1. Treating Offenders L.O. Describe and evaluate two ways of treating offender; Token Economy and Anger Management

2. How do we keep our streets safe? Your ideas please?

3. What use does prison serve? Punishment? Deterrent? Rehabilitation? Keeping the streets ‘safe’?

4. Might get you thinking….. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tJR81BWe5Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tJR81BWe5I

5. THE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS AND PREVENTION OF CRIME. The criminal justice system has many punishments at its disposal. It can sentence offenders to a period of imprisonment or it can use more lenient deterrents such as a suspended sentence, a period of probation, community service or a fine. Once offenders are imprisoned, some of them will be part of a treatment programme aimed at improving their immediate behaviour and reducing their chances of reoffending. Behaviour modification in the form of token economies and anger management are the 2 that we will describe and assess.

6. Describe and evaluate two ways of treating offenders including: - the token economy programme and one other. Suitable examples: - punishment - anger management - social skills training.

7. Your Task…. Split into groups (max 2 people) Get each group to create a presentation on this treatment method. This must include: Background theory to the treatment Procedure of treatment Evaluation Interactive element of their choice (e.g. a quiz) You must each have an even amount of presenting.

8. TOKEN ECONOMIES Token economy programmes are used to obtain desirable behaviour in closed institutions such as prisons, and they are used for juvenile and adult offenders. They are a form of behaviour modification. These programmes started in the 1960’s and there was hope that this would be extremely successful, given the success of the use of learning theories in changing behaviour.

9. TASK – Think back to what you learnt about the learning theory & generalisation & operant conditioning at AS level. Remind yourself about positive and negative reinforcement and punishment.

10. A token economy programme involves a system of rewards being set up for desired behaviour, sometimes with punishments to discourage behaviour which is undesirable. Rewards are usually tokens or points, and these can be periodically exchanged for something that the individual wants. This is an important part of the programme as the rewards must genuinely reward the person.

11. Desirable behaviour such as co-operation and compliance is reinforced with the use of tokens. These tokens have no intrinsic value and are called secondary reinforcers. They can however be exchanged for primary reinforcers which are things that are wanted by the person. When used in prisons, many of the programmes also use negative reinforcement and punishment in order to reduce undesirable behaviour such as non compliance and aggression. Typical negative reinforcement would be removal of privileges, such as watching TV or going to the exercise yard, while a typical punishment may be isolation.

12. Hobbs & Holt (1976) conducted a study which involved delinquent boys. They found that when they introduced a token economy system in three juvenile delinquent centres there was a significant increase in the desired behaviours, compared to the control. - Was the token economy successful? - How could we evaluate this programme?

13. Generalisation Generalisation is part of learning theory principles and is important when talking about token economies. The idea is that desired behaviour, once reinforced and established in an institution, would be generalised to outside the institution so that appropriate behaviour would be established. Generalisation in learning theory is when a behaviour learned in one situation is transferred to another, or when learning of one behaviour is transferred to a similar behaviour. Do you think that prisoners on such programmes would generalise once leaving an institution?

14. PROCEDURE OF A TOKEN ECONOMY PROGRAMME It is very important that there are clear definitions of: what is a desired behaviour what is a token how tokens are allocated what is a reward how there will be gradual changing of the giving of tokens to shape the behaviour how many tokens there are for each reward how the reward will be removed once the behaviour is achieved

15. Evaluation of token economy programmes TASK Using the textbook/ internet, evaluate the use of TEP’s in Criminal Psychology. - Do they work? What evidence do you have? - Why TEP’s may not work - Advantages of TEP’s - Think about recidivism

16. In the 1970’a when TEP’s were evaluated to see if they worked, it was concluded that they did not! Ayllon and Milan (1979) reviewed a number of programmes and found that they worked for certain behaviours e.g. the general keeping of rules and control over interpersonal aggression. Milby (1975) found that programmes were successful in psychiatric hospitals and helped in preparing someone to leave hospital BUT we do not know if the effects worked long term. Field et al (2004) looked at a TEP used with young people with behavioural problems. The programme was generally effective although there were still a number of young people who did not respond. Later these youths were placed on a special programme where the rewards were more immediate and more frequent and the results were positive. This suggests that the programme should be designed so that the rewards suit each individual.

17. REASONS WHY TEP’S MAY NOT WORK Staff are not committed to the programme, so they do not focus on it sufficiently. Inconsistent rewards are given for the same behaviour. There is a failure to plan for transferring to the home environment or any environment outside the institution.

