1. Crime control, punishment and
victims.

2. Last Lesson Recap
1. Using your notes create a
mindmap/diagram that will help
consolidate knowledge on
Globalisation, Green Crime & State
Crime
2. Quick Check Questions
Page 135

3. Lesson Objectives
• Understand and be able to evaluate a range of
crime prevention and control strategies
• Understand and be able to evaluate different
perspectives on punishment
• Know the main trends in sentencing and
understand their significance
• Know the main patterns of victimisation and
be able to evaluate sociological perspectives
on victimisation

4. Crime prevention Activity
• Have you or your family taken any crime prevention
measures or precautions in the last year? For example, are
you careful in the way you use your mobile phone?
• Have you been reluctant to go out at night alone? Do you
ever carry any pepper spray/ whistle/ alarm? Is your home
alarmed?
• Do you have locks on windows and security lights? If you
drive, have you stopped leaving items inside your car when
it is parked?
• Design a questionnaire and carry out a small survey
amongst your fellow students to assess how widespread
these precautions are in your locality.

5. Situational crime prevention
• Ron Clarke ( 1992) argues for a pre-emptive
approach which looks at reducing opportunities
for crime.
• He identifies 3 features of measures aimed at
situational crime prevention: 1. They are directed
at specific crimes, 2. They involve
managing/altering immediate environment of
the crime and 3. They aim at increasing the effort
and risks of committing crime and reducing
rewards

6. • As a right realist he believes target hardening
(locking doors and windows) and more
CCTV/security will increase the risk of being
caught and lower the rewards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIGUVu3x0kQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfuMEGMersE&feature=related
• Underlying SCP is rational choice theory (what is
this?)
• Clarke suggests most theories offer no
realistic solution. Most crime is opportunistic
so we need to reduce the opportunities
Read bottom pg 137 and how SCP worked at NYC bus terminal (Felson)

7. Evaluation
• SCP works to an extent in reducing certain kinds of crime,
however with most measures there is likely to be
displacement
• Over focuses on opportunistic petty street crime & ignores
white collar, corporate and state crime (costly & harmful)
• Assumes criminals make rational calculations, this is unlikely
in many crimes of violence and drug/alcohol fuelled crimes
• Ignores root of crime e.g. poverty or poor socialisation.
Making it difficult to develop long term strategies for crime
reduction
• CCTV operators focus disproportionately on young males.
Feminists suggest CCTV is an extension of male gaze and is
part of the problem not a solution

8. Environmental Crime Prevention
• Wilson & Kelling argue that ‘broken windows’
(signs of disorder e.g. graffiti, begging,
littering, vandalism) that are not dealt with
send out a signal that no-one cares,
encouraging a spiral of decline.
• An absence of formal social control (police)
and informal control (community) means
members of the community feel powerless
and intimidated

9. This is what I
call a perfect
neighbourhood
• Well-maintained areas
• Low crime rates
• Feel apart of society
• Less likely to offend
Wilson and Kelling (1982)
Wilson and Kelling (1982)

10. Oh my! W
ha t
world com is this
ing to, I
don’t feel
safe
anymore!
• No social control
• Loose their sense of belonging
• Increase in crime
• Damaged society
Wilson and Kelling (1982)
Wilson and Kelling (1982)

11. Etzioni (1993)
Etzioni (1993)

12. • The solution is to crack down on any disorder
using 2 strategies:
1.environmental improvement strategy- repair
any broken window immediately, tow
abandoned cars without delay
2.Zero tolerance policing- instead of reacting to
crime, police must pro actively tackle even the
slightest sign of disorder even if not criminal.
Halting neighbourhood crime and preventing
serious crime taking root

13. Social & Community Crime Prevention
• Rather than emphasising policing, these strategies
emphasise dealing with the social conditions that
predispose some individuals to future crime.
• Longer term strategies since they attempt to tackle
root cause of offending rather than removing
opportunities for crime.
• As poverty is cause of crime, general social policies
have crime prevention role e.g. Full employment
policies are likely to reduce crime as a ‘side effect’
Read about the Perry pre- school project (pg 139)

14. Social & Community Crime Prevention
• Rather than emphasising policing, these strategies
Additional Policies:
emphasise dealing with the social conditions that
• Educational Programmes to future crime.
predispose some individuals aimed at improving
educational success in inner city comps & reducing
• Longer term strategies sinceyear olds leaving schooltackle
exclusions and number of 16 they attempt to
root cause of offending rather than removing
with no qualifications
• Min pay legislation- people paid fair wage and not
opportunities for crime.
tempted to become welfare dependent
• As poverty is cause wealth and income inequalities policies
• Reduction in of crime, general social
have crime prevention role e.g.urban communities
• Economic investment in poorer Full employment
policies areto createto reduce crime Stratford effect’
likely jobs e.g. Westfield's as a ‘side
Read about the Perry pre- school project (pg 139)

