NCJ Number
125350
Journal
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (1983) Pages: 105-113
Date Published
1983
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The effectiveness of two methods of reducing criminal behavior by reinforcing noncriminal competing behavior was examined in a study that involved three Chicano gang members.
Abstract
The research setting was a community-based agency that had obtained government funds to publish a community newsletter in a low-income neighborhood. The three Hispanic participants were a 22-year-old former gang member who had written unpublished stories and poetry, a 16-year-old school dropout and gang member who was experienced in visual art, and an 18-year-old dropout who was also a gang member and was experienced in visual art. The behavior sought was the submission of an original written or graphic work to the experimenter. The methods included an initial nonspecific prompt consisting of a one-page announcement and a series of specific prompts consisting of either two telephone calls per week, verbal prompts during weekly counseling sessions, or other direct verbal prompts. Findings showed that the general prompt was ineffective, whereas the subject-specific prompts elicited a total of 38 pages of work. Figure and 19 references.