18. ADVANTAGES OF TEP’S There should be no delay between the desired behaviour and the reward. Anyone can give the tokens. Clear rules mean staff know when to award a token, so the programme is relatively easy to administer.

19. EVALUATION + Can be administered by anyone (with training) and tokens and rewards are relatively cheap, so the programme is not expensive and there are more benefits than costs. + Has been found to be successful by many studies, even though approx. 10 – 20 % of people do not respond well to TEP’s. - Learning may not transfer to the home environment, so there might be recidivism. - Programmes have to be carefully planned and controlled, and there are many areas where problems can occur such as lack of consistency from staff.

20. POSSIBLE EXAM QUESTIONS 1.Outline one way of treating offender behaviour. (3 marks) 2.Evaluate the use of token economies in reducing offending behaviour. (5 marks) 3.The probation service is looking into ways to treat offenders and reduce recidivism. Describe and evaluate the token economy method with respect to how it treats offenders and whether it is useful in reducing recidivism rates. (12 marks)

21. ANGER MANAGEMENT Offenders can be treated using anger management programmes, which focus on people with aggressive behaviour that needs to be controlled. Anger management in general uses strategies such as identifying what triggers anger and learning to control those triggers. Proper eating regimes are suggested as well as relaxation techniques. Learning to cope with different opinions from others is also important in the programme.

22. Anger is considered a normal healthy response, but if it develops into rage that takes a person over, it is not healthy and puts a strain on the body. Anger can trigger aggressive out-bursts which may lead to harming someone else. Some offenders are put on anger management programmes as part of their treatment, because of the nature of the offence or because of personal characteristics.

23. The theory of anger as an outburst links to Freud’s ideas of negative emotions being locked away in the unconscious, only to burst out later. Freud believed sport and other energetic activities could release such emotions. Currently there is more focus on what triggers the outburst of anger or aggression and how that trigger, often based on thought processes, can be changed. Such anger is thought of as inappropriate thought patterns and reactions rather than outbursts.

24. Three steps 1. Cognitive Preparation Offenders identify situations that provoke anger so they can recognise when an aggressive outburst might occur Thought patterns are challenged, e.g., if someone becomes angry when laughed at, they will conclude (after training) that it is the behaviour being mocked, not them Consider negative consequences of anger on others

25. Three steps 2. Skill acquisition New coping skills learned, e.g. “stop and think” and counting Relaxation techniques learned Assertiveness training can help deal with issue constructively, not violently

26. Three steps 3. Application Practice Role-play a variety of scenarios to practise new skills to control anger Done in controlled environment

27. How are AMP’s used in prison?

31. Studies evaluating anger management programmes Watt et al (1999) - Western Australia violent male adult offenders on an anger management programme were compared with offenders on a waiting list, who acted as a control. Two groups were measured in terms of anger knowledge, anger expression, observed aggressive behaviour and misconduct in prison. The study found no special gain for the offenders on the AMP compared with the control, suggesting such programmes have no value for violent offenders.

32. Strengths of anger management programmes Studies show the success of anger management programmes from self report data, which are likely to be valid as they come from prisoners themselves. The programmes focus on learning about triggers from angry episodes and give people the tools to control their anger in the future, so they should have long term benefits.

33. Weaknesses of Anger Management The programmes do not include a discussion of morality or understanding from a victim’s point of view, which has been said to limit their success. It has been claimed that they turn physical aggression into other ways of expressing aggression, such as verbal or emotional abuse. Studies claiming success of the programmes use self report data, where prisoners might want to look good and say the groups were useful, or they might simply have enjoyed the sessions as a break from routine. Many studies do not look further into the future to predict recidivism rates.

34. Possible exam questions 1.Outline one way of treating offender behaviour. (3 marks) 2.Evaluate the use of one method of reducing offending behaviour other than token economies. (5 marks) 3.The probation service is looking into ways to treat offenders and reduce recidivism. They are using token economies but realise this treatment programme is limited in the extent to which they rehabilitate offenders and lower recidivism. Describe another way of treating prisoners and evaluate the usefulness of this programme. (12 marks)

35. TEP or Anger Management…. Which one would you choose? And why?

36. Outline the conditions required for a TEP to be successful – you should come up with 7….

37. Task Barney was sent to prison for GBH. He had beaten up a stranger who was “looking at him funny”. It has been suggested that Barney should take part in anger management sessions. Come up with an outline of a programme for Barney, explaining your reasons for different sessions