15. • These approaches (SCP, ECP and S&CCP) take for
granted the nature and definition of crime.
• They focus on low level &/or interpersonal crimes of
violence (disregard crimes of powerful &
environmental)
• Definition of ‘crime problem’ reflects priorities of
politicians and agencies tasked with crime
prevention
• Results suggest crime strategies do not take into
consideration all crimes e.g. environmental crime
which is harmful to health of local communities

16. Recap Questions
• What is SCP?
• What criticisms exist of SCP techniques?
• What is ECP based on?
• How is ECP implemented?
• S&CCP emphasises dealing with social
conditions that predispose people to crime.
What ways do they suggest in order to tackle
the problem?

17. Victims of Crime

20. • Victim: those who have suffered harm (inc mental,
physical or emotional suffering, economic loss and
impairment of basic rights)
• Christie (1986): Victim is a concept like crime that
is socially constructed, who is and isn’t a victim
changes depending on the context.
• Stereotype of ‘ideal victim’ favoured by media,
public & CJS is a weak, innocent and blameless
victim e.g. child, old woman
• Important to study victimology- they provide most
of the evidence used in detection of offenders and
act as witnesses. Two approaches (positivist &
critical)

25. Positivist Victimology
• Focuses on interpersonal crimes
• It tries to identify why certain people are
victims of crimes.
• Aims to identify patterns of victimisation
• Early work focused on victim proneness
meaning finding social and psychological
characteristics that made them more
vulnerable than non-victims e.g. female,
elderly, lower intelligence. Implication is that
in some way ‘invite’ victimisation

26. • Victim Precipitation- Wolfgang’s study of
homicides found that in 26% of cases the
victim triggered the events leading to murder
e.g. by using violence first
AO2:
• Wolfgang shows importance of victim-offender relationship (in
many homicides matter of chance which party becomes the victim)
• Ignores wider structural factors influencing victimisation e.g.
poverty & patriarchy
• It’s close to being victim blaming (linked to rape & victim asking
for it)
• Ignores situations where victims are unaware of victimisation e.g.
environmental or where harm is done but now law broken

27. Critical Victimology
• Based on Marxism and Feminism it wants to highlight
structural factors like poverty or patriarchy which put
the powerless at greater risk of being a victim.
• Victimisation is a form of structural powerlessness
• Through the CJS the state applies the label of victim to
some but withholds it from others e.g. when police fail
to press charges against a man for assaulting his wife,
she is denied victim status
• Tombs & Whyte (2007) show that employers violations
of the law leading to death or injury to workers are often
explained away as the fault of accident prone workers

28. Evaluation
• Disregards the role victims may play in
bringing victimisation on themselves e.g. not
making their homes secure
• It is valuable in drawing attention to the way
the ‘victim’ status is constructed by power and
how this benefits the powerful at the expense
of the powerless

29. Patterns & The impact of Victimisation
• The average chance of an individual being the
victim of a crime in any one year is about 1 in 4,
this risk is unevenly distributed between social
groups
1. Predict what you think will be the trends in
victimisation and age, class, ethnicity and gender
2. Compare your predictions to page 144 and
summarise the stats
3. Read through the impact of victimisation and
summarise

30. Class Patterns of victimisation Ethnicity
The poorest groups are Minority ethnic
most likely to be victims of Age groups most at risk of
all crimes. Homeless people Younger people are most at all crimes. Ethnic
are 12 times more likely to risk of crimes like assault, minorities most likely
experience violence than theft, sexual harassment. to feel under-
the general population. Infants under one are at protected yet over
most risk of being murdered. controlled.
Women who have been
raped but whose cases Gender
have failed in court are Victimology: The study Males most at risk of
also victims of the legal of victims violent attacks especially
by strangers. 70% of
system.
homicide victims are
The impact of victimisation male.
Fear
The media has a large Research has found that a variety of
part to play when stirring effects such as disrupted sleep, Repeat victims
up fear but statistically feelings of helplessness, increased Once you have been a victim
speaking men are more security-consciousness and difficulties once you are very likely to be
likely to be victims of in socialising. Crime can also create again. Suggests people were
violence yet some women fear in communities, these are victims for a reason, perhaps
fear going out late at referred to as indirect victims. even targeted.
night.

