Dealing with offending behaviour Flashcards
what is the aim of behaviour modification in custody?
to replace the undesirable behaviours with desirable ones through a token economy (operant conditioning)
give examples of some desirable behaviours that may be rewarded in prison
keeping cell tidy and avoiding confrontation
why are tokens secondary reinforcers?
as they are not rewards in themselves but can be exchanged for a reward
give examples of some rewards that tokens could be exchanged for in prison
phone calls, food, gym time
it is important to break behaviour down into easily measurable units that can be clearly understood to the offender and the staff in the prison. What is this called?
operationalising target behaviour
what are the three things that should happen before implementing a token economy?
create a scoring system, operationalise target behaviour and train the staff
why is a scoring system important?
makes behaviour clear to the offender and allows them to work towards their rewards.
staff should be trained to standardise procedures so that…
all staff reward the same behaviour in the same way to make it fair for all of the prisoners.
Hobbs and Holt introduced token economy to three behavioural units and a fourth control… what did they find?
positive behaviour increased
success seems to depend on the consistency of
the staff. High staff turnover or inadequate training can lead to loss of effects due to the inconsistency. (Barrett and Blanchard)
Blackburn said that behaviour modification has ‘little rehabilitative value… why?
prisoners may just take part in the program in order to gain rewards but may not experience a true cognitive change and will probably just go on to reoffend when out of prison.
Behaviour modification is straightforward to
set up. it is cost effective and easy to follow along to once clear measures have been established.
behaviour modification is unethical because
it is manipulative and dehumanising. (Achtenberg 1974)
Field et al did token economy with young people with behaviour issues and saw
an improvement in their behaviour, especially when they gained an instant reward
what is custodial sentencing?
deciding whether an offender should be put in prison or given other therapeutic help.
what are the four main reasons for custodial sentencing?
deterrence (putting criminals off of offending), incapacitation (protecting the public), retribution (paying for their wrongdoing), rehabilitation (offering skills and training in order to reform the criminal)
what are three psychological effects of custodial sentencing?
stress and depression (high suicide rates in prisoners), institutionalisation (adaptation to prison means that inmates cannot function outside of prison, prisonisation (bad behaviour rewarded by inmates and thus the offender will only get worse)
what does recidivism mean?
reoffending
in recent years, recidivism rates in the UK have been
45%
in Norway the recidivism rates are 20% this is because they focus more on
treatments rather than incarceration
figures of recidivism rates may not be due to custodial sentencing because..
we do not know how many people were experiencing psychosis beforehand. Their reoffending may not be due to prison life
Shirley (2019) suggests that prison Is a worthwhile experience because…
it provides educational treatment and prisoners who take part in this treatment are 43% less likely to reoffend.
Bartol (1995) says that prison can be…
brutal, demeaning and devastating.
in 2019, prison suicide rates were
nine times higher than in the general population
what percentage of men and women reported psychosis as a result of incarceration?
25% of women and 15% of men. suggests that prison has really damaging psychological effects.
any positive treatment in prison may be undermined by
other inmates as they will learn ‘tricks of the trade’ and how to become better offenders. This makes them more likely to reoffend.
restorative justice focuses on
rehabilitation through reconciliation with victims (survivors)
restorative justice is about…
the offender realising the harm they’ve caused and empowering the survivor by giving them a voice.
in relation to sentencing, how can restorative justice work?
alongside, instead of or reducing
restorative justice is carried out by a trained supervisor in a non…
courtroom setting
explain how restitution can happen in a physical or emotional sense
restitution is paying back for wrongdoing. The offender can literally pay back the survivor with money, or they can give them emotional retribution by building trust and confidence for the survivor
where else does the Restorative Justice Council suggest implementing restorative justice?
schools, hospitals, communities
restorative justice has positive outcomes for survivors. in report findings for the restorative justice council over 7 years, what percentages of survivors said they were satisfied, would recommend, and felt better?
85% satisfied, 78% would recommend, 60% felt better (only 2% said it made them feel worse)
Wood and Suzuki (2016) argued that RJ is not as positive as suggested…. what did they say?
RJ is not survivor focused and its main aim is to rehabilitate offenders. The survivors needs come secondary.
Van Gijsenham argues that offenders may abuse the system. How will they do this?
by only taking part to avoid punishment. Not all offenders will benefit from restorative justice.
To take part, the offenders must want to…
make amends
Heather Strang did a meta analysis comparing restorative justice with …….
custodial sentencing… and found that restoritive justice had significantly less recidivism rates
Liebman argues that in the case of domestic violence…
the power imbalance between the abuser and the abused puts pressure on the abused making them fear the worst if they don’t go along with what their partner says.
what does anger management involve?
identifying the signs that trigger anger and learning how to calm down and deal with them in a positive way.
what are the three stages involved in anger management therapy? (CPSAAP)
Cognitive preparation (identifying), skills acquisition (learning behaviour, self talk, other talk, other behaviour) , application practice (applying behaviour to role play situations)
anger management is a form of CBT because..
cognitive factors are what trigger the anger
Julia Keen studied progress of an anger management course involving 7 two hour sessions in the first 3 weeks and a final session a month afterwards. What did she find?
initially the 17-21 year olds didn’t take the program seriously, however the final outcome was largely positive.
the benefits of anger management outlast those of behaviour modification because…
BM only tackles the surface behaviour whereas anger management allows the offender to understand their behaviour and correct it in a positive way, reducing recidivism
Blackburn suggests that anger management has short term effects but not long term ones, this is because
the role play in the application practice does not represent real life situations and thus, when placed in real life situations the offender may not know how to act.
Howells found that significant progress was only made by individuals who experienced…
intense anger beforehand. Shows that the success of anger management depends on the profile of the offender.
anger management is likely to be expensive because…
it needs a skilled professional. Also commitment from the offender may not happen instantly, this time is likely to add expense for the prisons as for the programme to work there has to be commitment.
