Dealing with offending behaviour: Custodial sentencing

Custodial sentencing

A decision made by a court that punishment for a crime should involve time being in ‘custody’ - prison (incarceration) or in some other closed therapeutic and/or educational institution, such as a psychiatric hospital

Recidivism

Reoffending, a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behaviour. In the context of crime, a convicted offender who reoffends, usually repeatedly

Aims of custodial sentencing

Custodial sentencing involves a convicted offender spending time in prison or another closed institution such as a young offenders institute or psychiatric hospital.

There are 4 main reasons to custodial sentencing

1. Deterrence

2. Incapacitation

3. Retribution

4. Rehabilitation

Deterrence

The unpleasant prison experience is designied to put off the individual (or society at large) from engaging in offending behaviour.

Deterrence works on two levels:

• general deterrence - aims to send a broad message to members of society that crime will not be tolerated.

• Individual deterrence - should prevent the individual from repeating the same offences in light of their experience.

This view is based on the behaviourist idea of conditioning through vicarious punishment (seeing someone else getting punished for bvr, and that decreases the likelihood that we will copy that bvr).

Incapacitation

The offender is taken out of society to prevent them reoffending in order to protect the public.

The need for incapacitation depends on the severity of the offence and the nature of the offender.

For instance, individuals in society will require more protection from a serial murderer or a rapist than an elderly person who refuses to pay their council tax.

Retribution

Society is enacting revenge for the offence by making the offender suffer, and the level of suffering should be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence.

This is based on the biblical notion of an ‘eye for an eye’, which suggests that the offender should, in some way, pay for their actions.

Many people see prison as the best possible option in this sense and alternatives to prison are often criticised as soft options.

Rehabilitation

In contrast to retribution, many people would see the main objective of prison as not being purely to punish, but to reform.

Upon release, offenders should leave prison better adjusted and ready to take their place back in society.

Prison should provide opportunities to develop skills and training or to access treatment programmes (e.g. drug addiction or anger), as well as give the offender the chance to reflect on their offence

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing - stress and depression

Suicide rates are considerably higher in prison than in the general population, as are incidents of self-mutilation and self-harm.

The stress of the prison experience also increases the risk of developing psychological disorders following release.

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing - institutionalisation

Having adapted to the norms and routines of prison life, inmates may becomes so accustomed to these that they are no longer able to function on the outside.

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing - Prisonisation

Refers to the way in which prisoners are socialised into adopting an ‘inmate code’.

Behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of the institution.

The problem of recidivism

Recidivism refers to reoffending.

Recidivism rates in ex-prisoners tell us what extent prison acts as an effective deterrent.

It is difficult to obtain clear figures for recidivism rates of various reasons, e.g. it depends on whether you are looking at reoffending within a year of release or a longer period.

Typically, in the UK, the Ministry of Justice reports proven figures within one year of release (‘proven’ means the person has been caught - 45% reoffended within one year of their release in the UK

• Reoffending rates vary within the time period after release, age of offender, crime committed and country.

The US, Australia and Denmark regularly recorded rates of 60%.

In Norway, rates are 20% (Yuknenko et al.), and this is significant because Norway places less emphasis on incarceration and greater emphasis on rehabilitation and skills development than elsewhere.

AO3: - Psychological effects

Negative psychological effects on prisoners

Bartol (1995) suggested that for many offenders, imprisonment can be ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating’.

Ministry of Justice a record 119 people killed themselves in prison in England and Wales in 2016.

An increase of 29 (32%) from the previous year (The Guardian 2017).

This equates to an average suicide of one suicide every 3 days - almost nine times higher than in the general population.

Most at risk are young single men during the first 24 hours of confinement.

Prison Reform Trust (2014) conducted a study and found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis (e.g. schizophrenia).

This supports the view that oppressive prison regimes may be detrimental to psychological health, which could impact rehabilitation.

Counterpoint:

The figures in the Prison Reform Trust study above do not include the number of inmates who were experiencing psychotic symptoms before they were incarcerated.

Many of those convicted may have pre-existing psychological and emotional difficulties at the time they were convicted (and this may explain their offending bvr in the first place).

The importation model argues that prisoners may import some of their psychological problems, so we don’t know if this is a problem with the prison regime, or something else, such as trauma of being locked away regardless of what the prison is like

This suggests there may be confounding variables that influence the link between prison and its psychological effects.

AO3: + Training and treatment

Provides opportunity for training and treatment

Offenders may become better people during their time in prison, and their improved character means they may be able to lead a crime-free life when back in society.

Many offenders access education and training whilst in prison, increasing the possibility they will find employment upon release. The Vera Institute of Justice (Shirley 2019) claims that offenders who take part in college education programmes are 43% less likely to reoffend following release, and that prisons that offer these programmes report fewer incidents of violence.

This suggests prison may be a worthwhile experience, assuming offenders are able to access these programmes.

AO3: - school for crime

Offenders may learn to become better offenders

Alongside the legitimate skills that offenders may acquire during their time in prison, they may also undergo a more dubious ‘education’ as part of their sentence.

Incarceration with long-term offenders may give younger inmates in particular the opportunity to learn the ‘tricks of the trade’ from more experienced prisoners.

Offenders may also acquire criminal contacts whilst in prison that they may follow up when they are released.

This form of ‘education’ may undermine attempts to rehabilitate prisoners and consequently may make reoffending more likely.

AO3: The purpose of prison

A recent survey (Onepoll 2015) found that nearly half of the respondents (47%) saw the primary purpose of prison as being to punish the offender for their wrongdoing.

Many saw current prison regimes as ‘too soft’, akin to a ‘holiday camp’ that would not deter existing or would-be offenders.

However, a similar number of respondents (40%) held the view that prison’s main emphasis should be on reform and rehabilitation, that prison should provide access to training and treatment so that offenders can be effectively reintegrated back into society.

Overcrowding and lack of funding were seen as barriers to these.