area 6 forensic psychology

Question 1

what is the background of area 6?

Answer 1

types of punishments (prison)​

Whether prisons are effective​

How reform can be used as a response to criminal behaviour

Question 2

what are non custodial punishments?

Answer 2

non custodial- eg community sentencing, fines, probation such as reporting to an officer, discharge- can be conditional or not

Question 3

what are custodial punishments?

Answer 3

prison or secure units
residential centres for young people where they are given therapy
this achieves retribution- fceeling like justice has been served
hebenton- crime rates decrease as it acts as a deterrent

Question 4

are prisons effective?

Answer 4

fear and violence in priosns can lead to mh issues
overcrowding due to large pop that is mainly male
25% reoffend
dooley- unnatural deaths- 300/442 deaths were suicide

Question 5

why is reform needed?

Answer 5

it doesn’t act as a deterrent for everyone and it is difficult not to reoffend after release due to poor job prospects, being homeless ect

Question 6

what is an example of reform introduced by the MOJ?

Answer 6

Anger management involves identifying the signs that trigger anger aswell as learning techniques to deal with situations. Its role it not to prevent anger but manage it. Ireland (2000) investigated anger management programmes.​

Question 7

what did Ireland find?

Answer 7

50 prisoners who completed CALM programme were found to have a reduced score on an anger questionnaire, lower agg rating by prison officers compared to 37 who hadn’t.
92% showed improvement on at least 1 measure of aggression

Question 8

what did gillis & nafekh find about employment and reoffending?

Answer 8

those who were employed while on conditional bail were matched with those unemployed by age, sex, length if sentence.
those employed were less likely to return to prison and stay on conditional release

Question 9

what is the core study for topic 6?

Answer 9

haney

Question 10

what is the background of haney?

Answer 10

recidivism was up 75%, this failure was put down to the dispositional hypothesis. (personality).
Guards were seen as sadistic
Prisoners were seen as impulsive,
Poor conditions in prisons were due to bad people not the bad conditions.
Haney and the other researchers also stated it was hard to evaluate disposition and separate disposition from the situation, therefore they wanted to create a new prison with normal people (who had a normal disposition)

Question 11

what is the aim of haney?

Answer 11

To investigate the effects of a prison environment on a group of students, and to see if the roles they were randomly assigned to play would significantly influence their behaviour
Study the possible effects of imprisonment and the possibilities for prison reform.

Question 12

what method was use in Haney?

Answer 12

Lab experiment, independent measures

Question 13

what was the IV in haney?

Answer 13

IV: prisoner or guard

Question 14

what is the DV in Haney?

Answer 14

DV: observations including audio and video recording of the prisoners and guards. Self-report was also used such as personality test, mood inventories, daily guard reports, interviews at the end of the study

Question 15

where did haneys study take place?

Answer 15

Took place in the basement of Stanford university, there was an unlit solitary confinement room and a separate wing for guards and a bedroom for the superintendent. – mundane realism

Question 16

sample of haney?

Answer 16

Volunteers through Stanford daily newspaper. 24 men judged to be physically and mentally stable. The college students were all middle class and strangers to each other. They were 2 reserves, 1 dropped out. 10 prisoners and 11 guards

Question 17

how was consent gained from the sample in Haney?

Answer 17

All signed a contract that stated they would get diet, clothing, housing etc. for 2 weeks. It was also made clear they had little privacy and that their basic civil rights were suspended except physical abuse

Question 18

procedure of haney for the prisoners?

Answer 18

Arrested at own home by police unexpectedly and searched Infront of neighbours. They were then blindfolded and took to the prison where they were they stripped and sprayed and put into their cell. They were only called by their name to dehumanise them. They were given 3 meals a day, had to wear a smock and had supervised breaks. They also had to line up and be counted. They had a light chain and lock on one ankle. Smock- emasculating

Question 19

procedure of Haney from guards?

Answer 19

they believed the study was about the prisoners behavior not them. They wore reflective sunglasses so the prisoners couldn’t see their eyes – emotionally detached from the prisoners. This also gave them anonymity. They wore a khaki military like uniform and has a nightstick- although they were instructed to not use any physical abuse.

Question 20

findings of haney?

Answer 20

Study was terminated after 6 days
Guards and prisoners showed more negative feelings towards each other and themselves
Prisoners expressed more intent to harm other prisoners, whereas the guards were more collective

Question 21

findings of Haney relating to guards?

Answer 21

Guards showed a pathology of power, through enjoyment and abuse of power for example increasing sanctions and making the prisoners’ rights privileges
Guards seemed distressed but never failed to turn up to work and even did overtime w/o extra pay.

Question 22

findings of haney relating to prisoners?

Answer 22

5 prisoners were released early due to extreme depression, rage and crying. Some developed a psychosomatic rash and pathological prisoner syndrome. Prisoners went from being in disbelief to rebellion – however once failed some became sick as a way of demanding attention and some became excessively obedient. The negativity between the obedient and the sick became known as pathological prisoner syndrome due to the loss of personal identity and emasculation.

Question 23

what are some conclusions from haney?

Answer 23

Prison can make prisoners suffer from mental health problems
Guards can become abusive and insensitive towards prisoners and misuse their power, they can develop pathology of power if given unchecked freedom
Prison has negative effects on individuals who are there such as distress in either role.
Ordinary individuals can play roles they are given to extremes
Punishment of being imprisoned doesn’t always fit the crime, it is more destructive than it is effective.