AC3.2 contribution of agencies to achieving social control

what techniques are used by agencies to achieve social control

1. by design

2. behavioural tactics

3. institutional tactics

what is crime prevention by design & criminologist

C.R Jeffery

suggested the form & arrangements of buildings & open spaces can encourage or discourage crime

• design transparency, open space - less hiding spaces for criminals

• alley gates - restrict access to housing

• CCTV - might make people think twice about committing crime

• traffic lights to strengthen surveillance

examples of crime prevention by design

• adopted by the New York bus terminal & Birmingham City Bull ring market stalls

• Panopticon prisons - institutional building & system of control designed by Bentham - allows all prisoners to be observed by a single security guard without the inmates being able to tell whether they are being watched

• the worlds biggest prison USA - USP Florence ADX - American federal prison classed as a supermax prison that provides higher level of custody than a maximum security prison

criticism of crime prevention by design & criminologist

Tim Newburn - argues little impact has been seen on the reduction of crime figures

what are 3 behavioural tactics

1. ASBOS & behaviour orders

2. token economy

3. other tactics

what is an ASBO

anti-social behaviour order - issued by the magistrates court to prevent crimes

it can ban, curfew, limit & restrict behaviour - if a person is swearing, playing loud music, drinking lots of alcohol, this could be enough to warrant an ASBO

what is a CBO

criminal behaviour order - under the Crime & Policing Act 2014

encourages the offender to change their behaviour - if the offender was displaying antisocial behaviour due to drugs & alcohol the courts could require them to mark on a drug rehabilitation order - young offenders may be issued education orders by the courts to prevent them being out on the streets & causing trouble

what is a token economy & theory

a behaviour modification that uses tokens (often privileges) to achieve social control by reinforcing desired behaviour

links to Skinners operant learning theory - criminals should be conditioned through behaviour - when they behave well, they receive privileges such as TV, when they behave badly such as fighting they had these things taken away

often included things like staying drug free, no fighting, cleaning

what are 4 other tactics

used by police without the need for permission from the courts:

1. sections

2. fines

3. warnings

4. cautions

some of these things can be kept on an offenders file so that they can be monitored if the incident occurs again

what are institutional tactics

institutions such as workplaces, schools, families, the army, courts, prisons, police - each has their own set of rules which seeks to control behaviour, there are often sanctions within these rules (positive & negative) & rewards

examples of institutional tactics

• behaviour system - gold star rules & rewards for children in home or school

• disciplinary policies

• prison-cell-confinement

what are the gaps in state provision

• lack of government funding

• unreported crime

• technology

• social media

why does a lack of gov funding result in a gap in state provision

lack of gov funding in policing has resulted in less police officers & smaller budgets for investigations - police are then left with no choice but to prioritise certain crimes more than others - impacts crime rates & cause a lack of social control

why does unreported crime result in a gap in state provision

‘dark figure of crime’ - if crime is not reported, the police are not able to act on this & therefore recording crime stats do not reflect the amount of crime happening

why does technology result in a gap in state provision

tech & the increasing amounts of social media platforms can consume much of a criminal investigation & the amount of time it takes to present the evidence to a jury - it can take many hours to go through email/whatsapp/text messages to search for crucial pieces of evidence

why does social media result in a gap in state provision

can consume much of police time

the companies who own social media sites are not legally classed as ‘publishers’ & so are not culpable for crimes that are published, e.g. acts of terrorism/ in-sighting terrorism, as a traditional newspaper would be