custodial sentencing

• A custodial sentence is given by a judge in a court of law and involves the offender spending time in prison or in some other form of institution such as psychiatric hospital, younger offender institute.
• the aims of custodial sentencing

  deterrence (them and others)

  incapacitation (protect)

  retribution

  rehabilitation
• Incapacitation (protect):


  Offender is removed from society which protects the public. This is linked to how serious the offence was and whether they are a danger to the public. E.g mandatory life sentence for murder. 
• Deterrence (them and others)

  The experience should ‘put people off’ committing the crime. It should prevent the individual from repeating their offending behaviour and also send a message to society that offending will not be tolerated. This is based on the idea of behaviourism and operant conditioning with punishment. 
• Rehabilitation:

  Rather than punishing the offender, this is giving them the chance to change (reform). Should leave prison as better people than when they first went in and be ready to fit into society. They should be able to develop skills, training, drug addiction support. Also gives the offender the chance to reflect on their crime.
• retribution


  This is revenge for society and the level of suffering for the offender should match the crime committed. The offender should pay for their actions. 
• psychological effects of custodial sentencing

  depression/self harm/suicide

  institutionalisation

  overcrowding

  deindividuation

  prisonisation
• recidivism means reoffending
• In 2013 it was reported that 57% of offenders will reoffend within a year of being released from prison.
• UK and USA have the highest recidivism rates in the world.
• Norway has the lowest recidvism rate in europe.
• strength

  supporting evidence for psychological effects.

  Bartol conducted research in prisons and found that they are brutal, demeaning and devastating for inmates. suicide rates are 20x higher than the general population, and most at risk are males within their first 24h of incarceration. The prison reform trust reported that 25% of women and 15% reported symptoms of psychosis, suggesting that prisons is a serious trigger for any underlying mental disorder.

  Suggests that custodial sentencing is not effective for rehabilitation of offenders, esp if there are mental health issues
• Strength of custodial sentencing is that it can offer opportunities for training and rehabilitation. Prisoners may access education and training they have not accessed before, as well as taking part in programmes e.g anger management to give them social skills they may be lacking. These may contribute to a reduction in recidivism upon release. This suggests that prisons can be worthwhile for some offenders, so long as they access the programmes, which may not always be possible for some individuals.
• Weakness of custodial sentencing is that there are individual difference of the effects. Different prisons have different regimes, so each person will experience prison differently. Other factors that affect the aims and psychological impact are: lengths of sentencing, previous experience of prison, and existing psychological and emotional conditions. This suggests that it is difficult to draw conclusions about the effects and aims of custodial sentencing as everyone will be different.
• Weakness of custodial sentencing is that some criticises custodial sentencing as a means of providing a ‘university of crime’ for offenders. Although prisoners may learn useful skills such as anger management, they may also lean ‘tricks of the trade’ from hardened criminals, particularly if they are young and impressionable. This suggests that rehabilitation programmes may be undermined and that recidivism may highly likely to occur as a result.