NCJ Number
86069
Editor(s)
D A Black
Date Published
1982
Length
49 pages
Annotation
A series of papers reviews the history, development, and policy of the Psychology Department of Britain's Broadmoor Hospital and considers the relevance of the concept of the psychopath, treating aggression, and assessing and treating sexual offenders in closed institutions.
Abstract
The opening paper presents developments in the 21-year history of the Broadmoor Psychology Department and projects some future trends for the department. Another study uses empirical data from a Broadmoor study to demonstrate that psychopathy is a meaningful descriptive concept that distinguishes subgroups of offenders, although psychopaths themselves are not a homogenous group, having in common aggressiveness and impulsivity but differing in the presence of anxiety and emotional conflicts. The literature suggests that psychopaths are unaffected by verbal therapies, social skills training, and social reinforcers but are responsive to both positive and negative material reinforcers, stimulating activities, and sociodrama. The third essay notes that because patients in closed institutions, particularly sexual offenders, cannot be diagnosed and evaluated in a natural environment, nondangerous behavior underlying the offenses must be identified, modified, and measured as the means for determining progress and readiness for release. A review of research on clinical approaches to treating aggression suggests that social skills training and programs that facilitate the cognitive and affective control of aggression may be effective in reducing or eliminating violent behavior by persons motivated to change such behavior. The concluding paper summarizes conference discussions and suggests future developments in the areas of procedure, organization, and policy for Broadmoor's Psychology Department. References accompany each paper. For individual entries, see NCJ 86070-72.