A.C. 3.3- Examine the limitations of agencies in achieving social control

what are the limitations that may prevent agencies from reaching social control?

• repeat offending

• civil liberties + legal barriers

• access to resources and support

• finance

• local + national policies

• crimes committed by those with moral imperatives

How does RECIDIVISM affect achieving social control

• overall recidivism rate around 28% - those who re offend commit a further 4 offences each

• reoffending rate of offenders released from prison is 36%

• 64% for those who received a short sentence

• 37% of juvenile offender reoffend within a year

how does repeat offending cause a rising prison population?

• prison pop almost double of what it was in 1993

• those released from prison on license will be recalled to serve the rest of their sentence if they commit a further offence during license period ( 28% reoffending rate)

how does longer prison sentences cause a rise in prison population?

• long sentence means more people in at same time

• people get comfortable and build subculture so when released may reoffend to return

• minimum sentence for modern increased from 13 years in 2003 to 22 years in 2016

what type of people reoffended?

• the more previous convictions someone has the more likely to reoffend

• offenders who have served a prison sentence are more likely to those who have received a warning/community sentence

• males are more likely to reoffend than female

• offenders with drug or alcohol addiction, homeless+ unemployed

what is meant by the dark figure of reoffending

• we only have figures on proven reoffending where offender has been tried and found guilty

• dark figure of further offending which haven’t been caught + punished

what do RIGHT REALIST argue about reoffending

• they argue that ‘prison works’

• they believe that offenders are rational actors and so fear of being jailed acts as a deterrent

• high reoffending shows this isn’t the case

what do MARXIST argue about reoffending rates

• believes its not surprising that unemployed offenders are more likely to reoffend

• there have little chance of meeting their need of they have to just rely on benefits - low chance of convict getting job

How does human rights abuses affect agencies in reaching social control?

• in some police states ( turkey), social control agencies such as police have very few restrictions on their powers to force citizens to behave as the state wishes them to

• critics of the government, find they aren’t free to express opinions and they risk being locked up or worse

what are civil liberties

basic rights and freedom guarenteed to every individual by law

examples of civil liberties

• freedom of speech

• freedom of assembly

• freedom of movement

• freedom from detention without trial

• freedom of religion

• right to privacy

how does the due process model link to civil injunctions

• many of the civil injunctions are aspects of due process model

• e.g. freedom from arbitary arrest + freedom from detention without a trial

• protect the individual against the states abuse of power

• Due process makes sure the government follows fair rules before it can punish or control someone, which helps protect citizens from abuse of power.

what are the reasons for why prisons fail to rehabilitate offender?

-not enough time to do intensive work to repair root of problem due to short sentences

-inadequate resources for education + training

-15% cut in prison officers mean fewer officers to supervise and so locked up early → no time to access recreational + educational facilities

-those released on temporary fail to use scheme to find employment and shortage of staff to supervise it

what are some of the difficult circumstances that newly released prisoners may face?

• lack of money - earn little in prison + only £46 discharge grant on release

• only ¼ of prisoners have a job to go back to on release

• according to nacro, 1 in 9 have have no settle accommodation on release and so end up homeless

what is the ‘End Friday Releases’ campaign

• over 1/3 of all prison release happen on Friday

• being discharged on a Friday means its a race against the clock to access services such as accommodation, medication and benefits before weekend shutdown

• end up having to rough sleep + survive on discharge grant (£46) until services reopen on Monday → vulnerable to reoffending

do those who serve community sentence reoffend more than those on prison sentence

• community sentences are more successful in reducing recidivism

• some offenders serve their whole sentence in community under supervision of probation service

• only 34% of those on CS reoffend within 12 months of starting compared to 64% of those serving prison sentences

what are the reason for why those on community sentences reoffend?

• inadequate support for complex needs - mental health, addictions

• inadequate supervision by probation

• failures by privatised community rehabilitation companies

how can finance limit social control?

