Criminal justice system

legislature

• House of common and House of Lords (monarch has royal assent)

• responsible for introducing, debating and deciding on changes to the law

• decisions made in one house have to be approved by the other

police

• responsible for enforcing the law and providing public with reassurance they will be safe.

judiciary

• judge whether or not a person is guilty or not. Also responsible for sentencing and deciding what the appropriate punishment is.

• 4 types of court

supreme court

most senior court which deals with cases of national significance so has more complex cases.

court of appeal

people have the right to appeal during a miscarriage of justice and this court decides if they have been dealt with fairly.

crown court

judge and jury who deal with indictable crimes e.g. robbery, murde

magistrates

95% of all crimes but mostly non indictable. no judge or jury but 3 magistrates who work as a panel.

prison system

holding the offenders that the court decides need to be behind bars

the probation system

• responsible for looking after offenders once they are released from prisons
  - help offenders reintegrate back into society
  - ensure that they don’t reoffend

• 28,000 people employed as part of the probation system

• people on probation are the ones most likely to break the law (reoffending = 70%)

Louis Althusser on the CJS

CJS is a state apparatus that keeps working class in their place.

• as laws and rules are set by the powerful (middle and upper class), they protect their interests, the law enforcements therefore target the disadvantaged who can’t defend themselves as they are marginalised. e.g. poor, EM, mentally ill

• compares prison to the slave labour of capitalism as prisoners were told where to be and how to act while being exploited and controlled

Aims of punishment, Tim Newburn- protection

maintains order by limiting the harm inflicted on public and property

• makes people feel safer

• e.g. sending criminals to prison for various lengths of time (2022, England and Wales, 82,000 prisoners)

whole life terms: give to the most dangerous offenders like serial killers and rapists who will never be considered for release from prison

deportation: foreign nationals sent back to their country of origin especially for terrorist offences.

Aims of punishment, Tim Newburn- deterrence

convincing people that crime and consequences are not worth the risk

• discourages people from committing crime as can see what will happen to them if they get caught doing the same thing.

speed cameras: encourage people to slow down as catches those speeding

Aims of punishment, Tim Newburn- retribution

get what they deserve, revenge for law abiding public

• maintain public order by exacting revenge on behalf of the public

• helps conformists feel good about following the law as deviant criminals get what they deserve.

e.g. naming and shaming by listing names of offenders in the media (sex offenders list) so see justice system taking action in their communities

Aims of punishment, Tim Newburn- Reformation

help offenders become better people so they won’t reoffend later

• helps offenders realise their mistakes and change ways

• show criminals there is a life for them beyond prison if they engage with support offered. (big focus in Finland and Norway)

• people criticise the death penalty so does not give someone chance to change their ways.

Aims of punishment, Tim Newburn- Reinforcement

of social values and bonds by uniting law abiding citizens against crime

• Functionalists argue that communities are governed by a collective conscience which regulates their behaviour so those who break laws violate wider society.

→ norms and values are constantly redefined as society changes and new factors need to be considered within the CJS.

• Marxists and Feminists: laws are not a reflection of value consensus but lawds are rules of the powerful.

restorative justice

offender and victim brought together in face to face meetings to help repair the harm down, restore dignity and self respect of the victims to reduce their fear of crime and make offenders take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

reintegrative shaming, John Braithwaite

offenders should not only face their victims but should be named and shamed as they realise the extent to which society disapproves of their offending to shame them into future conformity.

Max Weber, rational legal authority

based on agreed rules and regulations administered by officials (elected and accountable) rather than the whims of one powerful individual

stats about prisons…

• 2/3 of prisoners have no qualifications and have a low reading age.

• prisons have a lack of educational programmes to correct this.

• most prisoners are unemployable before they go inside and then will be worse when they have a criminal record.

• 25% of prisoners grew up in care

• 40% have no home to go back to when they are released

• 8.75 million prisoners (usa most)

• Number of staff is cut by 30% despite prison population doubling.

• 2% female

• killing someone white led to 3x more chance of a death penalty than killing someone black

→ overcrowding → 1/5 spend 22 hours daily in cells → violence, drugs, suicide → cost £36,00 a year

Erving Goffman, Interactionist: prisons manufacture crime

prisons make pre-existing problems in society worse. e.g. separated from other family members destabilising relationships. disrupts offenders employment opportunities due to stigma of criminal master status lael. prisons have subcultures which provide training ground for criminals.

