Applications of criminal psychology: ways of reducing and preventing crime, including the role of token economy programmes, anger management and restorative justice, and how these link to the theories of crime.

What this dot point is asking

OCR wants you to explain how psychology is applied to reduce and prevent crime. You should know three approaches, token economy programmes, anger management and restorative justice, how each draws on a theory of crime, and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Token economy programmes

In a prison or young offenders' institution, staff first define clear target behaviours (following rules, cooperating, completing work or education). Whenever an offender shows a target behaviour, they immediately receive a token. Tokens are then exchanged for rewards such as privileges, extra phone time or items. Because the behaviour is reinforced, it is repeated and can become habit, replacing anti-social behaviour. This is the same learning principle (rewarded behaviour is repeated) that underlies the social-learning view in theories of criminal behaviour.

Strengths: simple, cheap to run and effective at controlling behaviour inside an institution. Weaknesses: the improved behaviour often does not transfer to life outside, where there are no tokens, so reoffending can return, and it controls behaviour without changing underlying attitudes.

Anger management

Anger management is a cognitive-behavioural approach used with offenders whose crimes are driven by poor control of anger. It usually has three stages:

1. Cognitive preparation: the offender learns to recognise what triggers their anger and the early physical signs.
2. Skills acquisition: they learn techniques to stay calm, such as controlled breathing, relaxation and positive self-talk.
3. Application practice: they rehearse these skills in role-play of situations that usually make them angry, with feedback.

Restorative justice

Restorative justice brings the offender and the victim together (in a meeting or through letters), with a trained mediator. The offender hears directly how their crime affected the victim and is encouraged to take responsibility and make amends (an apology, repaying loss or repairing damage). The aims are to help the victim feel heard and to make the offender understand the real harm they caused, reducing the chance they offend again. By treating the offender as someone who can change, restorative justice also avoids the stigma of labelling that can trigger a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Evaluating the approaches

These applications matter because they aim to reduce reoffending, which protects the public and saves money. Token economies are cheap and effective inside institutions but rarely change long-term behaviour outside. Anger management addresses the cause of violent crime and can produce lasting change, but only suits anger-driven offending and depends on motivation. Restorative justice can powerfully reduce reoffending and helps victims, but is not suitable for every crime or victim, and some offenders are not genuinely remorseful. Because crime has many causes, the most effective strategies often combine approaches and match them to the individual offender.

Try this

Q1. Which learning principle does a token economy use? [1 mark]

• Cue. Operant conditioning (rewarded behaviour is repeated).

Q2. Name the three stages of anger management. [3 marks]

• Cue. Cognitive preparation, skills acquisition and application practice.

Q3. Give one strength of restorative justice. [2 marks]

• Cue. It helps the victim feel heard and makes the offender understand the harm, which can reduce reoffending.