Forensic Psychology Flashcards

Question

How can interpersonal coherence help with statistical analysis?

Answer 1

The data may also provide details about the criminal and narrow down a long list of suspects

Answer 2

The use of statistical analysis to make inferences about the offender's geographical location

Answer 3

That serial offenders carry out their crimes withing a geographical circle Predicts that the offender's home will be within this circle

Answer 4

Tested circle hypothesis by studying the locations of sexual assaults committed by 45 British serial offenders They found that 39 out of 49 of the offenders (87%) lived within the circle predicted by the circle hypothesis, suggesting it is valid

Answer 5

Marauder model Commuter model

Answer 6

Commits crims within a criminal range from their own home

Answer 7

Travels away from their own home to an area and then commits crimes withing a criminal range area

Answer 8

Supporting evidence for investigative psychology Supporting evidence for geographical profiling Wide range of applications More scientific

Answer 9

Canter Used this profiling method to develop a profile of the Railway Rapist - responsible for several rapes and murders of women near railway stations in south-east England in the 1980s He developed the profile of a man in his mid-late 20s, with a criminal record, working in a semi-skilled job, who had poor relationship with women, knowledge of railways and lived near crime scenes. This profile turned out to closely match the details of the offender John Duffy, who was found guilty of these crimes

Answer 10

Several studies support the validity of geographical profiling e.g. Canter and Lundrigan plotted the locations where 120 serial killers disposed of bodies and analysed this data using a statistical technique called smallest space analysis. Researchers found the killers' homes tended to be in the centre of the plotted area where they disposed of bodies, which supports the validity of geographical profiling

Answer 11

Whereas the top-down approach only really works for crimes with a particular modus operandi, such as rape and murder, the bottom-up approach can be applied to a much wider range of crimes e.g. most burglaries are similar in method and so a top-down approach won't reveal much about the offender's profile. However, geographical profiling only requires the locations of the crimes, and so this bottom-up approach can be applied to basically every type of crime

Answer 12

Relies on objective and measurable data e.g. plotting geographic locations of crimes, uses mathematical tools e.g. statistical analysis, and is often based on psychological theory e.g. interpersonal coherence Because of this, Canter argues the bottom-up approach is more scientific than the top-down approach, which relies more on intuition and gut-feeling

Answer 13

Conflicting evidence

Answer 14

Copson surveyed 184 UK police officers on the use of offender profiles created by trained profilers Although 83% of the police surveyed said the profiles were 'useful'. just 3% of profiles created by trained profilers resulted in identification of the offender This suggests bottom-up profilers are not particularly useful in practice

Answer 15

When an ancestral genetic trait that has disappeared reappears

Answer 16

Criminals are biologically different from modern humans He argued that criminals have more in common than normal humans do

Answer 17

The idea is that criminality represents the behaviours of earlier, more savage, pre-human species

Answer 18

-Heavy brow -Strong jaw -Extra fingers/toes/nipples

Answer 19

No Lombroso argues different types of criminals have typical facial features Murderers typically have curly hair and bloodshot eyes Sex offenders have swollen and fleshy lips

Answer 20

Historical approach

Answer 21

Historical influence

Answer 22

Even though Lombroso's atavistic form explanation is widely dismissed by modern-day scientists, it played an important role in advancing criminology and scientific explanation of criminal behaviour Prior to Lombroso, explanation of criminal behaviour tended to be religious (e.g. bad spirits, Satan, etc.) or moralistic (e.g. weak-mindedness) In appealing to evolutionary reasoning, Lombroso's approach shifted the discussion towards more scientific explanations This paved the way for more scientific explanations of criminal behaviour, such as genetic factors

Answer 23

Methodological concerns Alternative explanations Ethical concerns

Answer 24

A key methodological flaw in Lombroso's approach was that he did not use a non-criminal control group to compare his measurements of criminals against Without comparing the features of criminals against the features of non-criminals, it is impossible to say whether criminals do actually have distinctive features that differentiate them from non-criminals as Lombroso claimed

