Control, Punishment And Prevention Of Crime Flashcards Preview

Sociology - Crime And Deviance > Control, Punishment And Prevention Of Crime > Flashcards

Flashcards in Control, Punishment And Prevention Of Crime Deck (57)
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1
Q

What are the 3 ways of preventing and controlling crime?

A

1). Situational crime prevention =

specific crimes in specific areas.

2). Environmental crime prevention =

zero tolerance.

3). Social and community crime prevention =

dealing with social structure.

2
Q

What is situational crime prevention (SCP)?

A

Managing and altering specific crimes in specific areas =

  • increase risk of being caught.
  • reduce rewards (rational choice).
3
Q

What are some example of SCP?

A

1) . Blue lights in club toilets = prevents injecting drugs (can’t see veins).
2) . Spikes in doorways = prevent vagrancy.
3) . CCTV = increases burglar’s effort, decreasing crime.

4
Q

Evaluate SCP?

A

1). Explains opportunistic petty street crimes =

but not white collar/corporate crimes.

2) . Violent/drug related crimes are difficult to define as rational choice.
3) . Displacement =

people may commit the crime in a different area.

5
Q

What is environmental crime prevention?

A
  • ‘broken window’ theory = fixing any disorder before it escalates (immediately).
  • absence of informal/formal social control means members of the community feel powerless and intimidated.
6
Q

What is an example of environmental crime prevention?

A

Zero tolerance policy =

used in New York and resolved the public’s trust and powerless issues.

7
Q

Evaluate environmental crime prevention?

A

1). Zero tolerance fall in New York =

more due to increasing police numbers and increasing employment, rather than a crack down on crime.

8
Q

What is social and community crime prevention?

A

Instead of policing crime, this deals with social structures that prevents future crime.

  • long-term crime prevention = rather than tackling immediate/short-term crime, it focuses on the root causes of crime.
9
Q

What is an example of social and community crime prevention?

A

Increasing employment policies =

  • as this is a cause of crime, increasing employment reduces crime rates.
10
Q

Which approach does each crime prevention measure relate to?

A

1) . Situational crime prevention = right realism.
2) . Environmental crime prevention = right realism.
3) . Social and community crime prevention = left realism.

11
Q

What is surveillance?

A

Monitoring behaviour for the purpose of control =

  • observing people to gather data about them.
  • using this data to regulate their behaviour.
12
Q

What theory did Foucault develop?

A

Panopticon (1977) =

  • In his book “Discipline and punish” he contrasts 2 different forms of punishment.
13
Q

What were the 2 forms of punishment Foucault discussed?

A

1) . Sovereign power (before 19th Century) =
- the monarch exercised physical power through visible spectacles (e.g. public execution).
2) . Disciplinary power (after 19th Century) =
- seeks to govern not just the body, but also the mind through surveillance (e.g. self-discipline).

14
Q

What type of power is the Panopticon?

A

Disciplinary.

15
Q

What is the Panoticon?

A

A design of prison =

  • prisoners are visible to guards, but the guards aren’t visible to the prisoners.
16
Q

What types of surveillance does the Panoticon enforce?

A

Prisoners behave as if they are constantly being watched =

  • self-surveillance + discipline = self-discipline.
17
Q

What is carceral archiapelgo?

A

Series of prison islands =

  • surveillance is exercised in other institutions, not just prisons (schools, factories, etc).
  • disciplinary power is now everywhere in society.
18
Q

How is Foucault criticised?

A

1) . He argues the expressive emotional aspects of crime have disappeared =
- some are still expressed emotionally (peado = harsh prison sentence).
2) . He exaggerates the extent of control.
3) . He overestimates the power of surveillance to change behaviour.

19
Q

What is the issue of CCTV as a form of the Panoticon?

A

CCTV only reduced crime in car parks =

  • may cause displacement.
  • CCTV assumes people self-discipline.
  • however, Gill and Loveday found that burglars and shoplifters were put off by CCTV.
20
Q

Who developed the Synopticon?

A

Mathiesen (1997).

21
Q

What is the Synopticon?

A

In late modernity =

  • there is an increase in surveillance from the ‘top-down’, and ‘bottom-up’.
  • everyone watches everyone.
22
Q

Whats the difference between the Panoticon and Synopticon?

A

Panopticon =

allows the few to monitor the many.

Synopticon =

allows everyone to monitor everyone.

23
Q

What is an example of the Synopticon?

A

1) . Thompson =
- argues powerful groups (politicians and police) fear media scrutiny (filming police wrongdoing).
2) . Dash cams, go-pros =
- these warn other road users that they’re being monitored = self-discipline.

24
Q

What is sousveillance?

A

Surveillance from below =

a form of citizen journalism –? ordinary people can control those above them through surveillance.

25
Q

What is an example of sousveillance?

A

Ordinary people recording the actions of police brutality on black people.

26
Q

Criticise the synopticon?

A

MacCahill (2012) =

it doesn’t reverse the established ‘hierarchy of surveillance’.

  • e.g. the police have the power to confiscate cameras of citizen journalists.
27
Q

How is crime controlled?

A

Surveillance.

28
Q

What surveillance theories are there?

A

1) . Panopticon - Foucault (1977).
2) . Synopticon - Mathiesen (1977).
3) . Surveillance assemblages - Haggerty and Ericson (2000).
4) . Actuarial justice and risk management - Feeley and Simon (1994).
- Social sifting and categorical suspicion - Lyon (2014).

29
Q

Who developed surveillance assemblages?

A

Haggerty and Ericson (2000).

30
Q

What are surveillance assemblages?

