Teaching non-criminal thinking

[arcticpenguin]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...&u=/nm/20031118/od_nm/life_australia_crime_dc

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Some of Australia's most violent criminals, including murderers, are to be taught "non-criminal thinking" in an attempt to subdue their violent behavior.

Up to 70 hardened criminals in jails in the state of New South Wales (NSW) will participate in the nine-month program involving psychologists, alcohol and drug workers, educators and prison staff, said NSW Justice Minister John Hatzistergos.
...
The course involves criminals admitting to their violent behavior and taking responsibility for it, learning anger management and non-criminal thinking, empathizing with victims, and learning to break their lifestyle cycle of crime.

An interesting idea, is there any research to back this up, or is it pie in the sky?

 

[NoZed Avenger]

The course involves criminals admitting to their violent behavior and taking responsibility for it, learning anger management and non-criminal thinking, empathizing with victims, and learning to break their lifestyle cycle of crime.

Damn, Damn! We've used up our entire supply of vague, psycho-babble buzzwords. Quick, break out the emergency supply!!

"Um, its a new paradigm which shifts behavior from negativocity and empowers the previous criminal to take control and embrace new attitudes that enrich and reward positive thinking by re-energizing innovative models of non-confrontational analysis and progress."

 

[Glory]

program involving psychologists, alcohol and drug workers, educators and prison staff,

When I first read this I thought that the prison was getting them drunk.

Glory

 

[gnome]

Damn, Damn! We've used up our entire supply of vague, psycho-babble buzzwords. Quick, break out the emergency supply!!

"Um, its a new paradigm which shifts behavior from negativocity and empowers the previous criminal to take control and embrace new attitudes that enrich and reward positive thinking by re-energizing innovative models of non-confrontational analysis and progress."

It does sound ridiculous strung all together like that --but in fact I do consider it worthwhile to pursue many measures, including psychological, that might prevent or deter criminal behavior. Does anyone think the job of preventing crime can be done solely by severely punishing criminals?

 

[BobK]

It seems the NSW prison system may have excess money in their budget that they have to allocate before the end of the fiscal year. Or it could be a make work project for the personnel involved.

They can't really think this will work, can they?

I didn't see any mention of a carrot for being a good boy. Just an attempt at re-educating those who have already demonstrated a distaste for the rules of the society. Bribery would probably be more effective and easier to administer.

Why should these violent prisoners do anything more than possibly lip service to the program, and probably not even that?

 

[NoZed Avenger]

It does sound ridiculous strung all together like that --but in fact I do consider it worthwhile to pursue many measures, including psychological, that might prevent or deter criminal behavior. Does anyone think the job of preventing crime can be done solely by severely punishing criminals?

I can't tell if there's anything to it or not from what they give -- b ut any time that much jargon is thrown in, it raises my hackles. It reminds me of the descriptions for "zedro point energy" devices a/kj/a perpetual motion scams.

N/A

 

[Yahweh]

Rehabilitation rather than retribution, that sounds nice in theory, but I dont know if it will work in practice.

I guess we'll just have to wait to find out (pros vs. cons anyone?).

 

[NoZed Avenger]

I guess we'll just have to wait to find out (pros vs. cons anyone?).

My money is on the cons.

 

[rockoon]

It seems the NSW prison system may have excess money in their budget that they have to allocate before the end of the fiscal year. Or it could be a make work project for the personnel involved.

They can't really think this will work, can they?

I didn't see any mention of a carrot for being a good boy. Just an attempt at re-educating those who have already demonstrated a distaste for the rules of the society. Bribery would probably be more effective and easier to administer.

Why should these violent prisoners do anything more than possibly lip service to the program, and probably not even that?

Reward good behavior and punish bad behavior! Thats how evolution works. Its also how neural nets work.

 

[gnome]

Rehabilitation rather than retribution, that sounds nice in theory, but I dont know if it will work in practice.

I guess we'll just have to wait to find out (pros vs. cons anyone?).

Rehabilitation and punishment are not mutually exclusive-- for those who can't draw the rational conclusion not to commit crimes against others, a carrot-and-stick approach might just do the job.

Of course there are some that can't be helped, and at some point all you can do is separate them from those they would victimize.

As for retribution--I have mixed feelings. To me the purpose of crime fighting is to prevent crimes. As such, the purpose of punishment is not for retribution but to dissuade the criminal from repeating the crimes, and others from choosing the same course. It need not go further than what is necessary for deterrence.

But I have heard it argued that it gives to the government/authorities the job of taking revenge on the criminal, relieving the need or desire of the wronged individuals to take revenge themselves. Is this a truly necessary function? Maybe. But I hope that someday we don't need that anymore. I won't hold my breath.

 

[Puppycow]

Reward good behavior and punish bad behavior! Thats how evolution works. Its also how neural nets work.

Maybe the Clockwork Orange approach?

Although the above article is about violent criminals, the following is an interesting article I read about how the US is rethinking its own system, including long mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenders.

Washington Post article

Society would stand to gain a lot if criminals could be transformed into productive citizens. State governments are struggling right now to pay for massive prison expenses, partly because of mandatory sentences. On the other hand, there does seem to be a downward trend in crime in the US. There are some crimes I could never forgive though - those involving extreme cruelty. I think perpetrators of those kind of crimes should have a special prison where they are forced to do hard labor, such as mining, maybe in Alaska. (Something like Russian gulags in Siberia.)

 

[kittynh]

well, my sister in law often said that the teenage boys she worked with needed alternative choices. By that she meant that anger management is good as it gives you alternative actions to hitting. She uses the psychobabble words "I like to give them a tool box of alternative actions to take". She believes you just can't say "don't do that" but you have to say, "do THIS".

Then there are those she said CAN'T be helped period. She doesn't say that though, but I get the feeling that there are some kids she just wished she could commit to jail for life, cause that's where they are headed.

 

[epepke]

Rehabilitation rather than retribution, that sounds nice in theory, but I dont know if it will work in practice.

I guess we'll just have to wait to find out (pros vs. cons anyone?).

There are certainly instances of rehabilitation. A number of famous actors have had really spotted pasts, including one of the male leads in Alien III, who at one time was serving time for murder.

The problem is that the prison population consists of a mix of sociopaths and non-sociopaths, and the mechanisms for dealing with each of them are totally different. I've taught in a psychiatric hospital, so I don't say this lightly. The kind of encouragement and positive thinking that you have to have with the non-sociopaths will get you into trouble with the sociopaths. The vast majority of trained medical health professionals (and I've met a lot) haven't a clue.

I know I'm going to get into trouble for saying this, but the only way to make it work is if the "therapists" are really smart and cagey, and also if they are big-ass alpha males, anyone under 250 pounds need not apply.