Effects of punishment on recidivism

Recidivism is an unusual word, which you may not have come across before. It means the rate at which criminals reoffend. So, someone who has been convicted of a crime and then punished for it but still goes out and commits another crime would be referred to as a recidivist.

Recidivism is linked to the ways in which people are punished for the crimes that they commit, raising questions about how effective punishments are if rates of recidivism increase in spite of punishment or if they decrease because rehabilitation has been successful.

Prison

Prison is seen as punishment for a serious crime because when subjected to this, a person has their civil liberties removed for a time determined by a court of law. The period of detention in prison (also referred to as custody) is determined by the type of crime which has been committed, with the more serious crimes resulting in longer prison sentences.

Prison is a form of operant conditioning (a positive punishment), as it serves as a punishment with the idea that it will be a deterrent from committing crimes in the future. Prison is also thought to act as a deterrent for would-be offenders and therefore is also a negative punishment, as people will avoid prison by not breaking laws.

It is argued by some, however, that some people will deliberately break laws in order to be sent to prison as it is preferable to their life ‘outside’ as it has stability and routine, which they may otherwise lack. For these kinds of people, prison is therefore a positive reinforcement, as the stability and friendship that prison provides acts as a reward.

Strengths and weaknesses of prison as a deterrent to reoffending

• One strength of prisons is that they remove potentially dangerous people out of society and therefore reduce the risk to other people and that the person will commit another crime
• Prison is seen as a way of maintaining public order, which is also seen as positive, as people are reassured by this
• Prison, however, does not always reduce rates of recidivism, as up to 25% of people who are released are thought to go on to reoffend at some point in the future – this questions the effectiveness of prison as a punishment
• Another weakness of prisons is that people are exposed to similar role models whilst serving sentences; these role models may encourage other prisoners to break rules within the prison and reward them for doing this, which does not serve as a rehabilitative process
• After someone has been in prison, they may find it difficult to find work due to their criminal record. This is a weakness because they may simply turn back to crime in order to fulfil basic needs
• Humanitarians argue that it is immoral to imprison people and lock them up for most of the day, stating that rehabilitation is a much better option
• Some people who have mental health issues may be put into prison instead of hospital due to a lack of understanding about their condition. This is not helpful to them in their recovery and may actually make their condition worse.

Community sentencing

Community sentencing is an alternative to prison, when someone has committed a crime but has to do community service as a form of punishment instead. This is more common for people who have committed minor offences, when a first offence is committed or when a court decides that prison would not be an appropriate option. The following activities are often carried out by people who are doing community service and these are voluntary and unpaid:

• Litter picking on streets and roads
• Painting of public buildings
• Gardening
• Giving talks to others about the dangers of criminal activities

Community service is thought to be a form of ‘payback’ to the community by the person who has, in some way, ‘damaged’ their community either literally or by their behaviour in some other way. It may be enforced on its own or with a fine or a curfew.

 A curfew means that someone may be restricted from certain places or from going out between certain times. If the curfew is breached or if the individual does not complete their community service tasks, they are likely to be imprisoned

Strengths and weaknesses of community service as a deterrent to reoffending

• Offenders are given a chance to show that they can change their behaviour in order to avoid a custodial sentence, which is a strength because it gives something back to the community and avoids prison, which may have a devastating effect on their ability to lead a ‘normal’ life afterwards
• Another strength is that people avoid the influence of others in prison who would have committed far more serious crimes and who may end up becoming negative role models
• Critics of community service argue that it is a ‘soft’ punishment, which ‘lets people off the hook’. Recidivism rates after community service are as high as 30%, which questions its effectiveness as a punishment
• Although crimes may be less serious, another weakness of community service is that people are still criminals and they may be able to continue with criminal activity despite a curfew as they are not removed from society
• Many offenders simply do not complete their community service and, unless found, they then go unpunished for their crimes.

Restorative justice

Restorative justice is a process where offenders meet up or communicate with their victims or people who have been affected by their crimes, for example a burglar coming face to face with the people whose house they broke into.

The idea of this practice is that both offender and those affected are helped; the offender can see first-hand the effects of their crime and possibly make them reconsider such behaviour in the future and those affected are able to let the offender know exactly how they were affected by the criminal actions.

The environment in which such interactions take place must be neutral and safe as this can, initially at least, be a very distressing experience for all involved. It can take place in schools, workplaces, hospitals and within the criminal justice system.

Strengths and weaknesses of restorative justice as a deterrent to reoffending

• A strength of this practice is that 85% of people affected by crime are thought to be happy with the way in which they were able to interact with the perpetrator of the crime which affected them
• Another strength is that the offender is able to see first-hand how their actions affect others and this is thought to be a strong incentive to stop criminal behaviour
• Recidivism after restorative justice is thought to only be approximately 14% and so this is a strength as it does appear that it has some effect on reducing repeated criminal behaviour
• An obvious weakness of restorative justice is that it can be extremely distressing to both offender and victim. Someone will not know how they will react until brought into the situation, and by that point distress may have already caused harm
• It is thought that restorative justice is costly and time consuming to arrange, which may put off many courts in applying it as a form of deterrent.