topic 7 - limitations and evaluation of agencies Flashcards
(27 cards)
how is finances and budget cuts a limitation of agencies (core knowledge)?
Without adequate funding, many agencies are unable to achieve effective social control
Funding for agencies of social control mainly comes from the government. They accumulate the money to finance public services through taxation and borrowing
However during difficult economic circumstances, when for example governments find themselves with a large deficit (eg. post 2008 financial crisis), and therefore less capacity for public spending, public services often have their budgets cut
how are finances and budget cuts a limitation of agencies (expanded knowledge)?
austerity:
Austerity is a type of measure employed by the government as a way for them to reduce their overall debt. This is to avoid a debt crisis. - introduced by the coalition government in 2010
how is austerity a limitation:
This is normally done through cutting overall spending (the budget) and increasing taxes for both businesses and individuals.
discuss finances and budget cuts as a limitation in relation to:
-police
-courts
-prisons
police:
+ Home office announce £100m extra for neighbourhood policing
+ Pledged to recruit 13,000 extra officers into neighbourhood roles.
- Several forces say despite additional funding, will have to make cuts to existing officers this year.
- National Police Chiefs Council says forces face an estimated gap of £1.3bn in overall finances over next two years.
- Essex Police said it planned to make all 99 of its PCSOs redundant in response to a £5.3m shortfall in its budget.
define policies and explain how they can limit agencies in achieving social control.
policies = public policy is a set of decisions by governments and other political actors to influence, change, or frame a problem or issue that has been recognized in the political realm by policy makers and/or the wider public
Policies can limit the ability of agencies in achieving social control
For example, if there is a national policy to prioritise a particular crime, this may prevent the police from being able to effectively achieve social control across the board as all their resources are focused on that one crime
They may have to neglect the enforcement of certain crimes so they can focus on the one the government want them to prioritise
Both national (government) and local policies can limit the ability of agencies to achieve social control
explain 3 ways that policies impact the police’s ability to achieve social control.
policy - to reduce knife crime
increased focus on knife crime reduction leads to loss of focus on other crimes (which could lead to increase)
policy - early release to reduce overcrowding in prisons
Pushing of early release to deal with overcrowding likely will lead to rise in recidivism rate due to lack of time to rehabilitate offenders and therefore create more strain on law enforcement agencies
policy - Police, crime, sentencing and courts act 2022 - focus on protestors
Increased focus on protests leads to loss of focus on other crimes (which could lead to increase)
how can recidivism limit agencies (core knowledge)?
Recidivism is a term used to describe a convicted criminal reoffending, normally within twelve months of ending their sentence
If offenders continue to break the law once they have been released from prison, then social control can never be achieved
Recidivism creates a negative circle which leads to more reoffending
first offence -> prison -> release -> re offending -> more people in the CJS creates strain on agencies of social control (eg. prisons) which makes them less efficient at controlling crime (eg. cannot rehabilitate)
what factors can increase revicidivism (re offending expanded knowledge)?
People with more previous convictions
People who served a prison sentence, vs. a warning/fine/community sentence
Males
Offenders with drug or alcohol addictions, are homeless, or unemployed
Mental health issues
Those with few qualifications
how does recidivism impact the prison and probation services?
Adult offenders had a proven reoffending rate of 25.1%
34.2% of juvenile prisoners reoffend within a year.
56.9% of people who served custodial sentences of less than 12 months offended again within a year (Gov, 2023).
For offenders punished with suspended sentences or community orders, the reoffending rate is 24%.
This is coupled with the total estimated economic and social cost in England and Wales of re-offending by adults is £16.7bn (2019)
how can environment limit agencies ability to achieve social control?
When prisoners are released from custody, their home/living environment can have a big impact on whether or not they stay out of prison
All too often, offenders return to the same social circle they associated with before prison, involving drug taking or criminal behaviour
There is also often a lack of employment available, or a focus to lead them away from crime (e.g. a job opportunity)
This then returns us back to the limitation of recidivism and the strain it places on certain agencies (police, prisons etc.)
discuss how environment limits these agencies ability to achieve social control:
-police
-prisons
-probation service
police:
When offenders return to their old environments and commit crime, this increases pressure on police resources.
E.g. Westminster had an overall crime rate of 440 crimes per 1,000 people with more than 69% of that being theft-related, which would put more strain on the police forces in the area.
prisons
Reoffending often occurs as a result of returning to a poor environment that encourages offending behaviour,
E.g a report in 2021 said that those from deprived areas are ten times more likely to end up in prison.
probation
Reoffending often occurs as a result of returning to a poor environment that encourages offending behaviour,
E.g a report in 2021 said that those from deprived areas are ten times more likely to end up in prison.
how is access to resources and support a limitation of agencies in achieving social control?
