Punishments and treatments

Types of punishment:

- Custodial - Punishments involve the offender being put in some kind of prison or hospital for the duration of their sentence.

- Non-custodial - punishments include fines, probation andcommunityservice.

Specific deterrence is concerned with punishing an individual offender in order to discourage her from offending again.

General deterrence is where people in general are discouraged from committing a crime by the threat of punishment if they are caught.

Aim: To test the impact of demanding& highly structured regimes on reconviction rate two years after release.

Participants:Male offenders(18-21 yrs)

Procedure:Thorn Cross HIT(high intensity training centre) Offers a25 week trainingprogramme of activities (16 hours a day) includingmilitary style drills.

Cochester YOF (young offenders institute)-26 week programme based on military style regime.

Results:Thorn Cross HIT= Took longer to re-offend and commitment significantly fewer crimes. The cost was more than recouped, by saving made on less crime.

Colchester YOF= Although they committed slightly fewer crimes than control, the crimes were more costly. Therefore not cost effective regime!!

Conclusion = 'TC' reduced reconviction rateswere due to: education, employment, mentoring and care components. Rather than the military style drills.

Aim: evaluate success of cognitive behavioural treatments for prisoners

Sample: 670 adult male offenders

Method: Referred to as the Cognitive Skills Program, it consists of 2 programs focusing on corrective maladaptive or faulty thinking patterns linked with offending behaviour: - Reasoning and Rehabilitation. - Enhanced Thinking Skills. Aims of program: 1. self-control 2. interpersonal problem-solving skills 3. social perspective taking 4. critical reasoning skills 5. cognitive style. 6. understanding rules which govern behaviour. results compared to control group of offenders.

Results: big drop in re-conviction rates. - represents almost 21,000 prevented crimes.

Aim: report into public perceptions of CCTV.

Sample: 798 random people andManagers of sites with CCTV.

Method: Survey with likert-type scales.

Results: Public view it as a positive security measure. managers see it hasmany uses, security just one of them e.g. deliveries

Conclusions: 'public acceptance is based on limited and partially inaccurate knowledge of the functions and capabilities of CCTV systemsin public places'.