MODULE :CMY2601
,CMY2601 Exam Study Pack
Contains:
• Exam Summary Notes
,STUDY UNIT 1.1
Introduction to High-Risk Offenders
Introduction to High-Risk Offenders
- The focus on risk and crime control has and still is on the design of crime-proof buildings, crime-
preventing streets and closed communities (e.g. boom-gated communities, security-based
townhouse complexes, etc.)
- Owing to South Africa’s high crime rate, many consider it essential to reduce the risk of crime by
restricting criminal opportunities, e.g. placing security guards, CCTV cameras, etc.
- Kemshell (2008:4) – Key issues that surround high-risk offenders are:-
- difficulties in the identification of high-risk offenders;
- questions that surround risk assessment; and
- problems with future risk predictions.
Who are High-Risk Offenders?
Definition: High-risk offenders are individuals who have committed a violent or sexual offence OR those
that have been assessed as being likely to do so.
According to Kemshall (2008:7-8), the identification of high-risk offenders has 3 issues:-
- The design and implementation of a risk assessment tool that is reliable and consistent in
identifying high-risk offenders
- Interpretations that differ in terms of what constitutes “high risk” amongst sentencers and
practitioners
- The establishment of sufficient criteria and evidence upon which future judgements can be based.
Criminological & Legal Approach to Risk and Dangerousness
- Both approaches emphasise a technical understanding of risk, where risk and dangerousness are
framed as objective phenomena if correct measures and tools are designed.
- This focus on risk has resulted in the constant development of reliable risk assessment tools that
identify dangerous offenders, as the “critical few” or high-risk offenders.
Psychological Framing of: High-risk Offenders and Dangerousness
- Views risk and dangerousness as the individual – inherent traits of offender.
- Risk factors are those that predispose individual/s to violent or sexual offending.
- Factors can be:-
Within individuals personality
A result of mental illness
A result of childhood experiences
Family functioning.
- Although risk and dangerous behaviour is individualised, it is the deviation from what is considered
the norm and is linked to assessments or diagnoses that are designed to show the reasons for
abnormalities.
- These assessments determine culpability and treatability.
- Psychiatric assessments and/or treatment often run parallel to psychological approaches which are
targeted at high-risk offenders thought to have mental illness.
, Sociological Understanding of Risk / Dangerousness
- Understanding is eclectic – draws on a range of theoretical approaches:-
Cultural theory
Governmentality theory
Social construction approaches
Cultural Theory
- Examines how some dangers are chosen to receive attention and others not, for example –
“stranger danger” in relation to child sexual abuse whilst sexual abuse within families is neglected.
Governmentality Theory
- Examines risk in terms of surveillance, discipline and population regulation as well as how concepts
of risk construct certain norms of behaviour.
- These norms then encourage individuals to self-regulate in response to those norms.
- Kemshall (2008:40) refers to this as “responsibilisation” – can be explained as a mechanism of social
regulation where individuals are responsible for their own actions, their own risks and their own
self-risk management.
- New surveillance techniques - such as electronic tagging / satellite tracking of offenders, use of
vehicle number plate recognition systems for speeding, CCTV cameras to monitor movements of
paedophiles – are increasingly linked by governmentality theorists to social regulation.
Social Construction of Risk and Role of the Media
- This approach suggests risk is never fully objective or knowable outside a belief system and moral
position.
- According to Lupton (1999:29) – what is measured, identified and managed as risk is always
constituted via pre-existing knowledge and discourse.
- Media draws our attention to public and political figures which provide a frame of reference against
which our own experiences can be measured.
