Dealing with offending behaviour

Question 1

what is the aim of behaviour modification in custody?

Answer 1

to replace the undesirable behaviours with desirable ones through a token economy (operant conditioning)

Question 2

give examples of some desirable behaviours that may be rewarded in prison

Answer 2

keeping cell tidy and avoiding confrontation

Question 3

why are tokens secondary reinforcers?

Answer 3

as they are not rewards in themselves but can be exchanged for a reward

Question 4

give examples of some rewards that tokens could be exchanged for in prison

Answer 4

phone calls, food, gym time

Question 5

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?

Answer 5

operationalising target behaviour

Question 6

what are the three things that should happen before implementing a token economy?

Answer 6

create a scoring system, operationalise target behaviour and train the staff

Question 7

why is a scoring system important?

Answer 7

makes behaviour clear to the offender and allows them to work towards their rewards.

Question 8

staff should be trained to standardise procedures so that…

Answer 8

all staff reward the same behaviour in the same way to make it fair for all of the prisoners.

Question 9

Hobbs and Holt introduced token economy to three behavioural units and a fourth control… what did they find?

Answer 9

positive behaviour increased

Question 10

success seems to depend on the consistency of

Answer 10

the staff. High staff turnover or inadequate training can lead to loss of effects due to the inconsistency. (Barrett and Blanchard)

Question 11

Blackburn said that behaviour modification has ‘little rehabilitative value… why?

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Behaviour modification is straightforward to

Answer 12

set up. it is cost effective and easy to follow along to once clear measures have been established.

Question 13

behaviour modification is unethical because

Answer 13

it is manipulative and dehumanising. (Achtenberg 1974)

Question 14

Field et al did token economy with young people with behaviour issues and saw

Answer 14

an improvement in their behaviour, especially when they gained an instant reward

Question 15

what is custodial sentencing?

Answer 15

deciding whether an offender should be put in prison or given other therapeutic help.

Question 16

what are the four main reasons for custodial sentencing?

Answer 16

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)

Question 17

what are three psychological effects of custodial sentencing?

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

what does recidivism mean?

Answer 18

reoffending

Question 19

in recent years, recidivism rates in the UK have been

Answer 19

45%

Question 20

in Norway the recidivism rates are 20% this is because they focus more on

Answer 20

treatments rather than incarceration

Question 21

figures of recidivism rates may not be due to custodial sentencing because..

Answer 21

we do not know how many people were experiencing psychosis beforehand. Their reoffending may not be due to prison life

Question 22

Shirley (2019) suggests that prison Is a worthwhile experience because…

Answer 22

it provides educational treatment and prisoners who take part in this treatment are 43% less likely to reoffend.

Question 23

Bartol (1995) says that prison can be…

Answer 23

brutal, demeaning and devastating.

Question 24

in 2019, prison suicide rates were

Answer 24

nine times higher than in the general population

Question 25

what percentage of men and women reported psychosis as a result of incarceration?

Answer 25

25% of women and 15% of men. suggests that prison has really damaging psychological effects.

Question 26

any positive treatment in prison may be undermined by

Answer 26

other inmates as they will learn ‘tricks of the trade’ and how to become better offenders. This makes them more likely to reoffend.

Question 27

restorative justice focuses on

Answer 27

rehabilitation through reconciliation with victims (survivors)

Question 28

restorative justice is about…

Answer 28

the offender realising the harm they’ve caused and empowering the survivor by giving them a voice.

Question 29

in relation to sentencing, how can restorative justice work?

Answer 29

alongside, instead of or reducing

Question 30

restorative justice is carried out by a trained supervisor in a non…

Answer 30

courtroom setting

Question 31

explain how restitution can happen in a physical or emotional sense

Answer 31

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

Question 32

where else does the Restorative Justice Council suggest implementing restorative justice?

Answer 32

schools, hospitals, communities

Question 33

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?

Answer 33

85% satisfied, 78% would recommend, 60% felt better (only 2% said it made them feel worse)

Question 34

Wood and Suzuki (2016) argued that RJ is not as positive as suggested…. what did they say?

Answer 34

RJ is not survivor focused and its main aim is to rehabilitate offenders. The survivors needs come secondary.

Question 35

Van Gijsenham argues that offenders may abuse the system. How will they do this?

Answer 35

by only taking part to avoid punishment. Not all offenders will benefit from restorative justice.

Question 36

To take part, the offenders must want to…

Answer 36

make amends

Question 37

Heather Strang did a meta analysis comparing restorative justice with …….

Answer 37

custodial sentencing… and found that restoritive justice had significantly less recidivism rates

Question 38

Liebman argues that in the case of domestic violence…

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

what does anger management involve?

Answer 39

identifying the signs that trigger anger and learning how to calm down and deal with them in a positive way.

Question 40

what are the three stages involved in anger management therapy? (CPSAAP)

Answer 40

Cognitive preparation (identifying), skills acquisition (learning behaviour, self talk, other talk, other behaviour) , application practice (applying behaviour to role play situations)

Question 41

anger management is a form of CBT because..

Answer 41

cognitive factors are what trigger the anger

Question 42

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?

Answer 42

initially the 17-21 year olds didn’t take the program seriously, however the final outcome was largely positive.

Question 43

the benefits of anger management outlast those of behaviour modification because…

Answer 43

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

Question 44

Blackburn suggests that anger management has short term effects but not long term ones, this is because

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

Howells found that significant progress was only made by individuals who experienced…

Answer 45

intense anger beforehand. Shows that the success of anger management depends on the profile of the offender.

Question 46

anger management is likely to be expensive because…

Answer 46

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.