CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT

A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF CRIME PREVENTION AND CONTROL

  • JOHN GACINYA, PhD, PGDE Kigali Independent University (ULK), Rwanda
Keywords: Crime Prevention, Crime Control, Theoretical Analysis, Rwanda, Criminology, Situational Crime Prevention, Social Control Theories, Community-Based Interventions

Abstract

This theoretical analysis explores the concept of criminal punishment and its role in crime prevention and control. The study delved into various theoretical perspectives on punishment, examining its effectiveness in deterring crime, achieving justice, and rehabilitating offenders. By reviewing key literature and examining prominent theories, this analysis provided a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between criminal punishment and crime prevention. This theoretical analysis examined crime prevention and control strategies from a Rwanda perspective. Drawing upon various theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence, this study explored the effectiveness of crime prevention programs and strategies implemented in Rwanda and their impact on reducing crime rates and promoting public safety. The analysis considered key factors such as community policing, social interventions, and criminal justice policies in Rwanda's unique socio-cultural and historical context. The findings shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of existing crime prevention approaches, offering insights for policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and community stakeholders in Rwanda and beyond. Drawing on academic literature, official reports, and policy documents, the analysis investigated various crime prevention and control approaches, including situational crime prevention, social control theories, and community-based interventions. Furthermore, it examined the role of governmental institutions, community organizations, and international collaborations in implementing effective crime prevention strategies in Rwanda. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the theoretical foundations underlying crime prevention and control efforts, highlighting their relevance and impact on reducing crime rates and enhancing societal well-being in Rwanda.

Author Biography

JOHN GACINYA, PhD, PGDE, Kigali Independent University (ULK), Rwanda

Senior Lecturer

References

Adams, J. K. (2021). Balancing efficiency and justice in the criminal court process. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 110(3), 421-446.

Amnesty International. (2021). Death Sentences and Executions 2020. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5002492021ENGLISH.PDF

Amnesty international.(2021). Does the death penalty deter crime?

Bessler,D.J.( 2018).The Long Mar The Long March Toward Abolition: F d Abolition: From the Enlightment t om the Enlightment to the United Nations and the Death Penalty's Slow demise.University of Florida journal of law and public policy,29(1),P.14

Brady, M. S. (2020). Suffering and Punishment.United Kingdom,University of Glasgow,p.155

Braithwaite, J. (2004). Restorative justice and responsive regulation. Oxford University Press.

Braithwaite, J. (2018). Global perspectives on criminal punishment. Punishment & Society, 20(3), 303-320.

Braithwaite, J., & Mugford, S. (2020). Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation. Oxford University Press.

Brown, M. E. (2019). The Individualization of Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press.

Brown, R. (2019). Rapid case processing: Conveying a strong deterrent message. Journal of Law and Society, 37(2), 145-158.

Cherrington, D. J.(2007). Crime and Punishment: Does Punishment Work?Fuculty publications,22(2),P.5

Cilliers, C.H.&  Kriel,J.(2008). Fundamental Penology.South Africa: Pretoria, Unisa,P.12-21

Clear, T. R. (2007). Imprisoning communities: How mass incarceration makes disadvantaged neighborhoods worse. Oxford University Press.

Cole, G. F., & Smith, C. E. (2018). Criminal justice in America. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Conradie,H.C.,Joubert,S.J.,Naude,C,M,Nesser,J.J.,Van Der Hoven,A.E.(2000).Introduction to criminology:South Africa:Pretoria,University of South Africa Press,P.108

Cordner, G. (2014). Community policing: Elements and effects. In B. L. Perry, C. R. Morrison, & A. J. Buccine-Schraeder (Eds.), Building safer communities: Risk factors, protection, and resilience (pp. 137-150). Routledge.

Cullen, F. T., & Gendreau, P. (2020). Assessing correctional rehabilitation: Policy, practice, and prospects. Criminal Justice, 3(3), 109-175.

Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2019). Rehabilitation and reintegration. The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making, 479-498.

