Punishment

• Aims


  Reform, deter, restitution, public safety
• Transcarceration


  The idea that state institutions take 'care' of people from a young age as they move through foster care, to reform schools, to prison. There is a correlation between access to foster care and prison population.
• Functionalist Approached


  Durkheim argues everything in society is a balance between 'expressive' and 'instrumental'

  • Expressive - allowing society to voice its discontent
  • Instrumental - practical and pragmatic meaning e.g. prevention

  He says punishment is the same, where it used to be expressive but is now instrumental because of weaker societal bonds, serving to prevent future crime.
• Marxist Approaches


  Foucault - the shift in role of punishment shows a shift in power. It used to be to show dominance, but now the purpose of punishment is to get people back into work to be exploited.

  • The panopticon prison style means prisoners don't know if they are being watched, so act as if they are all the time.
• Marxist Approaches


  Gordon - the most marginalised end up in prison, so by imprisoning them we overlook the societal flaws that led to their crimes, and 'sweeps away' the failures of capitalism.
• Interactionist Approached


  Goffman - institutions lead to 'mortification', a loss of identity. They are 'total institutions' because they control all aspects of a person's life