Discuss Two Ways of Dealing with Criminal Behaviour (16 marker)
Custodial Sentencing is a method used deal with criminal behaviour, it involves a criminal
being convicted and spending time in prison. Though there are 4 ways of conducting this:
Deterrence is a behaviorist view tries to prevent criminality conditioning through punishment.
General deterrence aims to send a message to members of a given society that crime will not
be tolerated. Whereas individual deterrence aims to prevent the individual from repeating the
same offences again. Incapacitation is the process by which the offender is taken out of
society in order to protect the public from their tendencies. Thirdly, retribution is when
society claim ‘revenge’ on the offender by making them suffer, as they believe the offender
should ‘pay for their crimes.’ Lastly, rehabilitation is a method of custodial sentencing that
believes offenders should leave prison better suited for society, as prison should provide
opportunities to develop skills or and emphasize on treatment.
One strength of custodial sentencing, is that it provides opportunities for training and
treatment for inmates, as one objective of prisons is rehabilitation, which is an attempt to
make prisoners better people. The Vera Institution of Justice claims that offenders who take
part in prison education are 43% less likely to reoffend. This shows that rehabilitation is
beneficial and can give offenders a second chance to lead an anti-criminal life.
One drawback of custodial sentencing being used in prisons is that it often leads to negative,
long-term impacts on inmates psychologically. Curt Bartol suggests for many inmate’s,
prison can be ‘brutal and demeaning’. According to the Ministry of Justice, 119 people
committed suicide in prisons in England in 2016. However, of those 119 people, many
suffered from psychotic symptoms before being incarcerated. Therefore, confounding
variables could lead to the link between prison and psychological effects.
Another drawback of custodial sentencing is the individual differences in recidivism.
Custodial sentences may be more effective in some offenders more than others. Walker et al.
found that the length of sentence made little difference to habitual offenders who were just as
likely to reoffend no matter what their sentence was. Though rates of recidivism vary
between age and crimes. Such individual differences suggest sentencing should be targeted in
different ways with different offenders.
Another way of dealing with criminal behaviour is through anger management - a therapeutic
program that identifies the triggers to ones’ anger, and teaches people how to deal with them.
Raymond Novaco argues that cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal which generally
leads to acts of anger. In CBT the individual is taught how to recognize their cognitive factors
that trigger their anger as this therapy is used within this treatment, and introduced in three
stages. The therapy begins with cognitive preparation, this stages requires an offender to
reflect on past experience and consider the typical pattern of anger, as the offender learns to
identify situations that act as triggers. Stage 2 involves skills acquisition: in this stage, the
offender is introduced to skills and techniques that may help them maintain their anger. This
may include: positive self-talk to encourage calmness (cognitive), assertiveness training in
how to communicate more effectively (behavioural), dealing with the physical reaction of
anger with meditation (physiological). The final stage of this process is application practice:
offenders are given the opportunity to practice their skills which may be done through role
play between the therapist and offender.
Custodial Sentencing is a method used deal with criminal behaviour, it involves a criminal
being convicted and spending time in prison. Though there are 4 ways of conducting this:
Deterrence is a behaviorist view tries to prevent criminality conditioning through punishment.
General deterrence aims to send a message to members of a given society that crime will not
be tolerated. Whereas individual deterrence aims to prevent the individual from repeating the
same offences again. Incapacitation is the process by which the offender is taken out of
society in order to protect the public from their tendencies. Thirdly, retribution is when
society claim ‘revenge’ on the offender by making them suffer, as they believe the offender
should ‘pay for their crimes.’ Lastly, rehabilitation is a method of custodial sentencing that
believes offenders should leave prison better suited for society, as prison should provide
opportunities to develop skills or and emphasize on treatment.
One strength of custodial sentencing, is that it provides opportunities for training and
treatment for inmates, as one objective of prisons is rehabilitation, which is an attempt to
make prisoners better people. The Vera Institution of Justice claims that offenders who take
part in prison education are 43% less likely to reoffend. This shows that rehabilitation is
beneficial and can give offenders a second chance to lead an anti-criminal life.
One drawback of custodial sentencing being used in prisons is that it often leads to negative,
long-term impacts on inmates psychologically. Curt Bartol suggests for many inmate’s,
prison can be ‘brutal and demeaning’. According to the Ministry of Justice, 119 people
committed suicide in prisons in England in 2016. However, of those 119 people, many
suffered from psychotic symptoms before being incarcerated. Therefore, confounding
variables could lead to the link between prison and psychological effects.
Another drawback of custodial sentencing is the individual differences in recidivism.
Custodial sentences may be more effective in some offenders more than others. Walker et al.
found that the length of sentence made little difference to habitual offenders who were just as
likely to reoffend no matter what their sentence was. Though rates of recidivism vary
between age and crimes. Such individual differences suggest sentencing should be targeted in
different ways with different offenders.
Another way of dealing with criminal behaviour is through anger management - a therapeutic
program that identifies the triggers to ones’ anger, and teaches people how to deal with them.
Raymond Novaco argues that cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal which generally
leads to acts of anger. In CBT the individual is taught how to recognize their cognitive factors
that trigger their anger as this therapy is used within this treatment, and introduced in three
stages. The therapy begins with cognitive preparation, this stages requires an offender to
reflect on past experience and consider the typical pattern of anger, as the offender learns to
identify situations that act as triggers. Stage 2 involves skills acquisition: in this stage, the
offender is introduced to skills and techniques that may help them maintain their anger. This
may include: positive self-talk to encourage calmness (cognitive), assertiveness training in
how to communicate more effectively (behavioural), dealing with the physical reaction of
anger with meditation (physiological). The final stage of this process is application practice:
offenders are given the opportunity to practice their skills which may be done through role
play between the therapist and offender.
