Custodial sentencing AO1

• what is custodial sentencing?

  where a court decides that punishment for a crime should involve time in 'custody' - prison, it could also be a young offenders institute or psychiatric hospital, also know as incarceration
• what is deterrence?

  • the threat of prison should stop people from committing crime
  • general deterrence aims to send a message to society that crime will not be tolerated
  • individual deterrence aim is that individuals will experience prison, then not want to repeat their offences to avoid going back (reduce recidivism)
  • links to behaviourist ideas of conditioning through punishment and vicarious punishment
• what is incapacitation?

  • removal from society into prison
  • many dangerous people are off streets and out of neighbourhoods, which is reassuring for people who don't commit crime
  • by using custodial sentencing, these offenders don't have the opportunity to continue their crimes
• what is retribution?

  • prisoners 'paying' for their crimes by being incapacitated
  • highly visible way that society can see that crime will not be accepted
  • justice is provided for victims and their families
• what is rehabilitation?

  • prison as a way of reforming prisoners e.g. by providing new skills or receiving treatment for drug addiction or anger problems
  • custodial sentencing intends to help prisoners reintegrate back into society as law-abiding citizens, to 'reform' them
• what is recidivism?

  • reoffending
• what is institutionalisation?

  • where inmates become accustomed to the norms and routines of prison life and find it difficult to function outside
• what is 'school of crime'?

  • the idea that those in prison can learn to become better offenders - younger offenders particularly may learn 'tricks of the trade' from older offenders, as well as useful criminal contacts
  • explains why young juveniles have higher reoffending rates
  • maybe prisons not good for young juveniles - young offenders institute better?
• what are some violent consequences which occur in prisons?

  • rates of suicide and self-harm are considerably higher than in general population
  • means prisons are less safe for prisoners and staff
  • rehabilitation cannot/isn't occurring
  • contributing to this are environmental issues such as overcrowding, threats of life and loss of liberty
• what are the consequences of institutionalisation in prisons?

  • cannot cope with outside life
  • e.g. lack autonomy (independency) as everything is done for them and they aren't allowed any independence is prison, so evidently can't be independent in the outside world
  • they also conform to roles, whereby they develop what Zimbardo called 'pathological prisoner syndrome' and become passive and helpless
• what is prisonisation?

  • the way in which prisoners are socialised into adopting an 'inmate code'
  • behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of the institution
• what is a key study to look at for custodial sentencing effects?

  • the Stanford Prison Experiment
  • demonstrated how quickly 'prisoners' conformed to the role they were assigned to, become helpless (due to guards unpredictable behaviour) and apathetic in the process
  • experienced deindividuation - loss of identity and self-awareness as role overtook them - stripped of individuality, called a number caused weakening of self-identity
• what are reoffending rates for adults released from CS of less than 12 months?

  • 64.4%
  • suggests prisons don't work at all
• what situations can lead to reoffending?

  • poverty, financial issues
  • loss of job/house
  • strained relationships - romantic and family
  • abuse/trauma pre-prison
• what is different about Norway prisons that means they have a lower reoffending rate - 20%?

  • prisons are generally smaller, better staffed and better equipped in the sense of opportunities for prisoners to do creative work or other meaningful activities
  • more spacious, inside and outside, can connect with nature
  • all linked to successful rehabilitation