Forensic Psychology - Justice Systems Flashcards
Examples of cases in which the justice system had shown bias
- Stockwell six
- Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam
- Patrick Magee
- Ian Brady
What is custodial sentencing?
Custodial sentencing is where a person is found guilty in court and as a result spends time in prison, relative to their crime
Aims:
- Deterrence. Aims to stop people from reoffending
- Retribution. Focus on the feelings of the victim/family. Repaying their debt for the crime committed
- Confinement. Removing them from a threat to society
- Rehabilitation. Programmes offered can allow for a better life when released
Eval -
+ Retribution and confinement are good for society
- Recidivism rates do not support deterrence or rehabilitation
- College of crime views
Psychological impacts of custodial sentencing
Operant conditioning ->
- Learning through reinforcement
- Prison aims to ‘punish’ therefore designed to ensure that prisoners have a bad time
- Eval - not all prisoners have a bad experience / sometimes better than the outside world
Social Learning Theory ->
- Learning through role models in the environment
- Prisons are a confined area where criminals can mix with others who have similar mindsets
Bowlby ->
- Institutionalisation can occur when you spend too much time in one place
- This can lead to detrimental changes in your personality and behaviour
- Eval - institution may be better
Prisonization -
– Similar to institutionalisation, some behaviors that are unacceptable in the outside world are encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of a prison. Prisoners learn to accept the prisoner code in order to survive, for example the unofficial hierarchy of prisoners.
How do prisons effect mental health? - eval of custodial sentencing
- Zimbardo - prisons detrimentally impact on mental health
- Crighton and Towl - suicide rates are higher, especially in first 30 days
- Suggested levels of self harm are also higher
- Snow - characteristics of self harmers different to those who are suicidal
- Cheeseman - aggression is a stress relief
- Hollin - prisons are more of a home to some prisoners
- People either have poor mental health, are institutionalised and therefore cannot reintegrate, learn how to offend better in schools of crime or desire to reoffend - fails at its aims (no rehab, no deterrent)
Eval -
+ Mental health issues could be the cause, rather than an effect
- Argument that punishment affects mental health anyway
Recidivism - what is it?
- The aim of prison is to punish and rehabilitate offenders in the hope that they will not re-offend.
- Re-offending is known as recidivism. Prison has a poor record for reducing reoffending – 57% of offenders will reoffend within a year of release (2013).
- Over two-thirds (67%) of under 18 year olds are reconvicted within a year of release offending by all recent ex-prisoners in 2007-08 cost the economy between £9.5 and £13 billion.
Reoffending following judicial punishment:
- Reasons behind high rates:
-> Institutionalisation. Daily life is easier on the inside, help with adjusting when released given high priority
-> Behaviourism. Behaviour and sanction do not occur at the same time and so strength in association is diminished
-> Health. Mental health and addiction need addressing whilst in prison to reduce likelihood of reoffending
Evaluation of recidivism
1) In order to reduce recidivism (i.e. re-offending) 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
2) 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)
Techniques to reduce recidivism - Anger Management
Anger management programmes are a form of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) that aim to change the way the prisoner thinks and therefore the way they act - 3 aims are behaviour strategies, arousal regulation and cognition reconstruction.
There are three stages in Anger Management:
1) Cognitive preparation - the offender is encouraged to reflect on their past behaviours and what makes them angry, and 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
2) Skill acquisition - 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 and they are taught how to control their own emotions rather than being ruled by them
3) Application practice - offenders practise their new skills through role-play. The therapist will deliberately provoke them to see how they react and the therapist will positively reinforce successful strategies
Research support for Anger Management
Ireland (2000):
- investigation of whether anger management courses work in a natural experiment comparing 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
- 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; in the short term, the treatment appeared to be effective, with no obvious reoffending data
Keen et al -
- Found prisoners that took part in the National Anger Management Package were able to control their anger more than they could when they started the package
Evaluation of anger management
Strengths:
- Anger management is an eclectic approach using cognitive approaches in stage 1, behavioural approaches in stage 2 and social learning in stage 3, and this therefore recognises that offending behaviour is a complex interaction between social and psychological factors
- Anger management is more likely to lead to a permanent change in behaviour than behaviour modification programmes (token economies) as it focuses on changing the way an offender thinks and behaves
Weaknesses:
- Although anger management works in the short term, the lack of reoffending data means that we don’t know if the effects last - it is very different role-playing controlling anger to controlling anger once outside of prison
- Anger management is limited in its application as not all crime is motivated by anger - crimes for financial gain, for example, would not benefit from any form of CBT as they are logical - Loza and Loza-Fanous
- Anger management is very expensive and time consuming as it required highly skilled therapists - also the prisoner must be motivated and want to change
Reducing recidivism - Andrews and Bonta
The three principles to assess rehabilitation needs:
- Risk-Need-Responsivity Principle (RNR model) - characterised and generalised by social learning theory
1) Risk principle -> level of service should match the offenders the risk of reoffending
