AC4.1 Individualistic theories informing crime policies Flashcards
Psychoanalysis
psychoanalysis aims to access the unconscious, repressed thoughts believed to have led to the criminal act. the assumptions are that any psychological problems caused during development or repressed trauma are embedded in the unconscious mind. the treatment tries to bring any repressed thoughts to consciousness where they can be dealt with. the patient verbalises their thoughts. the analyst allows free association so the patient talks about whatever enters their mind. the patient lies down on a couch with the analyst facing away
psychoanalysis linked theories
based on Freud’s psychodynamic theory of criminality. psychoanalysis highlights the unconscious efforts between the id and the superego.
how effective is psychoanalysis
not effective because…
- very time consuming and unlikely to provide quick answers
- there is ethical issues as psychoanalysis gives analysts the power to define what abnormal, which creates a power imbalance
- patient could discover very painful memories that were deliberately repressed
effective because…
- a study in 2010 concluded psychoanalysis works as well as other psychotherapy treatments such as CBT
Behaviour modification
Behaviour modification is when behaviours that are reinforced are strengthened and behaviours that are punished are weakened. With criminal behaviour it is punished in order to weaken the thought processing leading to illegal behaviour. The token system is a system where a desired action is rewarded with a token which can be later exchanged for a treat. For example, in prison tokens are given for a desired action and can be exchanged for more family visits or a TV in their cell.
behaviour modification linked theories
links to learning theories of criminality more specifically Skinner as it involves the use of operant conditioning to extinguish undesirable behaviours and establish desirable ones
how effective is behaviour modification
not effective because…
- even though token systems have short term effectiveness with both young and adult offenders, the improvements tend to not generalise beyond the institution in the long term
effective because…
- Fo and O’Donnell devised a buddy system in which adult volunteers were assigned to young offenders to provide consistent reinforcement for socially acceptable ways of acting. it appears to improve behaviour of serious offenders but improvement of less serious offenders was mixed
- token systems can be administered in classrooms, hospital wards for mentally ill anorexic patients, prisoners, youth homes etc. this suggests the policy has real life applications
aversion therapy
Eysenck states that criminals are harder to condition as they are more resistant to learning through punishment, therefore Eysenck suggests conditioning for sex offenders needs to be harsher to change their behaviour. Eysenck suggested that sex offenders should think of an unacceptable sexual fantasy until they’re aroused and then a strongly adverse stimulus such as an electric shock is administered. This should then be repeated until the sex offender comes to associate the deviant arousal with the stimulus. The aim is to stop the thoughts and therefore stop the offending.
aversion therapy linked theories
This policy links to Eysenck’s personality theory
how effective is aversion therapy
Aversion therapy has had very limited effectiveness in the real world with the effects usually only being short term. Additionally its use for attempting to cure gay people is an ethical issue as it is an abuse of human rights.
