ESSAY - ANGER MANAGEMENT

Anger management

A programme that identifies triggers to anger and learning techniques to calm down

Aim

To measure anger

3 stages

Cognitive preparation, skill aquisition and application practice

Cognitive preparation

Where the offender discusses situations that may trigger anger. Offender may interpret events in an irrational way, such as hostile behaviour. The therapist draws attention to emotional thinking trying to make a positive cognitive change

Skill aquisition

Offender taught a range of cognitive behavioural techniques such as talking to themselves in a positive way. There are also behavioural techniques such as assertiveness training - standing up for themselves in a non aggressive way, and relaxation techniques

Application practice

Oppourtunity to practice newly aquired skills in a controlled environment. Therapist and offender act out situations that may have caused anger in the past. The therapist provides feedback on how the offender dealt with the situation, such as positive reinforcement if they did well

STRENGTH - RESEARCH EVIDENCE FOR EFFECTIVENESS

Ireland conducted a natural experiment. He compared group of 50 prisoners who completed anger management and a group of 37 who were assessed as suitable prisoners who had not completed the course. Prisoners who completed the course rated themselves lower on the anger questionnaire and were rated lower by police officers than the control group. 92% showed improvent on at least one measuee of aggression and anger. Strength bc it shows anger management is effective in reducing anger for offenders

WEAKNESS - LIMITED LONGTERM EFFECTIVENESS

Blackburn argues there is little evidence that anger management helps to improve recidivism rates in the longterm as the application practice phase centres on the use of role play and this may not be reflective of the triggers and emotions of anger in real life situations. Suggests anger management may not be useful in reducing recidivism rates

WEAKNESS - EXPENSIVE

Requires highly trained professionals who are trained to work with violent offenders. Many prisons may not have the resources to fund such programmes. The offender is unlikely to access support. In addition, the success of anger management is often based on the committment of individuals attending. Therefore, this is a problem bc if prisoners who are attending are uncooperative money is wasted on the institution

WEAKNESS - ANGER MAY NOT CAUSE THE OFFENDING

Wagdy loza and amel loza fanous used a range of different psychometric measures and found no differences in levels of anger between offenders classed as violent and offenders classed as non violent. Suggests anger management is misguided as they provide offenders with a justification for their behaviour. Many crimes such as fraud may not be motivated by anger, therefore anger management is not applicable