Custodial sentencing and recidivism

• De-individuation - a psychological state where an individual has lowered levels of self evaluation and decreased concerns about evaluation by others. Losing individuality
• Recidivism - re offending after receiving some form of punishment
• Four main aims of custodial sentencing:

  Deterrence

  Incapacitation

  Retribution

  Rehabilitation
• Deterrence - based on behaviourist idea of punishment. General deterrence aims to send a message to others that crime will not be tolerated. Individual deterrence aims to stop re offending due to unpleasant experiences in prison
• Incapacitation - the need to protect the public by removing the offender. This depends on the offender and the severity of the offence.
• Retribution - We should make the offender suffer by taking them out of society, giving them an unpleasant prison sentence
• Rehabilitation - we should reform the offenders so they are better adjusted and ready to integrate back into society. Programmes in prisons can facilitate this.
• Recidivism - 57 % of UK offenders will reoffend within a year of release - the UK has some of the highest rates of reoffending
• Psychological effects of custodial sentencing:

  Stress and depression

  Institutionalisation

  Prisionisation
• Stress and depression - psychological disturbance can occur inside prison as well as upon release. Suicide rates and self harm are higher in prison than in the general population
• Institutionalisation - some offenders cannot function on the outside due to adapting to prison norms and values
• Prisonisation - offenders are socialised into adopting norms and values that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world, but rewarded in prison
• AO3. Custodial sentencing has a negative effect on offenders. Bartol ( 1995 ) says that prison is “ brutal, demeaning and generally devastating “. Suicide rates are generally 15 x higher. Young, single men in the first 24 hours are most at risk. Around 25 % of female and 15 % of male prisoners have symptoms of psychosis. This shows that it is not effective in rehabilitating prisoners at all.
• AO3. Custodial sentencing can encourage crime. Putting young, inexperienced criminals into a prison environment with older, more experienced criminals may mean that the young criminals learn from the older ones, rather than them learning not to offend. This means that custodial sentencing can have an opposite effect.
• AO3. Custodial sentencing can be beneficial to prisoners. They are able to access education and training while in prison, increasing their chances of being successful when they leave. This could help them understand how they should act. However, not all prisons have the resources like funding or staffing to provide this.
• AO3. It is difficult to conclude the effectiveness of custodian sentencing. Different prisons have different standard, resources and environment. Different prisoners are serving different sentences for different reasons. The variation of the prison experience makes it difficult to draw conclusions on the aims and effects of sentencing, as all prisoners will react in different ways to their different experiences.