3.2✅

• CPTED stands for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
• ASBOs stands for Anti-social Behaviour Orders
• Environmental Design:

  -> some criminologists argue that the built environment can affect the level of crime in 2 ways:

  • by influencing potential offenders e.g. presenting them w/ opportunities to commit crime 
  • by affecting people’s ability to exercise control over their surroundings 

  -> agencies like architects + builders can ‘design crime out’ by changing the physical layout of an area 
• Environmental Design-Defensible Space:

  • Oscar Newman argues that some spaces are defensible while others are indefensible 
  • indefensible: (you can’t defend the area INDEFENSIBLE = can’t be defended): crime is more likely to occur, examples are anonymous walkways + stairwells, these areas belong to no-one, cared for by no-one + observed by no-one e.g. study w/ high-rise blocks in New York, Newman found that 55% of all crime committed occur in public spaces like lifts, hallways etc. as no one feels like they own them 
  • defensible: clear boundaries, there is an obvious right on who is allowed to be there, Newman argues that these spaces have low crime rates as they use 4 key features: territoriality, natural surveillance, a safe image + a safe location
• Environmental Design-Territoriality:

  • the environment encourages a sense of ownership among residents, they have that feeling that it is their territory + that they can control it 
  • certain layouts tell others that particular areas are for private use of residents e.g. cul-de-sacs project a ‘private’ image + encourage a sense of community 
• Environmental Design-Natural Surveillance:

  • features of buildings: like easily viewed entrance lobbies + street-level windows allows residents to identify + observe strangers 
  • cul-de-sacs allow residents to overlook each others homes, whereas high-rise blocks often have concealed entrances that allow offenders to come and go unseen 
• Environmental Design-A Safe Image:

  • building designs should give the impression of a safe neighbourhood where residents look after eachother 
  • negative image: means the area will be negatively labelled 
• Environmental Design-A Safe Location:

  • neighbourhoods located in the middle of a wider crime-free area are insulated from the outside world by being surrounded by safety 
• Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED):

  • C.R Jeffery introduced the approach known as Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) 
  • he argued that the built environment can either create or deny opportunities to criminals, changing the environment can reduce crime 
  • Alice Coleman analysed 4,099 blocks of flats in London, concluding that poor design of house blocks can produce higher rates of crime + anti-social behaviour, she found that 3 design features encouraged crime: anonymity, lack of surveillance + easy escape 
  • she then recommended that: no more blocks of flats should be built + overhead walkways should be removed as they obstruct surveillance, these recommendations have influenced planners + led to attempts to ‘design crime out’ for example:
  • some police forces now employ architectural liaison officers to ‘build in’ crime prevention features at the design stage for new buildings   
• Gates Lanes-example of CPTED:

  • gated lanes also known as gated alleys is an example of a CPTED tactic to ‘design crime out’ of an environment 
  • they are lockable gates installed to prevent offenders gaining access to alleyways 
  • used to prevent burglaries + can also stop fly-tipping, anti-social behaviour w/ youths, dog fouling + creating areas that are safe for children to play in 
• How do Gates Lanes work?

  -> in a review of 43 studies Sidebottom et al found that gates reduces burglary rates suggesting that it is because of the following reasons:

  • they provide a physical barrier, increasing the effort required to commit a crime 
  • it can reduce the rewards for crime e.g. it will be difficult to steal large objects if the offender has to climb over tall gates w/ the items 
  • residents have to take the responsibility of closing the gates = increasing their guardianship + surveillance 
• Gated Lanes Limitations:

  • even though they decrease criminals entering crime outside, although they don’t work against criminals who live within the gated area 
  • it can restrict access for emergency services + refuse collectors which can be an issue
• CPTED + Theory:

  • situational crime prevention (scp): involved target hardening by changing the physical environment to make it harder to commit crime e.g. barriers to prevent vehicle access to a neighbourhood will make getaways harder 
  • rational choice theory: CPTED sees offenders as acting rationally e.g. if intruders fear they will be challenged by residents they will be more likely to stay away from the area 
• Criticisms of CPTED:

  • they focus on the defence from outsiders who come into the area to offend but insiders commit crime too e.g. domestic violence 
  • they can’t prevent offences that occur digitally e.g. cybercrime, fraud
  • an area’s reputation instead of its design could cause a high crime rate, if a police regards a particular estate as crime-ridden they will then patrol it more, leading to more arrests + a higher overall recorded crime 
• Prison Design: The Panopticon:

  • another way the built environment can be used for social control is the way prisons are designed 
  • Foucault argues that in modern society was are increasingly controlled through self-surveillance, illustrating a prison design called the Panopticon (which means all-seeing)
  • if the prisoner’s cells are visible to guards from a central viewing point e.g. watchtower, although they guards can see the prisoners, the prisoners can’t see the guards so they don’t know when they are being watched so they constantly behave incase they are being watched 
• Surveillance Theory:

  • Foucault’s surveillance theory argues that in today’s society self-surveillance has become an important way of achieving social control
  • as you know you might be being watched e.g. CCTV camera = so you naturally monitor + control our behaviour ourselves 
• Behavioural tactics:

  -> ways in which agencies can seek to change individuals’ behaviour to make them conform to social norms + laws, 2 examples are (CHANGING THEIR BEHAVIOUR):

  • ASBOs + Criminal Behaviour Orders
  • token economies 
• ASBOs + Criminal Behaviour Orders:

  • Tony Blair’s New Labour government introduced ASBOs (Anti-social behaviour Orders) in order to deal with/ low-level anti-social behaviour e.g. vandalism, graffiti, youths playing loud music at night (LIKE A WARNING)
  • they were civil orders not criminal orders = they were used to restrain a person from committing actions that threatened the legal right of another person e.g. an order to stop behaving noisily outside someone’s house late at night 
  • breaching these conditions of the ASBO is a criminal offence + is punishable of up to 5 years in prison 
• Labelling theory + ASBOs:

  • gradually it became more clear that ASBOs were not working e.g. between 2000 + 2013 ASBOs were issued to just over 24,000 people, but 58% of them breached the conditions + over 10,000 orders were breached repeatedly 
  • labelling theorists argue that labelling a person as a criminal or deviant can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy 
  • a person may internalise the label as part of their identity + then tries to live up to it, earning status from their peers 
  • labelling theorists suggest that ASBOs became a ‘badge of honour’ for young offender, reinforcing their behaviour + leading to repeat offending 
• Criminal Behaviour Orders:

  • due to the issues w/ ASBOs it was then replaced w/ 2 new measures: civil injunctions + Criminal Behaviour Orders 
  • injunctions: aim to deal with/ low-level nuisance + annoyance, breaching this can lead to up to 2 years imprisonment for adults + 3 month detention for under 18s
  • Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO): they deal w/ seriously anti-social individuals who cause harassment, alarm or distress to others, they last at least 2 years for adults + 1-2 for under 18s, breaching the conditions of a CBO can mean up to 5 years in prison for adults + 2 years detention for under 18s
  • negative requirements: CBO forbids a person from doing something e.g. going certain places 
  • positive requirements: CBO requires a person to do something positive to improve their behaviour e.g. if you committed a drug related offence you could be required to join a drug treatment programme            
• Token Economies:

  • it is a behavioural modification programme used by some prisons, young offender institutions + psychiatric hospitals 
  • aiming to achieve social control by re-shaping inmates’ behaviour patterns so that they conform to what the institution requires  
• Operant Learning Theory:

  • token economies are based on B.F. Skinner’s operant learning theory 
  • the basic idea of the theory is that if a particular behaviour results in a reward of some kind it is likely to be repeated 
  • the reward acts as a reinforcement of the behaviour 
• Social Control:

  -> token economies aim to achieve social control in the following ways, the institution draws up a lost of desirable behaviours such as:

  • obeying rules 
  • staying drug free 

  -> when the prisoner behaves in the desired way they earn a token e.g. each time a drug test shows they are clean, they receive one token 

  -> the prisoners can exchange these tokens for rewards e.g. extra phone calls, sweets etc.

  -> the rewards can be in the form of incentives + earned privileges, through this selective reinforcement the behaviour that the institution desires becomes more likely + undesirable behaviours less likely 
• How effective are Token Economies?:

  • some studies show that token economies work only while the inmate is in the institution 
  • Hobbs + Holt’s study of 125 boys ages 12-15 in a correctional institution found that behaviour change lasted throughout the 14 month study 
  • although others have stated that when the offender leaves prison they no longer have reinforcement through rewards so then desirable behaviours eventually stop, although offenders return to crime slower in comparison to those who haven't taken part in the programme 
  • makes prisoners more manageable when in prison 
  • the programmes may only be working because the prisoners are receiving more attention or that rules are being explained more clearly, it might not just be the tokens affecting the change in behaviour 
• Institutional tactics:

  -> use a variety of methods for reducing deviant behaviour + achieving social control 

  -> institutions like prisons + young offenders institutions may use token economies as a way of encouraging desirable behaviour amongst inmates 

  -> institutions come in many different shapes, sizes, families, schools, religions etc.