2) Need principle -> assesses criminogenic needs and target them in treatment
3) Responsivity principle -> maximises the offenders ability to learn from the rehabilitative intervention by providing CBT and tailoring the interviews to learning style, motivation, abilities and strengths of the offender
= general principle using social learning theory and specific principle which is a fine tuning of behavioral intervention to bioscial and personal characteristics
Risk assessment in reducing recidivism - Andrews and Bonta
Step one - professional judgement
- Clinicians would decide who required enhanced security and supervision
Step two - Evidence-based (1970s)
- Acturial risk assessment instruments are used to demonstrate the risk of reoffending and give them quantitative scores; a higher score = higher risk, such as the Salient Factor Score (Hoffman)
Step three - Evidence-based and dynamic (Bonta 2007)
- Includes current not just past events and circumstances
Step four - Systematic and comprehensive (Andrews, Bonta and Wormith)
- Monitoring of personal and wider factors
Criminogenic needs in reducing recidivism
- These are dynamic risk factors directly linked to criminal behaviour
- 7 interventions in Andrew and Bonta’s study;
1) Antisocial personality pattern -> builds self-management skills and anger management
2) Procriminal attitudes -> counter rationalisation with prosocial attitudes
3) Social supports for crime -> replace peer groups
4) Substance abuse -> reduce it
5) Family relatives -> teach parenting skills
6) Work -> enhance skills and employ
7) Prosocial recreation -> sports teams and encourage community participation
It was found that the more individuals adhered to treatments, the less they reoffended, with adherence to all three principles of the RNR model resulting in an almost 40% decrease in recidivism
Research evidence for the explanations of recidivism and strategies of reducing it
1) Restorative justice programme support
- Reduced repeat offending, double convictions up to 400%, reduced property crime and violence in the UK, Australia and Canada, reduced victims PTSD, provided more satisfaction for victims, reduced desire for revenge, reduced cost of criminal justice and reduced recidivism
- Based on face-to-face meetings and financial restitution -> police officers trained in the same format of leading RJ discussions
- Far more extensive and positive, restorative communities are well validated, provides evidence for behaviourist explanations and restorative justice
2) Health explanation and behavioural modification -
- Data from 641 Californian prisons to examine associations between meth use and 3 measures of criminal behaviour -> recidivism for violent crimes, recidivism for any crime within 12 months of parole and and self-reported violent behaviour
- Meth use was predictive of self-reported violence and general recidivism, but not for return on a violent offense
- Trends remained even after controlling for drug trials -> evidence for mental health and addiction and also for the effectiveness of anger management and behavioural modification
Research evidence for the explanations of recidivism and strategies of reducing it pt2
3) Use of token economies as part of behaviour modification programmes
- National Training School for Boys involved a total, 24-hour living and learning environment.
- boys were offered certain privileges such as private bedrooms, study offices, choice diets, various freedoms, and recreational activities, all of which they paid for with money earned through academic achievement.
- Ninety percent of the participants showed the equivalent of 4 years of academic growth in at least one subject within 6 months. The project involved 41 juvenile offenders whose crimes ranged from auto theft and housebreaking to rape and homicide.
- Boys who had offended were rewarded with money matching the outside world acting as tokens, which they achieved for academic progress or for answering a question correctly - used positive reinforcement to encourage good behaviour
- Many had dropped out of school, as they were unresponsive to other institutional educational programmes
- Therefore, this contradicts the idea of behaviour modification programmes being effective - good alternatives to other institutions but not long term
- A follow-up study indicated that recidivism rates dropped 2/3 below the norm for the boys involved in the first two years of release, but returned to the norm after 3 years
4) Pilot study that investigated the effects of institutionalisation on recidivism rates -
- Most people incarcerated from a community return to it (Andress, Wildes, Rechtine and Moritsugu, 2004)
- Therefore, it aimed to investigate the types of needs offenders required post incarceration in terms of their perceived access to resources by surveying 102 inmates at three Midwestern jails
- It was hypothesised these male inmates would agree that accessible resources, treatments and or support services post incarceration would reduce recidivism, with findings supporting this hypothesis, with survey data being statistically analysed using frequencies, means, and a reliability analysis
- Supports that institutionalisation effects individuals, and the needs section of the RNR model
Research evidence for the explanations of recidivism and strategies of reducing pt3
5) 61 follow-up studies were analysed to identify the factors related to recidivism among sexual offenders - on average, it was a low rate, but some subgroups offended more
- Best predicted by sexual deviancy and general criminological factors and those who failed to complete treatment were at higher risk for reoffending than those who completed treatment, and predictors were similar between this crime group and non-sexual crimes such as age, juvenile offenses, violence and applied risk assessments of sexual offenders should consider the risk of sexual and nonsexual recidivism, as evidence for the health motivation of offending
6) Restorative justice -
- Violent offenders who took part in conferences with their victims were less likely to reoffend, with female offenders having a lower recidivism rate than males
- Shows the value of the use of restorative programmes, in particular different variations of conferencing and the satisfaction from both offender and victim is strong support for its usefulness for behaviourist recidivism