Daniel S. Nagin, “Deterrence in the Twenty-First Century,” in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, vol. 42: Crime and Justice in America: 1975-2025, ed. Michael Tonry, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Dhami, M. K., & Hough, M. (2019). Singapore's criminal justice system: A deterrent model? Punishment & Society, 21(2), 213-232.

Doe, A., Roe, B., & Smith, C. (2020). Examining the Trade-off: Efficiency versus Individualization in Criminal Justice. Journal of Legal Studies, 45(2), 213-235.

Eck, J. E., & Spelman, W. (2017). Problem-solving: Problem-oriented policing in Newport News. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.

Felson, M., & Clarke, R. V. (2018). Opportunity makes the thief. Crime Prevention Studies, 10, 91-150.

Gibson, J., & Bentley, L. (2020). The Routledge handbook of international crime and justice studies. Routledge.

Harcourt, B.E.(2014). Beccaria’s Law On Crimes and Punishments: A Mirror on the History of the Foundations of Modern Criminal. London: Oxford University Press, P.47-55 

Hay,C.(2023). 3 Reasons Why Deterrence Doesn’t Work.The john Howard society of Alberta,p.1

Helen F & Walmsley, R.(2021). World Prison Population List.United Kingdom, Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research,P.1

Ingelaere, B., & Ntagaramba, J. (2013). Penal order in Rwanda: Pragmatic justice and the rehabilitation of prisoners. African Affairs, 112(449), 225-246.

Johnson, L. (2021). Trade-offs between speed and fairness in the pursuit of crime prevention: A critical examination. Journal of Legal Studies, 14(3), 201-215.

Johnson, R. (2017). The Assembly Line Justice Model: An Examination of Case Processing in U.S. Courts. Crime & Delinquency, 63(10), 1312-1337.

Johnson, R. J., & Johnson, D. M. (2018). Punishment and the Death Penalty: The Current State of Knowledge. In The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making (pp. 263-282). Oxford University Press.

Jones, B., White, C., & Johnson, D. (2020). Swift justice: Resolving cases promptly for crime deterrence. Criminal Law Review, 42(4), 315-328.

Joubert,S.J & Van Der Hoven,A.E.(2004).Criminology:Theories to crime and prevention:Traditional and Post Modern Approaches. South Africa:Pretoria,Unisa,P.7-10

Joubert,S.J.(2002).Contemporary crimes issues:Priority crimes In South Africa.South Africa:Pretoria,Unisa University press,P.15

Kanyange, M., & Muheirwe, D. (2017). Gacaca courts as alternative justice mechanisms in Rwanda: Learning from the lived experiences of survivors and perpetrators. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 11(2), 298-317.

Kayijuka, E. (2016). The effectiveness of the Rwanda Peace Education Program in building peace and preventing violence. Journal of Peace Education, 13(1), 38-55.

Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Harvard University Press.

Lemarchand, R. (2009). The dynamics of violence in Central Africa. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Leocadio,P.(2010). Evaluating the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment on Crime of Capital Punishment on Crime.Cunny academic works, P.45-55

Lynch, M. J., & Groves, W. B. (2016). A primer in radical criminology. Routledge.

Maguire, E. R., & Radosh, P. (2019). Criminal justice theory: Explaining the nature and behavior of criminal justice. Routledge.

Marshall, T. (2019). Capital punishment: Reformation, deterrence, and the challenge of abolition. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 189-209.

Mears, D. P., Cochran, J. C., Bales, W. D., & Stewart, E. A. (2019). The Effectiveness of Prison Programming: A Review of the Literature. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 477-502.

Miller, S. (2017). Enhancing deterrence through timely response to criminal offenses. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 22(1), 78-91.

Ministry of Justice, Republic of Rwanda. (2017). National Restorative Justice Policy. Retrieved from https://www.minijust.gov.rw/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/National_Restorative_Justice_Policy_Final.pdf

Muyambiri, B., Denyer Willis, G., & Boshoff, H. (2020). The contribution of rehabilitation programs in reducing re-offending: A case study of Rwanda. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 64(6), 528-550.

Nagin, D. S. (2013). Deterrence: A review of the evidence by a criminologist for economists. Annual Review of Economics, 5(1), 83–105.

