Abstract
Sociological theories and hypotheses have had great influence on development of general correctional policies, such as probation and parole, but they have been used only intermittently and haphazardly in reforming individual criminals. Since sociology is essentially a research discipline, sociologist-criminologists have devoted most of their time and energy to understanding and explaining crime, leaving to psychiatrists and others the problem of reforming criminals. Even the sociologists employed in correctional work have ordinarily comitted themselves to non-sociological theories and techniques of reformation, leading the authors of one popular criminology textbook to ask just what correctional sociologists can accomplish which cannot be accomplished by other professional workers.1
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Reference
Harry Elmer Barnes and Negley K. Teeters, New Horizons in Criminology, New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1951, p. 644.
Sheldon and Eleanor T. Glucck, Delinquents in the Making, New York: Harper & Bros., 1952, ppl 162–63; see also Ruth Jacobs Levy, Reductions in Recidivism through Therapy, New York: Seltzer, 1941, pp. 16, 28.
Edwin J. Lukas, “Crime Prevention: A Confusion in Goal”, in Paul W. Tappan, Contemporary Correction, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1951, pp. 397–409.
See, for example, Charles Berg, “The Psychology of Punishment British Journal of Medical Psychology 20 (October, 1945), pp. 295–313.
John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct, New York: Henry Holt, 1922, pp. 19–20. Dorwin Cartwright, “Achieving Change in People: Some Applications of Group Dynamics Theory”, Human Relations, 4 (1951), pp. 381–392.
Cf. Donald R. Taft, “The Group and Community Organization Approach to Prison Administration”, Proceedings of the American Prison Association, 72 (1942), pp. 275–284; and George B. Vold, “Discussion of Guided Group Interaction in Correctional Work by F. Lovell Bixby and Lloyd W. McCorkle”, American Sociological Review, 16 (August, 1951 ), pp. 460–461.
See Donald R. Cressey, “The Nature and Effectiveness of Correctional Techniques”, Law and Contemporary Problems,23 (Autumn, 1958), pp. 754–771.
See Lloyd W. McCorkle, “The Present Status of Group Therapy in United States Correctional Institutions”, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 3 (January 1953), pp. 79–87.
Marshall B. Clinard, “The Group Approach to Social Reintegration”, American Sociological Review, 14 (April 1949), pp. 257–262.
S. R. Slayson, An Introduction to Group Therapy, New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1943, p. 1; William C. Menninger, Psychiatry in a Troubled World, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948, pp. 316–317.
McCorkle, op. cit.,does not describe the various kinds of therapy now being used in correctional institutions, but his classificatory categories seem to support the notion that the orientation in most programmes designated as “group therapy” is individualistic.
Lloyd W. McCorkle, “Group Therapy”, in Paul W. Tappan, Editor, Con temporary Correction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951, pp. 211–223.
Lloyd W. McCorkle, “Group Therapy in the Treatment of Offenders”, Federal Probation, 16 (December 1952), pp. 22–27.
Ibid. This statement is a revision of a definition used in earlier publications: “The use of free discussion to re-educate the delinquent to accept the restrictions of society and to find satisfaction in conforming to social norms”. F. Lovell Bixby and Lloyd W. McCorkle, “Applying the Principles of Group Therapy in Correctional Institions”, Federal Probation, 14 (March 1950), pp. 36–40.
Group Therapy“, op. cit.
The essence of group therapy is to help the individual adjust to reality“, Bixby and McCorkle, op. cit. ; ”[Guided group interaction] assumes the mutual give-and-take of group discussion will stimulate the inmate to some insight into the relationship between what takes place in this learning situation and his immediate problems of living“. McCorkle, ”Group Therapy in the Treatment of Offenders“, op. cit.
Jay W. Fidler, “Possibility of Group Therapy with Female Offenders”, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 1 (November 1951), pp. 330–336.
See S. R. Slayson, “Group Psychotherapy in Delinquency Prevention”, Journal of Educational Sociology, 24 (September 1950), pp. 45–51; and Justin K. Fuller, “Group Therapy for Parolees”, Prison World, 14 (July-August, 1952 ), pp. 9–11.
