Criminal Psychology - Effects of Imprisonment (Social) Flashcards
Background;
Some research would suggest that prison is effective:
The fact that there are 85,000 prisoners behind bars, leads to the assumption that they won’t by offending or harming others whilst they are locked up
In addition, as prison takes away a persons freedom it is seen as a highly effective way for a criminal to pay for their crime as it provides justice to society and the victim.
Prison may act as an effective deterrent, through vicarious reinforcement. For example if someone sees someone else going to prison, and are aware that this is a possible consequence, then they may chose not to take the risk of committing crimes.
Most prisoners believe they have learned their lesson and are determined that they won’t go back to prison.
Some research suggests that prison is not effective:
Crowding is a big issue. Institutions house more inmates than they were designed to hold, due to the fact that prison populations are on the increase. A relationship has been found between crowding and the psychological effects of imprisonment. In addition the increasing number of inmates significantly increases negative psychological effects, such as, stress, anxiety and depression. This is because the more inmates there are, the more interactions a prisoner has to judge and deal with. This can result in a great deal of uncertainty of other prisoners actions which can put the prisoner on edge constantly. This is both highly stressful and very demanding.
Also, over crowding leads to reduced work and activity programs available for inmates or for shorter time periods. Therefore, this increases the amount of time that an inmate is left with nothing to do which generates a great deal of stress and boredom.
However, this study ignores individual differences – some prisoners adapt more easily than others. In addition, the experience of prison is not the same for everyone – type of institution, sentence length and previous experience of prison, all contribute to how the person copes psychologically.
Reoffending rates:
In addition rates of reoffending have remained high in Britain for a decade, 1 in 4 prisoners will reoffend within 1 year of release. These high reoffending rates suggest a failure in the system.
Key Research;
The Key Research by Haney et al. aimed to investigate the effect of being assigned to different roles (prisoner or guard). This was done to evaluate wether the resulting behaviour would be due to situational or dispositional factors. The sample consisted of 22 males selected from an original pool of 75 who answered
a newspaper advertisement. Paid $15 a day up to 2 weeks. All college students in the Stanford area during summer. The procedure went as follows: Mock prison created in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford University. ‘Prisoners&’; remained in the mock
prison for 24 hours per day. ‘Guards&’; worked 3-man 8- hour shifts, continuing their normal lives at other times. The guards were instructed to maintain order in the prison. The results: 5 prisoners released early due to
extreme emotional depression, crying, rage and acute anxiety = suggests prison harms individuals mental wellbeing rather than acting as a deterrent. Some guards were tough but fair; some went beyond their roles showing cruelty and harassment = suggests that the effectiveness of imprisonment may depend on the
behaviour of the guard. Conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that The behaviour of participants is best explained by situational, not dispositional factors and that the findings of this study should be used to inform guard training programmes.
Applications;
Anger Management Therapies:
This programme is a type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), there are a total of 26, 2 hour sessions that require completion in this programme.
The first stage: Individuals are asked to identify situations when they get angry, common examples could be; feeling ignored, feeling challenged, feeling they have been treated unfairly. They are also taught how to identify physiological changes that they experience when becoming angry such as increased heart rate or muscle tension.
The second stage: Participants learn a number of skills that help them to communicate with others more effectively in response to being provoked by others. These skills include: Thought-stopping:where the participant learns to stop thinking aggressive thoughts and direct them somewhere else e.g. sport. They also learn how to remain in control of their emotions by counting to 10 or slow breathing.
The third stage: The participants practice applying these skills in situations where they feel aggressive – this is usually practiced through role play. They are encouraged to practice the techniques until it becomes second nature.
Probation:
When someone is on probation, that means they have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a crime but are given an alternative to incarceration. In other words, instead of serving their sentence in jail or prison, they are allowed to remain out of custody. This may prevent reoffending as the vigilantes are given a sort of a ‘warning’.