Answer 25

Even if it were true that criminals do have distinctive facial structure, there might be other causal reasons for this besides having evolutionary primitive (atavistic) biology For example, is someone is 'ugly' this could cause other people to treat them badly and this treatment could cause a person to engage in criminal behaviour In this case, the link between physical appearance and criminal behaviour would be the result of environmental factors rather than biological factors (i.e. atavistic form)

Answer 26

Lombroso's atavistic form explanation is socially sensitive because it could lead to stereotyping and discrimination based on the way a person looks

Answer 27

Analysed the concordance rates for criminal convictions among 3586 pairs of twins Among males, concordance rates were 35% for identical twins and 12% for non-identical twins Among females, concordance rates were 21% for identical twins and 8% for non-identical twins

Answer 28

Compared concordance rates for prison sentences among 13 identical twins and 17 non-identical twins 10 of the 13 pairs of identical twins (77%) had both spent time in prison, whereas only 2 of the 17 non-identical twins (12%) had both spent time in prison

Answer 29

These studies show the concordance rates for criminal behaviour are higher among identical twins (who share 100% of their genes) than non-identical twins (who only share 50% of their genes) This supports a role for genetics in explaining criminal behaviour

Answer 30

Adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record had a 50% risk of having a criminal record by the age of 18, whereas adopted children whose biological mother didn't have a criminal record only had a 5% risk

Answer 31

A gene that is believed to be related to a particular trait

Answer 32

MAOA-L gene is linked with aggressive behaviour, which is in turn linked with criminal behaviour For example, Brunner et al studied a family with a history of aggressive and criminal behaviour, and found that all the male members had the MAOA-L gene This is an example of a gene that could partly explain criminal behaviour

Answer 33

Affects how neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, are processed. Links to aggressive behaviour. The fact that this gene is associated with criminality thus also supports a neural explanation of criminal behaviour

Answer 34

Substance abuse and ADHD

Answer 35

5-10% of all severe violent crime in Finland is attributable to the MAOA and CDH13 genotypes

Answer 36

If genetics do have some influence on offending, it seems likely that this is at least partly moderated by the effects of the environment The diathesis-stress model has been applied to schizophrenia A tendency towards offending behaviour may come about through combination of genetic predisosition and biological or psychological trigger - for example, being raised in a dysfunctional environment or having criminal role models

Answer 37

It is assumed by researchers studying twins that environmental factors are held constant because twins are brought up together and therefore must experience similar environments However, this 'shared environment assumption' may apply much more to MZ twins than DZ twins as MZ twins look identical and people tend to treat them more similarly which them affects their behaviour Therefore higher concordance rates for MZs in twin studies may simply be due them being treated much more similarly than DZ twins

Answer 38

Mednick et al (1984) found that, of 13,000 Danish adoptees, 13.5% of those who did not have a biological parent with a criminal conviction had convictions themselves. Of those who had one biological parent with a criminal conviction, 20% had a conviction themselves. Of those who had two parents with a criminal conviction, 24.5% had a conviction themselves. This supports that there may be a genetic basis for criminal behaviour, which is moderated by the environment (supporting diathesis-stress).

Answer 39

Any explanation of behaviour in terms of dysfunctions of the brain and nervous system This includes the activity of brain structures such as the prefrontal cortex, and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine

Answer 40

Antisocial personality disorder which is associated with reduced emotional responses, a lack of empathy for the feelings of others, and is a condition that characterises many convicted offenders

Answer 41

Raine has conducted many studies of the APD brain, reporting that there are several dozen brain-imaging studies demonstrating that individuals with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that regulates emotional behaviour Alongside this, Raine and his colleagues found an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex of people with APD compared to controls

Answer 42

Recent research suggests that offenders with APD can experiences empathy but they do so more sporadically than the rest of us Keysers found that only when offenders were asked to empathise did the empathy reaction activate This suggests that people with APD are not totally without empathy, but they may have a neural 'switch' that can be turned on or off

Answer 43

One strength of the neural explanation is support for the link between crime and the frontal lobe Kandel and Freed reviewed evidence of the frontal lobe damage and antisocial behaviour People with such damage tended to show impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and an inability to learn from their mistakes The frontal lobe is associated with planning behaviour This supports the idea that brain damage may be a causal factor in offending behaviour