• increase likelihood that an individual will reoffend especially as access to legitimate job opportunities in society are blocked.

• manufacture crime rather than reducing it.

Bentham’s panopticon

• prison was round with a central tower that was able to see into every cell

• improves behaviour and is cheaper as requires fewer guards

• guards could see into each cell but the tower had blinds so the inmates could never know if they were being watch so always behave just in case.

abolitionist countries for the death penalty vs retentionist

abolitionist: canada, australia, most of europe (some in practice haven’t carried it out for 10 years e.g. Morocco)

retentionist: usa, india, Saudi arabia (some only for serious crimes e.g. Brazil)
- death penalty laws and methods vary from state to state.

is the death penalty effective?

not effective as a deterrent because the number of people on death row increases year on year.

• for example the south has the highest number of executions but still the highest murder rates.

methods of execution

• firing squad

• lethal injection

• electric shock

• hanging

• lethal gas

→ other methods like stoning and beheading used in other parts of the world

death penalty abolished UK

for most crimes in 1965, but was still legal in the UK until 1998 for treason (crimes of disloyalty to the crown)

Ruth Ellis

• last women to be hanged, 1955

• shot her husband 5 times
  - had been abused by father
  - husband had punched her in the stomach causing a miscarriage
  - struggling with her mental health e.g. taking antidepressants

exoneration

conviction is reversed through a demonstration of innocence or a flaw in the conviction.

• particularly controversial in death penalty cases where new evidence is put forth after the execution has taken place → miscarriages of justice.

• 2019 =143

• average of 4 each year since 1973

surveillance

refers to the act of watching over people in order to control their behaviour or gain information. e.g. CCTV, phone tapping, geotracking, stakeouts (covertly or overtly)

Foucault- punishment changing over time

It used to be a violent public spectacle but has now changed to be hidden away behind closed doors.

• more drawn out and psychological about changing the mind and soul.

sovereign power: control through threat or force e.g. punishment directly on body

disciplinary power: control through monitoring and surveillance of population

→ increases power of the state. means that marginalised cannot oppose inequalities of wealth and power.

Carceral archipelago

• every public location is a small island panopticon in which everyone is subject to surveillance within a contemporary society.

• government observes every part of society e.g. gathering data, tracking criminals, deterring crime.

→ useful for controlling crowd behaviour or fighting against the threat of terrorism

dynamic normalization

surveillance eradicates free will and independent thinking creating a society of like minded robots.

• people lose instinct to think for themselves so do not behave spontaneously or develop original ideas.

• focus on acting, thinking and being the same as scared of punishment.

situational crime prevention, target hardening (right realism)

aims to reduce crime in a specific area rather than eliminating criminal behaviour

Ron Clarke: managing or altering the immediate environment of the crime, increasing the effects and risks of committing crime and reducing rewards

• changes to crime targets that may prevent crime e.g. shutters, CCTV, window locks
  - also designing out features which encourage criminality e.g. sloping seats

examples of target hardening, new york port

Marcus Felson, New York Port Authority

• poorly designed so provided opportunities for deviant conducts e.g. toilets, rough sleeping, drug dealing

• reshaping the environment to ‘design crime out’ greatly reduces crime for example bright lights in dark corners, centralised CCTV system, small sink basin to stop homeless people bathing.

displacement theory (criticism of situational crime prevention)

if people are no longer committing crime in some areas because it is too difficult, the problem will not disappear but will simply change in DFOC.

1. spatial- moving elsewhere to commit crime

2. temporal- committing it at a different time

3. target- choosing a different victim

4. tactical- using a different method

5. functional- committing a different crime

Broken window theory, Wilson and Kelling

• leaving signs of crime such as broken windows, graffiti and begging creates an atmosphere that no-one cares. (police are too concerned with serious crime so turn a blind eye to these issues)

• without action the neighbourhood will spiral and respectable people will move out.

Environmental crime prevention

necessary to keep environments in good physical condition combined with a zero tolerance approach to policing. e.g. repair broken windows, police walking in streets, police being proactive tackling small signs of disorder → stops neighbourhood decline

e.g. Clean car program- trains with graffiti on them were taken away which immediately meant graffiti largely never happened.

evaluating right realist approaches to decreasing crime

Assumes criminals think rationally and does not account for violences or those under influence of drugs and alcohol.