Prisoners may lack access to resources and support, in prison and after release. This may include:
Lack of money
Lack of a job
Homelessness
Upon release, prisoners may have problems with finance, accommodation and employment/training opportunities
Inadequate support for complex needs
Inadequate supervision
All of this, similar to the previous limitation, will lead an individual to re-offending and placing further strain on the criminal justice system, creating a vicious cycle of offending, poor rehabilitation due to high numbers, more offending
explain each access to each of the resources can lead to re offending.
Lack of money
Often money is a factor as offenders do not have access to funds to support getting settled following release - for example they cannot access benefits due to not having a bank account or fixed address.
Lack of a job
Offenders have to declare their criminal convictions and often many employers will not take on board ex-offenders. They are also often unskilled and exploited in low paid work due to their offender status.
Homelessness
Due to the lack of finances and strained relationships, many offenders do not have a home and often landlords do not look favourably on them. If they are placed in a halfway house, many ex-offenders flee these due to extreme violence or poor conditions.
Inadequate support for complex needs
Over 50% of the prison population have mental health needs and over 25% have severe needs - they are often left untreated and cannot access support in the community.
Inadequate supervision
Due to budget cuts, many ex-offenders on license are monitored via phone calls and infrequent checks, this means if they do re-offend or show potential warning signs, this is not picked up on.
how does access to resources limit the agencies in achieving social control:
-prisons
-probation
prison:
Reoffending due to lack of support resources increases recidivism rates
Education in 3/4 of prisons is rated inadequate or requires improvement by OFSTED
Prisoners get £46 on release
Only ¼ have a job on release
1 in 9 have no settled accommodation
Half (51%) prisoners assessed as having literacy skills of an 11 year old
probation:
Reoffending due to lack of support resources increases recidivism rates
Sufficient support for drug misuse only offered in 50% of cases
Sufficient support for emotional wellbeing only offered in 62% of cases
Sufficient support for relationships only offered in 45% of cases
Inadequate supervision by probation officers or an over-reliance on private companies (CRCs) who are failing to meet targets
how do civil liberties and legal barriers limit the agencies ability to achieve social control (core knowledge)?
What is a civil liberty?
Civil liberties are basic rights and freedoms granted to citizens of a country through the law
for example:
Freedom of speech
Freedom of movement
Freedom from arbitrary arrest
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of association
Freedom of religious worship
Civil liberties can limit social control as people have the right to freedom of speech, movement etc.
Therefore, this could restrict agencies from achieving social control
how do civil liberties and legal barriers limit agencies in achieving social control (expanded knowledge) - link to models of justice?
Civil liberties being prioritised in the context of criminal justice relates to due process
This is because due process prioritises the rights of potential offenders above all else. Due process adopts an obstacle course approach which places a number of legal restrictions of agencies of social control to minimise the chances of state corruption or wrongful convictions/miscarriages of justice
Examples of this include - double jeopardy (for all non-serious crimes), disclosure rules, time limits on being held in custody without charge
civil liberties limiting agencies example - rwandan scheme
what is the rwandan scheme?
This agreement sanctioned the UK deporting illegal immigrants to Rwanda where they would be processed. If granted refugee status, they would integrate into Rwandan society.
However this was seen as a huge human rights violation of refugees by European Convention of Human Rights and the project was blocked by both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
this shows how:
civil liberties limit social control as this prevention of deporting illegal immigrants who commit offences in the UK means that they put additional strain on agencies involved (Border Control, Police, CPS, Courts).
what is a moral imperative?
A moral imperative is a ‘strongly felt principle which compels someone to act. In other words, offenders may commit crime as they believe they are doing the right thing from a moral standpoint’
how do crimes committed with a moral imperative limit agencies in achieving social control?
Jury equity is the idea that juries have the discretionary power to decide whether to find a defendant guilty or not guilty (no one can force them either way).
This can mean that a jury can come to a verdict that goes against what the evidence suggests - a perverse decision
If a jury is morally or ideologically aligned with the defendants, it is possible that they may acquit them even if it is very clear they committed the crime.
This acts as a limitation for primarily the judiciary from doing their jobs, as they may be prevented from giving any sentence to someone who has clearly broken the law, due to the jury believing the defendant committed the crime due to a moral imperative
give 3 examples of moral imperatives that have led people to commit crime.
