The major goal of the Australian prison at the beginning of the 20th century was the removal of lawbreakers from their activities in society (King, 2001). The Australian legal system relies on deterrence (Carl et al, 2011, p. 119), that is, a system that has two key assumptions: (i) specific punishments imposed on offenders will ‘deter’ or prevent them from committing further crimes (ii) the fear of punishment will prevent others from committing similar crimes (Carl et al, 2011, p. 119). However it is not always the case that deterrence is successful as people commit crime without concern for punishment, thinking that they will get away with the crime committed (Jacob, 2011). Economists argue that crime is a result of individuals making choices …show more content…
But as will be discussed, there are major flaws in the Australian criminal justice system with issues focussing on three main concerns: (i) lenient sentencing in the criminal justice system particularly with white-collar and blue-collar crimes (i) recidivism and lack of support for offenders (iii) public safety concerns. This essay will examine issues with the Australian prison system, and explore the punishment of shaming and if it is an effective method in preventing general and specific deterrence using sociological frameworks and theories.
Carl et al. (2011, p. 119) suggests that there are two primary models as to how laws were created (i) the consensus (ii) conflict models. While the consensus model of law suggests that laws arise when people witness behaviours that they do not approve of, therefore agreeing to make that behaviour illegal (Carl et al., 2011, p. 119). The conflict model
There is a common knowledge that capital punishment would prevent people from committing crime. But until now, there has not been any actual statistics or scientific researches that prove the relationship between the capital punishment and the rate of crimes. According to Jack Weil, “criminals, who believe that their chances of going to jail are slight, will in all probability also assume that their chances of being executed are equally slight. Their attitude that crime pays will in no way be altered” (3). Most people commit a crime when they are affected by the influence of drugs, alcohol or even overwhelmed emotions, so they cannot think logically about they would pay back by their lives. Also, when criminal plan to do their crime, they prepare and expect to escape instead of being caught. Some people believe that the threat of severe punishment could bring the crime rates down and that capital punishment is the ultimate crime deterrent. However, in fact, the rate of ...
This paper will be focusing on the courts as the specific sub-system in the criminal justice system. As said in the book the court system is responsible for charging criminal suspects, carrying out trials, and sentencing a person convicted of a crime. The fear of crime influences criminal justice policies in the court system. One way it does this is with the courts sentencing. Courts are able to give out severe punishments as a method of deterrence. This specific type of deterrence would be general deterrence. The book says that general deterrence theory should work if the punishment is clear, severe, and done swiftly. According to this theory, crime rate should drop because people will fear the punishment. The other way fear of crime influences
Throughout history, it has become very clear that the tough on crime model just does not work. As stated by Drago & Galbiati et al. In their article: Prison Conditions and Recidivism, although it is...
...ystem and are seen as a credible sentencing option because of the restorative and rehabilitative effect it has on offenders by allowing them the opportunity to give something back to the community and providing them with education and work experience. There is a lack of evidence to suggest that rehabilitation is neither an effective or non-effective sanction. The use of probation as a stand-alone sanction has decreased over the years with probation now being combined with more severe sentences. When combined with rehabilitative programs probation reduced crime outcomes by 16.7%. The common perception of the general public is that increasing the severity of sentencing will reduce crime, however empirical evidence suggest that this is not the appropriate response. Public dissatisfaction with sentencing in Tasmania is often due to a lack of knowledge and understanding.
Abel Magwitch was one of the two acquitted criminals in Dickens' Great Expectations. The convicts in this novel were sent to either Newgate prison or shipped to Australia where they were placed in penal settlements. Magwitch was sent to New South Wales for his connections with Compeyson (the other convict) and was sentenced on felony charges of swindling and forgery. Convicts sent to penal settlements suffered the same abuse that slaves were exposed to. The difference lies in the fact that these men and women were in these settlements because of crimes committed such as pickpocketing and murder. Such settlements were New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, Devil's Island, and Botany Bay, to name a few. In fact, "Botany Bay meant convicts and was looked upon merely as the fit receptacle of national crime" (Inglis 4). Convicts were sent to these settlements as a way to curb the number of felons in the British Isles. Settlements created a place to live and work in order to change or correct the character of the convict. During the nineteenth century, convicts made up most of the population of Australia with a mere fraction of actual free emigrants. The Australian penal settlements helped to develop a new penal theory as well as different view of Australia. By looking at the journey of the convicts, their service, jobs, authorities, punishment, and freedom, we will be able to understand the complicated theory of penal ideas and the plight of Magwitch, Pip's convict.
