Punishment

Question 1

What is the purpose of punishment according to Newburn?

Answer 1

1 Rehabilitation – Discourage reoffending.
2 Deterrence – To prevent other people from offending in the future.
3 Restorative Justice – To force criminals to make amends to the victims they have harmed.
4 Protection of society – Incapacitation takes the offenders out of society so they are unable to harm others.
5 Boundary Maintenance – To reinforce the social norms and values and remind people of what is acceptable.
6 Retribution – Because the criminals deserve to be punished for their crimes – Just Deserts.

Question 2

How does Functionalism view punishment?

Answer 2

Society can only exist if there is a shared system of values that tie a society together morally. Laws are a representation of this collective conscious. Durkheim suggests that retribution gives people an outlet for anger and reaffirms collective consciousness.

Question 3

How does Marxism view punishment?

Answer 3

Laws are a reflection of ruling class ideology and punishment is part of the repressive state apparatus (Althusser) which keeps people in line and in their place.

Question 4

How does Weberianism view punishment?

Answer 4

Only the state has the power to punish offenders, not the church or landowners as in the past. Legal Rational Authority meaning punishment is based on impersonal rules and regulations set out by a vast bureaucracy and set of checks and balances.

Question 5

What is Foucault’s view on changing forms of punishment?

Answer 5

Sovereign Power – Public forms of punishment and physical punishment were forms of showing power by monarchs rather than deterring criminal behaviour.
Disciplinary Power – Decline in sovereign power and new forms of state power moved punishment to disciplinary power which includes surveillance and monitoring.

Question 6

What does Garland say about changing forms of punishment?

Answer 6

In the 1950s the state practised ‘penal welfarism’ – criminal justice system tried to rehabilitate offenders. Now moved to a ‘punitive state’ with a ‘culture of control’ through actuarialism, mass incarceration, transcarceration, and politicians using crime control to win elections.

Question 7

What do Rusche and Kirchheimer say about punishment?

Answer 7

A Marxist approach seeing punishment as social control and class domination. Punishment changes as economic need changes. Changes from physical punishments, to transportation, and now cheap prison labour. Brutality rose when population was plentiful and declined as labour forces declined.

Question 8

What is the purpose of prisons?

Answer 8

To be the ultimate deterrent, both controlling crime and punishing offenders.

Question 9

Are prisons effective as a form of punishment?

Answer 9

Yes – Keeps society safe from dangerous criminals. Resocialisation into social norms and values. Education to prevent recidivism. Bad experiences in prison will stop reoffending.
No – School of crime. Leads to labelling which can cause reoffending. High recidivism rates show it is not effective.