Offending Behaviour or Better
Adjusted Criminals?
Peter Mark
SPO/Director, Inner London Day Training Centre
Recent research figures show that heavily convicted and
institutionalised offenders are staying clear of court in significant
numbers, after completing the intensive three month groupwork
programme. A 9 month follow-up shows 70% not re-offending.
This account describes the programme and its methods,
particularly in relation to the debate about how to work
effectively on offending behaviour.
The ’here and now’, non-directive, develop-
mental model of group-work used at the Centre
has in the past come in for criticism for not
emphasising offending behaviour sufficiently.
Views have been expressed that the Centre
operates more like a therapeutic community with
little to distinguish it from a psychiatric centre.
The criticism that we may be producing better
adjusted criminals has become somewhat of a
chch~andfeel that there is a need to look behind
this phrase and investigate just what does happen
in groups and look at how appropriate the model
is for our type of client.
Fortunately, perhaps, the DTC is not alone in
believing this model of groupwork appropriate to
working with offenders. In my recent study of
groupwork with sex offenders, I discovered
fairly similar models of intense ’here and now=
groupwork operating in a criminal setting, not
just in this country in Grendon and Wormwood
Scrubs Annexe, but also throughout Holland in
their TBR Institutions for serious criminals and
in various American treatment groupwork
centres. Opinions at these centres varied with
regard to how much input there should be on
offending behaviour. Some were happy to lookat
it, if and when the client group brought it up;
others felt as we do that links between group
behaviour and the outside criminal behaviour
should be made whenever possible.
The Clients
Given the nature of our Centre, a large
centralised resource coping with clients from the
entire Inner London area, and our concentration
on closed groupwork, the
theorits related to the
causes of crime that are most relevant to the
Centre are psychological ones. In looking at the
type of clients that are referred to our Centre, it’ss
not difficult to list numerous causative factors
within each individual -
probably as many
factors as there are individuals. However, some
that appear most often include clients with very
low self-esteem, often isolated with difficulties
making relationships, sexual confusions and
difficulties, guilt relating to past relationships-
and society’s view of them, traumatic memories
of childhood, anger all too evidently close to the
surface or deeply buried -
usually directed
against parents, envy often manifesting itself in
compulsion to steal from others, and usually a
loss of contact with, or denial of, reality.
The list could go on. Suffice it to say most of the
offenders referred to us have a very low view of
themselves, do not really consider themselves
worthy of attention, often look for it in
manipulative ways, often act in an irrational and
immature way that belies their years, and
completely lack confidence in themselves.
Crime has become a habit and/or acompulsion in
their lives which perpetuates their view of
themselves that they are losers doomed to go in
and out of prison for the rest of their lives. The
resultant institutionalisation further reinforces
these personality defects and takes away any
sense of responsibility. It is this very lack of self-
responsibility that we tackle directly in our
12-week programme, with its concentration on
the core closed group experiences of 125 hours in
a room together with about ten peers and two
probation officer group leaders.
The Group at work
The group is an intense, closed experience for
127
 2~ hours evcry ~&dquo;1ha~dients attet1ð;
the Centre, working towards an exptessi6n 6f°
the clients RBdJ’enmaI 40 tQlœ: ryymSibli1y for
&dquo;’thernSðlv~.lBtir~OOtlSuû1y
foliows>nd very
how the members relaw to each other and soon strong uanstetetice develops with the
emphasising the giving and reœi¥Íq ~&dquo;
3 kwkrS placd firnfly in the frustrating parental
&dquo;feedback*. The leaders tend to focus7 on the role. I believe that handling
this well is one of the
group process as the instrument of change and most skilful and complex tasks that any social
movement within the group, avoiding whenever worker has to learn. Gradually the clients take
possible giving thematic leadership, but responsibility for their own group and begin
encouraging the group as a whole to take working on filling the gaps left by their previous
ry

responsibility for the content of me sessions and experience of relationships and authority. Here
how they use their time together. The leaders the probation QiScers provide consistency of
stimulate and activate the process by treatment by stiictly holding to the boundaries.
commenting on what they see as the process The Centre itself provides the sense of
G

within the group and encouraging members to be community and clients do the significant work
as open and honest in their communication with with each other, aiming towards an opening upof
each other aspossible. The group situation can be choices in that clients life. This is not achieved
seen as a laboratory offiefing choices and the by the leaders’ clever interpretations, but by the
possibility of change. The staningpwint is always clients learning about themselves, particularly
the assumption that members will relate to each the parts they have split off and denied, which the
ather in the group in wa§s that reflect their group mirrors. This process of reflection helps a
-

