3.3

• Social control measures are not always effective, as can be seen from recidivism rates
• In 2019, if we take all offenders who had been given a warning, fine, community sentence or suspended sentence in the previous 12 months, plus all of the prisoners who were released from jail in that period, these people between them committed over half a million new offences. This is an overall recidivism rate of around 28%
• On average, those who reoffend commit a further four offences each. The average number of re-offences per offender has been gradually rising since 2009
• If we just focus on offenders released from prison, the re-offending rate rises to 36% for all prisoners and 64% for prisoners who received a short sentence of less than 12 months
• Around 37% of juvenile offenders (aged 10-17) re-offend within a year. For juveniles released from custody, 63% are re-convicted within a year
• This suggests that prisons are not effectively enacting social control as people are continuing to reoffend
• The prison population today (approx. 86,000) is almost double what it was in 1993 (44,200)
• Repeat offending is one reason for this increase. For example, those released on license will be recalled to serve the rest of their sentence if they commit a further offence during the license period
• Repeat offending is less important as a cause of the rising prison population than the fact that courts are now giving longer sentences
• In 2018, sentences for serious (indictable offences) were on average of 26 months longer than they had been 10 years earlier
• The average minimum sentence for murder increased from 12.5 years in 2003 to 21.3 years in 2016
• The more previous convictions someone already has, the more likely they are to re-offend. For example, in 2018 almost half (47.5%) of offenders who already had more than 10 convictions offended again
• Offenders who served a prison sentence are more likely to re-offend than those who received a warning, fine or community sentence
• Males are more likely to re-offend than females
• Offenders with drug or alcohol addictions, those who are homeless, those with few qualifications and those who are unemployed are more likely to reoffend
• The above figures only refer to proven re-offending, in other words where the offender has been tried and found guilty. There is likely to be a dark figure of further offending for which they have not been caught and punished
• Right Realism


  Offenders are rational actors and so the fear of being jailed acts as a deterrent to offending. However, the high rate of re-offending shows that this is not so
• Marxism


  It is not surprising that unemployed offenders are more likely to re-offend, since they have little chance of meeting their needs if they have to survive solely on benefits
• In some authoritarian states (police states), social control agencies such as the police have few restrictions on their power to force citizens to behave as the state wishes them to
• In such states, critics of the government may find they are not free to express their opinions and that they risk being locked up indefinitely, or sometimes worse
• In 2018, the US Department of State's annual report on human rights cited the following abuses in Turkey: "Arbitrary killing and suspicious deaths of persons in custody; forced disappearances; torture; arbitrary arrest and detention of tens of thousands of persons, including opposition MPs, lawyers and journalists for peaceful legitimate speech; political prisoners; closure of media outlets and prosecutions for criticising government policies; blocking websites; restriction of freedoms of assembly and association; and restrictions on freedom of movement"
• Civil liberties


  Basic rights and freedoms guaranteed to every individual by law
• Civil liberties


  • Freedom of speech
  • Freedom of assembly and freedom to associate with others
  • Freedom of movement
  • Freedom from arbitrary arrest
  • Freedom from detention without trial
  • Freedom of religion and conscience
  • The right to privacy
• Due process


  Legal processes that act as a barrier to the state exercising control over its citizens without good cause
• Short sentences do not give enough time to do the intensive work needed to address deep seated problems, such as drug dependency, illiteracy and anger management. The problem is made worse by the limited number of places on appropriate courses
• The 2020 report of the chief inspector of prisons said that half the prisons inspected had too few programmes of useful activity and fewer than two fifths were delivering 'good' or 'reasonably good' activities (down from over two thirds in 2010)
• There are fewer prison officers to supervise prisoners undertaking activities that would help their rehabilitation. Staff shortages mean that prisoners are often locked up by 6pm, denying them access recreational and educational facilities such as the use of the prison library
• ROTL is intended to allow trusted prisoners out to attend training, employment and job interviews, yet very few are able to take advantage of this scheme due to shortages of staff to supervise it
• Prisoners earn very little from working in prison and receive only a £46 discharge grant on their release
• Only a quarter of prisoners have a job to go to on their release
• According to NACRO, one in nine prisoners has no settled accommodation to go to upon release. Prisoners lose entitlement to housing benefit if they are expected to spend more than 13 weeks in prison. This means they will usually lose any tenancy they had
• Over 1/3 of all prison releases happen on a Friday, and charities and pressure groups such as NACRO and the Howard League have supported a campaign to end Friday releases from prison. Being discharged on a Friday can mean a race against the clock to access services such as accommodation, drug medication and benefits before the weekend shutdown
• Only 34% reoffend within 12 months of starting their community sentence, compared with 64% of those serving sentences of less than 12 months
• There are often too few places on specialist programmes to address complex needs such as drug addiction, mental health problems and homelessness
• There have been criticisms that the probation service is too lax in allowing offenders to miss supervision appointments
• The privatised community rehabilitation companies have been criticised for failing to meet their targets and for poor supervision of offenders. As a result, the CRC's contracts were ended in 2020
• Between 2010 and 2018, the overall police budget was but by 19%. (Funds from central government were cut by 30% but some of the shortfall has been made up by extra funds from local council tax.) The cuts led to a fall of 20,000 in police officer numbers
• Inadequate supervision by probation services

  • There have been criticisms that the service is too lax in allowing offenders to miss supervision appointments
• Failures by the privatised community rehabilitation companies (CRCs)


  • They have been criticised for failing to meet their targets and for poor supervision of offenders
  • As a result, the CRC's contracts were ended in 2020
• Finance


  Without adequate finance to fund their operations, agencies such as the police, prisons and CPS will be unable to achieve effective social control