Situational crime prevention works in reducing some crime but likely to be some displacement.

Prevention focuses mostly on opportunistic petty street crime, and ignores white collar, corporate and state crime.

social and community prevention (left realism)

• focuses on the offender and their social context and attempts to remove the conditions which lead them to committing crime in the first place.

• causes of crime often rooted in social conditions like poverty, unemployment, and poor housing.

Paul Lewis, consensus

• police coming from and working on behalf of the community that they police.

• creates a general agreement in the community about law and order and that the police are on the same side as the vast majority

• genuine consensus policing would lead to more confidence in the police and collaboration with rather than feeling threatened

e.g. it was resentment from a perceived lack of respect from police which led to london riots.

→ moved towards with elected police and crime commissioners.

multi agency crime prevention e.g. perry preschool project

crime prevention is not just the responsibility of the justice system but of everyone and that partnerships between a wide range of agencies and individuals need to exist in order to reduce the problem e.g. fire and ambulance, NHS, social workers, religious groups, child protection

e.g. Perry preschool project, USA David Weikart

• provided high quality preschool education to 3 and 4 year olds living in poverty and assessed to be at a high risk of school failure.

• condition 1: received this help for 5 years e.g. home visits, special sessions with more teacher contact each morning

• condition 2 (control): received no help

→ significantly fewer arrests (35% vs 7% 5 or more arrests), more had graduated and were employed

evaluating social and community prevention

Social and community prevention is the only type that addresses the causes of crime but this costs the most. (idealistic but uneffective)

→ $1 spent, $17 saved on welfare, prison etc.

Prevention focuses mostly on opportunistic petty street crime, and ignores white collar, corporate and state crime.

victim

victim- a person who suffers physical, mental or psychological harm, economic loss or impairment of their rights.

stats on homeless people

17x more likely to become victims of crime. 8/10 have suffered violence, abuse (sexual, verbal, physical) or antisocial behaviour.

positivist victimology

crime is not random so use trends to show some social groups are more likely to be victims of crime.

David Miers, 3 factors of positivist victimology

1. identifies factors linked to an individual or an environment which makes them more susceptible to being a victim

2. focuses on the relationship between the offender and their victim particularly for violent crime.

3. examines ways in which a victim may have contributed to becoming a victim

Wolfgang, victim precipitation

studied 588 homicides in Philadelphia. 26% involved victim precipitation- the victim triggered the events leading to a crime. e.g. instigating violence, failing to conceal valuables or to lock doors, becoming vulnerable through drugs and alcohol.

Hans von Hentig, characteristics of victims

• duet theory

identified 13 characteristics that make people more likely to be prone to crime e.g. females, mentally defective, immigrants, lonesome, depressed.

• duet theory: criminals are tempted into their crimes by the behaviour of their victims so both parties are equally responsible for the crime.

evaluating positivist criminology

positivist victimology is useful for understanding the offender/ victim relationship and highlights the fact that many offenders are often victims of crime themselves.

approach is heavily criticised for creating a culture of victim blaming rather than the focus being on the offender.

Official crime statistics contradict von Hentig’s theory of victim proneness. suggest that the most common victims of crime are young men rather than women or old people.

radical victimology

• based on conflict theories like marxism or feminism

• focuses on structural factors like patriarchy and poverty so powerless groups like women and the poor are at greatest risk of being victims

denying victim status

state has power to apply or deny the label of victim as victim is a term which is socially constructed e.g. when the police don’t press charges on a man assaulting his wife her victim status is denied.
- Hillsborough disaster (97 died): police labelled the innocent fans as drunk hooligans leading to their deaths rather than victims of poor policing.
- Mark Duggan: shot by the police who wrongly believed he had a gun so was labelled as a criminal but was a victim.

→ denied victim status to refute failings of the CJS

Carolyn Hoyle, impacts of crime

crime has a variety of effects and impacts e.g. disrupted sleep, feelings of helplessness, difficulties in socialising.
- may also create indirect victims e.g. terrorism scares entire communities
- secondary victimisation: as well as the actual crime, victims are further let down as CJS fail to deal with crime properly and fail to protect them

double whammy of inverse victimisation

those with the least power (most deprived) are more likely to be the victim of all forms of crime.
the affluent with the most power are least likely to be victims.