Behaviour modification

• Token economy

  Based on operant conditioning to bring about changes in behaviour

  Rewarding appropriate behaviour and withholding rewards for inappropriate behaviour

  Behaviour has to be broken down into increments and a baseline measure has to be established
• operationalise target behaviours

  behaviours are broken down into components

  these units of behaviour have to be objective and measurable, and agreed with prison staff and inmates in advance
• scoring system

  some behaviours will be more demanding and therefore worth more

  the types of tokens awarded needs to be decided

  what the tokens can be exchanged for, more tokens are worth better rewards so encourages prisoners to behave better to be able to save up
• training staff

  prison staff require full training to implement the token economy correctly

  the aim is to standardise the procedures so all prison staff are rewarding the same behaviour the same way
• A limitation token economy may only be effective while the prisoner is in prison

  Once the offender is released, the rewards for good behaviour no longer exist, so may not lead to long term rehabilitation.

  Token economies may only lead to a superficial change in behaviour, not tackling the root cause of criminal behaviour.

  Other approaches may provide better solutions for this, therefore weakening token economy as a method for dealing with offending behaviour 
• A limitation is there are ethical concerns 

  Critics have described behaviour modification as manipulative and dehumanising. Participation in the scheme is obligatory rather than optional, and human rights campaigners argue that withdrawal of ‘privileges’, such as exercise and contact with loved ones, is unethical

  however, behaviour modification programmes have been associated with a decreased conflict within penal institutions and more successful management of the prison population. This can reduce pressure and stress on prison staff in what can be a hostile and difficult environment 
• A strength is supporting evidence for the effectiveness

  Hobbs and Holt researched the effectiveness of implementing a token economy programme in three small juvinile delinquent centres.

  They also studied a centre with no treatment programme.

  In the institutions with token economy, there was a significant increase in desired behaviours. Before the tokens were introduced, the percentage of desired  behaviours was 66%, 47% and 73%, after they had increased to 91%, 81% and 94%