Criminology 4.1-4.3

Evaluating the of criminological theories in informing policy development

Drug treatment

Alcohol abuse, heroin addiction, managing offender and sex offenders

Alcohol abuse

Alcohol can trigger violent behaviour, Antabuse is used as an aversion therapy - causes hangover symptoms when consuming a small amount of alcohol

Heroin addiction

People commit crime to pay for the drug, Methadone is used to treat addicts as a long-term alternative to heroin and to deal with withdrawal side effects - medically controlled and you receive a daily dose from a pharmacy

Managing offenders

Sedatives and tranquillisers such as Valium and Librium have been used to keep potential violent offenders calm

Sex offenders

Stilbesterol is as form o chemical castration to treat male sex offenders - it is a female hormone that suppresses testosterone to reduce male sex drive

Diet

Gesch et al - supplementing criminals’ diets with vitamins and minerals caused a reduction in anti-social behaviour of up to 37%. Vitamin B3 used to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and those linked to violent behaviour, dietary changes can reduce hyperactivity (no artificial flavourings)

Cost of keeping an offender in prison per year in UK

2021/22 - £46,696 increased since 2015/16 by £11,500

Why may diet be an expensive solution

Vitamins are very expensive, to give vitamins to thousands would be very costly

Could we argue diet only reduces recidivism

For them to be given the vitamins, they have to have offended and been caught so it only prevents/reduces reoffending

Why could diet not be maintained once a person has left prison

Once someone has left, there is no one forcing them to take them. Vitamins are also very expensive, an ex offender may be job less, on benefits or possibly homeless so cannot afford to keep taking them.

Surgery

Surgical castration, lobotomy

Surgical castration

Has been used on sex offenders in Denmark and the USA however there has been mixed results.

Surgical castration Alabama - sex offenders over 32 who have sexually assaulted those under 12, high risk offenders who are a threat to society, paid for by criminals not taxpayers and reduces sexual desires

Lobotomy

A major procedure that involves cutting the connection between the frontal lobes of the brain and thalamus - this has been used to treat schizophrenia and sexually motivated or violent criminals. However, it can have serious side effects and is rarely performed

Crowd control and public order offences

Tear gas may be authorised for use to disperse large crows and rioting - it works by making the individual uncomfortable and potentially causing vomiting, breathing difficulties and disorientation

Is tear gas ethical

It creates harm but is only used as a last resort. Tear gas was used in Ferguson at the BLM protests 2020 but are banned from use in a warzone

Genetics - Eugenics

Linked to the idea that criminals inherit a criminal gene. Eugenicists believed the poor passed on low intelligence, insanity, poverty and criminality which lowered the average intelligence and moral quality of the population

Compulsory sterilisation

Those ‘genetically unfit’ should be prevented from breeding such as criminals, those with mental illness and learning difficulties. This was adopted by several countries including the USA to ‘protect the health of the state’. Other Eugenic policies include forced abortions and restrictions on marriage

Nazi retail purity policies

Most extreme eugenic policies strongly favouring the Aryan race by eliminating those they felt were unfit to breed. 400,000 were sterilised against their will and 70,000 killed under Nazi euthanasia policy. Eugenic policies became the justification for the genocide. 6 million Jews, 1.5 million Gypsies and thousands of others defined as deviant

Eugenics California

Forced sterilisation program, eugenics movement - remove those inferior which was paid for by the state. 60,000 sterilised Americans, not known how many survived in California, 20,308 were sterilised. Those impressed the Nazi party and they asked for eugenics advice

The death penalty

Government sanctions practice where a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for their crimes.

What countries still have the death penalty

China, Iran, Egypt and some states in the USA. Serious crimes such as treason, types of fraud, murder, rape and anything to do with young children is usually the reason for this punishment

Justification for the death penalty

Deterrence - death will make people refrain from committing a heinous crime

Retribution - all guilty people deserve to be punished ‘an eye for an eye’, argue that it brings closure to families as they know the criminal wont be a threat to them

Examples of the death penalty going wrong

14 year old put to death for allegedly killing two white girls, miscarriage of justice, George was innocent and was found out through new evidence and he was exonerated 70 years later. New evidence can consist of CCTV or DNA

Ethics of biological policies

What rights should offenders have over their own bodies, drug addicts who commit crime to pay for their addiction is different from someone committing a crime to cause harm. Treatment such as surgery and drug therapies aren’t ethical where do you draw the line? Should society have the right to impose preventative treatments on someone before they have committed any crimes on the basis of biological predisposition. What if treatments have a risk of side effects. Wrongful conviction. Is it worth the risk in order to protect further potential victims or society from serious criminals

Individualistic theories influence on policy

Psychoanalysis and behaviour modification Freud, operant conditioning, Eysenck

Biological influences on policy

Drug treatments, diet changes, surgery, crowd control and public order offences. Brain injuries, twin studies, adoption studies, biochemical, physiological

Psychoanalysis

Founded by Freud, therapy where patients verbalise their thoughts. Aim is to access the unconscious mind, where repressed trauma is causing ‘criminal’ behaviour. The goal of the therapist is to bring that trauma into the patient’s conscious experience where it can be dealt with directly.

