Assignment on Applied Criminology

Running Head: Applied Criminology 0
Applied Criminology
Student’s Name
11/10/2018

Applied Criminology
1
Penology is an area of study that consists social practices concerning control of criminal
activities. It is also known as penal science (Tron.rcpsych.ac.uk, 2018). This science leads a
policy of punishments for the wrongdoings of people. Penology is an important area of study in
the subject of criminology, which ensures the effective outcomes of the social practices of
punishments in order to repression of criminal events. Similar to criminological theories,
penology also concerns many of the theories, topic, and perspective that will be further discussed
this report. Imprisonment is one of the significant terms of Penology that has huge impacts of the
crime rates. Different penological theories provide different concepts about imprisonment.
However, this is necessary to inform that penal science does not include imprisonment only. In
addition to imprisonment, the same consist of other crime reduction policies also such as medical
treatment, education, and probation.
This would not be wrong to state that penal science is a wider subject and the same includes all
the policies that a society uses to control the crime. Imprisonment is one of them. It simply refers
to a punishment where court orders to physically remove a guilty person from society and to
send the same in a locker (Thelawdictionary.org, 2018). On different groups of society,
imprisonment puts different impacts. On some of the groups, it puts positive impact and reduces
the possibility of reoffending and sometimes the same promotes more crimes in society. The
selected group for this report is Children and young people and therefore, in this report the
discussion will be focused on the impact of imprisonment on rehabilitation and reduction of
crime in children and young people.
Penology theories are different believes and focuses and the same can be understood as theories
of punishments. As in criminological theories, different theory gives different reasoning behind
the commitment of a crime, similarly, in penology, different theories focus on different

Applied Criminology
2
punishments. Every penology theory has it is own concepts and logic and judges uses various
theories while granting decisions in different cases. Out of many penology theories, some of the
most significant theories are as under:-
1. Retributive Theory
2. Preventive Theory
3. Reformative Theory
All the three theories are different from each other and focus on different punishments. Before
moving towards the detailed study of the above-mentioned theories, this is to be stated that
punishments under these theories can be positive as well as negatives.
Firstly, to discuss the Retributive theory, this is to mention that according to this theory the main
purpose of every punishment is to seek revenge. As per the opinion of one of the German
Philosopher named Kant, a person should not be punished to provide benefits to others, but the
same must be punished for the reason of crime committed by him/her. The theory only makes it
is focused on revenge (Kaufman, 2012). The theory says that a person must get the same in result
what he/she has done with others and such return of act will be the punishment. A punishment
that can be under this theory is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The theory states that
punishment is an award of wrongful doing and for not anything else. Punishments are there to set
the superiority of law over and above everything (shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in, 2018). The theory
believes that punishments are quantitatively similar and equal to the crime. The subjective theory
has two forms namely liberal and rigorist.
Where liberal form includes the circumstances of a crime, on the other side, rigorist form says
that a criminal must be punished several times for a serious issue. Both of these approaches are

Applied Criminology
3
defective somewhere as it does not provide any guarantee that a criminal will not repeat his/her
mistakes and will not commit any crime in the future. In the real world, it has been noted that a
criminal becomes even worse after a punishment (Samenow, 2011). The theory in total focuses
on punishment and revenge. No other penology theory focuses on the guilty mind as much as
this theory does. The one concept on which the whole theory works is – “A person should be
punished for the breach of a law (Stalley, 2013).” As mentioned earlier that the theory mainly
focuses on mens rea i.e. guilty mind, therefore the same forbids punishment in cases of innocent
offenders. This is to say that this theory demotivates the punishments in those cases where an
offender cannot be held guilty cause of his/her physical/mental condition, age or for other valid
reasons. Similarly, on another side, this theory does not allow the guilty person to be unpunished.
It says a guilty one should realize what is pain and what he/she has done with others. In
conclusion, this is to be stated that under this theory a guilty mind is liable to be punished
irrespective.
Moving towards the other penological theory namely preventive theory, this is to inform that the
same works on the principle to keep the offender away from society (Umrao, 2018). The theory
states that the offenders should be sentenced with imprisonment and departure and should be
keep away from society. As the name implies the theory thinks that repetition of crime can be
prevented by disabling the offenders through the measures such as imprisonment, death
punishment, forfeiture and suspension of license. The development of prison can be understood
as a result of this theory (US Legal, 2018). The main objective of this theory is to set an example
before others by providing punishment to the offender and in this way to prevent new crimes as
well as reoffending of crimes in the society (Law.wustl.edu, 2018). The aim of the theory is to
prevent crime and to make the society secure. The theory is not new at all and is there since years