Answer 44

Limitation Link between neural differences and APD may be complex Other factors may contribute to APD, and ultimately to offending Farrington et al studied a group of men who scored high on psychopathy These individuals had experienced various risk factors during childhood, such as being raised by a convicted parent and being physically neglected It could be that these early childhood experiences caused APD and also some of the neural differences associated with it - such as reduced activity in the frontal lobe due to trauma This suggests that the relationship between neural differences, APD and offending is complex and there may be other intervening variables that have an impact

Answer 45

Eysenck proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introversion-extraversion (E) and neuroticism-stability (N) The two dimensions combine to form a variety of personality characteristics or traits He later added a third dimension: psychoticism-sociability (P)

Answer 46

Underactive nervous system Constantly seek excitement, stimulation and are likely to engage in risk-taking behaviours Tend not to condition easily and therefore do not learn from mistakes

Answer 47

Individuals have a high level of reactivity in the SNS - they respond quickly to situations of threat (FoF) Means they tend to be nervous, jumpy and overanxious, and their general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict

Answer 48

Individuals are suggested to have higher levels of testosterone and are unemotional and prone to aggression

Answer 49

Personality is linked to offending via socialisation processes Eysenck saw offending behaviour as developmentally immature in that is it selfish and concerned with immediate gratification - offenders are impatient and cannot wait for things The process of socialisation is one in which children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially oriented Eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition As a result, they are less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses and consequently would be more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presented itself

Answer 50

Eysenck developed the Eysenck personality Questionnaire (EPQ), a form of psychological test which locates respondents along with the E, N and P dimensions to determine their personality type The measurements of personality was a very important part of Eysenck's theory as it enabled him to conduct research relating to personality variables to other behaviours, such as criminality

Answer 51

Evidence to support the criminal personality Eysenck and Eysenck compared 2070 prisoners' scores on the EPQ with 2422 controls On measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism - across all age groups sampled - prisoners scored higher average scores than controls This agrees with the predictions of the theory that offenders rate higher than average across the three dimensions

Answer 52

Farrington et al conducted a meta-analysis of relevant studies and reported that offenders tended to score high on measures of psychoticism, but not for extraversion and neuroticism There is also inconsistent evidence of differences on EEG measures between extraverts and introverts which casts doubt on the physiological basis of Eysenck's theory This means some of the central assumptions of the criminal personality have been challenged

Answer 53

Limitation is the idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by personality traits alone Moffitt drew a distinction between offending behaviour that only occurs in adolescence and that which continues into adulthood She argues that personality traits alone were a poor predictor of how long offending behaviour would go on for, in the sense pf whether someone is likely to become a 'career offender' She considered persistence in offending behaviour to be the result of a reciprocal process between individual personality traits on the one hand, and environmental reactions to those traits on the other The presents a more complex picture than Eysenck suggested, that the course of offending behaviour is determined by an interaction between personality and the environment

Answer 54

Cultural factors are not taken into account The criminal personality may vary according to culture Bartol and Holanchock studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in a maximum security prison in NY The researchers divided these offenders into six groups based on their offending history and the nature of their offences It was found that all six groups were less extravert than a non-offender control group whereas Eysenck would expect them to be more extravert The researchers suggested that this was because the sample was a very different cultural group than the one investigated by Eysenck This questions how far the criminal personality can be generalised and suggests it may be a culturally relative concept

Answer 55

Moral reasoning refers to the way a person thinks about right and wrong It is presumed that such thinking then applies to moral behaviour The higher the level, the more that behaviour is driven by a sense of what is right and the less it is driven by just avoiding punishment or avoiding disapproval of others

Answer 56

Found that a group of violent youths were at a significantly lower level of moral development than non-violent youths - even after controlling for social background

Answer 57

Pre-conventional morality Conventional morality Post-conventional morality

Answer 58

Pre-conventional level

Answer 59

A need to avoid punishment and gain rewards Associated with less mature, childlike reasoning Adults and adolescents may commit crime if they can get away with it or gain rewards in the form of money, increased respect, etc.

