3.2 Describe the Contribution of Agencies to Social Control

• Environmental Design

  Some argue that the built environment can affect level of crime in two ways

  1. by influencing potential offender
  2. by affecting people's abilities to exercise control over their surroundings

  They argue that agencies such as architects, builders, town planners, and local councils can design crime out by changing physical layout of an area
• Environmental Design - Oscar Newman

  • indefensible spaces - confused areas of public like walk ways and stairwells that aren't cared for/observed
  • defensible spaces - clear boundaries so it is obvious who has the right to be there
  • territoriality - environment encourages sense of ownership amongst residents
  • natural surveillance - easily viewed entrances and street-level windows allow easy identify of strangers
  • safe image - building designs should give impression of a safe neighbourhood
  • safe location - neighbourhoods located in middle of wider crime-free area are insulated from outside world
• Environmental Design - C.R. Jeffery

  • introduces an approach known as Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED)
  • argued that we can build out crime
• Environmental Design - Alice Coleman

  • analysed 4099 blocks of flats in 2 London boroughs
  • concluded that the poor design of flats produced higher crime rates and anti-social behaviour
  • she found that anonymity, lack of surveillance, and easy escape encourage crime
  • she recommended that there should be private spaces for each block, removal of overhead walkways, and nor more flats should be built
• Environmental Design - Lockable Gates

  • installed to prevent offenders gaining access to alleyways, mainly used to prevent burglaries, but may also stop fly-tipping, anti-social behaviour by youths congregating, and dog fouling
  • they provide a physical barrier, residents take responsibility, and creates a sense of territoriality
  • however, they don't work against criminals who live in the area, if it is a public right of way it may be difficult to install them, and can restrict access for emergency services
• Environmental Design - Right Realist

  • situational crime prevention - changing physical environment to make it harder to commit crime
  • rational choice theory - if offenders fear that they will be challenged by residents, they will be more likely to stay away from the area
• Environmental Design - Criticisms

  • focuses too much on those who come into the area
  • some offenders do not involve physical intrusion e.g., white collar crime
  • cul-de-sacs might be defensible but might not be defended if residents are at work all day
  • labelling theory - might be an areas reputation rather than the design, leads to more police patrolling in certain areas
• Prison Designs - The Panopticon

  • cells are visible to a guard from a central viewing point
  • guards can see prisoners but prisoners cannot see the guards - don't know they are being watched at all times
  • prisoners must constantly behave well
  • surveillance turns into self-surveillance
• Prison Designs - Supermax Prison

  • control unit prison which represents the most secure level of custody in prison system
  • objective is to provide long-term, segregated housing for inmates classified as the highest security risks who pose serious threat to national and global security
  • involves 23-hour-per-day solitary confinement for an indefinite period of time
• Prison Designs - Open Prison

  • prison with the minimum restrictions on prisoners' movements and activities
  • offenders may have own cell with own keys and are trusted by the staff
  • may be permitted to take up a job whilst serving sentence which provides opportunity for criminals to reintegrate into society and withdraw from criminal behaviour
• Prison Designs - Human Ecological Prison

  • Norway's Bastøy Prison is a low security, male-only prison on an island 75km south of Oslo
  • offenders live in wooden cottages which they must take care of and keep clean
  • have access to horse riding, fishing, tennis, and cross-country skiing during free time
  • at night there are only 5 guards for the 115 inmates
  • guards expected to see them as individual humans and maintain an empathetic and respectful approach
  • recidivism is 16% compared to European average of 70%
• Behavioural Tactics - Anti-Social Behavioural Orders

  • introduces in 1998 to deal with low level acts like vandalism, graffiti, public drunkenness and excessive noise at night
  • civil orders, but breaching conditions was an offence and punishable with up to 5 years in prison
  • gradually became clear ASBO's weren't effective
  • labelling theory - labels people as anti-social so they internalise the label which turns to self-fulfilling prophecy
• Behavioural Tactics - Criminal Behaviour Orders

  • replaced ASBO's in the 2014 Crime and Policing Act
  • civil junctions - aim to deal with low-level nuisance and annoyance
  • CBO's - deal with seriously anti-social individuals who cause harassment, alarm, or distress to others, lasts 2 years
  • negative requirements stops a person from doing something
  • positive requirements require someone to do something positive to improve their behaviour
• Behavioural Tactics - Token Economy

  • aims to achieve social control by having desirable behaviours, rewarding offenders with token when these are met, can be traded for rewards e.g., TV in a cell
  • Hobbs and Holt studed 125 boys at a correctional institute and found that behaviour change lasted the programme
  • once offender leaves prison and reinforcement stops, the desired behaviours disappear
• Institutional Tactics

  • range of tactics for enforcing obedience to rules and achieving social control
  • courts give out punishments to offenders, these act as an individual and general deterrence
  • probation service supervises and monitors behaviour of offenders, if they fail to meet conditions of licence they can go to prison
• Institutional Tactics - Prison Rules

  • set of rules that apply to all prisons and prisoners, a prison governor can add further local rules for their prison
  • offending, threatening, or hurting someone
  • preventing staff from performing their jobs
  • escaping prison
  • using drugs or alcohol
  • damaging the prison
  • breaking these can lead to range of punishments including cautions, loss or privileges, and solitary confinement
• Institutional Tactics - Staged/Phased Discipline

  • first offence is often dealt with more leniently, e.g., a warning instead of loss of privileges
  • repeat offending is likely to be met with stronger sanctions such as probation or prison
• Gaps in State Provision - Resources

  • funding for agencies comes from taxes
  • there are limits on how much taxpayers are willing to pay for agencies and govt. faces competing demands for resources
  • since 2008, the police budget was cut by 19%, CPS by 1/4, and prisons by 16% which caused loss in staffing
• Gaps in State Provision - New Technology

  • technology can help and hinder an investigation which can help or hinder social control
  • tracking via mobile phones/smart watched can uncover important details
  • huge amounts of data generated by technology takes the police a long time to analyse
• Gaps in State Provision - Unreported Crime

  • criminal justice agencies can only investigate, prosecute, and convict offenders if they are reported to the police
  • only 40% are reported
  • 1/4 of rapes and attempted rapes are reported
  • white collar crime goes undetected
• Gaps in State Provision - Existing Laws

  • criminal justice agencies only enforce social control if the laws enable them to do so
  • sometimes a new type of harm emerges but there is no existing law to forbid it so state agencies cannot do anything to control the harmful behaviour