FORENSICS - Dealing with offending behaviour: the aims of custodial sentencing
- Created by: EmilyEther
- Created on: 28-01-19 12:42
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- Dealing with offending behaviour: the aims of custodial sentencing
- Why do we send people to prison?
- to get them off the street / confinement -> protection of society
- acts a deterrence - prevents re-offending of criminals and sets an example for future offenders
- justice / retribution -> they've inflicted pain on other, get their just dessert
- rehabilitation -> trying to reform them for when they go back into society
- punishment for what they have done
- Rising population in prison rates
- better 'clear up' rate -> more technology to catch criminals
- more crimes that wouldn't have been present 100 yrs ago (fraud, internet, driving etc)
- in the past, people were killed for crimes
- general population increased
- proves that deterrence in prison does work
- eng & wales & scot lock up the most amount of people
- norway, sweden & finland lock up the least amount of people
- black people more likely to be locked up than white people
- RECIDIVISM -> proven re-offending after completing some form of official punishment
- shows that re-offending varies depending on length of sentence
- less than 12 months -> 59%, 10 yrs -> 18%
- Why does prison not work for everyone?
- differential association -> people will be around people who commit crimes and will become worse (learn tips etc)
- for punishment to work, it must be probable, prompt and aversive
- trial process is long and sometimes never happens
- prison may be safer and better than the conditions that they were living in previously
- deterrent theory - criminals weigh up risks of committing a crime before doing it
- not all criminals do this -> intoxication, emotion based
- prison teaches criminals not to get caught instead of don't commit crimes
- Impact of prison on the mental health of prisoners
- Zimbardo - they will conform to their social role
- Dehumanisation
- deindividuation
- Gustav le Bon - individs change when part of a crowd
- zimbardo - 'cloak of anonymity' - loss of individ identity and reduced inhibitions
- measured by amount of aggression but in prison many inmates are aggressive
- prisons could be highly stressful - 25% of inmates are in overcrowded conditions
- depression
- hopelessness theory - Abramson
- internal - external attribution
- stable - unstable
- global specific
- UNHEALTHY ATTRIBUTIONS - internal, stable, global
- prison can shift attributions to an unhealthy set
- helplessness theory - Seilgman
- helplessness learned that it is useless to help your situation
- self harm and suicide
- about 10 a month
- large increase in females
- major first risk during first 24 hrs
- increasing per year
- SNOW - characteristics of prisoners who self-harm and are suicidal separately. Self-harmers display higher anger and stress. Suicidal show depressive signs and withdraw
- men = 5x more likely to commit suicide than in wider pop
- women = 20x more likely to commit suicide than outside pop
- institutionalisation
- 15% of prisoners are homeless before arrest (recidivism)
- Evaluation of depression, self-harm and suicide
- is poor mental health a necessary part of punishment? Argued that criminals need to be a bit depressed for prisons to work
- NEWTON - self harm is so widespread among prisons - sign of conformity?
- many prisoners have poor mental health before sentencing
- prison pop rose when asylums were closed down - less protection for people with disorders and they are being put in prison
- Recidivism - Why do ex-prisoners reoffend?
- stealing out of need - on the street before and after prison
- biological - genes still make them unable to control themselves
- prisons are very controlled - changing behaviour - token economy
- lack of support, particularly for institutionalised prisoners
- prisoners don't make link between crime and punishment
- prisoners have not finished treatment
- menatl health / addiction issues
- drug users more likley to reoffend than non-drug users
- Why do we send people to prison?
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