behavioural modification in custody

• treatment based off operant conditioning. aim is to replace undesirable behaviours through positive and negative reinforcement
• behaviourist principles:

  possible to encourage the unlearning of behaviour. programme aim to reinforce obedient behaviour and punish disobedient
• token economy:

  desirable avoid confrontation. prison given a token secondary reinforcers for a each desirable behaviour. behaviour and reward are made apparent before implementing. disobedient behaviour tokens are removed or withheld. tokens can be exchanged for primary reinforcers such as rewards such as time with a loved one
• designing and using a token economy:

  • operationalise target behaviour: target behaviour improved communication can be broken down into no touching and being polite. they should be objective and measurable and agreed on by all staff
  • scoring system: staff made aware of scoring system and how much each behaviour is worth. behavioural hierchal more demanding higher reward
  • train staff: staff full train before implement system successfully. standardised procedures so behaviours are rewarded in the same way. staff should record tokens so progress can be assesssed
• +straightfoward to set up. appeal of behavioural modification largely upon release when it can be administered. no need for a specialist to be involved as there would be in other forms of anger management. in TE it can be designed and implemented by virtually anyone meaning that it is cost effective as no specialist is required. it suggests TE is a cheap and effective way of rehabilitative
• -TE assumes that people respond well to incentives however this isn't always true. Some individuals may find it difficult to understand what they stand to gain from participating in the program. They may feel like they don't deserve any kind of reward and therefore won't bother trying to earn tokens. This lack of motivation could mean that they fail to complete the program and end up returning to prison.
• -TE has been criticised because it does not address underlying causes of criminality, only surface level symptoms. this means that once released from prison, prisoners may return to their old ways if they have not addressed the root cause of their actions.
• -TE doesn't address underlying causes of criminality. It focuses solely on changing behaviour rather than addressing why someone has committed an offence in the first place. As a result, some criminals will continue to commit crimes even if their behaviour changes because they haven't addressed the root cause of their actions. This means that TE might not have long term effects on reducing recidivism rates.
• -TE relies heavily on external factors (tokens) which aren't necessarily going to be available once released back into society. If prisoners become too dependent on these external factors then they may struggle to cope without them. This could lead to increased levels of stress and anxiety which could increase the likelihood of committing further offences.
• -TE assumes that criminals want to change but some do not. those who do not will see the program as pointless and therefore refuse to participate which could lead to further punishment and resentment towards authority figures. This could also result in them becoming even more hostile than they were prior to entering the program.
• -not affect LT behaviour. blackburn 1993 little rehabilitative value and any positive changes that occur whilst the offender is in prison are unlikely to be maintained once they are released. more cog treatments e.g anger management more likely to lead to permanent behavioural change. treatment may also be able to establish the cause of their offending and allow them to take responsibility for their actions for their own rehabilitation. also, offenders may play along just to get the reward therefore ineffective as does not allow long term behavioural change
• +evidence support. hobbs and holt 1976 introduced TE to young offenders 4 behavioural units and 1 control. observed significant difference in positive behaviour compared to non TE. field 2004 found TE used with young ppl with behavioural problems generally effective but few did not respond and they had a special programme with immediate and frequent rewards. suggests TE effective way in modifying behaviour in youths