relationships in the outside world.___ _

~
Evident problems of communication are made When verbalised, this change gets expressed as
~l~eus~abl~ and therefore able to be worked on.
7 ’1’he’.gToup develops asxa saf~~alac‘e for members
11Yobservetheír own and others ’ communication,
? test ideas, and begin the process of change if
iffey choose to do so. The emphasis is very much
.--W’the internal view of self and how this affects
,:tIeir relationships with others. Any agent of
change lies in the relationships with peers and
4-,with the leaders, and it is often feedback from
-,p(*rs which is more effwive in the long run than
By input from the group leaders. This is a
:J)1tttÏculm-ly social and democratic approach to
~ ~~e~ with the power focused within each
1hdividual as part of a larger network of peers.
The here and now communication is probably
the only truly relevant and real part of the
probation officer’s relationship with the-client at
the Centre. Past material, of course, does come
3 ~p and it is significant mainly in how it affects the
way tlrat client is seen in the group. The other
crucial strand is making the link between the
client in the group and how he is outside the group
-
more realistic sense of themselves to emerge.
care and concern for each other
I~~i~~an~~
The whole 12-week experience is often one of
working through some tortuous resistances
towards an experience of resolution and growth,
and 80% of the work here could be said to be
dealing with resistance. However, it is offen the
most resistant of clients, the ones who challenge
the boundaries endlessly and express the most
anger throughoutwho comeback to visit months
later with quite dramatic changes in their lives to
report. The penny sometimes takes quite a while
to drop. The microcosmic reality of the group
provides the boundaries for the clients-to test and
accept the realities of each others’experience, as
well as differences of race, culture and class, and
modify their attitude and stereotypes, making it
dear to them what can be changed and whatcan’t
be.The
rationalisations forstaying the same are
consistently challenged and their previous