Applied Criminology
4
as in old times, kings were used to apply the same on offenders and guilty people. In other
words, this is to be stated that the theory acts on the proposition namely “not to avenge crime but
to prevent the same”. The theory prevents criminals from committing more offense in future as
the same make them disable to do the same by way of imprisonment and death sentence. By
jailing an offender, courts stop the same committing other crime. Many of the judges and
philosophers do not consider this theory a good practice as it has been noted that in many of the
cases the same affect mental health of people and they become even more violent
(Legalserviceindia.com, 2018). It means the theory sometimes-lead adverse impacts. In the
reasoning, critics of the theory say that the theory develops the more criminological factor in
offenders as they come close to the hardened criminals in prison. The theory suggests that
prisonisation is the best way to prevent crimes.
After Retributive and Preventive theory, the Reformative theory is another important theory of
penology. As the name states, the reformative theory makes it is focused on the reformation of
the original behavior of the criminal. This theory believes that no one is a born criminal
nevertheless, it is the society and surrounding that turns out a person into a criminal (Priya,
2014). A criminal is no one but a product of social, environmental, and economic conditions.
According to the study of this theory, the same think that no one would ever become criminal if
the same will get a proper education, training, and behavioral learning. The theory works very
positively in the matter of young offenders. As per reformationist, a criminal is not to be studied
in isolation, but the related social economic factors are very necessary to understand. This theory
supports punishment such as imprisonment and believes that punishment should be there in order
to reform the good behavior of criminals. It means the theory supports punishment but with a
good aim and objective. The theory further says that during the tenure of imprisonment,

Applied Criminology
5
criminals should provide some good training, arts and/or creativity to develop him/her a good,
moral and responsible person, so that when he/she release from jail, he/she may be able to
become a good person. According to the theory, judges, while considering the criminal cases
should consider some of the factors such as character, age, family background, education of
criminals and other circumstances of the crime and accordingly grant a decision.
When it comes to the comparison of all the discussed theory, this to be stated that reformative
theory focuses on the positive attributes of a criminal and believes that there is always a chance
of reformation and betterment of behavior of a criminal. Reformative theory of penology
believes that punishment looks justifiable when the same develop it is focused on the future and
not past (Thakur, 2018). In this way, punishment looks justifiable as it provides opportunities to
reform the behavior of a criminal in a positive mode. In conjunction with all these three
discussed theories, some of the penology theories such as Deterrent theory, Multiple Approach
and expiatory theories are also there, that have their different aspects and perspective (Avni,
2018). To conclude the different penology theories, this is to state that while providing justice,
judges consider different theories according to nature of criminal and all these theories have it is
own significance.
Imprisonment is one of the kinds of punishment that have huge significant on the lives of
offenders. In the given discussion, the impact of imprisonment on reoffending in children and
young people is discussed. The crime rate is increasing very fastly in children and young people
and to prevent the same, judges are providing decision of imprisonment in most of the cases. The
purpose behind the same is to reduce the re-offending by such children and young people. With
the likelihood of reoffending by children and young people, many of the factors are associated
such as the gender and age of criminal, offense type and past offenses committed by a criminal.

Applied Criminology
6
This is to state that there is always a difference between a crime committed by young people and
children and crime committed by an adult. Richards, Cunneen, and whites suggest that children
and young people mostly commit crimes in groups in public. In addition to this, their
crime/offending is related to the place where they live. A wide range of factors is associated with
the issue of reoffending in children and young people. In the literature review conducted by
Petechuck, Farrington, and Loeber, a large series of factors have been identified that includes
individual and social factors.
Justices grant punishment of imprisonment to young people as they believe in the reformative
theory of penology sometimes and believe that imprisonment will turn a criminal in a good
person. There are many options that authorities have to reduce the level of reoffending in
children and young people. On the different side, imprisonment is one of the punishments that
can also be termed as an effective measure to reduce the reoffending in young offenders.
Here, it is necessary to understand that imprisonment can only reduce the reoffending but not a
new crime for the subjective criminal as the same is only be granted at an event of conducting a
crime. However, the same spread a fear in others and prevent crime to a significant level
certainly. In order to discuss the re-offending in children and young people, this is to say that the
most of the criminals think to commit a crime when they reach in their teenage because before
that they are not aware of social and economic factors, which are forces behind many of the
offenses. According to a highly consistent finding of longitudinal studies, in the UK and
internationally, offending
 rises in early adolescence
 Peaks during late teens and

