Custodial Sentencing

• Custodial sentencing is a judicial sentence imposing a punishment consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison or a closed therapeutic or education institution
• The aims of custodial sentencing are deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation
• Deterrence is aimed at the general public to put them off offending and at the indidivual to put them off reoffending
• Incapacitation is aimed to remove the offender from society in order to protect the general public
• Retribution is aimed at making the offender suffer for their crime as society's 'revenge'
• Rehabilitation is aimed at allowing the offender to gain support & training, and reflect upon themselves & their crimes
• The effects of custodial sentencing include poor mental health, institutionalisation, prisonisation, labelling, and family breakdown
• Custodial sentencing affects mental health e.g. stress, PTSD, depression, self-harm, suicide
• Poor mental health stems from hopelessness due to their sentencing
• Institutionalisation is where the prisoners have become so reliant on the prison structure that they struggle to cope after release
• Prisonisation is where socialisation into 'inmate life' changes attitudes & behaviours e.g. aggression, deindividuation
• Custodial sentencing leads to labelling as the offender may find it difficult to overcome the stigma attached to prison e.g. struggle to find employment
• Custodial sentencing can affect the offender's family as they may suffer financially & psychologically, leading to guilt