Punishment (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

Punishment

• Punishment is often seen as an important way to prevent crime and maintain social order

• There are two key justifications:

  • Reduction

  • Retribution

Reduction (instrumental)

• Punishment as a means to an end: its purpose is to reduce crime in the future

  • Deterrence:

    • Punishing offenders discourages them from reoffending, and 'making an example' deters the wider public

  • Rehabilitation:

    • Punishment reforms offenders so they no longer offend. E.g., prison education and training programmes to prepare offenders for work on release

  • Incapacitation:

    • Punishment physically prevents offenders from offending again. Imprisonment is the classic example – popular with politicians under the 'prison works' philosophy

Retribution (expressive)

• Punishment as 'paying back': as offenders deserve to be punished for crimes already committed

  • Expresses society’s outrage and moral boundaries

  • Society takes its revenge, reaffirming the moral code

  • Retribution is not about future crime reduction but about symbolic justice

Sociological perspectives of punishment

• Sociologists are interested in the relationship between punishment and society

• They consider the punishment's function, why it varies over time, and how it relates to the society in which it is found

Functionalist view

• Functionalists like Durkheim (1893) argue that punishment reinforces social solidarity and collective values

• Rituals of order, such as public trial and punishment, reaffirm shared morality and unite society

Two types of justice

• Retributive justice (traditional societies):

  • Harsh, expressive punishments (e.g., executions) were used to enforce conformity

• Restitutive justice (modern societies):

  • Aims to repair damage and restore order (e.g., compensation)

  • Though largely instrumental, it also expresses collective emotion

Marxist view

• Punishment serves the interests of the ruling class by defending property and maintaining the capitalist order

• As part of the repressive state apparatus, prisons and harsh sentences discipline and control the working class

Melossi & Pavarini (1981)

• Prisons mirror capitalist relations of production

• Capitalism puts a price on time; e.g., prison 'repays a debt' by 'doing time'

• Both prison and the factory involve strict discipline, subordination, and loss of liberty

Imprisonment today

• Prisons are the main form of punishment in liberal democracies, but their effectiveness is questionable:

  • High reoffending rates: around two-thirds of prisoners reoffend, suggesting prisons can be seen as ‘universities of crime’ where prisoners learn additional criminal techniques

  • Costly and damaging: overcrowding, poor sanitation, bad food, lack of education/work opportunities (Carrabine et al., 2014)

  • Inequalities: The UK imprisons a higher proportion than most of Western Europe; the population is largely young, male, poorly educated, with ethnic minorities overrepresented

Mass incarceration

• Garland (2001) argues that the USA has shifted into an era of mass incarceration:

  • In 1972, there were around 200,000 inmates in state/federal prisons

  • Now there are 1.5 million in state/federal prisons, plus 700,000 in local jails and 5 million under supervision in the criminal justice system

  • US imprisonment rates are 3× higher than in Europe, despite similar victimisation rates

• The reason for this mass incarceration, according to Garland, is the growing politicisation of crime and 'tough on crime' policies

Transcarceration

• Offenders often move between different institutions, such as being brought up in care, then sent to a youth offenders institution, adult prison and stay in psychiatric hospitals

• This shows the blurring of boundaries between criminal justice and welfare systems

• Although alternatives exist (community sentences, restorative justice), imprisonment remains central

Evaluation of punishment

Strengths

• Visible form of justice

  • Punishment provides a clear social response to wrongdoing

  • Reassures victims and communities that justice is done, reinforcing trust in the system

• Labelling theory support

  • Labelling theory supports rehabilitation: offering reform avoids stigmatising offenders as 'non-people'

  • Programmes like prison education or restorative justice can reduce reoffending if implemented effectively

Criticisms

• High reoffending rates

  • Prisons often fail to rehabilitate, as many offenders return to crime after release

  • The high reoffending rates indicate that many are not put off by prison; therefore, punishment alone is not effective in reducing long-term offending

• Class and power bias

  • Bias in the criminal justice system may mean some escape punishment

  • Laws and punishments disproportionately target the working class while ignoring corporate crime

  • Imprisonment acts as a tool of social control to protect ruling-class interests

• Mass incarceration

  • Particularly in the US, imprisonment has reached crisis levels, with overcrowding and poor conditions

  • Critics argue that mass incarceration is about control and political posturing, not genuine crime reduction

  • Many prisoners need treatment (for mental illness or drug addiction), not punishment