Media:-
- Shapes issues
- Draws attention to public / political figures
- Provides a frame of reference from which people can measure their own experiences
- Can “champion” and / or validate causes and / or experiences
- Demonises specific groups
- Popularises fears, risks and dangers
- Finds solutions (or can inhibit finding solutions)
- Mobilises activists
- Prompts policymakers into taking action
,CMY2601 Exam Study Pack
Contains:
• Exam Summary Notes
,STUDY UNIT 1.1
Introduction to High-Risk Offenders
Introduction to High-Risk Offenders
- The focus on risk and crime control has and still is on the design of crime-proof buildings, crime-
preventing streets and closed communities (e.g. boom-gated communities, security-based
townhouse complexes, etc.)
- Owing to South Africa’s high crime rate, many consider it essential to reduce the risk of crime by
restricting criminal opportunities, e.g. placing security guards, CCTV cameras, etc.
- Kemshell (2008:4) – Key issues that surround high-risk offenders are:-
- difficulties in the identification of high-risk offenders;
- questions that surround risk assessment; and
- problems with future risk predictions.
Who are High-Risk Offenders?
Definition: High-risk offenders are individuals who have committed a violent or sexual offence OR those
that have been assessed as being likely to do so.
According to Kemshall (2008:7-8), the identification of high-risk offenders has 3 issues:-
- The design and implementation of a risk assessment tool that is reliable and consistent in
identifying high-risk offenders
- Interpretations that differ in terms of what constitutes “high risk” amongst sentencers and
practitioners
- The establishment of sufficient criteria and evidence upon which future judgements can be based.
Criminological & Legal Approach to Risk and Dangerousness
- Both approaches emphasise a technical understanding of risk, where risk and dangerousness are
framed as objective phenomena if correct measures and tools are designed.
- This focus on risk has resulted in the constant development of reliable risk assessment tools that
identify dangerous offenders, as the “critical few” or high-risk offenders.
Psychological Framing of: High-risk Offenders and Dangerousness
- Views risk and dangerousness as the individual – inherent traits of offender.
- Risk factors are those that predispose individual/s to violent or sexual offending.
- Factors can be:-
Within individuals personality
A result of mental illness
A result of childhood experiences
Family functioning.
- Although risk and dangerous behaviour is individualised, it is the deviation from what is considered
the norm and is linked to assessments or diagnoses that are designed to show the reasons for
abnormalities.
- These assessments determine culpability and treatability.
- Psychiatric assessments and/or treatment often run parallel to psychological approaches which are
targeted at high-risk offenders thought to have mental illness.
, Sociological Understanding of Risk / Dangerousness
- Understanding is eclectic – draws on a range of theoretical approaches:-
Cultural theory
Governmentality theory
Social construction approaches
Cultural Theory
- Examines how some dangers are chosen to receive attention and others not, for example –
“stranger danger” in relation to child sexual abuse whilst sexual abuse within families is neglected.
Governmentality Theory
- Examines risk in terms of surveillance, discipline and population regulation as well as how concepts
of risk construct certain norms of behaviour.
- These norms then encourage individuals to self-regulate in response to those norms.
- Kemshall (2008:40) refers to this as “responsibilisation” – can be explained as a mechanism of social
regulation where individuals are responsible for their own actions, their own risks and their own
self-risk management.
- New surveillance techniques - such as electronic tagging / satellite tracking of offenders, use of
vehicle number plate recognition systems for speeding, CCTV cameras to monitor movements of
paedophiles – are increasingly linked by governmentality theorists to social regulation.
Social Construction of Risk and Role of the Media
- This approach suggests risk is never fully objective or knowable outside a belief system and moral
position.
- According to Lupton (1999:29) – what is measured, identified and managed as risk is always
constituted via pre-existing knowledge and discourse.
- Media draws our attention to public and political figures which provide a frame of reference against
which our own experiences can be measured.
Media:-
- Shapes issues
- Draws attention to public / political figures
- Provides a frame of reference from which people can measure their own experiences
- Can “champion” and / or validate causes and / or experiences
- Demonises specific groups
- Popularises fears, risks and dangers
- Finds solutions (or can inhibit finding solutions)
- Mobilises activists
- Prompts policymakers into taking action
