in a positive way, maybe relaxation techniques)
3- application practice (controlled environment where they act out situations which have caused anger in the past, positive reinforcement is involved)
103
What are 2 strengths of anger management?
Evidence to support from Ireland 2004 who found that 92% of anger management group who were given 12 sessions showed improvements on at least one level of anger compared to a control group
Anger management aims to permanently alter behaviour which can bring about long term change when offender is released
104
What are 2 weaknesses of anger management?
Long term effects can be questioned as Blackburn found little evidence that it reduces recidivism rates in the long term
Anger may not cause offending, Loza and Loza-Fanous 1999 found no difference in anger rates between violent and non-violent offenders and that anger management programmes do not give explanations or justification for their behaviours
105
What is restorative justice?
A system which deals with offenders bringing about reconciliation to the victim where hopefully they come to realise the impact of their crime and therefore will be less likely to reoffend
106
What does the emphasis move from in restorative justice?
Moves from the offender committing a crime to the needs of the individual victim so they feel they have gained back power. The emphasis is not on punishment but on the offender accepting responsibility
107
What happens in restorative justice?
A meeting is organised between offender and victim in the presence of a trained mediator, the victim explains and the offender will see the distress they have caused
108
What are some of the different types of restorative justice?
Community service, repair damage to property, pay money etc
109
What are the 2 strengths of restorative justice?
It is flexible as different types of programmes to suit the victim, however this does mean it is difficult to assess the effectiveness
Although you need professional trained mediators, It is cheaper than custodial sentencing which is beneficial to the economy
110
What are the 2 weaknesses of restorative justice?
Offender may agree to avoid prison or get a reduced sentence without feeling remorse, also the victim may see it as a form of revenge
High drop-out rates as distressing for victim or offender may back out, therefore it can be seen as a 'soft option'
