In order to increase my knowledge on the forensic psychology unit that I have started to study, I thought it would be a good idea to conduct some research before I study it at school. To start of with the role of custodial sentencing must be investigated, its purpose is to rehabilitate criminals in order for them to safely re-enter society. Criminals are punished for the crime they have committed and so they are sent to prison, it is also unsafe for them to continue living outside of prison as they are a threat to others or the environment around them. Without this prison sentence, re offending rates would without a doubt rise, prison is a place in which the re-offending rate is aimed to be reduced, however the methods used in UK prisons is often controversial with high recidivism rates, perhaps the punishment and reward system within prisons needs to be re-established.
So what are the aims of prison? Incapacitation is one aim in which the offender is prevented from offending for the duration of the sentence so that the public can remain safe. Another is rehabilitation in which the offender is taught that their actions were unacceptable and how to become law abiding citizens. Retribution, in which the offender is seen to be serving their punishment and paying back society through the amount of time they stay in prison for. Deterrence is another in which people are put off from committing crime through seeing criminals being sent to prison as well as putting off criminals from re offending after spending time in prison.
Recidivism is also known as the re offending rate, it takes place after attempts to extinguish or abolish the behaviour or after receiving negative consequences of breaking the law.Cullen and Minchin 2000found that 57% of prisoners who were released in 1996 reoffended within just 2 years of being released. Doherty 2001 claims that it depends on the type of crime for the rate of recidivism for example a sex offender with a long sentence will be released after several years and therefore are less likely to reoffend.
There are many alternatives to custodial sentencing even though it would seem like the main punishment. Restorative justice involves the offender making it up to the victim on a personal level instead of a custodial sentence, it aims to create healing and collaboration between the victim and criminal, it also aims to show the criminal the damage they’ve done to the victim. Sherman and Stang 2007 found that repeat offending was significantly reduced as well as desire for revenge and lower post-traumatic stress symptoms. There is also electronic tagging in which an electronic tag is strapped to the criminals body so that wherever they go they can be tracked, it is usually also followed by a curfew for how many hours of the day they are allowed out and if rules are broken then prison or a further penalty will be enforced, it is a cheaper alternative to prison and has been an effective system particularly for those aged 12-16.
Behaviour modification involves operant conditioning behaviour by reinforcing good behaviour and punishing bad through usually tokens in the prison environment. So good behaviour would result in receiving tokens which would then be able to be used for a telephone call home or watching a video.Cohen and Filipczak 1971argued that the benefits extended beyond the programme and Cullen and Seddon 1981 also argued that positive behaviours were shown to be increased through the programme.Social skills training is where it is believed that offenders commit crimes due to poor social skills leading them to misinterpret others behaviours also supported by frustration- aggression hypothesis, stating that frustration leads to aggression. Social skills training is to therefore teach interaction and communication, through micro skills like eye contact and facial expressions and macro skills like maintaining a conversation and negotiation, it involves various recreated social settings through role play, videos, instruction and demonstration of appropriate behaviours, practice and rehearsal, feedback on performances, homework tasks. Long and Sherer 1985 found through thirty male adolescents convicted of different offenses that high frequency offenders found the social skills training most effective.
Anger management training has come into existence through the theory that offenders commit crimes as they cannot control their anger and according to Novaco 1975 that cognition plays a key role in anger, this training involves learning to express their anger in more appropriate ways. It usually consists of three stages: cognitive preparation where the offender learns to recognise feelings of anger and how they are caused, skill acquisition where techniques are taught to control the anger response in difficult situations normally through relaxation techniques and application practise where anger provoking situations are re- enacted and the offender practises skill acquisition techniques.Ireland 2000 found that the experimental group who used anger management had 92% improving on at least one measure showing that the programme successfully reduced anger and disruptive behaviour in prison.
I think that a behaviour modification approach needs to be reinforced in more prisons, with a reward and punishment system they will be able to learn whats right and wrong, even though this system would end after the sentence, criminals would be able to learn some behaviours that are accepted in society as well as those that can lead to trouble and further sentences.
