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.

Aims of Custodial Sentencing: Deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation

Deterrence: Works on two levels, general deterrence and individual deterrence. This is based on the behaviourist idea of conditioning through vicarious punishment.

General Deterrence: Aims to send a broad message to members of a given society that crime will not be tolerated.

Individual Deterrence: Should prevent the individual from repeating the same offences in light of their experience.

Incapacitation: The offender is taken out of society to prevent them reoffending as a means of protecting the public, this need is likely dependent on the severity of the offence and the nature of the offender.

Retribution: An ‘eye for an eye’ approach in which society enacts revenge for the offence by making the offender suffer, and the level of suffering should be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence.

Rehabilitation: Upon release, offenders should leave prison better adjusted and ready to take their place back in society and so prison should provide opportunities to develop skills and training or to access treatment programmes as well as give the offender the chance to reflect on their offence.

Stress and Depression as a Result of Custodial Sentencing: Suicide rates are considerably higher in prison than in the general population, as are incident of self-mutilation and self-harm. The stress of the prison experience also increases the risk of developing psychological disorders following release.

Institutionalisation as a Result of Custodial Sentencing: Having adapted to the norms and routines of prison life, inmates may become so accustomed to these that they are no longer able to function on the outside.

Prisonisation: Refers to the way in which prisoners are socialised into adopting and ‘inmate code’. Behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of the institution.

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.

Recidivism Rates in the UK: Reoffending rates in the UK have been reported as 45% in recent years, based on Ministry of Justice Figures.

Recidivism Rates in the US, Australia and Denmark: Regularly record rates in excess of 60%

Recidivism Rates in Norway: Rates may be as low as 20% which is significant because in Norway, there is less emphasis on incarceration and greater emphasis on rehabilitation and skills development.

Psychological Effects: Bartol (1995) suggested that imprisonment can be ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devestating’. According to the Ministry of Justice, 119 people killed themselves in prison in England and Wales in 2016 (one every three days), which is almost nine times higher than in the general population. Most at risk are young single men during the first 24 hours of confinement and 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis.

Training and Treatment: One objective of imprisonment is rehabilitation and many offenders access education and training whilst in prison increasing the possibility they will find employment upon release. The Vera Institute of Justice claims that offenders who take part in college education programmes are 43% less likely to reoffend following release, and that prisons who offer these programmes report fewer incidents of violence.

School for Crime: Offenders may 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