  -> all institutions have rules about how their members must behave, along w/ punishments for breaking them + rewards for conforming
• Sanctions:

  • rewards are also known as positive sanctions + punishments are called negative sanctions 
  • a family may have rules that their children can’t stay out late w/o permission + if they still do it they can be sanctioned w/ taking away their pocket money 
  • a school will have rules that students must revise for tests + if they do revise they could be given a gold star for getting full marks 
• Criminal Justice Institutions:

  • institutions or agencies in the criminal justice system have a range of tactics for enforcing obedience for their rules + achieving social control 
  • courts: sentence offenders to various punishments for their offences, it can be used to achieve individual + general deterrence, punishment may prevent the offender from doing it again + could therefore serve as a lesson to the public as to what to expect if they commit a crime, they can also use a Community Order to require offenders to rehabilitate e.g. drug addiction treatment, they aim to change negative behavioural patterns 
  • probation service: supervise + monitor the behaviour of offenders, serving a community sentence or released from prison on licence, if they fail to meet requirements they are returned back to prison or to court for a re-sentencing 
• Prison Rules:

  -> the prisons service have a set of Prison Rules that apply to all prisons, a prison governor is allowed to add further local rules for their prison, these rules cover the following offences:

  • escaping from prison 
  • using drugs or alcohol 
  • not doing as staff tell you

  -> breaking these rules can lead to a range of punishments e.g. caution, loss of earned privileges, solitary confinement etc.

  -> punishments are time limited e.g. solitary confinement can only last up to 35 days 

  -> serious offences can have 42 extra days added onto your sentence + attempts to escape lead to being moved to a higher security prison w/ more restrictions
• Phased Discipline:

  • phased or stages discipline is a common way of attempting tom achieve social control 
  • 1st offence whether it is in prison or in wider society is usually dealt w/ more leniently e.g. warning, police caution 
  • repeat offending especially if it is more serious is likely to be met w/ stronger sanctions like probation or prison in an attempt to deter future misbehaviour 
• Gaps in State Provision:

  -> state agencies of social control such as the police, CPS, courts, prisons + probation service can achieve some degree of control over criminal + anti-social behaviour but it can never be complete due to the following: resources, budget cuts, new technology, unreported crime, existing laws, social media + the law 
• Resources:

  • funding of state social control agencies comes mainly from the taxes paid by the public 
  • there’s limits on how much taxpayers are willing to pay for these agencies + so the government need to deal w/ the competing demands for resources from other sectors such as education, welfare benefits, pensions etc.
• Budget Cuts:

  -> since 2008 government spending cuts + re-organisations have also had an impact on state agencies, reducing their effectiveness in maintaining social control, e.g. from 2010-2018:

  • the police budget was cut by 19%
  • cps budget was cut by 1/4
  • prisons budget fell by 16%
• New Technology:

  • another reason why state agencies are less able to achieve social control is the extra burden imposed on criminal investigations by digital technology
  • it was stated that the criminal justice system was ‘creaking’ + unable to cope w/ huge amounts of data being generated by technology 
  • it was also stated that there had been issues w/ checking mobile phones for evidence that further led to failures to disclosing evidence + a evident fall in the numbers of rape + sexual offence charges 
  • the cost of using new technology e.g. DNA profiling also provides limitations on the police’s ability to investigate offences 
• Unreported Crime:

  -> the criminal justice agencies can only investigate, prosecute + convict offenders if their offence has been reported 

  -> although only about 40% of crimes are reported to the police + different kinds of crime have different reporting rates e.g:

  • 1/4: rapes + attempted rapes reported 
  • white collar + corporate crime often goes unreported because people may be unaware that they have been victims e.g. fraud, environmental pollution etc. 
• Existing Laws:

  • social control by criminal justice agencies can only be achieved so long as there are appropriate laws in place to begin with 
  • occasionally a new type of harm emerges but there is no existing law to forbid it + so state agencies are unable to bring prosecutors to control the harmful behaviour 
  • there has been a lot of debate about the responsibilities of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter + Youtube for offensive + harmful material that appears on them 
  • e.g. terrorist who massacred 51 Muslims in mosques in 2019 was able to livestream his crimes on social media 
  • if this type of material promoting hatred + terrorism was published in a traditional way e.g. film, book, the publisher would then be held criminally liable 
  • although social media companies claim they aren’t publishers + in the UK they can’t be prosecuted for the material found on their sites