31. Quick Check Questions pg 145
Q1, 2 and 3

32. Punishment

33. Prison – key facts
8.75 million people in prisons across the
world.
 The U.S has the highest prison population
compared with population
The U.K has the highest prison population in
Europe.

34. • There are different justifications for punishment
and they link to different penal policies.
• Deterrence- punishment may prevent future
crime from fear of further punishment
• Rehabilitation- Reforming/re-educating
offenders so they no longer offend e.g. anger
management
• Incapacitation- Removing the offenders capacity
to re-offend e.g. execution/imprisonment/cutting
off hands
• Retribution- The ideas that the society is entitled
to take revenge for the offender having breached
its moral code (expresses societies outrage)

35. Functionalism & Punishment
(Durkheim)
• Function of punishment is to uphold social
solidarity and reinforce shared values by
expressing society’s moral outrage at the
offence
• Through use of public trials and punishment,
society's shared values are reaffirmed & its
members come to a sense of moral unity
• There are two types of justice; retributive and
restitutive

36. 1. Retributive Justice- Traditional society has a
strong collective conscience, so punishment
is severe and vengeful
2. Restitutive Justice- In modern society there
is extensive interdependence between
individuals. Crime damages this and the
function of justice should be to repair the
damage e.g. through compensation
AO2: Durkheim’s view is too simplistic; traditional societies
often have restitutive rather than retributive justice e.g.
blood feuds settled by compensation rather than execution

37. Repressive State Apparatuses
• Those systems and structures in a society that control the relations of
production through mainly repressive, physical means. Althusser claims
that these structures are necessary (in conjunction with ISA e.g. media,
family, religion) to maintain the reproduction of the relations of
production, or in other words, to keep the labourers labouring for the
State and the bourgeoisie society.
• The RSAs include the following: government (including administration at
all levels),
• police,
• courts,
• prisons,
• the military, etc.
They argue that harsh punishments are part of the Repressive State
Apparatuses (RSA) which keep the working class in their place

38. Marxism: Capitalism & Punishment
• Interested in how punishment is related to the
nature of class society and how it serves the ruling-
class interests
• Function of punishment is to maintain existing social
order (Repressive State Apparatuses)
• It’s a means of defending ruling class property
against lower classes
• The form of punishment reflects the economic base
of society (money fines impossible without a money
economy)

39. • Under capitalism imprisonment becomes the
dominant punishment because in the
capitalist economy, time is money and
offenders ‘pay’ by ‘doing time’ (repay debt to
society)
• Prison & capitalist factory have similar strict
disciplinary styles involving subordination and
loss of liberty

40. Box 2.3
Page 141
What differences appear between these two
descriptions?

41. The Birth of The Prison
• Sovereign power – punishment before the
19th century were a public spectacleare under surveillance
We with
all the time: CCTV, our
hangings and stockades, its was a way of ID cards…
loyalty cards,
Prisons are a metaphor
forasserting the monarchs power over its prisoners.
we’re all becoming
how all of us are
controlled and watched
bycitizens.
those in power.
• Disciplinary power – punishment after 19th
century was not just about governance over
the body but the mind or soul, this is done
through surveillance – Panopticon (pg 141)

42. AO2:
• Foucault's claims of a shift from corporal punishment to
imprisonment is over simplistic
• He exaggerates the extent of control (e.g. even psychiatric
patients can resist control)

43. Trends in Punishment
1. Read through Imprisonment Today
and summarise what is suggested
about the changing role of prisons (pg
141)
2. Also make a brief note of the era of
mass incarceration (maybe jot down
some statistics)

44. 2. Transcarceration- trend towards this
(moving people between different prison like institutions in
their lives) e.g.
brought up in care, young
offenders institute then adult prison
• It is a product of the blurring of
boundaries between CJS and welfare
agencies e.g. social services, health &
housing are increasingly being given a
crime control role (engage in multi agency working
with police)

45. 3. Alternatives to Prison-
• In the past goal of dealing with young offenders was
‘diversion’ – diverting away from CJS to avoid risk of SFP
turning them into serious criminals. Focus was on welfare
& treatment using non custodial community based controls
• Recently there has been a growth in the range of
community based controls e.g. curfews, community service
orders, tagging
• Cohen argues that this has simply cast the net of control
over more people....increased range of sanctions enables
control to penetrate ever deeper into society
• Rather than diverting young people away from the CJS
community controls divert them into it e.g. ASBO’s fast
track way into custodial sentences

46. Quick Check Questions pg 145
Q4- 8