Psychoanalysis video

Addresses the nature of being human, dark thoughts and hidden things. A talking cure, idea of the unconscious, chain of associations, words can bring up unconscious feelings

Psychoanalysis is effective

Shelter (2010) concluded that it works as well as, or is at least equivalent to, other psychotherapy treatments, such as cognitive behavioural therapy. Further evidence supports those view

Psychoanalysis isn’t effective

\-The nature of psychoanalysis creates a power imbalance between therapist and client which could raise ethical issues of abuse as it brings up parts of the unconscious it could also bring up traumatic memories

\-A patient could discover very painful memories that were deliberately repressed which could cause issues of trauma making it an unethical practice - protection from harm

\-High cost and time consuming (could take years) especially expensive in prisons because of the amount of people so would be ineffective and wouldn’t happen

Behavioural modification

This therapy works on the principle that criminals should be trained/taught desirable behaviours and undesirable behaviours should be extinguished.

Token economies

Most effective in institutions where prisoners/patients are monitored 24 hours a day. Links with Skinner’s operant conditioning. Involves: giving a token to prisoners for each act of pro-social or ‘good’ behaviour which reinforces that behaviour to make it more likely to happen in the future. And allowing prisoners to exchange their tokens for a ‘treat’. Those may be extra visiting time or additional money allowance. Positive and negative reinforcement.

How effective are token economies?

Fo & O’Donnell found a buddy system in which adult volunteers reinforced socially acceptable behaviour to a young offender improved the behaviour of serious offenders but was less effective for non-serious young offenders.

Evidence suggests token economies work in the short-term, but the improvements don’t last once the criminal leaves prion (Allyon & Milan)

There have been cases when food or drink have been withheld then used as a reward but this is a human rights issues

Why would token economies be less effective for non-serious offenders

Someone with a non-serious offence may have a shorter sentence so a person may not see the real benefits therefore not do anything good to earn tokens because they will be out soon

Could we argue that token economies does more harm?

They do not exist on the outside so a person may feel frustrated if they do something which once would’ve given them a token but doesn’t because they are on the outside.

Aversion Therapy

This applies Eysenck’s theory to sex offenders, using the ideas that criminals are extrovert and neurotic (they are more resistant to learning through punishment)

How does aversion therapy work?

1. Offenders are asked to think about an unacceptable fantasy
2. They are then given are a strong aversive stimulus e.g. an electric shock or nausea inducing drug
3. The procedure is repeated until the offender associates the deviant arousal with the stimulus

Aversion therapy to treat homosexuality

Aversion therapy has been used to treat homosexuality. It includes electric shocks or vomiting inducing drugs

Pros of aversion therapy

\-Could work for addictions who may cause harm to others

\-If a person gets the sick feeling when they have a drink it may stop their addiction

\-Can help if truly needed

\-Someone may die from their addiction - prevents it

Cons of aversion therapy

\-Ethical issues

\-Time consuming, more effective ways

\-Used for the wrong things that aren’t curable (homosexuality)

\-Cause trauma and anxiety

\-Doesn’t always work

Cognitive therapies and CBT

Emerged from cognitive theories. It aims to change offenders thoughts and attitudes in an attempt to correct thinking errors. Examples: Think First, Aggression replacement training

Think First

Programme which tackles offenders thought and aims to change by teaching problem-solving skills. It addresses thinking behaviour associated with offending through structured exercises designed to teach inter-personal problem solving skills which are applied to aspects of offenders situations, changes mindest.