-inadequate finance to fund operations means agencies such as police + CPS are unable to achieve effective social control

-their budgets mainly come from publics funds , government spending cuts have effected effectiveness

how has inadequate funding affect effectiveness of POLICE

• between 2010-2018, police budget was cut by 19% which led to fall of 20,000 in police numbers + shortage of detectives

• evidence of police forces dropping investigation → Met Police dropped 2.9x many cases on the day they reported in many cases than reported in 2018 compared to 2013

• tempted to drop serious cases as they take too long to investigate - 129 days for rape case

How was the CPS affected with inadequate funding

-between 2010 - 2018, the CPS budget was cut ¼ and led to loss of 1/3 of staff

-CPS + police were failing to investigate thousands of cases effectively → critically short of skills + resources

-accused of downgrading charges so they are trialed in the Magistrates court as it quicker and cheaper than crown → leads to offenders getting lighter sentences

how has inadequate funding affected PRISONS in reaching social control

-between 2010-2018 the budget fell by 16% and staff levels by 15%, many experienced officers leaving

-prisons are in a crisis with increase assaults, self harm and sucides

-overcrowding + staff cuts mean may prisoners lack opportunities for activities to rehabilitate

privatization may have contributed

how was inadequate funding affected PROBATION SERVICES

• in old chief inspector report, highlighted problems such as staff shortage, failures by private community rehab companies

• since probation service back in public control, new chief warned in 2020 that it must be properly funded, vacanies must be filled and staff trained

how can local + national policies limit ability of agenices

when a new law makes a paticular crime in a priority then its means that other offences are neglected to some extennt as police are instructed to focus on new one

what are national governmental policies

• central gov introduces law + policies affecting work of agencies

• e.g. in April 2019, Home secretary announced that he was making it easier for police to stop and search anyone for offensive weapon without having reasonable suspicion under PACE 1994

what is the serious violence stratergy?

aims to involve police with other agencies such as youth services, NHS and social services

e.g. children excluded from school are atr a risk of being groomed by gangs to deliver drugs

what are local governmental policies

• some priorites of the different police forced around the country are set nationally by the Home office but others are set locally to respond to local needs

• e.g. in areas oh high knife crime, police may increase numbers of stop + searches

what are weapon amnesties

• example of local policies

• from time to time, local police hold amnesties where they wont arrest people who surrender illegal weapons-

• a two week gun amnesty in London 2017 lead to 350 firearms and 40,000 ammunition weeks guns handed in

what is meant by moral imperatives

an overriding sense of what is right - a sense so strong that is compels a person to act to uphold it even if it means breaking the law

examples of people who broke the law because their consciences told them it was morally right to do ( moral imperatives)

-Kay Gilderddale - broke the law by assisting suicide of her daughter whose been terminally ill for 17 years

-Rosie James + Rachael Wenham - committed criminal damage to nuclear submarines to try prevent it leaving port, arguing they are stopping war crime

-Alan Blythe- charged with cultivating canabiss’s with the intent to supply but did it to relieve pain of terminally ill wife

How were the suffragettes motivated by Moral imperatives

• suffragettes campaigned for women’s right to vote in early 20th century

• as a part of their campaign of civil disobedience, they directly broke the law

e.g. set fire to post boxes, smashed windows emily Davison died when she threw herself under king’s horse

what was the Cat and Mouse Act

• thousand of suffragettes were imprisoned + went on hunger strike

• in 1913, the gov response by passing Prisoners Act ( Cat + Mouse Act) - allowed hunger strikers to be temporarily released but then re-imprisoned once they recovered health

• as more suffragettes refused food, they began force feeding them through tubes which left permanent damage

what does functionalist say about moral imperatives?

Durkeim argues that without deviance, new social values cant emerge, no changes would be possible and society will be stationary

• e.g. the suffragettes’ law breaking drew attention the the injustice of denying women the vote + promoted equality between sexes as a basic value in UK society