Behaviour modification in custody

Question 1

Token economies

Answer 1

• good behaviour rewarded
• bad behaviour punished
• based on principles of operant conditioning
• good behaviours earn tokens which can be exchanged for desirable goods
• increases desirable behaviours

Question 2

Specifics of token economies

Answer 2

• tokens need to be rewarded straight away after the desirable behaviour
• guards have to be consistent
• tokens can be taken away for bad behaviour
• prisoners should be aware of what behaviour is desirable and what tokens can be taken away for
• prisoners should agree to their rewards

Question 3

Do token economies abuse prisoners human rights?

Answer 3

• could be argued that withdrawing luxuries such as phone calls they could violate living standards
• rewarding prisoners with employment where they earn less than minimum wage could be seen as slave labour
• patronising?

Question 4

Easy to implement

Answer 4

• effective and easy to implement
• prison officers can be trained (no extra staff needed for hiring)
• saves the prison money
• therfore used by many prisons

Question 5

Short- versus long-term
goals

Answer 5

• doesn’t affect reoffending rates or behaviour outside of prison
• offenders no longer receive tokens
• the link from conditioning will weaken
• offenders may revert once they leave prison

Question 6

Rice (1990)

Answer 6

• examined outcome for 92 offenders
• effective for improving behaviour
• had no effect on offenders once released