custodial sentencing

• custodial sentencing

  a judicial sentence determined by a court where the offender is punished by serving time in prison or in an educational institution
• aims of custodial sentencing - deterrence

  the unpleasant prison experience is designed to put off the individual from engaging in offending behaviour
• levels of deterrence - general 


  aims to send a broad message to members of a giver society that crime will not be tolerated
• levels of deterrence - individual

  punishment - should prevent the individual from repeating the same crime in light of their experience
• aims of custodial sentencing - incapacitation

  the offender is taken out of society to prevent them reoffending to protect the public

  • the need to incapacitation depends on the severity of the offenence and the nature of the offender
• aims of custodial sentencing - retribution 


  society is enacting revenge for the crime by making the offender suffer

  • the level of suffering should be proportionate to the seriousness of the crime - eye for an eye
• aims of custodial sentencing - rehabilitation 


  prisons provide opportunities to develop skills and training or to access treatment programmes to give the offender a chance to reflect on their crimes

  • allows the offender to leave prison better adjusted and ready to take their place back in society
• psychological effects of custodial sentencing - stress and depression

  suicide rates are higher in prison than the general population

  • the prison experience also increases the risk of psychological disturbances following release
• psychological effects of custodial sentencing - institutionalisation

  having adapted to the norms and routines of prison life, inmates may have become accustomed to these that they are no longer able to function on the outside
• psychological effects of custodial sentencing - prisonisation

  refers to the way in which prisoners are socialised into adapting an ‘inmate code’

  • behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the institution
• recidivism

  reoffending - a tendency to relapse into a previous habit/behaviour
• uk and us - highest rate of recidivism

  norway - lowest rates of recidivism

  • norwegian prisons have greater emphasis on rehabilitation and skills development

  X soft? for not sufficiently punishing inmates
• ✔️ bartol - imprisonment is ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating‘

  • last 20 years - suicide rates around 15 times higher than those in the general population
• ✔️ prison reform act study 2014

  found 25% of women and 15% of men reported symptoms of psychosis

  • the oppressive prison regime may trigger psychological disorders in those that are vulnerable

  suggests that custodial sentencing is not effective in rehabilitating the individuals who are psychologically vulnerable
• X different prisons have different regimes so there are likely to be wide variations in experience

  • difficult to make general conclusions that apply to every prisoner and prison
• ✔️ opportunities for training and treatment

  • offenders can have an improved character and can then lead a crime free life after release = likelihood of recidivism reduced