Forensic Psychology For Dummies (129 page)

Disciplinary activity, for the individual or an area of the prison, may not allow them out of their cell to attend a session.

Staffing levels or other management issues can mean that no one is available to supervise the prisoner’s movements or the area where the programme is being carried out.

Other commitments, such as court attendance, visits or demands of a job within the prison can prevent them from attending.

The great majority of prisoners, especially those serving short (six months or less) prison terms will never be assessed or seen by psychologists (unless they do something really bizarre or bad) because the system can’t cope with the logistics and the staff aren’t available to carry out the work.

Chapter 14

Dealing with Violence

In This Chapter

Distinguishing two different types of violence

Determining the risks of further violent behaviour

Discussing the difficulties of treating violent offenders

Dealing with the offence of stalking

Although fortunately not the most common of offences, crimes involving violence are the ones that cause people most anguish. As a result, psychologists have devoted a great deal of attention to trying to work out why people are violent towards each other and what processes may help offenders to reduce their violent aggression.

One central area of research is risk assessment: the challenge of predicting whether a person is likely to be violent again in the future. Psychologists have developed ways of making these predictions that are quite effective if used carefully.

As well as examining risk assessment for violent offenders, in this chapter I also distinguish two basic types of violence, describe treatment programmes for anger management and take a closer look at one particular, often violent, offence – stalking.

Investigating Two Different Sorts of Violence

Many different types of violence exist as well as many different circumstances in which it can occur. In this section, I describe how psychologists distinguish between two general forms that differ in one crucial aspect:

Instrumental violence
is physical aggression to achieve a particular purpose. This type is the calculated violence (or threat of it) that’s used to control other people and make them do what the offender wants – perhaps to obtain money, for example, or to make them carry out acts they wouldn’t otherwise do.

Organised crime often keeps people within its networks by the use of this sort of violence.

People who use violence in a calculated way are less likely to be responsive to treatment programmes that focus on anger management and alternative ways of expressing fierce emotions.

Expressive, emotional or anger-promoted violence
is the explosive aggression that comes from a lack of impulse control in which someone feels the need to hit out when challenged or frustrated. These hostile individuals are likely to act on their urges in other ways, for instance by substance abuse, casual volatile relationships and other aspects of personality disorder.

This group of expressively violent people are the ones most open to some sort of psychological help with their impulsive aggression, although their openness to treatment is by no means certain.

Programmes to treat violent individuals need to explore what type of violence a person exhibited in the past in order to ensure that any treatment offered is appropriate. Working out what type of violence someone indulges in isn’t always easy, however, because in some subgroups wearing your emotions (especially your anger) openly is a way of exerting control. In such cases, what may seem to be expressive violence may in fact be instrumental – the person gets a reputation for having ‘a short fuse’, which gives him a power that he wouldn’t otherwise possess.

Considering some reasons for violent behaviour

When thinking about violent behaviour (and particularly ways to reduce or manage it), you need to keep in mind several features of violent events, as follows:

Particular situations that may trigger violence, such as confrontations.

Beliefs, such as the need to defend oneself against any insult.

Emotional states, such as anger or depression.