4.1 biological theories in informing policy development

What are informal policies?

Unofficial rules to prevent crime- such as rules within a family- grounding and pocket money

What are formal policies?

Official crime prevention strategies such as prison sentences and community orders

What two policies are within formal policies?

crime control and state punishment

What are crime control policies?

This refers to policies that help reduce and control crimes and are often in the form of treatments or interventions

What are state punishment policies?

This refers to policies that are enforced by the state to punish an individual for committing an offence

What has been linked to criminality?

Several biochemical processes and factors such as the effects of testosterone, substance abuse and dietary deficiency

What are the 4 types of crime control policies linked to biochemical processes?

Drug treatments, diet changes, surgery, crowd control and public order offences

What are drug treatments? AO1

Used in some situations to treat or control criminal and anti-social behaviours. They do this by affecting the body’s biochemical process.

A) alcohol abuse where the drug ANTABUSE is used as an aversion therapy. Causes hangover symptoms if you consume any alcohol and usually for repeat offenders

B) managing offenders- sedatives and tranquillisers like Valium have been users to keep potential violent offenders calm

C) stilbesterol is a form of chemical castration that has been used to treat male sex offenders- a female hormone that reduces male sex drive (not legal in UK)

Chemical castration AO3

strengths- an effective tool and is proven to work

Limitations- permanent adverse side effects, not ethical and goes against human rights

What is diet policy AO1?

It is suggested that by changing an offenders diet, they may be less likely to offend- links to blood sugar

Diet AO3

Strengths- gesch et al found that supplementing criminals with vitamins and minerals caused a reduction in anti- social behaviour by 37%

Weaknesses- making sure everyone in prison is supplemented with vitamins and minerals would be very expensive for the prison. Very significant evidence needed. When they’re out they won’t stick to the diet so they would just reoffend.

What is surgery crime control policy AO1?

Used to alter the brains or bodies of offenders to stop future offending

1) surgical castration has been used in Denmark and USA for sex offenders - mixed results

2) lobotomy has been used to treat schizophrenia and sexually motivated or violent criminals. Serious side effects and rarely used.

Surgery AO3

For- it can reduce offending

Against- human rights, not the only way you can commit a sexual offence, doesn’t tackle female offenders