custodial sentencing

• What is the aim of custodial sentencing?

  Involves a convicted offender spendinng time in prision it another closed institution such as young offender insitue if psychotic hospital
• What are the 4 mains reasons?

  1) deterrence

  2) incapacitation

  3) retribution

  4) rehabilitation
• What is deterrence and how does it work?

  -the unpleasant experience is to put off individuals from engaging in offending behaviour , there are 2 types of deterrence

  -1) general deference aims to send broad message that crime not be tolerated

  -2)individual deterrence prevents the individual from repeating the same crime in light of thier experiences

  -this is based on the behaviourist idea of conditioning through punishment
• What is incapacitation and what does it include?

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

  -this depends on the severity of offence and the nature of the offender

  -for example society will require more protection from rapist than an old man who refuse to pay tax
• What is retribution and what does it consist of?

  -society is enacting revenge for the crime by making the offender suffer and the level of suffering should be proportional to the seriousness of crime

  -based on the bible of "eye for eye", that the offender should some way pay for their actions
• What is rehabilitation and what does it include?


  -in contrast to retribution, many see the main objective of prison as not being punish but to reform

  -upon the release offenders should leave prison better adjusted ans ready to take their place back in society

  -prison should provide opportunities to develop skills and training it to acces treatment programmes for drug addicts as well as give the offender the chance to reflect on thier time
• What are psychological effects in custodial sentencing?

  1. stress and depression

  2. institutionalisation

  3. prisonisation
• What happens with the stress and depression?

  -suicide rates are higher compared to the general population

  -the stress of the prison experience also increase the risk of psychological disturbance
• What happens with institutionalisation?

  Having adopted to the norms and routines of prison life, criminals may become so accustomed to these that they no longer able to fucntion on the outside
• What happens with privatisation?


  -refers to the wat in which processes are socialised into adopting an 'inmate code'

  -behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of the insution
• What is one problem with custodial sentencing

  -recidivism(reoffending)

  -ministry of justice in 2013 suggested that 57% of uk offenders will reoffend within a year of release
• How is the different to Norwegian prison different?

  -have lowest rates in Europe

  -penal institution are much more open in Norway and there is much greater emphasis placed on rehabilitation and skills development than there is in the uk

  -however some see the Norwegian style as a soft option
• E-Limitation-supporting evidence for psychological harm

  -supporting evidence for psychological harm

  -batarol has suggested imprisonment can be brutal, demonising and devastating

  -not effective in rehabilitating the individual
• E-Limitation-individual differences


  -individual differences

  -can't assume that all offenders will react in the same way

  -many offenders have pre-existing psychological and emotional problems (explain offending in the first place)

  -difficult to make general conclusions
• E-Strength-opportunities for training and treatment

  -opportunities for training abd treatment

  -access to training and eductaion increases the possibility they will find employment upon release

  -also treatments like anger management
• E-limitation-alternatives to custodial sentencing

  -alternatives to custodial sentencing

  -prisions does little to deter other or rehabilitate offenders

  -community service and restorative justice have been proposed which mean family contacts and perhaps employment can be maintained
• A03 points


  supporting evidence for psychological harm

  individual differences

  opportunities for training and treatment

  Alternatives to custodial sentencing