Anger managment programme

• Anger management:

  • Offenders can be treated using anger management programmes, which focus on people with aggressive behaviour that needs to be controlled.
  • Anger management in general uses strategies such as identifiying what triggers anger and learning to control those triggers.
  • Proper eating regimes are suggested as well as relaxation techniques.
  • Learning to cope with different opinions from others is also important in the programme.
• Anger management:

  • Anger is considered a normal healthy response, but if it develops into rage that takes a person over, it is not healthy and puts a strain on the body.​​
  • Anger can trigger aggressive out-bursts which may lead to harming someone else.​
  • Some offenders are put on anger management programmes as part of their treatment, because of the nature of the offence or because of personal characteristics.
• • The theory of anger as an outburst links to Freud’s ideas of negative emotions being locked away in the unconscious, only to burst out later. ​​
  • Freud believed sport and other energetic activities could release such emotions. ​
  • Currently there is more focus on what triggers the outburst of anger or aggression and how that trigger, often based on thought processes, can be changed.​
  • Such anger is thought of as inappropriate thought patterns and reactions rather than outbursts.
• AMP's used in prison:

  
• 1975 Novaco

  
• What does it do:

  • Teaches relaxation techniques to deal with the physiological responses to anger.
  • Cognitive restructuring is used to retrain thought patterns
  • Time out or assertiveness training to deal with the behavioural elements of anger.
• Step 1: Cognitive preparation

  • Offenders identify situations that provoke anger to they can recognise when an aggressive outburst might occur​
  • Thought patterns are challenged, e.g., if someone becomes angry when laughed at, they will conclude (after training) that it is the behaviour being mocked, not them​
  • Consider negative consequences of anger on others
• Step 2: Skill acquisition

  • New coping skills learned, e.g. “stop and think” and counting​
  • Relaxation techniques learned​
  • Assertiveness training can help deal with issue constructively, not violently
• Step 3: Application practice

  • Role- play a variety of scenarios to practise new skills to control anger
  • Done in controlled environment
• Used on:

  • In prisons
  • Used on ex-offenders who are serving a probationary period
  • Conducted in small groups
  • Lasts around 10 sessions
• Evaluation:

  Loza and Loza-Fanous (99) 252 Canadian offenders. Looked at offences, recidivism and anger scores. No significant link between anger and violent/ non-violent offences
• Evaluation:

  • Some reported successes
  • Dowden, Blanchette and Serin (99) Programme was successful in reducing recidivism with high risk offenders.
  • Ireland (04) Offenders showed significant improvements in anger-related behaviours following anger management programme, compared to control group.
• Studies evaluating anger management programmes:

  • Watt et al (99)- Western Australia. Violent male adult offenders on anger management programme were compared with offenders on a waiting list, who acted as a control.
  • Two groups were measured in terms of anger knowledge, anger expression, observed aggressive behaviour an misconduct in prison.
  • Found no special gain for the offenders on the AMP compared with the control, suggesting such programmes have no value for violent offenders.
• Strengths of AMP:

  • Studies show the success of AMP from self report data, which are likely to valid as they come from prisoners themselves.
  • The programmes focus on learning about triggers from angry episodes and give people the tools to control their anger in the future, so they should have long term benefits.
• Weakness of AMP:

  • The programmes do not include a discussion of morality or understanding from a victim’s point of view, which has been said to limit their success.​
  • It has been claimed that they turn physical aggression into other ways of expressing aggression, such as verbal or emotional abuse.​
  • Studies claiming success of the programmes use self report data, where prisoners might want to look good and say the groups were useful, or they might simply have enjoyed the sessions as a break from routine.​
  • Many studies do not look further into the future to predict recidivism rates.