Week 9 Flashcards
(48 cards)
1
Q
Penological principles
A
Retribution / restitution
Deterrence
Incapacitation
Rehabilitation
2
Q
Retribution
A
The principle of proportionality (“just desserts”) - Lex talionis: eye-for-an-eye - Non-utilitarian Politically popular - Looks tough on crime - Looks non-discriminatory - Looks victim friendly
3
Q
Problems with retribution
A
Who ranks offences? Punishments?
Fails to observe discriminatory practices
Disregards mitigating factors
4
Q
Deterrence
A
Premised on rational choice theory (hedonistic calculus) Three tenets - Swiftness (celerity) - Certainty - Severity Two forms: general and specific
5
Q
Problems with deterrence
A
Are offenders rational? Do they stop to make a choice? Do they know / consider the consequences? Is detection / apprehension certain? Is punishment swift? Is punishment severe?
6
Q
Incapacitation
A
Obstructs an individual’s capacity to offend
- Not just prison
Two kinds
- Selective
- Collective
7
Q
Problems with incapacitation
A
Prediction
Due process violations
Demographically discriminatory
Incapacitation effects are minor
8
Q
Rehabilitation
A
“Fixing” a “deficit” that is criminogenic (not SS provision)
From “nothing works” to “what works”
Principles of effective correctional intervention
- Risk principle
- Need principle
- Responsivity principle
9
Q
Problems with rehabilitation
A
Poor implementation / effectiveness
Indeterminate sentences as unjust
Net widening
CJ settings as untherapeutic
10
Q
Broad CJS problems
A
Public confidence System coordination Jurisdictional fragmentation Justice delayed Productivity and the ‘attrition of crime’
11
Q
Myths of CJS
A
- Battered and blue crime fighters: Myths and misconceptions of police work
- Order in the courts: The myth of equal justice
- Cons and country clubs: The mythical utility of punishment
- The myth of a lenient criminal justice system
- Capital punishment: The myth of murder as effective crime control
12
Q
Police roles
A
Major arms:
- Patrol
- Rapid response
- Detection, investigation, prosecution
- Specialist units
13
Q
Routine police work
A
A study of calls for service:
- 21% for ‘disturbances’
- 16% traffic
- 8% general community assistance
- Tripped / false alarms
- ~1 call per 2 shifts for offence against the person
14
Q
Contemporary orientations
A
An evolving police force:
- Privatisation
- Specialist agencies
- Community policing
- Problem-oriented policing
- Intelligence-led policing
15
Q
Categories of crime prevention
A
- Developmental
- Community
- Criminal justice
- Situational
16
Q
Situational crime prevention
A
- Alters the situational determinants of crime in order to make crime less likely to happen
- Highly specific, problem-oriented
- Highly practical, ends-oriented
- Highly scientific, process-oriented
Consider:
Displacement – shifting of crime to another target, time of place.
Diffusion of benefits – benefits of the intervention spread to other crimes, places, potential targets or times
17
Q
Situational crime prevention categories
A
Five categories (know these) - Increase the effort - Increase the risk - Reduce the rewards - Reduce provocations - Remove excuses Five techniques each
18
Q
Increasing the effort - sit
A
Makes crime more difficult to commit Examples: Physical barriers (locks, screens) Electronic tags Luggage screening Toughened beer glasses
19
Q
Increasing the risk - sit
A
Makes getting caught more likely (not concerned with punishment) Examples: Trimmed hedges Street / flood lights Speed cameras Alarms and CCTVs
20
Q
Reducing the rewards - sit
A
Diminishing how crime pays Examples: Hiding valuables Credit cards instead of cash Speed bumps Disabling devices Cleaning graffiti
21
Q
Reducing provocations - sit
A
Minimizing the precipitators of motive Examples: Enhancing service Improving ambience Segregating sports fans Separating troublemakers Rapid repair
22
Q
Removing excuses - sit
A
Eliminating neutralisations, justifications, rationalisations Examples: Rental agreements Posting instructions Roadside speed-boards Customs declarations Tester items / boards
23
Q
Crime prevention
A
Good crime prevention efforts require:
- A clear causal model (including valid criminological theory)
- A specific crime problem (although sometimes diffusion of benefits can occur)
- A quality implementation (although failures teach us a great deal)
24
Q
History of policing
A
- Pre 1829 law enforcement was largely private
village watchmen, volunteer and poorly paid parish constables - 1829 Sir Robert Peel introduced paid officers in London
the ‘New Police’ - Objectives of the ‘New Police’:
Primary objective was crime prevention; then
detection and punishment of offenders
25
The "new police" - 1829
- New Police were uniformed, visible, patrolled on foot and unarmed in designated areas
- Intent was to deter crime and hastily attend the scene when a crime was reported.