John Howard was an English high sheriff who was so appalled by jail conditions that he undertook a crusade to improve places of detention. He found no separation of women and men, of felons from misdemeanants, boys from adults, or debtors from murderers. Many prisoners were forced to pay for their food, bedding, and other services. Undersheriffs took bribes, favors, and profits often detrimental to prisoners. The prisons had no running water and dust and straw on the floors.
In more recent years, numbers of the UK prison population have been on the rise – less serious crimes have been more severely punished - whereas the number of financial penalties issued to offenders have been falling (Cavadino & Dignan, 2013). In 1975, approximately 40.000 people were imprisoned, that number has risen to 83.842 in 2013 (Berman & Dar, 2013). The prison population more than doubled in that time, whereas the overall population merely grew with 14% (World Bank, n.d.), thus, the relative growth of the prison population is significantly disproportional.
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
Throughout history into today, there have been many problems with our prison system. Prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, rape rates are off the charts, and we as Americans have no idea how to fix it. We need to have shorter sentences and try to rehabilitate prisoners back to where they can function in society. Many prisoners barely have a high school education and do not receive further education in jail. Guards need to pay more attention to the well being of the inmates and start to notice signs of abuse and address them. These are just a few of the many problems in our prison systems that need to be addressed.
The general public of Australia has a common aspect when associated with their sources of knowledge of crime. Many would agree the media, especially newspapers and television, are their most frequent and well known source of crime activity. The media updates society with data about the extent, frequency and types of crimes committed (Moston and Coventry, 2011, p.53). Studies highlight our grasp of crime is majorly derived from the media, with a lack of exposure to police statistics or victimisation surveys. There is a concern in correlation to this fact since the media has inconsistency and inaccuracy in reporting crime. Due to this, the media can misrepresent victims and perpetrators, downsizing them to recognisable stereotypes (Moston and
During the 1970s, the top argument in favor of the death penalty was general deterrence. This argument suggests that we must punish offenders to discourage others from committing similar offenses; we punish past offenders to send a message to potential offenders. In a broad sense, the deterrent effect of punishment is thought to b...
The proliferation of harsh mandatory sentencing policies has inhibited the ability of courts to sentence offenders in a way that permits a more "problem solving" approach to crime, as we can see in the most recent community policing and drug court movements today. By eliminating any consideration of the factors contributing to crime and a range of responses, such sentencing policies fail to provide justice for all. Given the cutbacks in prison programming and rates of recidivism, in some cases over 60% or more, the increased use of incarceration in many respects represents a commitment to policies that are both ineffective and unfair. I believe in equal, fair and measured punishment for all. I don't advocate a soft, or a hard approach to punishment. But we must take a more pragmatic look at what the consequences of our actions are when we close our e...
As the current prison structures and sentencing process continues to neglect the issues that current offenders have no change will accrue to prevent recidivism. The issue with the current structure of the prison sentencing process is it does not deal with the “why” the individual is an social deviant but only looks at the punishment process to remove the deviant from society. This method does not allow an offender to return back to society without continuing where they left off. As an offender is punished they are sentenced (removal from society) they continue in an isolated environment (prison) after their punishment time is completed and are released back to society they are now an outsider to the rapidly changing social environment. These individuals are returned to society without any coping skills, job training, or transitional training which will prevent them from continuing down th...
Weatherburn, D., and Indermaur, D. (2004) ‘Public perceptions of crime trends in New South Wales and Western Australia’, Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice, 80: 1-8
However Wilson (2007) argues that formal methods of social control such as the criminal justice system are merely there to control and segregate delinquents and offenders who have not had adequate socialisation, which is where social mores are learnt and when conformity is produced, and that an alternative form of social control such as restorative justice might produce more effective results. The concept of restorative justice was heavily shaped by the work of John Braithwaite (1989) who in turn was inspired by indigenous practices in New Zealand and Australia, whereby the significance of family values was recognised and introduced into criminal and restorative proceedings in helping the offender be reinstated within society (Newburn, 2007).... ... middle of paper ... ...