Contribution of Agencies in achieving Social Control

• Environmental design

  • What a neighbourhood looks like, and how it is designed, can have a great impact on crime rates
  • It is based on the idea that crime results partly from opportunities presented by the environment
  • Therefore, it should be possible to alter the environment so that crime is less likely to occur
• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)


  Tactics and measures used by agencies to achieve social control
• Environmental design - Solutions


  • Create open spaces with strong lighting, especially in doorways, to provide clear visibility
  • A lack of hiding places to enable people to see around places such as corners and blind spots
  • Low-level bushes, allowing a clear visible site line
  • Anti-climb paint, anti-homelessness spikes
• Right Realist Approach


  • Breakdown in social values results in crime
  • 'Underclass' contribution to crime
  • Suggest a tough stance to crime
• Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)


  Introduced in 1998 to limit and correct low level anti-social behaviour
• Functionalist Approach


  • To reduce crime, we need to increase value consensus and social solidarity
  • Community-tended gardens
  • Neighbourhood watch
• ASBOs were not without controversy and many critics suggested that persistent offenders viewed them as a badge of honour
• ASBOs were regularly breached and, according to the civil rights group Liberty, 56% of ASBOs were breached in 2009
• Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs)

  Replaced ASBOs in 2014
• Panopticon


  • The traditional prison design is the panopticon (all-seeing)
  • The concept is to allow an observer to view all prisoners without prisoners being able to tell if they are being watched
  • Prisoners can be seen but cannot communicate with anyone else
  • The design ensures a sense of permanent visibility that ensures the functioning of power
• Token economies


  Based on the psychological concept of behaviour modification, they reward positive behaviour and punish negative behaviour
• Supermax prison


  • Most secure level of custody
  • Objective - to provide long-term, segregation of prisoners, who represent highest security risks, including those who pose a threat to national and international security
  • A Supermax prison costs 2-3 times more to build and operate than a traditional maximum security prison
• Gated Lanes


  • Gates installed at the entrance to rear alleyways to deter burglars/criminals from gaining unlawful access to the rear of houses
  • Government regulations in April 2006 gave local authorities powers to erect gates on public highways to combat crime and anti-social behaviour
• Token economy programme


  1. Institutional management draws up a list of behaviours they wish to promote

  2. For good behaviours, the prisoners receive a token, that they can exchange for a privilege
• Desired behaviours in a token economy


  • Follow all rules
  • Keep clean
  • Keep cell clean
  • No fighting
  • No intimidation
• Operant conditioning


  How B F Skinner's work could explain how token economy works
• Positives of token economies


  • Based on solid psychological theory
  • Provides motivation for the prisoner
  • Efficacy also shown in other areas such as schools
  • Creates a sense of shared value consensus within prison
• Negatives of token economies


  • Requires consistency – behaviour has to be rewarded every time, without fail
  • Behaviour may revert when the token economy finishes
  • May not translate to good behaviour outside of prison
• Prison rules


  • Behaviours that could offend, threaten or hurt someone else
  • Stopping prison staff from doing their jobs
  • Causing damage to the prison
  • Not doing what prison staff tell you to do
• Prison punishments


  • Privileges (e.g. a TV in your cell) could be taken away for up to 42 days
  • Up to 84 days' worth of any money you earn could be stopped
  • Locked in a cell by yourself away from other prisoners for up to 35 days. This is called cellular confinement
• Staged discipline procedure for dealing with offenders prior to court


  1. A series of cautions and warnings available

  2. Acts as a second chance to allow offender to admit guilt without having to face court
• National Probation Service


  • Allows two minor breaches of a community order
  • This acts as a warning before referring the matter back to a court
• Unreported crime can account for a large percentage of crime, even larger than the percentage reported to the police
• Budget cuts impact criminal cases being tackled, especially within the police service
• Lack of police officers on the beat and too many cases being dealt with by cautions
• 1/3 of those who have won against the UK at the European Court of Human Rights are terrorists, prisoners or criminals
• A number of foreign terrorists have used the Human Rights Act 1998 to remain in the UK and avoid deportation