Public Protection

• Punishment is used to protect the public from further offending behaviour by incapacitating offenders : removes the physical ability to offend again.
• -> Chemical Castration; this stops the production of testosterone which reduces sexual interest & behaviour. It incapacitates by removing the drive to offend; protecting the public.
• -> Imprisonment; main means of incapacitation. The Crime Act 1997 introduced mandatory minimum jail sentences for repeat offenders eg. - life sentences for third class A drug trafficking.

  • 7 years minimum for a third class

  B/C drug trafficking offence

  • 3 years minimum for a third domestic burglary conviction
• Lombroso‘s genetic theory - criminals arw genetically different to non-criminals, they have atavistic features which Lombroso argued means they can't learn to be good the way others can ( they’re genetic throwbacks) so we need protection from them. (innate)
• Right Realism - claims biological predispositions to crime in some individuals. They argue one cause of crime is low IQ, this can be seen as biologically deterministic; they believe IQ is biologically determined. Thus making rehabilitation futile, meaning we turn to incapacitation.
• Biological / Physiological theories to further support this can be fixed - Jacobs XYY syndrome or Lombroso’s atavistic features - or they can be changeable - Sheldon’s somatotypes.
• Sociological theories can also further support this such as those of biological predispositions, inadequate socialisation and rational choice theory.
• Penal Populism- a media-driven political process where politicians compete with each other to impose tougher prison sentences on offendes based on a perception that crime is out of control.