Dealing with offending behaviour: Anger Management

Anger management

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.

Cognitive behaviour therapy

Raymond Novaco (1975) suggests that cognitive factors trigger the emotional arousal which generally precedes aggressive acts.

His argument is that, anger is often quick to surface especially in situations that are perceived to be anxiety-inducing or threatening.

In behaviourist terms, becoming angry is reinforced by the indiviudal’s feeling of control in that situation.

As such, anger management programmes are a form a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) - the individual is taught how to recognise the cognitive factors that trigger their anger and loss of control, and then encouraged to develop techniques which bring about conflict resolution without the need for violence.

3 stages of anger management: 1. Cognitive preparation

Cognitive preparation → this stage requires an offender to reflect on past experience and consider the typical pattern of their anger. The offender learns to identify those situations which act as triggers to anger and, if the way in which the offender interprets the event is irrational, the therapists role is to make this clear.

For instance, the offender may view someone looking at them or their partners as an act of confrontation. In redefining the situation as non-threatening, the therapist is attempting to break what may well be an automatic response of the offender.

-Reflects on past experience

-Notice anger patterns

-Recognise anger and triggers for anger

-Redefine situations as non-threatening

3 stages of anger management: 2. Skills acquisition

Skills acquisition → In this stage offenders are introduced to a range of techniques and skills to help them deal with anger-provoking situations more rationally and effectively. Techniques may include:

• Cognitive - positive self-talk to encourage calmness e.g we are all familiar with the idea of counting to ten to temper our reaction to a stressful event.

• Behavioural - assertiveness training in how to communicate more effectively which will become an automatic response if practised regularly.

• Physiological - deal with the physical reaction to anger such as using relation training or meditation.The aim is to control one’s emotions rather than being controlled by them.

-Techniques and skills and learned to deal with the anger provoking situation.

3 stages of anger management: 3. Application practise

Application practice → In final phase, offenders are given the opportunity to practise their skills within a carefully controlled environment. Such role play is likely to involve the offender and the therapist re-enacting scenarios that may have escalated feelings of anger and acts of violence in the past.

This requires a certain amount of bravery from the therapist whose job it is to ‘wind up’ the offender in order to assess their progress! If the offender deals successfully with the role play this is given positive reinforcement by the therapist.

-Practice skills in controlled environment

-new skills in role-play situation - positive reinforcement.

Positive outcome with young offenders

Keen et al (2000) studied the progress made with young offenders aged between 17 and 21 who took part in a nationally recognised anger management programme.

First devised in 1992 and updated in 1995, the National Anger Management Package was developed by the England and Wales Prison Service.

The course comprises eight two-hour sessions, the first seven over a three week period with the last session a month afterwards, and the content broadly follows what is described in the stages.

Although there was initial issues in terms of offenders not taking the course seriously, and individuals forgetting routines such as the requirement to bring their diary, the final outcomes were generally positive.

Offenders reported increased awareness of their anger management difficulties and an increased capacity to exercise self-control.

+Better than behaviour modification

One strength of anger management is that the benefits may outlast those of behaviour modification.

Unlike behaviour modification, anger management tries to tackle one of the causes of offending - that is, the cognitive processes that trigger anger, and ultimately, offending behaviour.

Alternative treatments such as behaviour modification deal with only surface behaviour and not the processes that drive such behaviour.

Experience of anger management may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality and allow them to self-discover ways of managing themselves outside of the prison setting.

Counterpoint - Contradictory Research

However, follow-up studies of anger management tend not to support this assumption.

The general trend is summarised by Blackburn (1993) who points out that, whilst anger management may have a noticeable effect on the conduct of offenders in the short-term, there is very little evidence that it reduces recidivism in the long term.

This may be because the application phase of treatment still replies on role play which might not properly reflect all the possible triggers that are present in a real-world situation. Any progress made in therapy may count for little when compared to, say, a busy city centre pub on a Saturday night.

This suggests that, in the end, anger management may not reduce reoffending.

-individual differences

One limitation of anger management is that success may depend on individual factors.

Howells et al (2005) study conducted an investigation with Australian offenders. The researchers found that participation in an anger management programme had little overall when compared to a control group who received no treatment.

However, this was not true for all offenders in the treatment programme. Significant process was made with those offenders who had showed intense levels of anger before the programme.

Also, offenders who were open to change and highly motivated from the outset (so-called ‘treatment readiness’) experienced similar gains.

This suggests that anger management may only benefit offenders who fit a certain profile.

-Expensive

A further limitation of anger management is that it is likely to be an expensive option.

Anger management programmes are expensive to run as they require the services of highly-trained specialists who are used to dealing with violent offenders.

For this reason, many prisons may not have the resources to fund such programmes.

In addition, the success of anger management is often based on the commitment of those who participate, and this may be a problem if prisoners are incooperative and apathetic. Change takes time and this ultimately likely to add to the expense of delivering effective programmes.

This suggests that effective anger management programmes are probably not going to work in most prisons.

-Not a causal relationhip - anger and offending

The anger management approach suggests there is a straightforward causal relationship between anger and offending. Anger is assumed to be an important antecedent to offending in that it produces the emotional state necessary to commit crime.

However, this assumption may be false. Loza and Loza Fanous (1999) found no differences in levels of anger between offenders classed as violent and those classed as non-violent.

Further, they suggested anger management programmes may be misguided as they provide offenders with a justification for their behaviour.