Strengths of Think First

\-Suitable for repeat offenders and helps them to realise the extent of actions through empathy

\-Research has supported that CBT is useful for repeat offences

\-Less expensive than prison

\-Research shown 30% less likely to be re convicted than those that receive a community punishment

\-Through teaching employment skills, offender may have greater motivation to not re-offend

Limitations of Think first

\-Heavily reliant on offender motivation which some offenders may attend to avoid punishment

\-Not useful for sexual offences or domestic violence offences as these are not crimes which can be reduces through problem solving

Aggression Replacement Training (ART)

A group work programme for people convicted of violent offences. It challenges offenders to accept responsibility for their behaviour. Designed to improve temper and moral reasoning. Social skills training programme which aims to replace anti-social behaviours with desirable pro social behaviour through anger management and moral reasoning

Strengths of ART

\-Has shown some correlation with lower conviction rates and improvement in thinking skills

\-Novaco - can be very effective because when offenders cannot effectively deal with often display it in anti-social ways

Limitations of ART

\-Did not necessarily improve behaviour

\-Studies have also found no impact on crime and limited impact on reoffending

\-Can change thinking but not offended

Formal policies

Official crime prevention strategies such as prison sentences and community orders

Informal policies

Unofficial rules to prevent crime such as rules within a family - grounding, provoked money

Sociological influence on policy

Merton and subculture, Labelling, Left realism, Right realism

Merton’s strain theory provides a basis for crime control and reduction policies. SOciety’s structure could be made more equal by:

Policies to tackle poverty, equal opportunites in school and education in prison

Policies to tackle poverty

Better welfare benefits, wages and job secure would reduce crime by giving everyone a more equal chance of achieving success by legal means

Equal opportunities in school

Treating working class pupils equally would reduce their failure rate making them less likely to suffer status frustration and join delinquent subcultures

Education in prison

Half of UK prisoners have a reading age of 11. Better education in prisons would help inmates gain skills, get a good job and go down a legal route

Sweden welfare state

Sweden are very generous with their welfare state. They have a lower crime rate than the UK to this. Was around 15,000 per 100,000 in 2010-20 but this has decreased since.

Labelling has influenced the development of several crime control policies

Decriminalisation, diversion policies

Decriminalisation

Decriminalising minor offences such as possession of cannabis would mean that fewer people were labelled as criminals as a criminal record could prevent them getting a job.

Diversion policies

These aim to keep an offender out of the CJS by avoiding labelling them as criminals - some are informal like when the police use their discretion not to charge someone, others are more formal like requiring and offender to attend anger management to avoid prosecution

Braithwaite identifies two types of shaming or labelling:

Disintegration and reintegrative

Disintegration shaming

This is when the crime and the criminal are labelled as bad the offender is excluded from society

Reintegrative shaming

This is where the crime but not the offender are labelled - they did a bad thing but are not a bad person - this encourages them back into society. (Stealing from work)

Are labelling policies effective?

Can deal with minor offences such as youth offenders by avoiding labelling young people as criminals this can avoid pushing them onto a deviant career (murder)

Left realist policies

Policies to reduce inequality, democratic policing and multi-agency approach

Policies to reduce inequality

Left realists call for major structural changes to tackle discrimination, inequality and unfair rewards to provide good jobs and housing for all. This would reduce relative deprivation - the main cause of crime. E.g., free school meals, free education till 19, 2010 equality act

Democratic policing

The police are losing public support especially in poorer areas, they become distrusted and then have to use a more military style policing. This creates further loss of cooperation meaning they cannot tackle crime effectively. To win back the public the police must involve communities in decisions about their area by using schemes such as Neighbourhood policing (PCSO) and focussing less on cannabis and more on DV and hate crime.

A multi-agency approach

Left realists argue it needs to be more of a collaborative approach not just the police, education, health, social services, housing and probation can all help to reduce crime. No knives, Better lives - prevention and early intervention and education programme to help youths not choose a violent path

New labour and left realists

New labour used many of the ideas of left realists when implementing policy e.g., Labour introduced a communities that care programme to improve the most deprived areas.

Right realism policies

Situational crime prevention (SCP), Environmental crime prevention

Situational crime prevention

Aims to reduce the opportunities for crime by increasing the risks of committing the crime and reducing the rewards of crime. SCP is based on the rational choice theory: if the punishment outweighs the rewards the offender wont commit the crime. This includes target hardening - such as locking cars and employing security guards to design out crime

Is SCP effective

One problem is that it leads to displacement - if a target is too difficult, they will choose a different target - this may result in the most vulnerable being targeted more as easy targets

Environmental crime prevention

Wilson and Kelling used the broken windows thesis to argue that an area with vandalism and litter sends out a message that nobody cares - offenders start off with low level crimes and spiral as they don’t get caught. They argue for an environmental improvement strategy and a zero tolerance policing strategy - police should tackle quality of life offences such as aggressive begging, vandalism and prostitution.

Is zero tolerance effective

Crime fell in New York after ZTP was introduced, this could also reduce youth crime, it can lead to military policing which in turn leads to poor relations with the police. This also fails to acknowledge the structural causes of crime.