A

Surveillance technologies are combined together which involves manipulation of digital data, instead of physical bodies (Panopticon).

31
Q

What is an example of a surveillance assemblage?

A

CCTV footage can be analysed using facial recognition software.

32
Q

How do surveillance assemblages prevent crime?

A

Self-discipline =

  • CCTV can recognise reg plates, car tax, etc; so people make sure they have car tax as they know police can catch them digitally.
33
Q

What is actuarial justice?

A

Technology uses statistical calculations of risk to predict the likelihood of people offending.

34
Q

What are statistical calculations of risk?

A

Offender ‘risk factors’ (e.g. ethnicity, age, sex, religion , etc) are used to give a person a risk score.

  • anyone scoring above a given level can be stopped, questioned, etc.
35
Q

How is actuarial justice different from disciplinary power?

A
  • It focuses on groups rather than individuals.

- Not interested in rehabilitation, but simply in preventing them from offending.

36
Q

What is an example of actuarial justice?

A

Airport, security screening checks =

based on offender ‘risk factors’.

  • anyone, usually Muslim, who scores a certain level can be stopped, etc.
37
Q

What theory is actuarial justice similar to?

A

Typification =

instead, actuarial justice says technology stereotypes a typical delinquent.

  • e.g. if more black people are prosecuted for crack-cocaine they are typified digitally.
38
Q

What does Lyon say the purpose of actuarial justice is?

A

‘Social sifting’ =

categorise people so they are treated differently according to the level of risk they pose.

  • can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies –> if black people are at a high risk, they will be caught more, sentenced and end up in crime statistics.
39
Q

What did Norris and Armstrong find about labelling and surveillance?

A

CCTV operators target young black males based on racist stereotypes.

  • creating a self-fulfilling prophecy; they are criminalised and prosecuted more while other groups are ignored.
40
Q

How is punishment justified?

A

1). Deterrence =

punishing the individual to prevent future offending from fear of more punishment.

2). Rehabilitation =

reforming offenders so they no longer offend.

3). Incapicitation =

removing the offenders ability to offend.

4). Retribution =

‘pay back’ –> the idea that society is entitled to take revenge for the offender.

41
Q

What is an example of each form of punishment?

A

1). Deterrence =

1980s Thatcher government’s ‘short sharp shock’ regime for young offenders.

2). Rehabilitation =

anger management courses to reform violent offenders.

3). Incapacitation =

America’s ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy to give lengthy sentences.

4). Retribution =

a prison sentence or death penalty.

42
Q

What are the sociological perspectives on punishment?

A
  • Functionalism = Durkheim.

- Marxism = capitalism and punishment.

43
Q

What is the functionalist perspective on punishment?

A

Durkheim argues that =

the function of punishment is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values by expressing society’s moral outrage at the offence.

44
Q

What types of justice did Durkheim identify?

A

1). Retributive justice =

traditional society has a strong collective conscience, so when deviated, punishment is sever and vengeful.

2) . Restitutive justice =
- in modern society, there is extensive interdependence (people rely on each other for their role in the division of labour).
- crime damages this interdependence, justice is to repair the damage (e.g. compensation).

45
Q

How is Durkheim’s view on punishment criticised?

A

Too simplistic =

  • traditional societies often have restitutive rather than retributive.
  • e.g. accepting payment/compensation rather than wanting to execute.
46
Q

What is an example of traditional societies being restitutive rather than retributive?

A

“Blood feud” =

if one member of a clan is killed, they may accept payment instead of a life.

47
Q

What is the Marxist perspective on punishment?

A

Punishment if part of the RSA =

  • that defends ruling-class property against w/c.
  • the form of punishment reflects the economic base of society.
  • under capitalism, imprisonment is dominant because “time is money” and offenders pay by doing time.
48
Q

What are the trends in punishment?

A

1) . The changing role in prisons.
2) . Transcarceration.
3) . Alternatives to prison.

49
Q

What was the purpose of prisons in pre-industrial societies?

A

Holding offenders prior to trial =

  • their form of punishments were banishment, fines, executions, etc.
  • only later is imprisonment seen as a form of punishment.
50
Q

What is the purpose of prisons in liberal democracies?

A

Imprisonment is seen as the most severe form of punishment =

  • but as most prisoners re-offend, prison may be making bad people worse.
51
Q

What is populist punitiveness?

A

Since the 1980s =

  • politicians call for tougher sentences to appeal to the public (Garland).
  • even though this greater control is ineffective in reducing crime.
52
Q

Which country in Western Europe imprisons the highest proportion of people?

A

The UK.

53
Q

What does Garland say about the changing role of prisons?

A

USA and UK are moving into an era of mass incarceration =

  • in the US, over 3% of adults have a judicial restriction on their liberty.
54
Q

What is trancarceration?

A

Trend towards moving people between different prison-like institutions =

  • e.g. brought up in care, then a young offenders institute, then adult prison, etc.
55
Q

How is transcarceration a product of blurring the boundaries between CJ and welfare agencies?

A

e. g. social services, health and housing are =
- increasing being given a crime control role.
- this shows that the underclass possess a threat to social stability (New Right).

56
Q

What alternatives to prisons are there?

A

There has been a growth in the range of community-based controls =

  • e.g. curfews, community service orders, tagging, etc.
57
Q

What does Stanley Cohen say the consequences of the alternatives to prison is?

A

Growth in community control has simply ‘casted a net of control’ over more people =

  • instead of diverting people from the CJS, community control diverts them into it.
  • e.g. ASBO’s are a fast way of getting young offenders into custodial sentences.