Evaluation

• Better than behaviour modification

  • Benefits may outlast behaviour modification
  • Anger management attempts to tackle the causes of offending - cognitive processes that trigger anger
  • Behaviour modification only deals with surface behaviour
  • Allows prisoners to manage anger outside of prison
  • Therefore, more permanent behavioural change
• Counterpoint to better than behaviour modification

  • Follow-up studies of anger management do not support this assumption
  • Blackburn - little evidence that anger management reduces recidivism in the long term
  • Application phase relies on role play - not generalisable to real behaviour
  • Therefore, anger management may not reduce reoffending
• Individual differences


  • Success may depend on individual differences
  • Howells et al. - participation in an anger management programme had no impact when compared to a control group in Australian offenders
  • However, significant progress was made with those who showed intense anger before the programme
  • Prisoners who were open to it experienced similar gains
  • Therefore, anger management may only benefit certain people
• Expensive


  • Requires services of highly-trained specialists
  • Many prisons may not have the resources to fund them
  • Change in prisoners' attitudes takes time, which is ultimately likely to add to the cost of delivering effective programmes
  • Therefore, anger management may not work in all prisons