state types of punishment
probation
community service
ASBO (anti-social behaviour order)
formal police caution
state and explain 3 types of imrpisonment
life sentence - the judge sets the minimum time the offender must serve, if they are released they are on license for the rest of their life
determinate sentence - sentence with a fixed
suspended sentence - offender is given prison sentence but doesn’t go directly to prison (this can be suspended for up to 2 years)
AO2: imprisonment for public protection (IPP)
created in 2003, designed to protect the public from serious crimes that don’t need a life sentence
offenders are sentenced to a minimum time they must spend in prison
after this time they can apply for parole to be released
what are the aims of punishment
- retribution
- deterrence
- rehabilitation
- incapacitation
- reparation
what 3 ways does punishment reduce crime
- deterrence > punishment discourages future offending
- rehabilitation > reforms and changes offenders
- incapacitation > removes ability to commit crime (imprisonment, execution, cutting off your hands, chemical castration)
AO2 capital punishment
China executes the most people per year overall, with an estimated figure of 1,718 in 2008
AO3 deterrence
- stats dont confirm deterrence works but dont confirm it doesnt work
- some people cant be deterred due to mental illness or disability
- Some capital crimes are committed in such an emotional state that the perpetrator did not think about the possible consequences. We cannot be sure whether the death penalty deters more than life imprisonment.
explain why retribution is an aim of punishment
it pays back for the crime
based on fact that offenders deserve punishment and society is entitled to take revenge
functionalist view of punishment
- it upholds social solidarity and reinforces shared values
- it expresses moral outrage at the crime
what are the 2 types of justice
- retributive justice > involves harsh punishment and reinforces social solidarity
-restitutive justice > aims to restore things to how they were before the crime (eg through paying compensation)
marxist view of punishment
- it maintains existing social order
the repressive state apparatus defends ruling class property against lower classes
capitalism and punishment
Capitalism puts a price on the worker’s time; so too prisoners ‘do time’ to ‘pay’ for their crime (or ‘repay a debt to society’)
facts about imprisonment today
- no convincing evidence that prison reduces crime > 65 per cent of former prisoners released in 2004 were reconvicted within two years of being released - for young men (18—20) it was 75 per cent.
- The prison population is largely male, young and poorly educated. Black and ethnic minorities are over-represented
mass incarceration in the USA
there are now 1.5 million state and federal prisoners in prisons like Rikers island, plus 700,000 in local jails compared to 200,000 inmates in prison in 1972
