SOC316H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Takers, Anger Management, Collective Action
SOC316 Lecture 5:
Why is the rise of risk in the justice system?
Risk is tied to surveillance
1. Cost using justice system and prisons are expensive
2. Life course persistent offender and SI e a’t sole the issue of rie for all people,
there is no transformative agenda that will help change that person. Problem is how do you
determine who is going to be a life course persistent offender the answer is there is no way
we can figure it out , but we can make that prediction
3. Defensibility proportionality in sentencing , it gives us error of objective, it gets rid of
subjective moral assessments , we have legislation backing us up and telling us what to do, but
now it gives us error of objectivity (pick up that risk so that everyone can understand what that
means)
4. Target and change behaviour things that you can target and use that to change behaviour,
give programs for people with anger management, targeted programs are geared to peoples
aspect of specific behaviour
5. Expansion of electronic databases use of AI in courtrooms, AI tells what the sentence
should e, that idiiduals are akig sujetie deisios, ou do’t at to sa soeoe is
low risk and they go in the environment and go kill people
Limitation of Risk Theory
1. Actuarialism objective and devoid of morality/politics people are elevating risk scores
think about risk in smoking and drinking, that its not moral , good risk takers will be
responsible and not drink that much
2. Actuarial/Risk forms of power replaced older forms its not about transformation
anymore, that we can target these criminiogenic needs, that its not just welfare its also
risk management
3. Risk assumes it acting uniformly across populations claim of X is true for whole group
so to X is tre for each single member, group with delinquent friends more likely to
reoffend, now use that in the risk assessment tool and now this claim becomes true for
each single person, they are not race or gender sensitive
Concluding Comments:
• Responsibilization, criminologies of everyday life and risk emergent in shift to neo-
liberalism
• Risk thinking is everywhere, this is how we make decisions and evaluate, this is how
institutions think
• Risk colonizes the future and uncertainty
• Risk guides our actions and interventions
• Has implications for crime prevention and justice
What is Community?
• Is it spatial when we think about crime preventent strategies we think if its spatial
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