Dealing with offending behaviour Flashcards
What are the aims of custodial sentencing?
- Deterrence
- Incapacitation
- Retribution
- Rehabilitation
What is deterrence?
Prison should be an unpleasant experience. So someone who serves a prison sentence should never wish to serve another. The thought of prison should act as a deterrent to others and prevent them from committing crime
What is incapacitation?
Taking a criminal out of circulation means they are unable to commit further crime, keeping society safe
What is retribution?
Society is taking revenge on the criminal. They are paying for their crimes by having their freedom taken from them
What is rehabilitation?
Prison can be used to reform criminal through training, education and therapy, so they leave prison a changed person
what are the psychological effects of custodial sentencing?
- Stress and Depression
- Institutionalisation
- Prisonisation
What were Zimbardo’s main conclusions?
were that situational factors were more useful for explaining the behavior of prisoners and guards than individual ones. Zimbardo’s participants conformed to their ideas of how prisoners and guards should behave
What sis Curt Bartol suggest?
that prison is ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating’. Suicide rates are generally 15 times higher than in society in general. Most at risk are young, single men in the first 24 hours of incarceration. Around 25% of female and 15% of male prisoners have symptoms of psychosis (severe mental illness)
Individuall differences
Not all prisoners react in the same way to incarceration. Some the punishment should fit the individual, not necessarily the crime!
What is the aim of prison?
to punish and rehabilitate offenders in the hope that they will not re-offend
What is recidivism?
Re-offending
What is prisons recording for reducing reoffending?
57% of offenders will reoffend within a year of release (2013)
Percentage of 18yo reconvicted within a year of release?
Over two-thirds (67%)
What must be done in order to reduce recidivism?
punishment needs to fit the individual as well as the crime and more research is needed into reducing the negative psychological effects of imprisonment. The aim should be for offenders to leave prison fully reformed and ready to take on the role of a productive and law-abiding citizen
Alternatives to imprisonment?
Given that we know prison doesn’t work we need alternatives. Some alternatives include probation and restorative justice. However, the government is reluctant to invest in prisoners, due to economic restraints and public opinion. But, this is a short-sighted approach, in order to cut crime and recidivism rates investment is needed (Economic implication)
What do therapies based on the principles of operant conditioning aim to bring?
specific changes in behavior. This is known as behavior modification. It involves rewarding ‘appropriate’ behavior and withholding rewards for ‘inappropriate’ behavior.
How does the approach of behaviour modification work best?
with children or in institutions such as mental hospitals, schools and prisons. For example, children can be observed and supervised by parents and teachers working with therapists. As a result, their behavior can be consistently and systematically reinforced
What do token economies illustrate?
application of operant conditioning principles to adults in institutional settings
What did Hobbs and Holt (1976) introduce?
a token economy programme with young delinquents in three behavioral units, a fourth acted as a control. They observed a significant improvement in positive behavior as a result of the introduction of the token economy. Allyon (1979) found similar effects in an adult prison.
What is a positive of using token economies?
easy to implement and do not require specialist training or expense, like other therapies such as Anger Management. But, all staff must implement them consistently if they are to work
What are anger management programmes a form of?
Cognitive behavioral Therapy (CBT), they aim to change the way a prisoner thinks and therefore the way they act
What are the three stages of anger management?
1) Cognitive Preparation
2) Skill Acquisition
3) Application practice
What is the offender encouraged to reflect in cognitive preparation?
to reflect on their past behaviors and what makes them angry. The therapist works with them to show them that their response is irrational and helps them to redefine the situations as non-threatening. They are taught to recognise their own triggers for anger
What is skill acquistion?
The offenders are taught a range of techniques and skills to enable them to avoid triggers and deal with anger-provoking situations more rationally. They might require training in assertiveness and effective communication. They are taught how to control their own emotions, rather then being ruled by them
What is application pratice?
their new skills through role-play. The therapist will deliberately provoke them to see how they react. The therapist will positively reinforce successful strategies
What did Ireland (2000) investigate?
whether anger management courses work
What did Ireland use?
A natural experiment compared a group of 50 prisoners who had completed CALM and a group of 37 who were assessed as suitable, but had not actually taken the course
What did the prisoners who had completed CALM rated themselves?
lower on the anger questionnaire and were rated lower by the prison officers, than the control group. 92% showed improvements on at least one measure of aggression and anger
What were Ireland’s conclusions?
In the short-term the treatment seemed effective, but there is no re-offending data
What is a strength with anger management?
more likely to lead to a permanent change in behavior than behavior modification programmes (token economies) as it focuses on changing the way an offender both thinks and behaves
What does restorative justice usually involve?
a supervised mediation meeting between the victim and the offender with a trained mediator
what is the victim give the opportunity to do?
The victim is given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain the impact the crime has had on their life.
What does the offender have to do?
The offender has to face up to the consequences of their actions and this starts the rehabilitation process
What does restorative justice have to be?
voluntary for all parties and seeks a positive outcome. It is respectful and not degrading for either offender or victim
What are the aims of Restorative Justice?
- Rehabilitation of Offenders
- Atonement for Wrongdoing
- Victim’s Perspective
What is a criticism of restorative justice?
tough both for victims and offenders. For offenders they have to face up to the consequences of their actions, but for victims they may be forced to relive frightening and upsetting experiences
What has the UK Restorative Justice Council (2015) report?
85% satisfaction from victims who had taken part in face-to-face restorative justice meetings
What did Sherman and Strang review?
20 studies, involving 142 men convicted of violence and property offences, who had taken part in restorative justice, only 11% reoffended, compared to 37% of a matched control group