Applied Criminology
7
 Tapers off in young adulthood (Gov.scot, 2015)
Imprisonment may reduce the reoffending in young people if coming back to prison provides
them a deterrent effect. However, the evidence of the presence of deterrent effect is doubtful and
mixed one. According to some of the studies, imprisonment reduces reoffending in those
children and young people who were happy with their lives and have committed a crime just
cause of one incident, who are not regular criminal (Theguardian.com, 2018). Researchers have
also investigated the impact of a period of imprisonment to young people and conclude that
young people if remain in imprisonment for a shorter period is less likely to commit a crime
again. The logic behind this is children and young people get affected with the name of
imprisonment and not with the tenure as much. Re-offending can be a target by providing
nominal tenure of imprisonment.
It has been noted although that young person after releasing from prison comes back to the same
environment and faces the same challenges and this becomes a reason for re-offending. To deal
with this issue, there are certain special kinds of prisons available there which ensure to reduce
the re-offending in young people (Gentleman, 2011). Most of the children and young people are
sent to these prisons rather than the regular prison so that they would not come into touch with
another serious and dangerous offenders. This is the reason that imprisonment reduces the
chances of re-offending in them. Under the juvenile justice system of UK, children offender are
treated in different methods according to the nature of the crime committed by them. The main
object of imprisonment is to reform the behavior of prisoner (Spitz, 2018)
Moving the focus towards the impact of imprisonment on reducing the re-offending, this is to
mention that children are the developing elements of a society. They commit crime because of

Applied Criminology
8
some negative factors and during the imprisonment, they are provided good education and
training that further reforms their original behavior. The main motive behind providing a
sentence of imprisonment to young offenders is to develop their positive emotions and
behavioral aspects again. By providing any other punishment, authorities cannot develop them
into a good citizen and hence the only option left with authorities is to provide them
imprisonment. During their tenure of imprisonment, they can get a very good education and
training. Following are some of the points that support the fact that imprisonment reduces the
chances of re-offending in children and young people group:-
 They get a good education and training (O'Mahony, 2017)
 They learn job skills to get a job after their release from prison.
 They get a chance to participate in fitness, sports and other activities that develop their
personality in an affirmative manner.
 They take part in various personality development programs.
 They get to learn the positive objectives of life.
In case of any other kind of punishment such as penalties and fines, children and young people
cannot get such advantages. In the UK, people who have not attained the age of 18 are sent to
secure centers and not the regular adult prisons. Judges send the young people to secured centers
when they think that crime committed by them is so serious and it is necessary to build a good
behavior in them. In the UK, there are three types of secure center namely young offender
institutions, secure training centers, and secure children’s homes. All these three secure centers
are run by different authorities and consist of different criteria (Gov.uk, 2018).

Applied Criminology
9
While discussing the impact of imprisonment on reoffending of crimes, this is required to share
that there are many critics that believe imprisonment is not successful to reduce the crime rate in
young people (Nagin, Cullen and Johnson, 2009). They believe that certainly, imprisonment
increases the criminological behavior in children and young people as they come into touch with
serious offenders and many negative emotions develop in them while their imprisonment period.
An audit report published by Northern Ireland Audit Office the cost to keep a young prisoner in
custody calculated £324,000. According to recent figures related to the year 2013-14, the re-
offending rate in young people and children has found 89%, which means 31 young offenders
out of 35 are on risked to commit the offense again in future (Kearney, 2018).
The previously mentioned paragraph was focused in the critics of imprisonment, but the role of
the same i.e. imprisonment in reducing the reoffending cannot be ignored. This is for sure that in
the case of adult prisoners, imprisonment does not reduce the level of reoffending as no such
training, educational programmes are available to them, and they only feel isolated in prisons.
However, the young offenders remain in developing phase and secured centers make them a
good human being. When they release out from prison they are more mature in nature and they
understand the serious consequences of a crime and therefore do not repeat any offense in the
future.
In order the wrap up the discussion topic, this is to conclude that many penology theories are
there that have different perspective and concepts. In the aforementioned discussion, all the
significant penology theories have been discussed. Some of them were focused on providing
punishment and others were in support of demotivating this practice. Imprisonment is one of the
kinds of punishment that justices grant to offenders.