Answer 60

Suggest that offenders are often more egocentric and display poorer social perspective-taking skills than non-offender peers (e.g. Chandler) Individuals who reason at higher levels tend to sympathise more with the rights of others and exhibit more conventional behaviours such as honesty, generosity and non-violence

Answer 61

Faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, other people and the world inaccurately and usually negatively

Answer 62

Hostile attribution bias Minimalisation

Answer 63

The tendency to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others, as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they may not be

Answer 64

Jusyte Presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions When compared with a non-aggressive matched control group, the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile.

Answer 65

Dodge and Frame Showed children video clip of an ambiguous provocation Children who had been identified as aggressive and rejected prior to the study interpreted the situation as more hostile than those classed as non-aggressive and accepted

Answer 66

A type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion A common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt

Answer 67

Found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victim

Answer 68

Emma Palmer and Clive Hollin compared moral reasoning in 332 non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using the Socio Moral Reflection Measure Short Form (SRM-SF) which contains 11 moral dilemma-related questions such as not taking things that belong to others and keeping a promise to a friend The offender group showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offender group This is consistent with Kohlberg's predictions

Answer 69

Thornton and R. L. Reid found that people who committed crimes for financial gain were more likely to show pre-conventional moral reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes Pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associated with crimes in which offenders believe they have a good chance of evading punishment This suggests that Kohlberg's theory may not apply to all forms of crime

Answer 70

CBT aims to challenge irrational thinking In the case of offending behaviour, offenders are encourage to face up to what they have done and establish a less distorted view of their actions Studies suggest that reduced incidence of denial and minimalisation is highly associated with a reduced risk of reoffending This suggests that the theory of cognitive distortions has practical value

Answer 71

Howitt and Sheldon gathered questionnaire responses from sexual offenders Contrary to what the researchers predicted, they found that non-contact sex offenders used more cognitive distortions than contact sex offenders Those who had a previous history of offending were also more likely to use distortions as a justification This suggests that distortions are not used in the same way by all offenders

Answer 72

An explanation for offending which proposes that, through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for offending behaviour

Answer 73

Sutherland developed his DAT a century ago (1924) as a way of understanding how crime is transmitted and generated between people

Answer 74

Criminal behaviour is learned, not inherited Criminal behaviour is learned via interaction with others The biggest influence comes from the closest, most intimate relationships It is possible to learn criminal ‘tricks of the trade’ from others It is possible to learn a criminal mindset from others Criminality is strengthened by repeated exposure to criminals Contact with criminals will vary and not necessarily be constant People learn criminality in the same way that they learn anything i.e. by observation, repetition, imitation, internalisation

Answer 75

Interactions with significant others who the child values most and spends the most time with

Answer 76

Should be possible to mathematically predict how likely it is that an individual will commit an offence. To to this we need to know the frequency, intensity and duration of exposure to deviant and non-deviant norms and values

Answer 77

Learning attitudes Learning techniques

Answer 78

When a person is socialised into a group they will be exposed tot heir values and attitudes towards the law Some of these values will be pro-crime, so of these will be anti-crime Sutherland argues that id the number of pro-criminal attitudes the person come to acquire outweighs the number of anti-criminal attitudes, they will go on to offend The learning process is the same whether a person is learning offending or conformity to the law

Answer 79

In addition to being exposed to pro-criminal attitudes, the would-be offender may also learn particular techniques for committing offences These might include how to break into someone's house through a locked window or how to disable a car stereo before stealing it

Answer 80

It is reasonable to assume that whilst inside prison inmates will learn specific techniques of offending from other, more experienced offenders that they may put into practice upon their release This learning may occur through observational learning and imitation

Answer 81

Sutherland was successful in moving the emphasis away from early biological account of offending, such as Lombroso's atavistic theory as well as away from theories that explained offending as being the product of individual weakness or immorality DAT draws attention to the fact that deviant social circumstances and environments may be more to blame for offending than deviant people This approach is more desirable as it offers a more realistic solution to the problem of offending instead of eugenics or punishment

