Custodial sentencing

• Custodial sentencing refers to the practice of sending offenders to prison or another form of institutional custody. It aims to achieve several goals:

  • Deterrence
  • Incapacitation
  • Retribution
  • Rehabilitation
• Deterrence is when the unpleasant prison experience is designed to put off people from engaging in offending behaviour.

  • General deterrence aims to prevent the public from committing crimes by setting an example through punishment.
  • Individual deterrence aims to prevent reoffending by the individual criminal through the experience of punishment.
• Incapacitation is when the offender is removed from society, preventing them from committing further crimes as a means of protecting the public.
• Retribution is when society is enacting revenge for the crime by making the offender suffer in prison, and the level of suffering (time in prison) should reflect the seriousness of the crime.
• Rehabilitation is when prisons aim to reform offenders, offering educational programs to develop skills and training or to access treatment programmes for addiction, as well as give the offender the chance to reflect on their crime. This prepares them for reintegration into society.
• Recidivism refers to reoffending. It is the likelihood of a person reoffending after being released from prison.