Crime control, prevention and punishment, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies.

Counter Terrorism Act 2008 Removal of the prohibition on post-charge questioning. * Longer terrorism sentences. * A register and monitoring for those convicted of terrorism related offences, similar to the Violent and Sex Offender Register. * Changes to some of the rules surrounding the use of "intercept evidence". * Powers to seize the assets of convicted terrorists.

*CCTV* There are around 1.5 million cameras in airports, stations, city centres and big shops in the UK.* Each person in the UK is captured up to 30 times a day on CCTV.*

Contemporary policies

The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) is a joint-initiative with the Home Office. In 2009 FMU gave advice or support to 1682 cases. 86 percent of these cases involved females and 14 percent involved males.

Football banning ordersDesigned to stop potential troublemakers from travelling to football matches - both at home and abroad.

Community InitiativesPeer Visiting Programme – Neighbourhood Watch.

Aims to strengthen the community by joining the forces of a number of agencies to tackle neighbourhood issues.

PROACTIVE

APPOACH

What are initial results of Zero Tolerance Policies? Figures for New York have been well trumpeted. Since 1993, major crime in that city has fallen by 39% and murder has fallen by 49%.

In the UK, results have been similar. Det Supt Mallon managed to deliver on his promise to cut crime by 20% in 18 months - figures for the three months to February 1997 showed a 22% fall.

Det Supt Mallon also achieved these kinds of results in his previous job in Hartlepool where he oversaw a reduction in crime of 38% in 28 months.

Well, looky-see, it’s our Dave…!

There are negative consequences of aggressive policing with accusations of heavy-handedness by police

There are other reasons for falling crime in New York. Fewer take violence-inducing crack cocaine while many of those responsible for committing crimes in the 1980s are now in prison

Crime has also fallen in areas without zero tolerance policing

The long-term effects are unknown. It works well in densely populated areas with high policing levels and large amounts of petty crime. But where the population is dispersed or the crime rate is low, it may have little effect. And in areas of high racial tension, the policy might leave locals feeling victimised.

In Freakonomics, the author noticed the sharp decline in NY crime happened suddenly, 18-20 years after abortion was legalised. So – crime hadn’t been reduced: the criminals themselves had.

Anti-Social BehaviourPolice have the many tools at their disposal, including:

Acceptable behaviour contractsAn acceptable behaviour contract (ABC), is an intervention to engage the individual in recognising their behaviour and its negative effects on others, in order to stop the offending behaviour.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/anti-social-behaviour/

* The object of Community Service orders is to provide unpaid work which is of value to the community as an alternative to custody.

* An offender is required to perform unpaid, useful work for the benefit of the community.

* The court can order between 80 - 300 hours of community service.

* Orders must be completed within six months from the date of sentence and are performed in an offender’s free time.

Expansion of ImprisonmentReid announces new prisons plan (16.02.2007)

* There are plans for 8,000 new prison places over five years.

* The prisons, in Maghull, near Liverpool, and next to Belmarsh prison in Woolwich, south-east London, will provide an additional 1,300 spaces.

* They are part of plans to provide an extra 8,000 cells over five years.

* Mr Reid came under fire last month for asking judges to jail only serious criminals, as it emerged that prisons were at "bursting point".

* He denied encouraging softer sentences for criminals to ease prison overcrowding, saying he was merely re-stating existing guidelines.

* There are nearly 80,000 prisoners in England and Wales, with some inmates held in police stations and court cells to ease overcrowding.

Does prison work?NO

Prison can be a safe haven for vulnerable offenders.

Prisons can transform some people’s lives.

Prison serves as a constant source of humiliation for the white collar criminal.

It keeps dangerous people away from society.

They’re training grounds for criminals: ‘universities of crime’.

Light sentences have a limited incentive for reform.

Inappropriate: around 75% of prison population have some form of mental illness. Are they being used as an overflow after mass closure of Psychiatric Hospitals in the 1980s?

Recidivism: most re-offend! In 1993, when there were fewer than 45,000 prisoners, 53 per cent were being reconvicted within two years. In 2004, 65 per cent of those leaving prison were reconvicted.

