AO3

• How is the cost a limitation of anger management?

  • Expensive to run as they require highly-trained professionals who are used to dealing with violent offenders
  • Many prisoners may not have the resources to fund such programmes
  • The success of anger management is often based on the commitment of those who participate which may be a problem if the prisoners are uncooperative and apathetic
  • Change takes time and this is likely to add to the cost of the programme
  • Most effective AMP are not going to work in prisons due to the expense
• 1. Individual Differences - Limitation

  • Kevin Howells (2005) - Australian Offenders - found that participation had little overall impact compared to a control group who received no treatment
  • Not true for all offenders, those who showed intense anger had significant progress
  • Offenders who were open to change and were highly motivated from the outset experienced similar gains
  • AMP may only benefit offenders who fit a certain profile
• 1. Better than BM - strength

  • Tackles the cause of offending through cognitive processes that trigger anger
  • BM only deals with surface level behaviour and not the processes that drive the behaviour
  • Experience of AMP gives the offenders insight into their criminality and allows them to self-discover ways of managing behaviour outside of prison
  • Anger Management is more likely to cause a permanent behavioural change than BM
• 2. Better than BM - Counterpoint

  • Blackburn - very little evidence that AMP reduces recidivism in the long term
  • May be because the application phase relies on role-play which may not properly reflect all of the triggers in the real scenario
  • Progress made in a controlled therapy environment may not count when compared to a busy pub
  • Anger management does not reduce reoffending