AO1

• Custodial sentencing involves a convicted offender spending time in prison or another closed institution such as a young offenders institute or psychiatric hospital.
• Custodial sentencing is a form of retribution which makes the criminal pay for what they have done. It also acts as a form of confinement so they cannot reoffend.
• Custodial sentencing aims to act as a deterrent by providing an unpleasant experience to put offenders off from engaging in criminal behaviour in the future.
• Custodial sentencing can include rehabilitation of the criminal to help reduce the risk of reoffending once they are released.
• Custodial sentences aim to protect the public, rehabilitate the offender, show retribution or punishment and deter others from offending.
• Incapacitation is where the offender is taken out of society to prevent them from reoffending as a means of protecting the public.
• Cullen & Minchin (2000) tracked prisoners and found 57% reoffended within two years, and for younger males the rate was 76%.
• There are several psychological effects associated with serving time in prison; stress and depression, institutionalisation and prisonisation.
• Stress and depression are common psychological effects of imprisonment. Offenders could already suffer from mental health conditions but also the stress of the prison experience can increase the likelihood of developing psychological effects.
• Prisoners adapt to certain norms and values within prison, making it harder to adapt to general world on release so increases recidivism rates: found that 70% of younger offenders reoffend within 2y (institutionalisation)
• Prisonisation, behaviour that is encouraged in prison may be percieved as unaccepted in real world eg prisoner heirarchy
• Suicide is a serious psychological effect of imprisonment. Within prison 10% of suicides occur within the first 24 hours.
• Some prisoners become dependent on the institution for a routine in their normal lives. In prison they are told when to wake up, when to sleep and when to eat.