Michele Foucault

Prisons are a metaphor for how all of us are controlled

and watched by those in power.

We are under surveillance all the

time: CCTV, our loyalty cards, ID cards… we’re all

becoming prisoners.

Role of the criminal justice system and other agencies.

How many agencies or organisations have been involved in the process of criminal justice,

here?

Crime is committed:

Fine

Crime is investigated: Arrest is made:

Prosecution takes place:

Trial happens:

Verdict Incarceration

Acquittal

Reform/punishment:

Release / reintegration into society :

Crime is reported:

If you were a victim of crime, would you like to meet the person responsible in a controlled, safe environment?

Do you think sentencing is: too harsh; about right; a bit soft; far too soft?

The CJS is like a crime-combatting Swiss Army Knife, with different but complementary tools within it:

The Police

CPS (Crown

Prosecution

Service)

HMCS (Her Majesty’s Court

Service).NOM (National Offender Management)

HMPS (Her Majesty’s Prison Service)NPS (National

Probation Service)

LSC (Legal Services Commission)

Victim Support

NACRO

HMIC = Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

The police have the following functions:

* Maintaining order and keeping the peace;

* Surveillance of the general public to ensure civil and lawful behaviour;

* Reporting and apprehending violators of the law;

* Discouraging crime;

* The Police have the legal authority to make arrests;

* They provide emergency support.

He wrote inside the british police (1983)

An Interactionist (micro) approach using a covert participant observation method

to examine culture of the police.

SCY6 Crime & Deviance: Interactionist theories

KEY CONCEPTS: occupational culture of policing, canteen culture.

SUMMARY OF STUDY: “My covert research is justified by my assessment of the power of the police within British society and the secretive nature of the force.

Those who are being researched control the situation as much as, if not more than, the researcher.”

“During my first week’s duty I worked as a station officer…[In one incident] I dealt with a man who had threatened his wife with a pistol.

He pleaded his innocence, and a police officer kicked him on the backside, not with excessive force but just to remind him that his explanation was not acceptable.

The incident was recorded, but I omitted from my notes the fact that the prisoner had been kicked; for good or ill, it was too sensitive an issue for me to accept.”

Holdaway was a Police Officer already, who decided to record his experiences.

RESEARCH METHOD: covert participant observation.

Holdaway made secret notes on his observations at the police station where he worked.

“One of my fellow sergeants was known to use ‘unorthodox techniques’ when questioning suspects.

When we chatted about this issue he gave me a full description of what he was and was not willing to do…

He became an important informant, who was always happy to provide details of the actions of particular officers and of particular incidents.”

EVALUATION:

Reliable – as he is observing peoples’ behaviour without them knowing it, there is far less risk of incurring a Hawthorne Effect.

Stressful “At times I had to deal with an officer whose behaviour exceeded the bounds of what I considered reasonable conduct. These situations could easily get in the way of research and increased the pressure of my work.”

“Then the constant reflection involved in participant observation added to the pressure of working in a busy station…there were times when research suffered because I was engrossed in police work and times when police work took second place to the recording of detailed evidence.”

Christopher Alder died in custody in Hull Police station on April 1 1998. He was conveyed there for a breach of the peace, but on arrival was found to be unconscious. Police officers, who claim he appeared to be 'asleep', allegedly dragged him from the van with his hands handcuffed behind his back, and placed him face down on the station floor, where he died. A video film recorded the last 11 minutes of his life. He lay on the floor of the police station making rasping noises indicative of respiratory distress. These eventually cease.

Ethics “As a covert researcher of the police I was documenting the work of people who regarded me as a colleague.

The risk of being found out was always present and I had to be sensitive to any indication that others – sometimes friends – might know what I was doing.

I kept shorthand notes on a scrap of paper in the back pocket of my trousers; if I had to leave the station or charge office to make notes, I listened for approaching footsteps…”

Mark Carter – Mr GAY UK 2006, Huddersfield.

Plenary

• Write a summary of Holdaway’s research.

• Look at the handout with a summary of research involving police policy and practices and suggest what kinds of exam questions these would be useful for.