Answer 82

DAT runs the risk of stereotyping individuals who come from impoverished, crime-ridden backgrounds as 'unavoidable offenders' - even though Sutherland took great care to point out that offending behaviour should be considered on an individual case-by-case basis However, the theory tends to suggest that exposure to pro-crime values is sufficient to produce offending in those who are exposed to it This ignores the fact that people may choose not to offend despite such influences, as not everyone who is exposed to pro-crime attitudes goes on the offend

Answer 83

Whilst Sutherland recognised that some types of offence, such as burglary, may be clustered within certain inner-city, working-class communities, it is also the case that some offences are clustered amongst the more affluent groups in society Sutherland was particularly interested in white-collar or corporate offences and how this may be a feature of middle-class social groups who share deviant social norms and values This shows that it is not just the 'lower' classes who commit offences and that the principles of DAT can be used to explain all offences

Answer 84

Sutherland aimed to provide a scientific, mathematical framework within which future offending behaviour could be predicted and this means that the predictions must be testable The problem is that many of the concepts are not testable as they cannot be operationalised e.g. it is hard to see how the number of pro-crime attitudes a person has, or has been exposed to, could be measured Similarly, the theory is built on the assumption that offending behaviour will occur when a pro-crime value outnumbers anti-crime ones Without being able to measure these, we cannot know at what point the urge to offend is realised and the offending career is triggered This means the theory has no scientific credibility

Answer 85

The psychodynamic explanation of offending behaviour sees the Superego, the moral component of the personality, as crucial in explaining criminality.

Answer 86

Blackburn (1993) argues that if the superego (the moral part of the personality) is deficient, then criminality is inevitable as the Id (pleasure principle) is not properly controlled, and we are going to give in to our urges and impulses.

Answer 87

Weak Superego may develop if the same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage of psycho-sexual development. This would mean that we would fail to internalise the moral values of same-sex parents.

Answer 88

Deviant Superego may develop if the child internalises the morals of a criminal or deviant same-sex parent.

Answer 89

Overharsh Superego may develop if the same-sex parent is overly harsh. This may mean an individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety and commits a crime in order to satisfy the superego’s need for punishment.

Answer 90

This predicts that if an infant is deprived of a mother or mother figure during the critical period of attachment in the first few years, then there will be serious and permanent consequences. These consequences included mental abnormalities, delinquency, depression, affectionless psychopathology, and even dwarfism!

Answer 91

Freud’s theory is seen as sexist as he focuses on the Oedipus Complex and adds the Electra complex as an afterthought. In fact, Freud argued that females were less moral than males. This is because males fear castration by their fathers for moral transgressions, whereas females only fear losing their mother’s love!

Answer 92

There is little evidence to back up this theory, many children grow up without a same-sex parent, and the vast majority do not turn to crime. Although family influence is undeniably a factor in criminality, individuals with delinquent parents or siblings are much more likely to turn to crime.

Answer 93

86,000 population 78,000 capacity Leading to serious overcrowding

Answer 94

Research has shown (Prison Reform Trust 2007) that many prisoners have not reached the levels of literacy and numeracy expected of an average 11-year-old; 50% in writing, 66% in numeracy, and 80% in reading. 50% do not have the skills required by 96% of all jobs, and 50% have been excluded from school.

Answer 95

Deterrence Incapacitation Retribution Rehabilitation

Answer 96

Prison should be an unpleasant experience. So someone who serves a prison sentence should never wish to serve another. The thought of prison should act as a deterrent to others and prevent them from committing crimes.

Answer 97

Taking a criminal out of circulation means they are unable to commit further crimes, keeping society safe.

Answer 98

Society is taking revenge on the criminal. They are paying for their crimes by having their freedom taken from them.

Answer 99

Prison can be used to reform criminals through training, education, and therapy so they leave prison a changed person.

Answer 100

Stress and depression Institutionalisation Prisonisation

Answer 101

Suicide rates are higher in prison than in the general population, as are cases of self-harm. If a prisoner suffers from mental health issues before their sentence, this is likely to worsen in prison.

Answer 102

Having adapted to the norms and values of prison life, some prisoners find it impossible to cope in the real world on their release. Some even commit crimes with the intention of being arrested and returned back to the comfort of what they know – prison.

Answer 103

Similar to institutionalisation, some behaviours 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.