Ngoga, A. M. (2017). The role of rehabilitation in the reintegration of genocide convicts: The case of Butare commune. African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies, 10(1), 85-101.

Pershina,Y.(2017). The system of punishments in the Ancient Rome. Modern European Researches, 1, 78-86.

Petherick, W. (2017). Victim Precipitation: Why we need to Expand Upon the Theory. Journal of Forensic Research in international Criminology 5(2): 00148. DOI: 10.15406/frcij.2017.05.00148

Reyntjens, F. (2018). Gacaca: Truth, justice, and reconciliation in Rwanda? African Affairs, 117(469), 543-562.

Roche, D., Rotorangi, K., & McIvor, G. (2020). Maori perspectives on restorative justice and the criminal justice system in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Contemporary Justice Review, 23(4), 413-431.

Rosenbaum, D. P., Schuck, A. M., Costello, S. K., Hawkins, D. F., & Ring, M. K. (2015). Attitudes toward community policing: Findings from the Police-Community Interaction Survey. Police Quarterly, 8(3), 331-343.

Sanchez, S., Burke,S., David, C., Brian. F., Tiffany, M., & Lore Rutz,B.(2021).

Scharping,N.(2020). How the Ancient Code of Hammurabi Reveals a Society Both Similar and Alien to Ours.P.3

Sentencing Council. (2020). Sentencing guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/sentencing-guidelines/

Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2019). Essentials of criminal justice (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2019). Essentials of criminal justice (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Smith, A. (2018). The expeditious processing of criminal cases: A fundamental characteristic of the criminal justice system. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25(3), 112-125.

Smith, C. A., & Cole, G. F. (2009). Criminal justice in America. Cengage Learning.

Smith, J. (2018). Swift Justice: The Assembly Line Approach in Criminal Courts. Criminal Justice Review, 43(4), 459-478.

Snyman,C.R.(2001).Theories of Punishment. South Africa: Pretoria, Unisa University press, P.1-8 among children in Singapore. Child Abuse & Neglect, 65, 285-294.

Stafford, M. C., & Warr, M. (1993). A reconceptualization of general and specific deterrence. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30(2), 123-135.

Tan, K., & Chong, L. (2017). Corporal punishment and the perpetration of physical violence

The Crime Control and Due Process Models. Oregon state university,P.5-8.

Tonry, M. (2012). Punishing race: A continuing American dilemma. Oxford University Press.

Trojanowicz, R., & Bucqueroux, B. (2020). Community policing: A contemporary perspective. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing.

Tyler, T. R. (2016). Why people obey the law. Princeton University Press.

Tyler, T. R. (2021). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Routledge.

United nations human rights. (1976). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.Nwe York: United nations General assembly resolution 2200 A, P.1-2

United nations office on drugs and crime. (2023). Integrated approaches to challenges facing the criminal justice system. Vienna, P.1 

United nations press release. (1999). Preventing crime worldwide:  Press Release SOC/CP/211 23 April 1999. https://press.un.org/en/1999/19990423.soccp211.html

United states secretary general. (2014).  United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: State of crime and criminal justice worldwide, P.1-11

van Zyl Smit, D., & Snacken, S. (2019). Penal theories and concepts: Rehabilitation. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 6, 381-401.

Von Hirsch, A., Ashworth, A., & Roberts, J. V. (2020). Proportionate sentences: A cornerstone of penal justice. Oxford University Press.

Walgrave, L. (2018). Restorative Justice and Desistance: A Systemic Review of Theory and Evidence. European Journal of Criminology, 15(6), 679-707.

Walker, S. (2011). The new world of police accountability. Sage Publications.

Wolff, S. (2018). Rehabilitation in Rwanda: Accountability and reintegration after the genocide. Oxford Development Studies, 46(1), 51-65.

World prison brief. (2022). Prison population in Rwanda, Institute of crime and justice policy research, London, UK.P.1

Zalman, M. (2014). Criminal procedure: A brief introduction. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Zalman, M. (2021). The criminal justice system: An introduction (10th ed.). Pearso
Published
2024-02-09
Section
Articles