The similarity to group therapy used for reducing belligerence and isolation of mental patients may be observed here. McCorkle has emphasized that “Group sessions tend to destroy the routinized, almost vegetative existence of some inmates by forcing into their awareness the immediate past and future”. “Group Therapy”, op. cit. In discussing one of McCorkle’s articles, a reviewer made the following significant statement: “The future of group therapy in correctional work is bright because it offers help to a greater number of individuals and permits the release of pent-up hostility and aggression which, among the more aggressive groups, frequently breaks out into open conflict”. Samuel R. Kesselman, “Review of Contemporary Correction”, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 2 (April 1952), pp. 194–197. See, also, Joseph Abrahams and Lloyd W. McCorkle, “Group Psychotherapy of Military Offenders”, American Journal of Sociology, 51 (March 1946), pp. 455–464.
Cf. Irving Schulman, “The Dynamics of Certain Reactions of Delinquents to Group Psychotherapy”, International journal of Group Psychotherapy,2 (October 1952), pp. 334–343. Schulman says, “The term delinquent character disorder… refers to character development which leads to repeated aggressive infringements upon values of the community from which the transgressor derives gratification. In such behaviour the individual is responding to the demands of his instinctual drives with little respect for reality”.
The policy of imprisonment itself is in part based on the same notion. It often is assumed that by incarcerating criminals we are “educating them to accept the restrictions of society”, i.e. teaching them as individuals that they cannot “get away with” committing crimes.
That this point has been recognized in correctional group therapy may be inferred from the following statement regarding boys in the New York Training School: “They were convinced that everyone is dishonest; even the police, the government officials and the judges took bribes. Thus, they sought to convince themselves that they were not different from anyone else… They needed persons with socially acceptable standards and conduct with whom they could form a strong, healthy relationship and with whom they could identify. Group therapy can be an effective means of providing this need”. Charles Gersten, “An Experimental Evaluation of Group Therapy with Juvenile Delinquents”, International journal of Group Psychotherapy 1 (November 1951), pp. 311–318.
The inmates of the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe have been found to be more “rule-obeying” than college males or Catholic students. Robert A. Harper, “Is Conformity a General or a Specific Behaviour Trait?” American Sociological Review,12 (February 1947), pp. 81–86.
To earn the right to belong he [the youth] will adopt whatever code of behaviour the gang or group prescribes, regardless of how much it conflicts with society’s standards and demands.“ John R. Ellingston, Protecting Our Children from Criminal Careers, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1948, p. 35.
Cf. Vold, op. cit.
For a description of a group session in which this point is dramatically demonstrated, see Gisela Konopka, “The Group Worker’s Role in an Institution for Juvenile Delinquents”, Federal Probation,15 (June 1951), pp. 15–23. See also Chapter IX, below.
It has been explicitly recommended, in connection with group therapy for psychiatric patients, that the participants should not communicate with each other outside the therapy sessions. Hendrick Lindt and Max A. Sherman, “`Social Incognito’ in Analytically Oriented Group Psychotherapy”, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy,2 (July, 1952), pp. 209–220.
Cf.Edwin A. Fleishman, A Study of the Leadership Role of the Foreman in an Industrial Situation,Columbus: Personnel Research Board, Ohio State University, 1951. In this study, foremen’s leadership attitudes and behaviour were significantly changed in a “human relations training course”, but when the men were returned to the factory situation and the old group relations they reverted to their old attitudes and behaviour. The author’s conclusion is very significant for group therapy: “Our results suggest that the foremen may learn different attitudes for each situation. The attitude that is `right’ in the training situation may be different from the one that `pays off’ in the industrial environment”.
Any behaviour the boys engage in after the therapy hour must be handled in the ordinary fashion“. James J. Thorpe and Bernard Smith, ”Operational Sequence in Group Therapy with Young Offenders“, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy,2 (January 1952), pp. 24–34.
Until individuals in the group learn to differentiate between their role in the session and other roles in the institution, problems and difficulties can arise… Group therapy may bring hostilities to the surface that had previously been suppressed. Feelings may overflow in other relationships and individuals get into difficulties of violating institutional rules and regulations“. Bixby and McCorkle, op. cit.
Giles Thomas, “Group Psychotherapy: A Review of the Recent Literature”, Psychosomatic Medicine, (April 1943), pp. 166–180.
Freed Bales, “Types of Social Structure as Factors in `Cures’ for Alcohol Addiction”, Applied Anthropology, 1 (April-June 1942), pp. 1–13.
Ibid. See, also, Willis H. McCann and Albert A. Almada, “Round-Table Psychotherapy: A Technique in Group Psychotherapy”, Journal of Consulting Psychology, 14 (December 1950), pp. 421–435.
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© 1964 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Cressey, D.R. (1964). Differential Association and Correctional Group Therapy. In: Delinquency, Crime and Differential Association. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9015-2_8
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