- Similarities with policing today: constantly patrolling (but in a car), rush to the scene of serious offences.
- But technological advances have changed the way police work is done.
26
Evolution of policing techniques
- First major change to patrolling model was introduction of detective units, followed by specialist squads
- Today we have dog squad, water police, SERT, scientific officers, bomb squad, squads for specific offences (e.g. traffic branch, juvenile offenders, sexual offenders, armed robbery, fraud and cybercrime etc)
27
Policing in Aus states
Each Australian state and the Northern Territory has their own police agency
Reflects that Australia is a federation.
28
Policing in Aus nationwide
The Australian Federal Police enforces federal criminal law (e.g. drug smuggling) across Australia and also provides policing for the Australian Capital Territory.
29
Policing in Aus
- All operate as hierarchical organisations
- Traditionally, careers in policing were only available to privileged males who met height and weight restrictions
- Modern Australian police services have policies and practices which facilitate (but not always successfully) policing careers for the broad cross-section of society, including women.
30
Police powers
‘gate-keepers of the criminal justice system’
- Police powers are largely enshrined in legislation
e.g. Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld)
Affords police powers well above those of general citizens
e.g. greater arrest powers, move on powers, powers to detain people, right to demand name and address, conduct searches, seize property etc
- Police also have different (stronger) protections than ordinary citizens for mistakes made
e.g. protections against false arrest
31
Policing and dangers
- Functions undertaken by police mean officers are often involved in physical and potentially dangerous situations. Australian research has found that in an year:
- 75% of patrol officers are required to break up fights and control crowds
- 85% are required to carry, move or restrain a person
- Approx 33% of officers are required to draw their firearm in any year (CJC, 1998)
- Police officers are also regularly called upon to save and protect people, sometimes with fatal consequences for themselves.
32
Main models of policing
Community policing
Problem-orientated policing
Intelligence-led policing
33
Community policing
- Commenced in the 1980s.
- Building partnerships between police and the community to reduce crime.
- emphasis on understanding local problems; and
providing ‘service’, not purely a reactive response to crime
- Partnerships built in structured ways.
‘Innovations’ which stem from the community policing model include:
- Neighbourhood watch
- Police Beats (e.g. in shopping centres and local suburbs)
- School-based police officers
- Police liaison officers
34
Problem orientated policing
- Focused on targeting and ‘fixing’ specific crime problems.
e. g. theft of cars from a particular car park, prostitution in a specific locality, drug dealing in a particular apartment complex
- POP sometimes targets particular problems but across larger areas (e.g. drink driving through State-wide RBT)
- Emphasis on research & evidence to analyse problem, followed by developing and implementing evidence-based strategies.
- Despite Australian police now having higher levels of education, the take up of innovations such as POP has been slow.
35
Intelligence led policing
“crime fighting guided by effective intelligence gathering and analysis—has potential to be the most important law enforcement innovation of 21st cent.” (Kelling & Bratton, 2006)
- Effective intelligence gathering and analysis can identify high risk people (offenders and victims) and places.
e. g. repeat offenders, crime hot-spots (NB. Places may only be hotspots at particular times of the day or night. That knowledge helps to effectively target police resources)
- Essentially a risk-based model, enabling police resources to be directed at the riskiest people and places.
36
Specialist agencies types
In addition to State and Territory policing agencies, Australia has a number of specialist agencies.
