OFFENDER PROFILING

Offender profiling: the top-down approach, including organised and disorganised types of offender; the bottom-up approach, including investigative Psychology; geographical profiling

Dealing With Offender Behavior

In 2016 the UK prison population was 86,000, despite having an official capacity of only 78,000, leading to serious overcrowding. (Howard League).

What are the implications of this?

In order for the prison to work, prisoners must be educated and made more employable to ensure they are more likely to remain out of prison and instead contribute to society. Otherwise, prisons become simply ‘Universities of crime.’

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.

These statistics make prisoners, along with their criminal records, virtually unemployable without successful educational intervention within the prison system.

Many people are critical of the parole system (the fact that prisoners are often released early and rarely serve their full sentence); however, this is an important incentive crucial to the smooth operation of the prison system. Applications for parole are allowed after a minimum term (set by the judge) has been served.

Success will depend on the nature of the offense, the judge’s comments on sentencing, and, crucially, the inmate’s behavior in prison. This gives the prisoner an incentive to behave and comply with prison rules. Without this incentive, many inmates would be unmanageable.

Aims of Custodial Sentencing and its Effects

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Aims of Custodial Sentencing

1) Deterrence – 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.

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

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

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

Psychological Effects of Custodial Sentencing

1) Stress and Depression – 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.

2) Institutionalisation – 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.

3) Prisonisation – Similar to institutionalization, 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.

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The study you learned about last year is useful here. Zimbardo’s main conclusions were that situational factors were more useful for explaining the behavior of prisoners and guards than individual ones. Zimbardo’s participants conformed to their ideas of how prisoners and guards should behave.

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. This means they find it very hard to adapt to life on the outside.

In order to combat the problems of institutionalization and prisonisation, prisoners need to be well prepared for their release. This might mean a move to an open prison or lessons in life skills. Without these skills, they will be unable to cope and will soon find themselves back in prison.

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)

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

Rehabilitation – Cuts to prison budgets mean that education, training, and therapy are not always available or effectively delivered. So opportunities for rehabilitation are limited.

University of Crime – 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!

Recidivism

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• 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. The prison has a poor record for reducing reoffending – 57% of offenders will re-offend 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.

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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.

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).

Behavior Modification

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

• 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 behavior can be consistently and systematically reinforced.

• Token economies illustrate the application of operant conditioning principles to adults in institutional settings. They were introduced into mental hospitals in the USA in the 1960s. Tokens, such as plastic discs, are given as rewards for ‘desirable’ behavior. The tokens can then be exchanged for privileges. In theory, tokens reinforce ‘appropriate’ behavior. House credits are used in the same way in schools.

• 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.

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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.

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 behavior – people may simply mimic or fake ‘desirable’ behavior in order to get tokens. On release, prisoners revert back to previous criminal behaviors.

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?

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!

Anger Management

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• Anger Management programs are a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); they aim to change the way a prisoner thinks and, therefore the way they act.

• There are three stages in Anger Management: –

1) Cognitive Preparation: – The offender is encouraged to reflect on their past behaviors 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 recognize 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. They are taught how to control their own emotions rather than being ruled by them.

3) Application practice: – 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.

• Ireland (2000) Investigation of whether anger management courses work. 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.

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

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

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!

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!)

Restorative Justice Programmes

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• 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.

Aims of Restorative Justice

• 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.

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Restorative justice is tough both for victims and offenders. For offenders, they have to face up to the consequences of their actions, but for victims, they may be forced to relive frightening and upsetting experiences.

The UK Restorative Justice Council (2015) reported 85% satisfaction from victims who had taken part in face-to-face restorative justice meetings.

Sherman & Strang (2007) reviewed 20 studies involving 142 men convicted of violence and property offenses, who had taken part in restorative justice, only 11% reoffended, compared to 37% of a matched control group. So it does work!

Cost – Shapland (2007) concluded that every £1 spent on restorative justice would save the government £8 through reduced reoffending. However, there are costs involved in training mediators and high dropout rates from offenders unable to face their victims, so it may not always be cost-effective.

Remorse – Offenders must feel genuine remorse. Therefore, restorative justice is not suitable for all criminals or, indeed, all crimes. It only works where there is an obvious victim.

Soft Option – Public opinion may be against restorative justice, as it may be seen as ‘getting off lightly.’

Feminist critique – Women’s Aid have called for a ban on the use of restorative justice in cases of domestic abuse, as they believe it is inappropriate.

First-time offenders – Restorative justice is most effective with young, first-time offenders. It provides a short, sharp shock and forces them to face up to the consequences of their actions.

Essay Questions

Discuss the psychological effects of custodial sentencing. Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)

Discuss behavior modification in custody. Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)

Discuss the use of anger management as a treatment for offenders. Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)

Discuss restorative justice as a way of dealing with offenders (16 marks)