what is a strength of the effectiveness of token economy systems?
research support Hobbs and Holt 1976 studied effects of TE within 3juveniledelinquent centres and found there was a 21-34%increase in desired behaviours
suggests that using TE programmes provide a successful way of maintaining socially desirable behaviour in the short-term within prisons
operationalised behaviours like 'doing chores' increases validity as it allows then to accuratelymeasure percentage changes in behaviour
what is a limitation of using Token Economy?
can be seen as unethical - manipulating and dehumanising
involves exchanging tokens for rewards, and withholding these can be thought as unfair e.g. food and drink, speaking to loved ones etc, should be seen as human rights rather than a privilege and something that is earned inside a prison
despite servingtime for crimes, offenders rights should be respected, this shouldn't be dependent on behaviour
the success of behaviour modification depends on perspective - staff or prisoner, staff may benefit from smooth running but prisoners lose out
how is TES having little rehabilitation values once offenders leave prison a limitation?
Blackburn 1993 argued that positive changes in prison may quickly be lost when the offender is released as their is no-one on the outside to keep reinforcing positive behaviour (key in operant conditioning)
while TE work well in prisons, behaviour may not be changed so that when they leave they stop committing crime
other types of rehabilitation such as anger management, may be better at reducingrecidivism