Applied Criminology
10
Reformative theory somewhere supports the imprisonment for a positive purpose. The theory
says that imprisonment should be given for the better reformation of a criminal. The theory
believes that young people commit crime cause of social factors and during the imprisonment
they can get rid of these negative factors as in prisons, they receive education and training. Many
critics disagree with the fact that imprisonment reduces reoffending in children and young people
group but the same is not true itself. There are a number of benefits to sending a young offender
to prison as the same can get positive emotion and mentality from there. By providing education
too children, authorities try to shift their focus from offenses to ethics and the same is true
somewhere. After the discussion of many advantages of sending young offenders to prison, this
would not be wrong to state that yes, imprisonment reduces the chance of reoffending in children
and young people.

Applied Criminology
11
References
Avni. (2018) Theories Of Punishment. [online] Available from: http://legumlocus.com/theories-
of-punishment/ [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Gentleman, A. (2011) Life in a young offenders' institution. [online] Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/nov/21/young-offenders-institution-ashfield
[Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Gov.scot. (2015) Chapter Two: How Do Individuals Desist From Offending? [online] Available
from: https://www2.gov.scot/Publications/2015/05/2480/3 [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Gov.uk. (2018) Young people in custody. [online] Available from: https://www.gov.uk/young-
people-in-custody/what-custody-is-like-for-young-people [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Kaufman, W.R., 2012. Retribution and Revenge. In Honor and Revenge: A Theory of
Punishment (pp. 93-112). Springer, Dordrecht.
Kearney, V. (2018) NI child re-offending rate is 90% after custodial sentence. [online] Available
from: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-40507016 [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Law.wustl.edu. (2018) Theories of punishment. [online] Available from:
https://law.wustl.edu/sba/firstyearoutlines/criminallaw/Legomsky/CrimLaw-S05-Legomsky-
Wollensack.pdf [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Legalserviceindia.com. (2018) Theories of Punishment- A Socio-Legal View. [online] Available
from: http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/pun_theo.htm [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Nagin, D.S., Cullen, F.T. and Jonson, C.L., 2009. Imprisonment and reoffending. Crime and
justice, 38(1), pp.115-200.

Applied Criminology
12
O'Mahony, H. (2017) Teaching in a prison: 'Education has the best chance of turning lives
around. [online] Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/dec/06/teaching-in-a-prison-education-has-
the-best-chance-of-turning-lives-around [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Priya, T. (2014) Reformative Theory of Punishment. [online] Available from:
https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/reformative-theory-of-punishment/ [Accessed on
09/11/2018]
Samenow, S E. (2011) Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse? [online] Available from:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-criminal-mind/201104/do-prisons-really-
make-offenders-worse [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in. (2018) Crime And Theories Of Punishment. [online] Available from:
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/45012/9/09_chapter%204.pdf [Accessed on
09/11/2018]
Spitz, J. (2018) Does imprisonment really protect or otherwise benefit society? [online]
Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18814,00.html
[Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Stalley, R., 2012. Adam Smith and the Theory of Punishment. Journal of Scottish
Philosophy, 10(1), pp.69-89.
Thakur, R., S. (2018) "an Eye For An Eye Will Turn The Whole World Blind - In Special
Context To Reformative Theory Of Punishment" [online] Available from:
https://www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=d4648720-96bb-4fab-8eca-
32b16ce2dae1&txtsearch=Subject:%20Criminal [Accessed on 09/11/2018]

Applied Criminology
13
Theguardian.com. (2018) Why young offenders should not be judged so harshly. [online]
Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2011/dec/21/young-offenders-
judged-harshly [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Thelawdictionary.org. (2018) What is imprisonment? [online] Available from:
https://thelawdictionary.org/imprisonment/ [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Tron.rcpsych.ac.uk. (2018) Basic principles of criminology and penology. [online] Available
from: http://tron.rcpsych.ac.uk/default.aspx?page=24306 [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
Umrao, A. (2018) Theories of Punishment- Overview. [online] Available from: http://www.lex-
warrier.in/2014/02/theories-punishment-overview/ [Accessed on 09/11/2018]
US Legal. (2018) Preventive Theory Law and Legal Definition [online] Available from:
https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/preventive-theory/ [Accessed on 09/11/2018]