AC 2.3 ASSESS HOW FORMS OF PUNISHMENT MEET THERE AIMS

• FINANCIAL PENALTIES (FINES): 

  • Financial penalties for offending  
  • Also known as Fixed penalty notices  
  • Normally given for less serious offences  
  • Used by magistrate's court  
• Factors determining size of fine: 

  • The Offence Itself – law lays down maximum fine for given offence 
  • The Circumstances of the Crime – sentencing guidelines give a range of options depending on whether it was a first offence and how much harm was done  
  • The Offenders Ability to Pay – poorer defendant will most likely receive a smaller fine / pay in installments  
  • Which Court is Hearing the Case – magistrates can only impose fines up to £5,000 or £10,000 for two or more offences 
• fines

  Retribution: 

  • Making someone pay financially can be a good way to make them suffer 
• fines

  Deterrence: 

  • Can make offenders reluctant to offend again for fear of further punishment  
  • Fines may be used to signal that worse will follow if they reoffend 
• fines

  Failure to Pay: 

  • Offenders which fail to pay without good reason may face prison  
  • Courts can deduct fines from benefits or send bailiffs to seize property due to non-payment  
  • Many fines don't get paid e.g., 2019 backlog of unpaid fines reached £623m 
  • Many of these unpaid fines get written off as uncollectable  
  • Suggests fine don’t always meet their aims  
• IMPRISONMENT: 

  • Prison sentences are handed down by the courts  
  • Courts believe that the public should be protected by removing serious offenders from society e.g., half of all prisoners in the UK committed sexual or violent offences 
  • There are 4 types of prison sentences  
• Life Sentences: 

  • Most serious punishment a UK court can hand down  
  • Judge sets a minimum time the offender must spend in prison before they can be considered for release  
  • The board assesses whether their release is safe  
  • If deemed safe they are released on license, have to follow specific rules, conditions and be supervised by the probation service  
• life sentences:

  • Offender remains on license for the rest of their life  
  • Mandatory life sentences are given to those who are found guilty of murder  
  • Discretionary life sentences are given for serious offences such as rape 
  • A judge may sentence an offender to a whole life term, meaning they will never be released 
• Indeterminate Sentences: 

  • Set a minimum time the offender must serve in prison  
  • No automatic right to be released after the minimum term  
  • The Parole Board will decide if the offender is suitable to be released on license  
  • The Criminal Justice Act 2003 allows offenders to continue to be detained indefinitely, if regarded as potentially too dangerous to release  
  • IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentences however were deemed unlawful in 2012 and the sentence was abolished for new cases  
• Determinate Sentences: 

  • Sentence with a fixed length  
  • Most prisoners get these  
  • In most cases not all the sentence is served in prison  
  • If sentence is under 12 months, then prisoner is normally released halfway through 
  • 12 months or more the offender spends first half in prison and second half in the community on license, if they break any of their conditions they could be recalled to prison 
  • Sentenced to less than 2 years are released on post sentence supervision for 12 months with regular meetings held by a probation officer and specified requirements 
• Suspended Sentences: 

  • Offender is given a sentence but doesn’t go directly to prison 
  • May receive suspended sentence is sentence was going to be less than 12 months  
  • Sentences can be suspended for up to 2 years  
  • May also impose requirements such as probation or drug addiction treatment  
  • Offender must meet these requirements and must not commit any further offences, if they do the court can send them to prison to serve their original sentence  
• Imprisonment aims of punishment

  Retribution: 

  • Prison punishes people  
  • Takes away freedom  
  • Hard to say whether it gives offenders their ‘just desserts’ as society often disagrees on the appropriate sentences for different crimes  
• imprisonment aims of punishment

  Deterrence: 

  • High re-offending rates suggest prison is not an effective deterrent  
  • Nearly half of all adult prisoners are reconvicted within a year  
  • Deterrence only works if offenders are rational thinkers, but many offences are committed under the influence, making them irrational  
• imprisonment aims of punishment

  Reparation: 

  • Prisoners Earning Act 2011, prisoners permitted to work can be made to pay a proportion of the earning to victim support services  
  • Forces prisoners to take responsibility for the harm they have done  
  • However few prisoners have the opportunity to save money like that  
• imprisonment aims of punishment

  Public Protection: 

  • Whole life sentences keep offenders off the streets 
  • Prisoners serving indeterminate sentences can be kept in jail until deemed safe for release  
  • Trend towards longer sentences  
  • Most prisoners are released on license under supervision so they can be recalled to prison if they become a danger to society  
  • However, prison can be seen as a school for crime  
  • Keeping people in prison is very costly  
• imprisonment aims of punishment

  Rehabilitation: 

  • Prisons have a poor record for rehabilitation  
  • 48% re-offend within a year of release  
  • 64% of those serving sentences under 12 months re-offend within a year  
  • Short sentences have the highest re-offending rate, less effective as there is no time for effective rehabilitation  
  • Only ¼ of offenders have a job upon release causing many to reoffend  
• COMMUNITY SENTENCES: 

  • A sentence served in the community rather than prison 
  • For crimes not so serious where a prison sentence is need but more than a fine is 
  • Requirements; supervision by probation officer, 40-300 hours of unpaid work, a curfew, a residency requirement, group programme and treatment for any addiction 
• community sentences aims of punishment

  Retribution: 

  • All sentences must require a form of retribution  
  • Curfews and exclusion orders restrict offenders' movements 
  • Form of retribution as it makes the offender suffer do to limits on freedom  
  • Those doing unpaid work have to wear vests saying ‘community payback’ 
  • Element of naming and shaming, retribution as its embarrassing  
• community sentences aims of punishment

  Reparation: 

  • Can include unpaid work to repair damage  
  • Reparation may be to the whole community through unpaid work  
  • e.g., removing graffiti, decorating a public building 
• community sentences aims of punishment

  Public Protection: 

  • All sentences must include form of public protection 
  • Do not achieve the aim of incapacitating offenders as they are not locked up  
  • Breaches of a community sentence can lead to the offender being sent to prison
• community sentences aims of punishment

  Rehabilitation: 

  • Community sentences aim to rehabilitate by addressing the causes of crime e.g., homelessness, unemployment, addiction 
  • Offenders may be required to undergo treatment or employment training  
  • Studies show community sentences are more effective than short prison sentences 
  • Only 34% re-offend within the year compared to 64% for those in prison  
  • However, use of community sentences has declined  
• DISCHARGES: 

  • When court finds someone guilty of a minor offence, they can decide to not hand down a criminal conviction, so will be given a discharge  
• Conditional Discharge: 

  • Offender will not be punished unless they're offend within a set period of time, determined by the court, up to 3 years  
  • If they're offend the court can sentence them for both offences, resulting in a criminal record 
• Unconditional Discharge: 

  • No penalty is imposed 
  • May be granted where defendant is technically guilty, but the punishment would be inappropriate 
  • Usually because the defendant is morally blameless 
  • Not classed as a conviction  
• discharges aims of punishment

  Deterrence: 

  • Basic aim is deterrence  
  • Lowest level of punishment, effectively a warning to an individual  
  • Low re-offending rate  
  • Experience of going to court can be enough for most first-time offenders to mend their ways  
  • Discharges largely are seen to meet their punishment aims