Prison is one of the most prolific ways to punish a criminal. After committing a crime, a person is often sent to an institution to serve his sentence for many reasons, and this process is also known as custodial sentencing (prison sentence). There might be a sense of catharsis and relief for those against whom the person committed the crime. Justice is served, and society is now safe from that person.
However, there are other reasons for imprisonment, and psychologists need to analyse whether imprisonment is genuinely the best option for society and the offender.
- We are going to explore custodial sentencing. First, we will highlight custodial sentence meaning.
- Then, we will discuss the different types of custodial sentences and their purposes.
- We will explore the psychological effects of custodial sentencing before delving into alternatives to custodial sentences, including brief coverage of non-custodial sentences.
- Finally, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of custodial sentences.
Fig. 1 - Custodial sentences punish offenders by sending them to prison.
Custodial Sentencing Meaning
Custodial sentencing occurs when a convicted felon is committed to a prison or other institution, such as a mental facility or young offender’s institute, to deter, incapacitate, or rehabilitate offenders, where the time is set out by the court. Custodial sentence length varies depending on the crime committed.
Types of Custodial Sentencing
Custodial sentencing is when a person is sent to prison to serve their punishment. There are different types of custodial sentences, as a result, which vary depending on the severity of the crime committed.
- Life sentences.
- Suspended sentences.
- Determinate sentences.
They differ in length and when the person goes to prison.
For instance, suspended sentences delay when the perpetrator goes to prison.
Purposes of Custodial Sentencing
Custodial sentencing has multiple purposes. Specifically, its purposes are incapacitation, retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and denunciation.
Incapacitation
Since prison removes the offender from society, they cannot re-offend, and thus prisons protect the public. The need for incapacitation depends on the severity and nature of the crime.
For example, someone who has committed petty theft is much less dangerous to society than a serial killer, which means incapacitation is much more likely in more serious offences.
Retribution
By making the offender experience prison, an unpleasant affair, custodial sentencing acts as revenge on behalf of society and the victims, affording them a sense of justice. The punishment should therefore be proportionate to the magnitude of the crime.
Many people consider prison the most desirable option.
Studies show that most people in the UK believe that punishments should be harsher, showing society’s desire for retribution.
Deterrence
The unpleasant experience of prison is meant to deter people from committing crimes. There are two types of deterrence: general deterrence, where prison acts as a crime deterrent to society. In contrast, individual/specific deterrence is when a negative experience in prison deters an individual.
Deterrence is based on behaviourist views of behaviour. Behaviourism states behaviour is learned through experience and reinforcement. Deterrence is an example of negative reinforcement: negative experiences cause people to avoid certain things or actions.
Rehabilitation
Many commentators state that prison should serve to deter, punish, or incapacitate and prevent further crime through rehabilitation, allowing prisoners to adjust better and take back their place in society once their prison sentence is served through treatment and education.
Denunciation
These are the four main objectives of custodial sentencing, but there is also the aspect of denunciation. Here, custodial sentencing is a means to show the public that the offender’s actions were wrong and condemned by society to deter crime.
Psychological Effects of Custodial Sentencing
There are many psychological effects associated with custodial sentencing, especially in cases where criminals are in solitary confinement or other similar conditions.
Stress and Depression
Due to harsh prison conditions, including separation from family and friends and feelings of guilt, people in prison often suffer from stress and depression.
According to the UK government¹, over 50% of prisoners suffer from common mental health disorders such as stress and depression. Offenders also have higher rates of mental health problems outside of prison.
Institutionalisation
When prisoners are sentenced to long prison terms, they become so accustomed to the routines and norms of prison life that they find it difficult to adapt to life on the outside; they are ‘institutionalised’ and have lost their autonomy. Zimbardo is a good example of conformity to roles. In his prison study, people quickly adapted to their assigned roles and lost their autonomy.
For example, some prisoners have become accustomed to the routine of getting up at a particular time the prison determined and cannot change their sleeping patterns outside.
Prisonisation
Similarly, the prison socialises the prisoners to behave according to the ‘inmate code’, meaning they behave in ways that are considered acceptable or even rewarded within the prison walls.
