Criminology Unit 4: Forms of Social Control and Aims of Punishment

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering Unit 4 of Criminology, specifically regarding forms of social control, control theories, and the five main aims of punishment.

Social control

Involves persuading or forcing people to conform to the norms, laws and expectations of society to enable it to function smoothly.

Internal forms of social control

Controls on our behavior that come from within ourselves, leading us to conform because we feel it is the right thing to do.

Superego

A part of the personality in psychoanalytic theory that acts as a "nagging parent," telling us what is right and wrong and creating feelings of guilt.

Internalisation

The process by which we absorb social rules and morality so they become our own personal rules and moral code.

Rational ideology

The term used to describe the way in which we internalise social rules and use them to tell us right from wrong.

External forms of social control

Organisations and institutions, such as the family or the criminal justice system, that impose rules on us to make us behave in a certain way.

Negative sanctions

Punishments used by agencies of social control to discourage undesirable behavior.

Positive sanctions

Rewards used by agencies of social control to encourage acceptable behavior.

Coercion

The use of threat or force, physical or psychological, to make someone do or stop doing something.

Deterrence

The use of fear of being caught and punished to prevent would-be criminals from offending.

Bonds of attachment

Hirschi's theory that people conform because they are controlled by four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.

Involvement (Hirschi)

A bond to society where participation in law-abiding activities, like sport or studying, leaves less time for illegal activities.

Internal containment

Reckless's concept of self-control built through effective socialisation to resist the temptation to offend.

External containment

Reckless's concept of external controls, such as parental discipline, that provide social control.

Retribution

An expression of society's moral outrage at crime, where the main aim is for the offender to suffer for breaching the moral code.

Just desserts

The key idea in retribution that offenders should suffer for breaching the moral code of society.

Proportionality

The principle that punishments should fit the crime, such as "an eye for an eye."

Tariff system

A fixed scale of mandatory penalties for different offences used in retribution.

Boundary maintenance

Durkheim's functionalist idea that moral outrage expressed through retribution reminds people of what is right and wrong.

Rehabilitation

A type of punishment aimed at making offenders change their future behavior through treatment and support.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

A treatment used in rehabilitation to help offenders correct thinking errors and biases that led to crime.

Aversion therapy

A method favored by Eysenck's personality theory to deter offending behavior.

Individual deterrence

Punishment aimed at convincing a specific offender that it is not worth repeating the experience of reoffending.

General deterrence

Punishment aimed at teaching society a lesson by showing the costs of offending.

Public protection

An aim of punishment that involves protecting the public from offenders by taking them out of circulation.

Incapacitation

Removing an offender's physical capacity or ability to commit more crimes, such as through execution or imprisonment.

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP)

Introduced by the Criminal Justice Act (2003), allowing indeterminate sentences for dangerous offenders.

Reparation

The aim of making good the material or social harm caused by a crime, allowing the offender to make amends.

Restorative Justice

A process where the offender faces the victim and a mediator to recognize the impact of their actions and seek forgiveness.

Life sentence

The most serious UK punishment where a judge sets a minimum term before an offender can be considered for release on licence.

Mandatory life sentence

A compulsory sentence that must be given to those found guilty of murder.

Whole life term

A sentence given in very serious cases where the offender will never be released.

Indeterminate sentence

A sentence with a minimum term but no fixed release date, where the Parole Board decides when the offender is safe to release.

Determinate sentence

A prison sentence with a fixed length; the most common type of sentence served in the UK.

Suspended sentence

A prison sentence of up to 2 years where the offender does not go to prison immediately but must avoid further crime.

Community Order

A sentence for offences too serious for a discharge but not requiring prison, which can include up to 300 hours of unpaid work.

Community Payback

A form of reparation to society involving unpaid work like removing graffiti or cleaning wasteland.

Fines

Financial penalties given for less serious offences, based on the crime's circumstances and the offender's ability to pay.

Conditional discharge

A sentence where the offender is not punished unless they commit another offence within a set period of up to 3 years.

Absolute discharge

A ruling where no penalty is imposed because the defendant is morally blameless; it is not classed as a criminal conviction.