Dealing with offender behaviour: behaviour modification in custody (token economy)

Question 1

AO1: aim

Answer 1

incentivise offenders to behave in ways which are socially acceptable (e.g. avoiding fights and confrontations both with staff and other prisoners; keeping their cell clean and tidy)

Question 2

AO1: primary and secondary reinforcers

Answer 2

the reward is the primary reinforcer and the token is the secondary reinforcer

Question 3

AO1: designing a token economy

Answer 3

• operationalise target behaviours: make sure they are objective and measurable
• create a scoring system: staff need to know how much a behaviour is worth
• train staff: to standardise the procedure so all staff are rewarding for the same thing and same way. Staff need to record everything aswell

Question 4

AO3: strength- research support

Answer 4

P: research support for token economies
E: researchers used token economy with a group of young offenders and a control group.
E: they observed a significant difference in positive behaviour compared to the non token economy group
L: suggests token economy do work,
HOWEVER, success depends of consistency of staff. Another researcher found benefits were lost if staff applied techniques inconsistently. Inappropriate staff training, high staff turnover, staff shortages and prison overcrowding all affected consistency.

Question 5

AO3: limitation- may have little rehabilitation value

Answer 5

P; token economy may have little rehabilitation value
E: aim is to make permanent changes to prisoners behaviour
E: researchers argue that when offenders are released form prison any positive change made is lost very quickly as the behaviour is no longer reinforced
L: this means they will be more likely to reoffend
HOWEVER, this could be explained using differential association theory as the social groups the ex-prisoners associates with following the release are likely to reward antisocial. criminal attitudes (reinforcing that behaviour)

Question 6

AO3: strength- easy to set up

Answer 6

P: token economy is easy to set up
E: makes it an appealing technique to use
E: no need for specialist professionals like anger management
L: means token economy can be established in most prisons and accessed by most prisoners

Question 7

AO3: limitation- ethical issues

Answer 7

P: ethical issues of token economy
E: it is manipulative and dehumanising. Argued that it is against the prisoners human right as some of the rewards are basic human right e.g. seeing loved ones
L: if the prisoner doesn’t adhere to the programme they will ‘lose out’