Answer 104

Zimbardo’s main conclusions were that situational factors were more useful for explaining the behaviour of prisoners and guards than individual ones. Zimbardo’s participants conformed to their ideas of how prisoners and guards should behave.

Answer 105

Prisons are very regimented, and prisoners have to conform to strict rules and regulations. They are told when to sleep, wake, eat, exercise, etc. They have no autonomy. The problem arises when prisoners have served long sentences and become very accustomed to the prison way of life.

Answer 106

Curt Bartol (1995) has suggested that prison is ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating.’ Suicide rates are generally 15 times higher than in society in general. Most at risk are young, single men in the first 24 hours of incarceration. Around 25% of female and 15% of male prisoners have symptoms of psychosis (severe mental illness)

Answer 107

Putting young, inexperienced criminals into a prison environment with older, more experienced criminals may mean that the type of education these youngsters get is not necessarily the type we would want

Answer 108

Not all prisoners react in the same way to incarceration. Some punishment should fit the individual, not necessarily the crime

Answer 109

Reoffending, a tendency to relapse into previous condition or mode of behaviour

Answer 110

57% of offenders will reoffend within a year of release

Answer 111

Between £9.5 and £13 billion

Answer 112

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 productive and law-abiding citizens.

Answer 113

Alternatives to imprisonment – Given that we know prison doesn’t work, we need alternatives. Some alternatives include probation and restorative justice.

Answer 114

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).

Answer 115

Therapies based on the principles of operant conditioning aim to bring about specific changes in behaviour. This is known as behaviour modification. It involves rewarding ‘appropriate’ behaviour and withholding rewards for ‘inappropriate’ behaviour.

Answer 116

This approach usually works best with children or in institutions such as mental hospitals, schools, and prisons. For example, children can be observed and supervised by parents and teachers working with therapists. As a result, their behaviour can be consistently and systematically reinforced.

Answer 117

They were introduced into mental hospitals in the USA in the 1960s.

Answer 118

Token economies illustrate the application of operant conditioning principles to adults in institutional settings Tokens, such as plastic discs, are given as rewards for ‘desirable’ behaviour. The tokens can then be exchanged for privileges. In theory, tokens reinforce ‘appropriate’ behaviour. House credits are used in the same way in schools.

Answer 119

Hobbs and Holt (1976) introduced a token economy program with young delinquents in three behavioral units, and a fourth acted as a control. They observed a significant improvement in a positive behavior as a result of the introduction of the token economy. Allyon (1979) found similar effects in an adult prison.

Answer 120

Operationalise target behaviours Scoring system Train staff

Answer 121

Breaking down target behaviour into component parts e.g. the target behaviour may be improved social interaction with other prison inmates. This may be broken down into not touching another prisoner when passing them, speaking politely to others, etc These units of behaviour should be objective and measurable and agreed with prison staff and inmates in advance

Answer 122

Staff and prisoners should also be made aware of the scoring system and how much each behaviour is worth Behaviours are hierarchical in the sense that some are regarded more demanding than others so receive greater rewards

Answer 123

It is important that prison staff are given full training in order to implement the token economy system successfully Training may involve several hours for a number of weeks The aim is to standardise the procedures so that all prison staff are rewarding the same behaviours in the same way Staff must also record when they have awarded tokens so the prisoner's progress can be assessed

Answer 124

Token economies are easy to implement and do not require specialist training or expense, like other therapies such as Anger Management. But, all staff must implement them consistently if they are to work.

Answer 125

The effects they appear to produce may not be primarily due to the token economy. Patients may be responding to increased attention, a planned system of activities, and improved monitoring rather than a desire to get tokens. Token economies may not really change behaviour – people may simply mimic or fake ‘desirable’ behaviour in order to get tokens. On release, prisoners revert back to previous criminal behaviours.

Answer 126

Token economies raise ethical issues. Is it ethical to withhold ‘privileges’ such as watching TV because a severely disordered person does not do what a nurse thinks is desirable? Are people’s human rights threatened when staff can control their access to food and their freedom of movement?