For example, some prisoners do not feel comfortable approaching the police if they have witnessed a crime because they remember they would be labelled a ‘snitch’ in prison if they did so.
Stigma
Unfortunately, after criminal sentencing, many offenders face still face the stigma of having once been sentenced to prison time. Finding work and establishing social circles becomes difficult, significantly affecting mental health overall and resulting in recidivism.
Fig. 2 - Custodial sentencing can have psychological effects on prisoners.
Recidivism
Recidivism, simply put, means repeat offending. In the UK, 25.2% of prisoners re-offend. This statistic, along with the recidivism rate in the US, is one of the highest in the world, but what might that be due to? To understand why the recidivism rate in the UK and US is so high, we can look at countries with low recidivism rates.
Norway has one of the lowest recidivism rates in Europe. This fact is attributed to the country’s emphasis on rehabilitation and skill development rather than isolation and punishment. However, some critics say this method is too ‘soft’ and does not provide the punishment nor retribution that some desire.
Self-Efficacy and Commitment to Change
Suppose offenders have some level of self-efficacy and are committed to changing their behaviour while having a strong social support network. In that case, recidivism rates should decrease, and these behaviours should be encouraged as a result.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Custodial Sentences
Given the impact of custodial sentencing, it is important to understand how well it achieves what it sets out to do.
Evidence Supporting the Psychological Effects of Prison
According to Bartol (1995), prison can be brutal, humiliating, and devastating, leading to profound psychological effects. Evidence of this is the increase in suicides among prison inmates, whose rate is about 15 times higher than that of the general population.
- Recently, a study by the Prison Reform Trust (2012) showed that 25% of female prisoners and 15% of male prisoners reported psychosis, suggesting that prison can cause psychological disorders.
Opportunities for training and treatment
Many prisoners can participate in education, training, and treatment programmes while incarcerated to rehabilitate themselves and lead crime-free lives upon release. Some prisons offer rehabilitation services, such as university courses, skills development, and anger management classes. However, these services are unavailable in every prison, explaining recidivism rates.
Weaknesses
Some weaknesses to consider are prison as a way of learning to participate in crimes and individual differences in prisoners.
Prison as a Crime School
Apart from productive habits that would promote rehabilitation, prisoners can learn to re-offend. Younger prisoners can be ‘educated’ in criminal behaviour by older, more experienced criminals to leave prison and not only become delinquent but also commit a more skilled crime.
Individual Differences
Although time in prison can be difficult for many prisoners, the intensity can vary depending on personal characteristics or the facility they have been in. Someone in prison focused on rehabilitation, such as in Norway, may not experience as severe a psychological impact as someone in the United Kingdom. People may also have a predisposition to mental illness or have pre-existing problems that make them more vulnerable to mental disorders in prison.
The length of the sentence, the type of imprisonment, and the reason for incarceration can also affect the psychological impact of incarceration.
Alternatives to Custodial Sentencing: Non-Custodial Sentence
Davies and Raymond (2000) found officials exaggerate the impact of prisons to make it appear they are ‘tough on crime’. Their review found prisons do little to rehabilitate prisoners or deter others
Davies and Raymond (2000) suggest alternatives to custodial sentencing, such as restorative justice (where victims and offenders meet with the goal of reconciliation) and community service, examples of non-custodial
Behaviour Modification in Custody
How can we change criminal behaviour? Is it possible to reform criminals in custody? Behaviour modification uses the behaviourist principles of operant conditioning to modify an offender’s behaviour. Positive and negative reinforcement are used to replace undesirable behaviour.
This approach assumes all behaviour is learned, and we can replace undesirable criminal behaviour with positive behaviour through operant conditioning. The goal is to encourage obedience until dysfunctional behaviours disappear.
Examples can be seen in a token economy system.
Token economics involves reinforcing positive, obedient behaviour with a reward.
Token Economy
The token economy is an example of operant conditioning, where rewards reinforce behaviours. In this case, the reward is a secondary reinforcer, and prisoners earn tokens through good behaviours to be exchanged for rewards.
