Deck 23: Penology and Punishment

Question 1

A small proportion of offenders are disproportionately responsible for a significant proportion of crime.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

What shortcomings are levelled at rehabilitative approaches?

A)taking an empathetic view of offenders
B)holding an overly-determined view of behaviour
C)placing too much emphasis on social and cultural conditions
D)Placing too little emphasis on the ability of individuals to make decisions and choices

Answer 2

holding an overly-determined view of behaviour
placing too much emphasis on social and cultural conditions
Placing too little emphasis on the ability of individuals to make decisions and choices

Question 3

'Just deserts' or 'desert theory' is an argument that:

A)punishment ought to be proportionate to the harm caused by the crime
B)The punishment is enacted because the offender deserves it
C)Offenders should serve their sentences in the desert

Answer 3

punishment ought to be proportionate to the harm caused by the crime
The punishment is enacted because the offender deserves it

Question 4

Weber argues there are three types of authority:

A)traditional
B)parental
C)charismatic
D)rational-legal

Question 5

Elias' ideas around 'The Civilizing Process' focused on:

A)changing social mores
B)increasing self control over bodily functions
C)declining levels of violence
D)decentralisation of state power

Question 6

Does general deterrence work?

Question 7

Does individual deterrence work?

Question 8

According to Durkheim, what are the implications of his analysis of social solidarity (mechanical and organic) in terms of the use of the prison?

Question 9

Why did deterrence-based approaches to punishment decline?

A)the population was in decline
B)social changes as a result of industrialisation increased demand for labour and so offenders were needed as workers
C)positivistic-influenced social sciences began to develop which questioned rational choice theories

Question 10

Retributivists believe that punishment should not be a means to an end,

A)but should be physically restrictive
B)but should lead to remorse
C)but an end in itself

Question 11

Marx and Engels argued that a society's ideological superstructure - including punishment - will tend to reflect the class interests of the economic base. The primary function of punishment, therefore, is the maintenance of the social order.

Question 12

Foucault uses his historical method to uncover two different penal styles, the earlier one where the monarch has power over citizens' bodies, that later one which governs the mind or 'soul'.

Question 13

The work of Michel Foucault has had a great impact on the contemporary study of punishment. Most centrally, a body of work has appeared in recent years, generally referred to as 'governmentality theory' that has built on some of Foucault's ideas in this area. Ideas in this area arise out of Foucault's stress not on government, but on forms of governing or, typically, governance.

Question 14

The family is just one site through which processes of responsibilisation occur.

Question 15

In thinking about justifications for punishments, approaches are generally divided into two main camps. What are the aims of the consequentialists?

A)to put serious offenders in prison for longer periods
B)consequentialist approaches tend to justify punishment on the basis of what it will achieve in the future
C)they aim to show that street robbery is more serious than white collar crime

Question 16

What are the aims of retributivists?

A)the reintroduction of corporal punishment
B)the reinstatement of capital punishment for murder
C)To impose something (punishment) in response to actions already undertaken

Question 17

What is penology?

A)finding out if 'prisons works'
B)the study of punishment and its socio-cultural practices
C)putting more people in prison

Question 18

What is the thinking behind the incapacitation of offenders?

A)that they will not reoffend once they are released
B)'prison works'
C)Rehabilitation

Question 19

What are the implications of Marxist theory for an understanding of punishment?