Specialist agencies tend to focus on one of:
- Conventional policing (i.e. crime detection & control)
e.g. Australian Customs and Border Protection
- Facilitative functions (e.g. information sharing, training, research)
e.g. CrimTrac, AUSTRAC, AIC
- Financial regulation and consumer protection
e.g. ASIC, ACCC
37
Specialist agencies reaches
- National (e.g. Australian Crime Commission, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, AUSTRAC and ACCC); or
- Jurisdiction specific (e.g. Crime and Corruption Commission (Qld); NSW Crime Commission)
- National Crime Authority est 1984 was the key turning point in the proliferation of specialist policing agencies
- > established in response to organised crime
- > independent, highly skilled agency with special powers to address the specific problem.
38
Specialist agencies growth
- Trend for continued growth in specialist agencies
leads to greater fragmentation with additional agencies created to build cooperation between existing agencies (e.g. CrimTrac)
- In addition to agencies themselves, there are many parliamentary and inter-governmental committees which oversee and co-ordinate activities between agencies.
e.g. National Security Committee of Cabinet, Inter-agency Security Forum.
- A number of specialist agencies are focused on anti-corruption and over-sighting police agencies
39
Public and private v police: presence
- Past 3 decades have seen dramatic growth in security industry here and many other countries.
- Number of security officers is far greater than police officers.
- However, many security officers are part-time or casual.
- Number of people engaged in security as their main occupation is close to that of number of police.
40
Public and private security powers
- Private security officers have the same powers as general citizens, but also powers derived from property owners
e. g. restrict or deny access to private property; evict people failing to comply with conditions of entry.
- Public security services may have additional powers prescribed in legislation
e. g. State Government Security (Qld Govt) and protective services officers as part of AFP.
- Argued that growth in security is the cause of decreasing crime over past decades.
41
Public and private security requirements
Participation in security industry is regulated
- Licences required
- Licensing regime typically requires criminal history checking, mandatory training etc
- Increased licensing requirements and restrictions on participation in the industry tend to result in response to scandals.
- Interactions between private security and police can be problematic
- Fundamental differences: security officer provide services to paying clients -v- public police officers; difference in goals and powers.
42
Police misconduct
The potential for misconduct is greater in policing than in many occupations
- can stem from the extensive powers that police possess;
- potential for corruption and abuse of power.
Royal Commissions and Inquiries have found evidence of misconduct and corruption within Australian police agencies
e.g. Fitzgerald Inquiry in Queensland; Wood Royal Commission in NSW.
43
Police misconduct range and extent
- In addition to criminal activity, police have received criticism for a range of failings:
e. g. neglecting victims of domestic violence; investigative incompetence leading to wrongful convictions (and probably guilty people escaping punishment); discrimination in law enforcement.
- Nature of policing is that systemic abuses can easily take-hold
- > All Australian jurisdictions now have independent anti-corruption bodies to scrutinise police
- The extent of police misconduct is difficult to determine
44
Community crime prevention
```
- crime is a community (social) problem, as opposed to a problem of individuals
Techniques of community prevention often used to increase community empowerment:
- mass mobilisation
- social action
- community empowerment
- public advocacy
- education
- improve local services
```
45
Developmental crime prevention
- Developmental prevention is often thought of as ‘risk-focused prevention’
- Identify risk factors for crime and implement prevention programs to mitigate the risks
- Developmental prevention targets programs / resources to people, families, schools or communities at risk.
- Seeks to address risk factors early.
46
Risk factors for juvenile crime - dev
- childhood antisocial behaviour
- low self-control
- low levels of parental supervision
- harsh and inconsistent discipline
- child maltreatment (abuse and neglect)
- offending by parents and siblings
- parental conflict
- large family size
- weak parental and school attachment
47
Developmental crime prevention - focus point
- Developmental prevention seeks to bridge the gap between what is needed for the individual and their family and the resources required to address their needs and problems
- Family support is often a component of developmental prevention initiatives. Aim to help families under pressure manage and prepare them to successfully manage by themselves.
- Material assistance
- Parent skills training
- Reducing social isolation
48
Types of developmental prevention
- Preschool education programs (eg. Perry Preschool Study)
- Developmental day care
- Home visitations
- Parent training
Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of developmental prevention in terms of reduce crime and cost effectiveness (savings made through reduced crime being, often considerably, higher than the cost of program provision)
