lecture 6 - prison abolition

Question 1

the number crisis reform
- HMP berwyn capacity
- downside of this capacity and location

Answer 1

more than 2,100 prisoners
location and larger size of prison means more distant from families

Question 2

the crisis of conditions 3 main reforms
improvements post…
smarter and better…
importance of…

Answer 2

• improvements post woolf
• smarter and better prisons
• importance of rehabilitation

Question 3

criticisms of the crisis of conditions reform
- what is still an issue
- justifed on what type of basis

Answer 3

• location still an issue
• justified on consequentialist basis based on prisoner responsibilities and reducing reoffending

Question 4

crisis of injustice reform has meant procedural…

Answer 4

• procedural fairness and decent living conditions

Question 5

criticism of crisis of injustice reform
prisoners now have what expectation
but still dont have what?

Answer 5

prisoners have legitimate expectation to be treated fairly BUT not an absolute legal right to be treated humanely

Question 6

what do attempts at penal reform tend to do?

Answer 6

reproduce the prison and consolidate its rationale and form, rather than transforming it

Question 7

how have reforms failed (3 examples)
become…
based on same…
result is the reproduction of…

Answer 7

• become monotonous
• based on same techniques and knowledge
• result is the reproduction of homologous prisons

Question 8

why is reformism seen as MAD and FUTILE

Answer 8

because its repeating the same action but expecting a different result

Question 9

whats a durkheimian argument for reform

Answer 9

a nexus of prison reform

Question 10

What problems can reform solve?

Answer 10

• the number crisis
• crisis of conditions
• crisis of injustice

Question 11

what enduringattachment is there to prisons

Answer 11

enduring attachment to prisons and imprisonment as a social institution

Question 12

what does prison abolition question

Answer 12

questions the efficacy, morality of incarceration

Question 13

what does abolitionism challenge?
what does it question?

Answer 13

• challenges traditional legal conceptions of justice
• questions the deeply problematic nature of crime and punishment

Question 14

what type of reforms do prison abolitionists want to see for how we handle and thinj about crime

Answer 14

STRUCTURAL reforms

Question 15

prison abolitionists argue that it is not enough to simply reform our current cjs, what do they argue needs to happen?
needsto be…
in its place society must invest in…

Answer 15

needs to be completely dismantled
- in its place society must invest in communities and address harm in other ways

Question 16

what do reformists fail to acknowledge about the cjs as it is currently constructed is a

Answer 16

social problem itself

Question 17

why is the concept of criminal justice challenging
raises questions to why some…
why these x are chosen…
how what specificity shape responses over time

Answer 17

• raises question to why some acts are criminalised and others not
• why these responses are chosen
• how historical and material specificity shape responses over time

Question 18

what notion of criminal justice is suspectful?

Answer 18

justice for all

Question 19

what affects what types of actions are seen as illegal and how cjs responses to it?
what theory?

Answer 19

power
inequality

conflict theory

Question 20

punishment therefore shaped not just by patterns of criminality but how we have chosen to manage…

Answer 20

marginal groups
- marxist

Question 21

what does martin et al 2014 state the prison emphasises?
what aspects of control?
what dynamics?

Answer 21

the problematic and illegitimate aspects of control
problematic power dynamics affecting those whose lives are touched by prison experience

Question 22

the idea that we can make prisons more legitimate, humane decent is a what

Answer 22

a sham

Question 23

what does abolition exist in tension with

Answer 23

efforts to reform penal system

Question 24

what does ryan and sim 2007 argue is needed for reform
strategies that….
move towards…

Answer 24

strategies that DENATURALISE the prison
move towards radical REDUCTION in use of imprisonment

denaturalise and reduce impriosnment

Question 25

who uses the term non-reformist reforms
TM
AD

Answer 25

term used by prison abolitionists
- thomas mathieson
- angela davis

Question 26

what are non-reformist reforms strategies

Answer 26

strategies which work to undermine or shrink a harmful system, rather than strengthen or normalise it

Question 27

examples of 3 non-reformist reform strategies
work to reduce….
challenge assumptions that…
link to wider vision of change that will…

Answer 27

1. work to reduce size, scope and power of system
2. challenge assumptions that underpin and sustain the system
3. link to wider vision of change that will reduce our reliance on prisons

Question 28

what would traditional reformers do for problems caused by ageing prison population?
call for new?

Answer 28

call for new funding for specialised services

Question 29

what would abolitionists do for problems caused by the ageing prison population?
push for?

Answer 29

push for early or compassionate release

Question 30

what would traditional reformers do for problems caused by overcrowding?
call for more?

Answer 30

call for more resources to be invested in prisons

Question 31

what would abolitionists do for problems caused by overcrowding?
call for particular groups..
recommend repeal of…

Answer 31

• call for particular groups of prisoners to be immediately released
• recommend repeal of laws and policies that funnel marginalised people into prison in first place

Question 32

what do penal reductionism/ attrition argue about the prison?
UL UB

Answer 32

prison should be USED LESS but should also be USED BETTER

Question 33

what did frances cook argue for penal reductionism?
what should we start with doing?

Answer 33

prisons are fundamentally unjust, requiring radical overhaul,
starting with a swingeing reduction in number of people imprisoned

Question 34

arguing for the total abolition of prisons is thought to be a hopelessly what type of goal

Answer 34

hopelessly utopian goal

Question 35

cruiclaly abolitionists do not stop at the prison walls, its is about what?
changing…
investing in…
addressing…

Answer 35

changing society
investing in communites
addressing harm in other ways