Treatment and Punishment of Crime

Treatment and Punishment of Crime

1. Cognitive therapy

   • Cognitive skills programmes are based on CBT
     • aim - identify and correct cognitive deficits which lead to criminal behaviour
     • first task - help offender recognise their cognitive deficits then help them change their thinking and behaviour through the acquisition of cognitive skills
     • 2 programmes used by the prisons in England and Wales: Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) and Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R)
       • R&R
         • groups of 6 offenders attend sequential modules
           • each session teaches sub-skills building on previous learning
             • based on premise that offenders are typically under-socialised, lacking values, attitudes, reasoning and social skills required for appropriate social behaviour
           • modules cover areas such as: problem solving social skills, negotiation and critical reasoning
       • ETS
         • 20 two-hour ETS groupwork sessions that are made compulsory
           • skills include learning to think before acting
         • group exercises and role play demonstrate the value of stopping and thinking to help with understanding the consequences
       • Friendship (2002) - both ETS and R&R are effective
         • however, Cann (2003) found that ETS was effective and R&R was not
   • unlike simply punishing offenders by imprisonment, cognitive approaches can change thinking patterns
   • benefits may not be long term
   • gender bias - programmes were developed for use with male prisoners
     • however, Cann (2003) suggested that the findings may alternatively be due to the absence of the cognitive deficits related to the crimes committed by the women or because the samples were predominantly low-risk individuals

2. Behavioural therapy

   • Operant conditioning
     • Reinforcement
       • token economy
         • used to improve the behaviour of prisoners
         • behaviour of inmates can be changed by positively reinforcing desirable (non-aggressive) behaviour with tokens
           • should be given immediately and consistently
             • however, Bassett and Blanchard (1977) observed one 3-month programme which failed due to staff misuse
           • however, token economy approach treats only apparent behaviour such as aggression
       • leads to an increase of acceptable behaviour
     • Punishment
       • isolation
         • used to reduce the frequency of non-desired behaviour
       • decreases unacceptable behaviours
   • Shaping
     • reinforement of successive appoximations to the desired behaviour
     • when tokens are given by prison staff they are accompanied by praise
       • this will eventually replace the tokens as a source of reinforcement
   • Is it successful?
     • Jenkins (1974) followed up young male offenders for 18 months post-release
       • found non-significant differences between a control group and those on cognitive training programmes or a token economy
         • however, the token group consistently had the lowest % of post-release offences over the last 9 months
     • tokens only work if the inmates are motivated to collect tokens
       • in reality, powerful prisoners may control much more effective reinforcers and punishers than wardens