Rewards vary by facility but often consist of phone calls with loved ones, sweets, time outside, and tokens for commissary (a kind of tuck shop), etc.
In addition, undesirable behaviours such as instigating fights or disobedience are punished, for example, with solitary confinement or deprivation of time with loved ones
Punishment is an example of negative reinforcement through operant conditioning. The desired behaviours must be clearly defined and only rewarded with tokens whose value is specified for the token economy to work.
Fig. 3 - Token economies encourage good behaviours.
Hobbs and Holt (1976)
This study aimed to investigate whether token economy programmes are an effective method of behaviour change in a group of 125 young offenders.
Hobbs and Holt introduced a small-scale token economy to four groups of young offenders housed in prison for 14 months. Another group served as a control group without a token economy.
They focused on social behaviour (interacting with peers), following rules, and completing tasks for which they were rewarded in the token economy.
Researchers found a significant difference in positive behaviour between the token economy groups.
Evaluation of Behaviour Modification in Custody
How can we evaluate behaviour modification in custody? Let’s assess some strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths
The strengths of behaviour modification in custody are easy implementation, individually-tailored programs, and research support.
Easy to Implement
Behaviour modification programmes that use the token economy are easy to implement because they do not require specialists. However, this requires staff’s consistent implementation.
- Bassett and Blanchard (1977) found that the benefits of the token economy broke down when staff implemented them inconsistently due to conditions such as high staff turnover. Thus, the staff must apply the token economy consistently if it is a successful behaviour modification method.
Individually Tailored Programmes are Most Effective
Field et al. (2004) found that whilst most young people responded to behaviour modification through the token economy, some did not. Those who did not respond were enrolled in a special programme in which rewards were tailored to them and were more immediate and frequent, resulting in more positive outcomes. This finding suggests the token economy is most effective when tailored to the individual and produces faster results.
Research Support
The results of Allyon et al. mirror the findings of Hobbs and Holt (1976) that behaviour modification works for juvenile offenders in an adult prison, adding validity to the approach.
Cohen and Filipczak (1971) found that using positive and rewarding reinforcement could positively influence and change the behaviour of 41 incarcerated adolescents.
Their academic growth rate was two to four times that of the average American student, supporting the idea that behavioural modification (token economies) can be used to promote good behaviour in adolescents.
Weaknesses
Some weaknesses are present, however, including that the outcomes are not long-lasting. There are ethical issues, and token economies promote passive learning.
Not Long-Lasting
Once offenders are out of prison and their positive behaviour is no longer reinforced, they quickly unlearn the positive habits. Thus, the token economy has little rehabilitative value, as it does not change an individual’s behaviour forever.
For example, Kirigin et al. (1982) found juvenile offenders who participated in a token economy system to reduce delinquent behaviour experienced a temporary reduction during the programme but returned to similar behaviour after exiting.
Ethical Issues
Some view the token economy as dehumanising and manipulative. In an institutional setting, participation in a token economy is not voluntary. Even if the offender can choose whether or not to comply with the programme, it is ethically questionable to deny them things.
Passive Token Learning
Behaviour modification promotes a passive, superficial form of behaviour change that does not encourage the offender to address the causes of their behaviour. Other techniques, such as anger management, are better suited to promote self-reflection and give the offender a sense of responsibility for his rehabilitation. In addition, offenders are likely to play along with the token economy to obtain rewards but are unlikely to change their overall behaviour.
Custodial Sentencing - Key takeaways
In a custodial sentence, a convicted offender is committed to a prison or other institution, such as a mental institution or juvenile detention centre.
The purpose of a custodial sentence is incapacitation, retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and denunciation.
The psychological effects of imprisonment include stress and depression, stigmatisation, institutionalisation, and prisonisation.
Recidivism refers to repeat offending. Behaviour modification techniques include token economies, to encourage good behaviours.
Prison can provide an opportunity to learn new skills and prepare criminals for life outside prison, but it can also be a 'crime school'.
References
- House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, Mental health in prisons, 2017
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