Punishment

• Justification of Punishment- Reduction

  Deterrence- punishing the individual discourages them from future offending, and can serve as a deterrent for the public. Deterrence policies include Thatcher's Conservative government 'short, sharp shock' regime in young offenders' institutions in 1980s.
• Justification of Punishment- Reduction

  Rehabilitation- the idea that punishment can be used to reform or change offenders so they no longer offend. Rehabilitation policies include providing education and training for prisoners so they are able to 'earn an honest living'. Anger management courses are used for violent offenders.
• Justification of Punishment- Reduction

  Incapacitation- the use of punishment to remove the offender's capacity to offend again. Policies in different societies have involved imprisonment, execution, amputation, and chemical castration. It has proved increasingly popular among politicians, with the American 'three strikes and you're out policy' (committing even a minor third offence can lead to lengthy prison time) and the view that 'prison works' as it removes offenders from society.
• Justification of Punishment- Retribution

  Means 'paying back', a justification for punishing crimes that have already been committed, rather than preventing future crimes. Based on the idea that offenders deserve to be punished, and that society is entitled to take their revenge for the criminal breaching their moral code. This is an expressive rather than instrumental view of punishment as it expresses society's outrage, rather than promoting a reduction like in prior explanations.
• Sociological Perspectives on Punishment- Durkheim

  Argue the function of punishment is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values. Punishment is primarily expressive (expressing society's emotions of moral outrage at the offence). Through rituals of order, such as public trial and punishment, society's shared values are reaffirmed and its members come to feel a sense of moral unity.
• Durkheim- 2 Types of Justice for 2 Types of Society

  Retributive Justice: in traditional society, there is little specialisation, and solidarity between individuals is based on their similarity to one another. Producing a strong collective conscience, which when people offend, responds with vengeful passion to repress the wrongdoer. Punishment is severe and cruel, its motivation is purely expressive.
• Durkheim- 2 Types of Justice for 2 Types of Society

  Restitutive Justice: in modern society, there is extensive specialisation, and solidarity is based on the resulting interdependence between individuals. Crime damages this interdependence, so it is necessary to repair the damage, e.g. through compensation. The aim is to restore things to how they were before the offence, restoring society's equilibrium. This is still seen as expressive as it expresses society's collective emotions.
• Marxism- Function of Punishment

  It is to maintain the existing social order. As part of their 'repressive state apparatus', it is a means of defending the ruling-class property against the lower classes. Thompson argues that the 18th Century punishments such as hanging or transportation to the colonies for theft and poaching were part of a 'rule of terror' by the ruling class over the poor.
• Marxism- Form of Punishment

  It reflects the economic base of society; Rusche and Kirchheimer argue that each type of economy has its own corresponding penal system. E.g. money fines are impossible without a money economy. Arguing that under capitalism, imprisonment becomes the dominant form of punishment.
• Marxism- Form of Punishment

  Melossi and Pavarini see imprisonment as reflecting capitalist relations of production. For example: capitalism puts a price on the workers time; so too prisoners 'do time' to 'pay' for the crime (repaying their debt to society); and the prison and capitalist factory have a similar strict disciplinary style, involving subordination and loss of liberty.
• Marxism- The Changing Role of Prisons

  Pre-industrial Europe has a wide range of punishments (warnings, banishment, transportation, execution). Until 18th Century, prison was mainly used for holding prisoners prior to their punishment. It was only following the Enlightenment that imprisonment began to be seen as a form of punishment itself. Where offenders are 'reformed' through hard labour, religious instruction, and surveillance.
• Marxism- Imprisonment Today (1)

  In liberal democracies they don't have the death penalty, imprisonment is regarded as the most severe form of punishment. Though it hasn't proved effective as 2/3s of prisoners commit crimes on release. Critics argue it can be seen as an expensive way of making bad people worse.
• Marxism- Imprisonment Today (2)

  Since the 1980s, there has been a move towards 'populist punitiveness' where politicians have gained electoral popularity by calling for tougher sentences. E.g. New Labour governments after 1977 took the view that prison should be used as a deterrent for persistent petty offenders, as well as serious offenders. Meaning that the prison population doubled to 80,000. Overcrowding has then been added to the existing problems within the prisons (Carrabine et al).
• Marxism- The Era of Mass Incarceration?

  Garland: the USA is moving to an era of mass incarceration as from the 1970s, prison numbers began to rise rapidly as there are 1.4 million in state and federal prison, compared to 200,000 prior. In total, over 3% of the adult population are under supervision of the CJS. This is three times the amount of imprisonment in Europe, yet the rates of victimisation are similar.
• Marxism- The Era of Mass Incarceration?

  Garland: argues the impact of the increasing figures will cause systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population, rather than incarceration of individual offenders. In the USA, the group most concerned is 'young Black males'. Black Americans make up 12% of the US population, but 33% of the prison population.
• Marxism- The Era of Mass Incarceration?

  Downes: they have an ideological function as the US prison system soaks up about 30-40% of the unemployment, therefore it makes capitalism seem more successful.
• Marxism- The Era of Mass Incarceration?

  Garland: the reason for mass incarceration is the growing politicisation of crime control. In the last century, there was a consensus of 'penal welfarism'- idea that punishment should reintegrate offenders into society. Since 1970s, there is a move towards punitive and exclusionary 'tough on crime' policies, explaining the rising numbers. E.g. the rise in females convicted for violent crimes, despite a lack of evidence they are committing more offences.
• Marxism- The Era of Mass Incarceration?

  Simon: another reason for the mass incarceration is that it is helping America's 'war on drugs'. Arguing that drug use has become so widespread that it has produced an almost limitless supply of arrestable and imprisonable offenders.
• Marxism- Transcarceration

  There is a trend towards transcarceration- idea that individuals become locked into a cycle of control, shifting between different carceral agencies during their lives. E.g. someone brought up in care, sent to a young offenders institution, prison, and a mental hospital. Some sociologists see this as a blurring of the boundaries between the CJS and welfare agencies. E.g. health/housing/social services often engage in multi-agency working, sharing data on the same individuals; giving them a crime control role.
• Marxism- Alternatives to Prison

  Dealing with young offenders- 'diversion' to lead them away from contact with the CJS to avoid the risk of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Focus on welfare and treatment- non-custodial, community based controls like probation, curfews, community service orders, electronic tagging. However, levels of custody are still rising, especially among the young.
• Marxism- Alternatives to Prison

  Cohen: growth of community controls has cast the 'net of control' over more people. Following Foucault, arguing that increased range of sanctions available has enabled control to penetrate deeper into society. Instead of diverting young people, they may push them into the CJS. E.g. some argue that police have used ASBOs as a way of fast-tracking young offenders into custodial sentences.