Compassion
Assissted suicide - Graham Mansfield
Belief in equality
Equal Rights campaigns - Suffragettes, Rosa Parks
Belief in a cause/concern
Environmental campaigns - Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion
give a case study on how a crime committed with a moral imperative has limited agencies in achieving social control.
In 2022, Graham Mansfield was found not guilty of murder after he ‘killed his wife - in an act of love’ before attempting to kill himself.
The judge accepted they made a suicide pact as his wife in debilitating pain due to her terminal cancer.
Mansfield was given a lower sentence of a 2 years suspended for manslaughter.
what are the 7 limitations which limit agencies in achieving social control?
Finances & Budget Cuts
Repeat Offenders & Recidivism
Environment
Access to resources and support
Policies
Civil Liberties and Legal Barriers
Crime committed by those with moral imperatives
Evaluate The Effectiveness Of The Police In Achieving Social Control (9 marks)
are effective:
-in recent years, the police have made significant progress in prioritising crimes that are of greater public concern
->for example domestic abuse, honour
crime and historical sexual abuse.
-they then have devised specialist divisions that ensure these crimes can be dealt with more effectively.
-the HM Inspector of Police Annual Report in 2017 showed that 2/3s of domestic abuse practitioners felt the police’s approach to this domestic abuse had improved, and overall domestic abuse cases have decreased 6.5% since 2010 according to the ONS.
are ineffective:
-due to significant budget cuts and staff shortages.
-between 2010 and 2019, funding for the police fell by 19%.
-between 2010 and 2018, 20,000 police lost their jobs.
-this has led to the Labour government having to pledge the recruitment of 13,000 new officers.
-this means that police simply are unable to investigate, prevent and process crime to the degrees in which they could - decreasing social control.
are ineffective:
-due to issues of competence and bias.
-following the 2023 Casey Review into the Metropolitan Police after the murder of Sarah Everard and the conviction of serving police officer Wayne Couzens, they concluded that there are serious issues of sexism, racism and misconduct that the constabulary has failed to address.
-this shows no progress since the findings of the MacPherson report in 1999.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the CPS in achieving social control [9 marks]
are effective:
-due to the overall high number of cases prosecuted each year and the percentage of those which gain a conviction.
-in 2018 the CPS prosecuted 80,000 cases in the Crown Court and over 450,000 cases in the Magistrates’ Court.
->of these cases, 84.1% of the
defendants were convicted of their
offence.
-this shows that the CPS use an effective model (full code test) to determine which cases to charge, and overall can do this swiftly and efficiently.
are ineffective:
-due to significant budget cuts and staff shortages.
-the CPS has experienced budget cuts of 25% in recent years, along with a loss of a third of CPS staff.
-the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2018 stated that the CPS cannot sustain further cuts due to the heavy additional workload.
-this will have only been exacerbated by the recent 10% increase in crime between 2023 and 2024.
are ineffective:
-due to the significant delays to presenting cases in court since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic (and as a result of the budget cuts and staff shortages).
-in 2024, the backlog of cases to be prosecuted in Crown Court reached a record high of 73,100.
-this is primarily due to trials being delayed during 2020 and 2021 when the pandemic was at its peak.
-now there simply is not enough CPS barristers to present cases in court.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the judiciary in achieving social control [9 marks]
are ineffective:
-this is because the judiciary have no direct impact on creating law abiding behaviour.
-one way we could argue they are ineffective is due to demographic issues and bias. 71% of judges are male. 95% are white. 70% are over 50 years old. Typically judges come from middle-class backgrounds.
-this can lead to identity-based biases. It can be argued that judges are out of touch with the general population and therefore can give both unduly lenient and harsh sentences dependent on the circumstances eg. give a harsh sentence to a minority, or give a lenient sentence to a woman as they want to be seen as chivalrous.
are ineffective:
-there is lots of evidence that judges have passed unduly lenient sentences.
-despite having statutory requirements and sentencing guidelines that must be followed, judges have discretionary powers, which gives judges the ability to pass a sentence as they see fit.
-this can lead to unduly lenient sentences.
->For example Robert Brown had to
have his sentence increased from 9
years to 10.5 years for a hit and run
which killed two young brothers due to
the initial sentence being unduly
lenient.
are ineffective:
-despite having discretionary powers to hand out sentences, they must do this within the constraints of the law, the sentencing guidelines, and mitigating factors.
-this means the law may prevent a judge giving the sentence they want to. For example Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana was prevented from being given a full-life term for the murder of four, attempted murder of ten, terrorism, and creation of biological weapons due to being under the age of 18 when the offences were committed.