Disaplacment

A crime or act moving changes offenders make so they can continue to offend when faced with reduced opportunities.

Why is zero tolerance costly?

It relies on money for sentencing, prisons etc. It is a strategy that aims to reduce minor offences and more serious crimes through relentless order maintenance and aggressive law enforcement. Even minor offences will experience this type of law enforcement so will be expensive

Right realism policies

Incapacitation and deterrence

Incapacitation

Criminal sentencing, prison, capital punishment to protect the public - taking freedom, could offend inside. Prison can be said to work temporarily - offenders cant commit crime against the public when they are in jail. However, they may offend against other inmates and staff.

Deterrence

The action of discouraging an action or event through initiation the fear of consequences. Put in place to stop someone from doing something

Penal populism

Politicians believed tough penalties were popular with the public. Has led to rising prison numbers from 45,000 in 1993 to UK imprisons a bigger proportion of their population than any other European country.

Crime sentences act

1997 conservatives brought in the act which introduced mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders. Brought in provisions which include obligations minimum sentences for serious offenders and for drug trafficking. Mandatory life sentence for second serious offenders

ASBOS and curfews

Anti-Social behaviour order. Can be used to stop anyone over 10 from harassing, causing alarm or distress to other people who aren’t in the same household. An order can be issued for at least 2 years and lists what they must stop doing. Replaced by civil injunctions and criminal behaviour orders in 2014

Rehabilitation

One function is to rehabilitate but overcrowding and budget cuts mean that prisoners don’t get the opportunity to access educational and treatment programmes

Recidivism

Imprisonment is ineffective in preventing recidivism (repeat offending) 48% of adults are re-convicted within a year of release.

Social values, norms and mores

All aspects of culture that regulate people’s behaviour

Values

General principles, beliefs or guidelines about how we should live our lives. They tell us what is right and wrong, good and bad.

Norms

Specific rules or socially accepted standards about how we are expected to behave in specific situations. Can be informal rules or formal.

Mores

Very basic essential norms that society sees as vital for maintaining standards of decency and civilised behaviour. Mores are society’s more important rules. Taking another human life is wrong in all societies. Going against society’s mores is likely to be severely punished.

Why do laws change with social changes

Social values, norms and mores have all changed over time. Resulting in changes to law or policy

Public perception of crime (Smoking) 2000-present

\-Anti smoking campaigns (ASH - action on smoking and health)

\-Campaigns have led to new legislation e.g., the Health Act 2006 which banned smoking in enclosed public and work spaces; the Children and Family Act 2014 prohibited smoking in vehicles when children were present

Public perception of crime (Smoking) 1950s

\-Mid 1960a research in the surgeon general’s report was published confirming the link between smoking and lung cancer

\-Growing concerns about the danger of smoking eventually led to the disappearance of doctors from cigarette adverts

Public perception of crime (Smoking) 1930s

\-Was normal and fashionable

\-Smoking was glamourised and encouraged even by doctors

\-Film stars would smoking in films, you could smoke indoors, restaurants, cars and beside children

Public perception of crime - (Drink driving) 1925

The first law passed making drink driving while drunk an offence. However, there was no clear definition of ‘drunk’. Governments didn’t collect data on a number of deaths by drink driving

Public perception of crime - (Drink driving) 1951-71

Ownership of cars increased from 15% per household in 1951 to 55% by 1971. This resulted in more deaths so public perceptions of drink driving began to change

Public perception of crime - (Drink driving) 1967

From 1966 all new cars had to be fitted with seatbelts. 1967 Road Safety Act - made it an offence to drive a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of over 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. Breathalyser introduced in 1967

Public perception of crime - (Drink driving) 1983

High Risk Offender Scheme - specifically aimed at convicted drink drivers who may have a drinking problem, offenders licences only returned if they can convince a court they have overcome or don’t have a drinking problem

Drink driving penalties UK

Fine, imprisonment and driving ban depending on severity

Cultural changes and LGBT rights

Being homosexual is now socially acceptable in our society, but the fight for equality has arguably been one of the most dramatic cultural changes in public opinion. Reasons: cultural, society's structure changing, society is less relgious (people don’t fear God)

Cultural changes and LGBT rights 1950s

Wolfenden Report

Cultural changes and LGBT rights 1980s

First UK Aids case / Stonewall UK

Cultural changes and LGBT rights 1990s

The Bolton Seven

Cultural changes and LGBT rights 2000s

Civil partnerships act, Gender recognition act and equal rights for adoption