3006ccj punishment justice and reform assessment 1 short response covering content week 1-4. PDF

Preview

Summary

Learning Outcomes Assessed: 1,2,3,4
QUESTION 1: Describe the principle of incapacitation. Explain the differences between collective and selective incapacitation.

QUESTION 2: Stanley Cohen coined terms such as ‘dispersal of discipline’ and ‘net widening’. Whose work did Cohen buil...

Description

QUESTION 1: Describe the principle of incapacitation. Explain the differences between collective and selective incapacitation. Incapacitation aims to revoke an individual’s ability to partake in criminal or other deviant behaviour by removing or reducing the physical capacity of the offender. This in turns ensures that community members are protected from certain offenders who pose a threat to their welfare and safety. Incapacitation is not limited to just imprisonment but any form of punishment which includes restriction of movement of the person such as house arrests. The two main types of incapacitation are collective and selective incapacitation. Collective incapacitation is where all people receive the same sentence regardless of specifics of the crime, whereas selective incapacitation seeks to identify offenders who pose as the greatest risk of reoffending are individualised sentences are passed based on the predicted likelihood of criminal activity.

QUESTION 2: Stanley Cohen coined terms such as ‘dispersal of discipline’ and ‘net widening’. Whose work did Cohen build upon? Describe and apply what Cohen meant by ‘dispersal of discipline’ and ‘net widening’. Cohen built upon the works of Foucault and coined the terms dispersal of discipline and net widening. Foucault focused on how power is used and how individuals are governed in the modern world. He focused on how prison is used to hold power and Cohen built on this by forming the idea that control should be prevalent outside of the prison. Dispersal of discipline is how control mechanisms are spread from the prison into the community and penetrate into the social norms. Net widening on the other hand refers to increasing the use of the criminal justice system and making it harder for people to leave the system as control has been dispersed out into the community. This decreases freedom for offenders and more people would be under control for the greater proportion of their lives.

QUESTION 3: Discuss how Durkheim and Marxist theorists differ in their views of punishment and sentencing practices. Emile Durkheim saw punishment as being symbolic; its function was to show what social principles are values and upheld by society whereas Karl Marx saw that rather than being representative of society, punishment was used to maintain state power and the ideals of the ruling class. Durkheim and Marx both recognised that for society to function efficiently, social order is needed however there were numerous differences in their views of punishment. Durkheim believed in the collective conscience where society as a whole decides what values are important and should be punishable, however Marx believed in the power of the bourgeoisie and saw that they were the ones with the power to pose punishments based on their ideals rather than considering the values of all classes. QUESTION 4: In Queensland, individuals can get an on-the-spot fine of $1,378 for breaching COVID restrictions. Define three different penological principles and explain how each can justify this punishment. The three penological principles that can justify this punishment are deterrence, denunciation, and retribution. Deterrence aims to stop the offender from reoffending and to show others the

outcomes of offending. With general deterrence, others witnessing someone else being fined on the spot for breaking covid restriction would be deterred from committing the same crime. With specific deterrence, the punishment itself would be sufficiently severe that the offender would be deterred from re-offending. Denunciation aims to demonstrates the disapproval of an act to society and the focus is not on the offender, but rather aims to deter law abiding citizens. Denunciations would justify this punishment as offenders are immediately being fined which shows that breaching covid restrictions is highly disapproved of and that anyone can be fined for doing the same thing. Finally, retribution is defined as the act of punishing someone for their actions, an eye for an eye. Ergo, retribution justifies this punishment as it is enacting a punishment on someone for breaking covid restrictions. QUESTION 5: Identify the author associated with the idea of “risk society”. Explain what is meant by “risk society”, including specific reference to punishment/sentencing practices. Ulrich Beck coined the term and concept of ‘risky society’ which was a systematic way of dealing with hazards introduced by modernisation. Beck saw that the category of risk consumes and transforms everything and obeys the all or nothing law; if someone represents a risk, all their other features disappear, and they become defined by this risk. Beck was focused on coping with the present, to ensure that the future would be okay. The specific sentencing practice for risk is actuarial sentencing which reconstructed the individual as risk objects. Actuarial justice seeks to managing the risk that’s offenders represent with different institutional paths for different categories of offenders depending on the risk they pose. It estimates and prevents upcoming behaviours rather than sanctioning the past like incapacitation....