Answer 127

Clinton Field (2004) found that for maximum effect, the rewards and frequency of them needed to be individually tailored to the inmate. Think about house credits; whilst they work well with Year 7 students, a school mug or pen is hardly going to motivate a Year 11 student!

Answer 128

A therapeutic programme that involves identifying the signs that trigger anger as well as learning techniques to calm down and deal with the situation in a positive way The aim of anger management is not to prevent anger but to recognise it and manage it Anger management can be offered in prison to encourage self-awareness and facilitate rehabilitation

Answer 129

Cognitive preparation Skills acquisition Application practice

Answer 130

The offender is encouraged to reflect on their past behaviours and what makes them angry. 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.

Answer 131

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. They are taught how to control their own emotions rather than being ruled by them.

Answer 132

Offenders practice their new skills through role-play. The therapist will deliberately provoke them to see how they react. The therapist will positively reinforce successful strategies.

Answer 133

A natural experiment compared 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. Conclusions: – In the short term, the treatment seemed effective, but there is no re-offending data.

Answer 134

Anger management is an eclectic approach. It uses a cognitive approach in stage 1, a behavioural in stage 2, and a social in stage 3. This recognizes that offending behaviour is the complex interaction between social and psychological factors.

Answer 135

Anger management is more likely to lead to a permanent change in behaviour than behaviour modification programs (token economies), as it focuses on changing the way an offender both thinks and behaves.

Answer 136

Although Anger Management works in the short term, the lack of re-offending data means we don’t know if the effects last. It is very different from 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!

Answer 137

Anger Management is very expensive and time-consuming as it requires highly skilled therapists. Also, the prisoner must be motivated and want to change. (How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One – but the light bulb must really want to change!)

Answer 138

Restorative justice usually involves a supervised mediation meeting between the victim and the offender with a trained mediator. The victim is given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain the impact the crime has had on their life. The offender has to face up to the consequences of their actions, and this starts the rehabilitation process. Restorative justice has to be voluntary for all parties and seeks a positive outcome. It is respectful and not degrading for either offender or victim.

Answer 139

Rehabilitation of Offenders – Being punished is a passive process; restorative justice requires the offender to be an active participant in the process. It is tough for the offender they have to listen to the impact of their crimes on the victim and take full responsibility for their actions. The experience should reduce the likelihood of them reoffending. Atonement for Wrongdoing – Offenders may offer concrete compensation (money or unpaid work) or atone by showing genuine feelings of guilt and remorse. Victim’s Perspective – Restorative justice restores power to the victim. Their voice is heard in the legal process, and they feel that their feelings have been taken into account. Many who have been through the process report that it has reduced their feeling of being a ‘victim’ and helped them to feel safe again.

Answer 140

Major seven-year project 85% of survivors reported satisfaction with the process of meeting their offender face-to-face 78% would recommend it to other people experiencing a similar situation About 60% of survivors felt the process had made them feel better about the incident - enabling them to feel closure and to 'move on' Only 2% said it made them feel worse

Answer 141

Not all research is positive Suzuki argue that RP are not as survivor-focused as often reported in satisfaction surveys RJP can become distorted such as when survivors of crime are 'used' as a way of helping to rehabilitate offenders, rather than being helped themselves This suggests that the needs of the survivor in RJ may be seen as secondary to the need to rehabilitate offenders

Answer 142

Meta -analysis of 10 studies by Strang et al Compared offenders who experienced face-to-face RJP with those who experienced custodial sentencing The RJP group was significantly less likely to reoffend This reduction was larger in offenders convicted of violent crimes than crimes against property Similarly, a review of 24 published studies by Kristian Bain found lowered recidivism rates with adult offenders, especially when using one-to-one contact rather than community involvement This suggests that RJ has a positive impact on reoffending

Answer 143

The success of RJPs may hinge on an offender's intentions of being honourable - that is, they may genuinely regret the hurt caused and they want to make amends However, Gijseghem suggests that offenders may use restorative justice for all kinds of reasons: avoiding punishment, playing down their faults, even taking pride in their relationship with the survivor using direct contact This would explain why not all offenders ultimately benefit from RJP and go on to reoffend

Forensic Psychology Flashcards

(171 cards)