Antisocial behavior often manifests in several ways, including violence, property destruction, violation of rules, and substance abuse. Many people with antisocial behavior often get involved in criminal activities and end up in correctional facilities. To regulate antisocial behavior, attention ought to be given to self-control. Focus on self-control as a way to reduce antisocial behavior led to the adoption of aggressive replacement training (ART) as an intervention to reduce delinquent behavior and prevent crime by people with antisocial behaviors (Brannstrom et al., 2016). ART is a program that was developed for use among people with antisocial behavior in order to teach them desirable behaviors. The intervention is commonly used among young people but has been extended to involve adults. In this project, I seek to evaluate the effectiveness of ART in preventing crime by reducing delinquent behaviors.
Aggressive replacement training is an intervention that focuses on three areas, which include teaching pro-social behavior, moral reasoning, and control of anger. Many people with criminal behavior have been found to lack social skills that allow successful interactions with other people within the community (Brannstrom et al., 2016). To instill these social skills, people are taken through a series of steps where they discuss and perform the skills in question. Anger control is the second part of ART, where people are taught how to deal with situations that make them angry (Brannstrom et al., 2016). People are trained to identify triggers for anger, cues that indicate anger, and ways of reducing anger and evaluating actions done to prevent anger. The third component of this intervention is moral reasoning. In this section, adolescents are taught to accommodate others' perspectives and to see the world more reasonably. Trainers teach adolescents to get rid of errors in thinking before helping them develop more accommodating ways of thinking. Some of these errors include: thinking about self, making the worst assumptions, shifting blame, and minimizing the seriousness of delinquency. Trainers then take trainees through steps to help them consider the whole community in their thinking.
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ART has been used in the training of adolescents with antisocial behavior in order to reduce crime rates. However, the intervention has been adapted for use in young adults to reduce crime. This intervention has been noted to stand the test of time, having been used for years as a significant intervention for preventing crime. One reason for its longevity is that it has a basis in the social learning theory (Amendola & Oliver, 2010). This theory explores the relationship between people's thoughts, emotions, and actions within a community. Another reason is that it is built on the understanding of aggressive behavior as an interaction between an individual and the environment (Amendola & Oliver, 2010). This way, people with antisocial behavior have been able to undergo a wholesome training to reduce their antisocial and aggressive behaviors.
The success of ART in preventing crime has been investigated in several studies. Studies reveal that ART significantly reduces aggressive behavior. ART has been found to have a significant impact on the reduction of physical and verbal aggression among adolescents who underwent ART programs (Koposov et al., 2014). This impact has been found to be even more significant for adolescents who were engaged actively and attentively in the programs. Studies have also found ART effective in improving anger control and reducing distortion in social thinking (Brannstrom et al., 2016). People who underwent ART programs were found to have reduced thinking errors and improved moral reasoning that considered the society.
Additionally, ART has been found to be an essential intervention in improving problem-solving skills among antisocial adolescents. Overall, these positive impacts of ART in adolescents have culminated in reducing violent behavior and, therefore, criminal rates (Larden et al., 2018). This is depicted by a reduced rate of reconviction for antisocial adolescents who underwent ART.
While ART has been found to have a positive impact on the reduction of crime among people, several subject factors contribute to the efficacy of the intervention. The age of a participant has been found to be essential in the success of ART (Koposov et al., 22). Younger participants demonstrate a more considerable improvement in social skills. Research indicates that children below fourteen years showed more change after ART than participants above 15 years (Koposov et al., 22). While ART is generally beneficial, the younger a participant is, the better the benefits of the intervention. This means that trainers of older participants should tailor the training to suit older participants who may be harder to retrain.
Another factor that has been noted to affect the effectiveness of ART is the participant environment. Participants who interact with people with good social skills or with fellow participants indicated a better outcome after ART (Koposov et al., 2014). However, participants who were exposed to people with antisocial behavior not undergoing ART intervention reflected poor improvement rates. Hence, it is crucial that trainers are careful of the environments trainees are exposed to. Also, commitment to the program determines the effectiveness of the intervention. The initial program is designed to take ten weeks, with participants meeting three times weekly for one hour to learn each of the components of ART. Participants who faithfully attend all the sessions have shown a more significant improvement in the reduction of delinquent behavior (Larden et al., 2018). In contrast, those who miss sessions or drop out demonstrate a lack or minimal improvement in criminal behavior. This indicates that every part of the training is essential in reducing individuals' overall aggressiveness and delinquent behavior.
While ART programs were initially intended for younger offenders, they are often used in preventing crime among adults. However, the programs are still primarily designed to meet adolescent participants. The effectiveness of ART as a way of reducing crime among adults has been studied and demonstrates minimal to no benefit for adults (Larden et al., 2018). Adults who undergo the program do not have reduced incidences of reconviction. Additionally, they do not show an improvement in social skills, anger management, and moral reasoning. The ineffectiveness of the intervention in adult offenders may be due to the program design. Most components of ART interventions are often designed for adolescent use, which may be inappropriate for adults (Larden et al., 2018). Hence, if the program is to be applied for adult use, then programs must be redesigned to suit adults.
Criminal behavior has been linked to antisocial behavior, especially among adolescents. This necessitated the development of interventions that seek to address antisocial behavior as a way of preventing crime. Aggression replacement training (ART) is an intervention that aims to reduce anger, instill social skills, and restore moral reasoning among youths with antisocial behavior. Research indicated that the intervention is effective in reducing crime and conviction rates among adolescent offenders. The efficacy of ART is even higher for younger adolescents, participants exposed to non-violent environments while training, and participants who remain committed to the programs. While initially designed for adolescents, ART has been used in adults. However, there is minimal to no effect in reducing criminal behavior for adults. This indicates that ART should be redesigned to have more adult-friendly programs to help prevent adult criminal activity.
References
Amendola, M., & Oliver, R. (2010). Aggression Replacement Training® stands the test of time. Reclaiming Children and youth, 19(2), 51.
Brännström, Lars (2016) Aggression replacement training (ART) for reducing antisocial behavior in adolescents and adults: A systematic review. Aggression and violent behavior, 27(30-41.
Koposov, R., Gundersen, K. K., & Svartdal, F. (2014). Efficacy of Aggression Replacement Training among Children from North-West Russia. International Journal of Emotional, 1), 14-24.
Lardén, Martin (2018). Effectiveness of aggression replacement training in reducing criminal recidivism among convicted adult offenders. Criminal behaviour and mental health, 28(6), 476-491.
