Anger Managment - A03

Question 1

Better than behaviour modification - strength

Answer 1

• anger management tries to tackle one of the causes of offending - that is, the cognitive processes that trigger anger, and ultimately, offending behaviour.
• Alternative treatments such as behaviour modification deal with only surface behaviour and not the processes that drive such behaviour.
• Experience of anger management may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality and allow them to self-discover ways of managing themselves outside of the prison setting.
• This suggests that anger management is more likely than behaviour modification
  to lead to permanent behavioural change.

Question 2

Counterpoint - Ronald Blackburn (1993)

Answer 2

• points out that, whilst anger management may have a noticeable effect on the conduct of offenders in the short term, there is very little evidence that it reduces recidivism in the long term.
• This may be because the application phase of treatment still relies on role play which might not properly reflect all the possible triggers that are present in a real-world situation.
• Any progress made in therapy may count for little when compared to, say, a busy city centre pub on a Saturday night.
• This suggests that, in the end, anger management may not reduce reoffending.

Question 3

Individual differences - Kevin Howells

Answer 3

• conducted an investigation with Australian offenders. The researchers found that participation in an anger management programme had little overall impact when compared to a control group who received no treatment.
• However, this was not true for ali offenders in the treatment programme. Significant progress was made with those offenders who had showed intense levels of anger before the programme.
• Also, offenders who were open to change and highly motivated from the outset (so-called ‘treatment readiness’) experienced similar gains.
• This suggests that anger management may only benefit offenders who fit a certain profile.

Question 4

Expensive option

Answer 4

• require the services of highly-trained specialists who are used to dealing with violent offenders. For this reason, many prisons may not have the resources to fund such programmes.
• In addition, the success of anger management is often based on the commitment of those who participate, and this may be a problem if prisoners are uncooperative and apathetic.
• Change takes time and this is ultimately likely to add to the expense of delivering effective programmes.
• This suggests that effective anger management programmes are probably not going to work in most prisons.