AC2

• Internal forms of social control:

  1. Moral conscience (superego/rational ideology)

  2. Tradition and culture

  3. Internalisation of social rules and morality
• External forms of social control

  1. Coercion

  2. Fear of Punishment

  3. Agencies of social control
• Moral conscience/superego

  - People conform to society's expectations and obey its rules because their superego tells them to do so.

  - The superego tells us what is right and wrong and inflicts guilt

  - Develops through early socialisation and refrains the selfish 'id'

  - Allows us to exercise self-control and behave in socially acceptable ways
• Tradition and culture

  - Culture to which we belong becomes a part of us through socialisation

  - e.g. following Shabbat, or fasting during Ramadan

  - Accept the norms, values and traditions of a particular culture through socialisation

  - Affirms acceptance as part of that community and affirms one's identity
• Internalisation of social rules

  - Internalise social rules through socialisation and society's rules and norms become our own

  - These started externally, as parent's rules, or that of a culture or social group

  - Willingly conform to these
• Rational ideology

  - We internalise social rules and use them to tell us what is right and wrong

  - i.e. our conscience
• Coercion

  - Threat of force to make someone do, or stop doing, something

  - May be physical or psychological

  - e.g. imprisonment, strikes, death penalty

  - The negative sanctions of the criminal justice system are a form of coercion

  - Acts as a deterrent
• CCTV

  - Acts as a deterrent

  - Fear of being caught and fear of punishment

  - Key feature in Right Realist policy
• What are agents of social control?

  Organizations/institutions that impose rules to govern behavior, including family and education system.
• How do agents of social control use positive and negative sanctions?


  They use positive reinforcement (e.g., praise) to increase behavior and negative punishment (e.g., detention) to decrease behavior.
• How does the Criminal Justice System (CJS) relate to agents of social control?

  The CJS is composed of agencies like police, CPS, judges, and the prison service, which have the power to enforce formal legal sanctions to ensure conformity.
• Fear of punishment

  - Form of coercion

  - Right realists argue this deters criminals

  - Individual deterrence: if they are punished once, they will not re-offend

  - General deterrence: message to wider society that criminal behavior is punished.
• How does Hirschi say people are controlled?

  - Attachment - The more attached, the more we respect their norms, so unlikely to deviate from them.

  - Commitment - the more committed to future goals we are, the more there is to risk through involvement in crime

  - Involvement - the involvement in conventional activities leaves less energy and time for criminal activities

  - Belief - the belief in the law and the belief in being a part of society means an individual will not commit
• What does Reckless say about parenting?

  - Children may have tendencies that lead them vulnerable to criminality, but with effective socialisation and parenting, 'internal containment' can be achieved

  - External controls such as parental discipline can provide 'external containment
• How do feminists say women are controlled?

  - Heidensohn says that patriarchal society controls women more closely, making it harder to offend, e.g. less opportunities to offend due to increased domestic duties

  - Carlen says women who do offend often failed to form an attachment to their parents due to abuse or being brought up in care
• What are the aims of sentencing?

  - Retribution

  - Rehabilitation

  - Deterrence

  - Public Protection

  - Reparation

  - Denunciation
• What is retribution?


  - Based on revenge - . offenders deserve to be punished and society is entitled to take its revenge

  - Punishment should be proportionate to the harm done.

  - Idea of proportionality leads to a 'tariff' system of mandatory penalties for different offences, set out by the Sentencing Council

  - Main aim is for society to express its moral condemnation or outrage at the offender.
• What is rehabilitation?

  - Helping offenders overcome problems they face and reform offenders so they no longer offend.

  - Rehabilitation uses various different treatment programmes to change the offender's future behaviour by addressing the issues that led to their offending
• What are the two types of deterrence?

  Individual and general
• What is individual deterrence?


  Uses punishment to deter the individual from re-offending and may convince the offender it is not worth repeating the experience 
• What is general deterrence?


  Deterring society from offending by seeing individual offenders being punished
• What is public protection?


  protecting the public from further offending by incapacitating offenders.
• How doles imprisonment work as a form of incapacitation/public protection?


  By taking offenders out of circulation, it prevents them from committing further crimes against the public 
• What is reparation?


  The offender makes amends for what they have done, whether to the victim, society as a whole, or both
• What is denunciation?


  Society expresses disapproval of a criminal activity and enforces moral boundaries
• Does imprisonment meet the aims of retribution?

  + gives the offender their ‘just desserts’ 

  + takes away freedom and gives unpleasant conditions

  -- Difficult to say which sentence fits for retribution. 

  --Sentences can be too long or too short. 

  --Arguments about what crimes should go to prison – CJA, 2003 says only those who pose significant harm.

  --Some don’t care about going to prison
• Does imprisonment meet the aim of deterrence?

  +Prison can deter others and individuals from re-offending through fear of punishment. 

  --High re-offending rates suggest prison doesn’t work – nearly 50 % with short sentences will re-offend within a year. 

  --Only works if offenders think and act rationally.
• Does imprisonment meet the aim of public protection

  +  takes offender out of circulation and thus protects the public

  + Most are released on license or have post-sentence supervision, so must behave, or can be recalled to prison if they break the terms of their license. 

  -- Can be a university of crime

  --Prison buys some public protection, but this is only temporary. 

  --It is very costly – money could be better spent on some form of rehabilitation to protect the public in the long-term 
• Does imprisonment make the aim of reparation

  +  prisoners are allowed to earn in prison under the Prisoner’s Earnings Act, 2011 when allowed on day release and they can be made to pay a portion of that back to the victim – forcing prisoners to take responsibility, e.g. Lottery winner was made to pay compensation back to his rape victim. 

  + restorative justice has proven to be successful, with 50% not re-offending.   

  --Not suitable to all offenders 
• Does imprisonment meet the aim of denunciation?


  + highest form of punishment that can be given 
• Does imprisonment meet the aims of rehabilitation?

  + all about changing behaviour, e.g. drug rehabilitation programmes, education

  + rewards for good behaviour 

  +  ethical and moral approach

  • over 50 % of those sentenced to under 12 months re-offend within a year.  
  • Almost 7500 prisoners serving a sentence of less than 12 months in 2022 were recalled. 
  • Short sentences do not provide enough time to make any significant change.  
  • Only 25 % prisoners have a job to go to upon release.
  • There is a lack of education in prison due to budget cuts