dealing with offending behaviour - anger management

Question 1

cognitive behaviour therapy

Answer 1

• Raymond Novaco, cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal which precedes aggressive acts
• in some people, anger is quick to surface especially in situations perceived to be anxiety-inducing or threatening
• behaviourist terms, anger reinforced by individual’s feeling of control in the situation
• anger management programmes form of CBT, individual taught how to recognise cognitive factors that trigger anger and loss of control, then encouraged to develop techniques which bring about conflict resolution without need for violence

Question 2

3 stages - cognitive preparation

Answer 2

• requires offender to reflect on past experience, consider typical pattern of anger
• learning to identify situations which act as triggers to anger, and if their interpretation of events is irrational, therapist works to make this clear
• eg. offender may view someone looking a them as an act of confrontation
• therapist redefines this situation as non-threatening, attempting to break what is likely an automatic response

Question 3

3 stages - skills acquisition

Answer 3

• offenders introduced to range of techniques to help them deal with anger-provoking situations more irrationally and effectively

may include -
- cognitive - positive self-talk to encourage calmness
- behavioural - assertiveness training in how to communicate more effectively, will become automatic if practice regularly
- physiological - deal with physical reaction to anger such as relaxation training, controlling emotions

Question 4

3 stages - application practice

Answer 4

• offenders given opportunity to practise skills within controlled environment
• role play likely to involve offender and therapist re-enacting scenarios that might have escalated feelings of violence and anger in the past
• offender must see each scenario as real
• if offender deals with scenario positively, positive reinforcement is given by therapist

Question 5

positive outcome with young offenders

Answer 5

• Julia Keen, progress with offenders aged 17-21, took part in nationally recognised anger management programme
• course comprises 8 2-hour sessions
• initial issues with offenders not taking course seriously, and individuals forgetting routines etc.
• final outcomes generally positive, offenders reported increased awareness of anger management difficulties, increased capacity to exercise self-control

Question 6

evaluation strength - better than behaviour modification ⭐️

Answer 6

• anger management tries to tackle one cause of offending (cognitive process that trigger anger)
• other treatments such as behaviour modification deal with only surface behaviour, not process that drive this
• anger management may give offenders new insight into cause of criminality, allow them to discover ways of managing themselves outside of prison setting
• anger management more likely to lead to permanent behavioural change

Question 7

evaluation limitation - counterpoint to better than behaviour modification

Answer 7

• follow up studies of anger management do not support this assumption
• Blackburn pointed out that there is little evidence that anger management reduces recidivism in the long term
• may be because application stage of treatment still relies on role play, doesn’t reflect all triggers in real-world situations
• anger management may not reduce reoffending

Question 8

evaluation limitation - individual differences

Answer 8

• Howells found that participation in anger management had little overall impact compared to control group
• not true for all offenders, those who had showed intense levels of anger before the programme made significant progress
• offenders who were open to change and highly motivated from the outset experienced similar gains
• anger management may only benefit offenders who fit a certain profile
• also, anger management would only work for offenders who are impulsive, as people such as psychopaths and those who plan their crimes may just use the programme to learn new techniques and how to be more sneaky

Question 9

evaluation limitation - expensive ⭐️

Answer 9

• programmes are expensive to run as they require services of highly-trained specialists
• many prisons do not have resources to fund programmes
• success of anger management often based on commitment of participants, may be a problem if prisoners are uncooperative
• change takes time so this is likely to add to the expense of delivering effective programmes
• effective anger management programmes are probably not going to work in most prisons