Psychological Approaches to Crime Reduction and Rehabilitation
This page explores various psychological approaches used in criminology to reduce crime and rehabilitate offenders. It covers both informal and formal policy-making strategies, with a focus on cognitive theories, psychoanalysis, and operant conditioning.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a prominent talking therapy used in criminal rehabilitation. It aims to help offenders identify and change their thinking errors.
Example: The "Think First" program uses CBT to help repeat offenders control their thoughts and behaviors, encouraging them to understand the consequences of their actions.
Highlight: Anger management, a form of CBT, coaches offenders in alternative ways to express anger and provides techniques for anger reduction and coping.
Evaluation of CBT
- Requires patient motivation and willingness to change
- May not be effective for offenders experiencing cognitive biases that lead to blaming others
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis, derived from psychodynamic theories, aims to correct dysfunctions in the superego.
Definition: Freud's psychoanalysis uses free association and dream analysis to assess unconscious conflicts in patients.
Evaluation of Psychoanalysis
- Not a quick treatment or immediate crime control method
- Can take months for personality changes to occur
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning techniques are used in various treatment programs, including token economies.
Example: Token economies reward prisoners with tokens for demonstrating desirable behaviors, which can be exchanged for goods or privileges.
Evaluation of Token Economies
- May lead to token learning, where desirable behaviors stop when rewards cease
- Behavior may not be truly learned, only performed for rewards
Aversion Therapy
Aversion therapy is an extreme form of behavior shaping used in some criminal rehabilitation contexts.
Definition: Aversion therapy involves pairing criminal thoughts or behaviors with aversive stimuli like electric shocks or nausea-inducing medication.
Evaluation of Aversion Therapy
- Historically misused e.g.,attempted"treatment"ofhomosexuality
- Criticized for being unethical and violating human rights
- Some fatalities have occurred during aversion therapy
This content is particularly relevant for students preparing for WJEC Criminology past papers and the WJEC Criminology Unit 3 controlled assessment, which often include questions on psychological theories and interventions in criminal behavior.
