Punishment

?
  • Created by: Harriet
  • Created on: 07-06-13 15:36
View mindmap
  • Punishment
    • Trends in Punishment
      • The changing role of prison
        • In pre-industrail Europe, prison was for holding offenders prior to punishment
      • Transcarceration
        • There is a trend towards moving people between different institutions (care, young offenders then adult prison)
      • Alternatives to prison
        • An increase in community based controls, e.g. curfews, community service and tagging
        • Cohen- It casts its net of control over more people
      • Imprisonment today
        • Since the 1980's there has been and increase in the use of prison sentences. most are young males and poorly educated
          • USA is moving to mass incarceration with 3% of the population in some sort of punishment
        • In Liberal society imprisonment is the most sever punishment
    • Marxism: capitalism and punishment
      • Punishment is part of the 'repressive state apparatus' that defends R/C property
      • Capitalism use imprisonment as the dominant punishment  because, in the capitalist economy, time is money and offenders 'pay' by doing time
    • Foucault: The Birth of the Prison
      • Contrast between 2 different forms of punishment
        • Disciplinary power- becomes dominant from the C19th and seeks to govern not just the body but also the mind through surveillance
          • The Panopticon illustrates this-not knowing if they are being watched prisoners must constantly behave as if they are
            • Disciplinary power is now part of every aspect of society
        • Sovereign power- in pre-modern society the monarch exercised physical power over peoples bodies and punishment was a visual spectacle
    • Durkheim: functionalist
      • The function of punishment is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values by expressing societies moral outrage at the offence
      • two types of justice
        • Restitutive justice- in modern society, there is extensive interdependence between individuals. Crime damages this and the function of justice should be to repair the damage
        • Retributive justice- traditional society has a strong collective conscience, so punishment is severe and revengeful
    • Different justifications for punishment
      • Retribution
        • society taking revenge
      • Reduction
        • Involve a deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation to prevent future crime

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Sociology resources:

See all Sociology resources »See all Crime and deviance resources »