connecting the group behaviour to the social
behaviour and the offending behaviour.
Leadership
The probation officers’ role requires a great
deal of skill and patience with a very professional
check kept on the need for self-gratification. The
initial refusal to parent the group through
structures and exercises often leads to anger in
128
achievement and skills can be re-assessed in a
new light. The characteristic low self-esteem
which often results in rejection and self-fulfilling
failure as a means to defend themselves against
fear of loss is gradually modified and new
confidence begins to allow them to recover some
lost ground; to begin to trust.
I suppose the ultimate aim in this 12-week
programme is the emphasis on the clients
realising what their own ocspunsibility is instead
of the rationalising and excuses they are so often
fed by society and even by other social work
interventions. There is certainly much more
recognition in the clients leaving the Centre that
to a degree they make their own worlds and carry
them with them. They are much more aware of
their choices and options, even in a depressed
society. This has been true of most members in
every group I have expedience of at the Centre.
Aims and Reality
l~efore attempting to answer whether or not
these groups meet the needs oftackling offending
behaviour, I want to look at what I believe is
realistically achieved during the 3 months. What
follows are some of the aims, realistically
achieved to a useful degree during the
programme,
1. Personal Responsibility and Widening of
Choice
Perhaps one of the most important auns of our
programme is to instil a feelmg of more personal power
in the individual offender rather than the feelmg of
being blown by circumstances, so characteristic of an
Instltutl(~nahsed person. Like so much of what we aim
to do this is a feeling related to experience - increasing
self-esteem cannot be picked up from lectures or
discussions. T.~. Eliot referred to the ’happy necessity
of this human existence is for men to 1°i~nd things out for
themselves’. For me, this refers to the clients’ need to
create some order m chaotic lives, to develop self-
identity in clarifying who they are, establishing a sense
of belong 109, and building on a mutual trust and respect
of peers in the group. Most clients achieve this m the
context of the community boundaries, with the
emphasis on making their own decisions, and
negotiating shoring m the group through the
development of mutual trust.
2. Importance ~f I~c~.’iv~r~~ Curiosity about
~’e~f a~2d Others
Little can be achieved until clients get to the point
where they are able to ask questions and empathise with
others. There must be a willingness to test out ideas in
both the group and practical side of the programme.
Individuals need to question for themselves how the
group can help them increase their choices and give
them the option for change. They will be encouraged by
the group leaders to question old and practice new
behaviour, and ask why they believe what they do about
themselves An important point needs to be made that
the staff can only validly ask the clients to face the truth
about themselves and to discuss their fantasies, fears
and anxieties about each other because they are also
open to doing the same in the weekly support group
crucial to this type of work.
3. Movement Towards Honest Expression of
Feeling
The group reaches a performing stage when the
members can autonrstncsusly express their ,feelings-
openly and receive genuine and direct tos The
process works towards g~‘adu~lly confrdoting-wd
removing the barters to real communication. Mast of
our groups begin with defensive or selfishly
manipulative behaviour which gradually opens up w
mOrehODe8ctcornmunication with members ~ing fit
confidence to confront as well ai support others in the
group m an emotionally genuine way. Befofereaehmg
this stage however there lies a minefield off resistance
for the leaders and group to struggle through
4. Freedon From Role
Imtial group norms and roles will reflect each
member’s previous experience of relationshipsW1d role
behaviour outside. As the group develops these roles
are challenged and there is an opportunity for
spontaneously trying out new behaviour and
remforcing it if appropriate. Many clients begin the
group in fixed roles they choose or the group chooses
for them, e.g. joker, talker, helper, victim, etc., and the
leaders, by commenting on this, offer the possibility of
the client trying out new behaviour, and enlisting the
support of the group in this endeavour. This may be
resisted in an early phase of the group because of the
void it may leave if, for example, the joker restrains
himself from filling the anxious moment.
5. Collaborative Leadership
It is not the leaders’ role to settasks for the group, but
to use their authority in a collaborative manner to
develop The ground rules for group development.
Holding The boundaries of the group whilst
encouraging self-responsibility and inter-dependence
involves shifting leadership withm that framework.
Any member facilitating the needs of the group is
performing a leadership func~on.1believe it is only a
strict emphasis on self-control and self-motivation
which can effectively counter the effects of the
mstitutionahsation our clients will have gone through
priorto coming to the DTC. Allthi&, of course, must be
done within the boundaries set by the rules of the Centre
and held by the authority of the professional staff.
Constantly we see institutionalised, manipulative
clients asking to be told how to be and what to say and
thing Refusing to give them this leads to much petty
acting out more alcm to childhood behaviour, butout of
this comes the seeds of responsibility for themselves
and by the end of the 3 months, the penny has begun to
drop with varying degrees of understanding.
Expanding choices
Given that our programme is only three
months, some of these aims can only begin to be
effective when the programme ends, so I
personally believe it is much more accurate to
talk about expanding the choices for clients rather
than changing them. I believe change is the
clients* privilege, but choice is something for the
staff leaders to emphasise. Change may come out
of accepting a less deterministic view of the self
and the awareness of expanding choices comes
out of the relationships formed at the Centre, both
129
 with the leaders and with the peer group. rn
stating thaldldÍçe is something for the leaders ?
emphasis, I believe~heremustbelimtts~o a non-
directive approach. It may be necessary, for
example, for the leaders to sometimes quite
doggedly insist on kedbqck to be given and
KuRl’a§ YpouflexpexiIn£e so that members
can have that experience and then have some
basis for choice in their behaviour afterwards.
I strongly believe it is this experience art a
feeling level which deeply influences and
modifies behaviour although again the choice
stays with the dint - presumably it can be no
other way in a non-totalitarian society. In my
experience many people say to probation officers
that they want to change, but what they are
actually saying is ’I want to stay the same, but
please make me feel better about it’. I think we
effectively confront this at the Centre and do not
give people rationalisations for their behaviour.
As an example, I quote form a recent final
assessment by Robin Hum on one of our more
disturbed and difficult clients at the point of
completing the programme:
* In writing this summary I haven’t wanted to sugar the
pill for A. He’s far too bright to be fobbed off with yet
~another social work assessment which provides him
-with excuses or ammunition for going on with what
he does very effectively, which is to say ’you can’t
v4tch me’ . I believe his contract is a genuine one - I
mink A. is lonely and isolated, adrift and gambling
with his life, and unmotivated to try anything
- different since a more, conventional existence doesn’t
provide enough ofa buzz to keep him on his toes. He
is a talented young man, but he has learned to use his
excellent brain to keep his feelings well bo~ed-m,
though they are still bubbling away wherever they
are. Itis not surprising that he has so little respect for
others if he cannot find any respect for himself, and it
is great shame that he couldn’t use the group to start
being with people as himself rather than as a
performer. We believe it is possible for A. to be,
rather than to perform, and we hope he will have
enough faith himself in this posslbriity to start finding
out how else to live rather than just recuperating
between bouts. It may be much riskier and harder
work than dog what he is doing now, but it’s a
gradually opening door rather than a rapidly
slamming one, and it’snot too late’.
The cause and effect remains within individual
responsibility. This, of course, means resisting
the social worker’s desire for self-gratification,
to be liked and to do things for people. This needs
to be contained and professionalised and to
discover the balance in each worker related to
doing enough and no more to empower clients to
own experience which belongs to them.
130
Ofto-nding -Behaviour ,
The most anybody can do with offenders
therapeutically is to increase ~te choices
and control they have over their lives. This,
of course, means -that they may well change the
type of offending they do or even become
’bettec~usted criminals’However, the type of
personality problems cQ1ibi%ed by the clients on
arrival here strongly suggests that their
internalised view of themselves contributes
strongly to their offending. Low self-esteem,
envy, anger and other ultimately self-destructive
behaviours are evident in almost everyone. A
depressingly high percentage have experienced
severe rejection by one or both parents.
In dealing directly with the whole person the
group widens the choices available and gives
other options than the client mindlessly returning
to the same type of habitual compulsive
behaviour which leads to prison. Our experience
at the Centre in empowering institutionalised
clients to take that responsibility and to work on
those personality defects is that this approach is
more ultimately effective that input-style social
skills leadership directed at the head and
intelligence of the client rather than the gut and
feelings where real potential change is stirred.
An old French proverb states ’Everything a child
is taught at school he forgets, but the education
remains’. We cannot ignore the meaning the
client gives to being sent to the DTC and the early
resentment towards authority and inevitable
anger and storming the group must go through is
essential if any of our aims are lao be achieved.
In my experience, structured task groups
which minimi~e this dimension have limited
value, and the clients inevitably spend most of the
time avoiding the leader input and manipulating
in ways which disrupt thegroup. This is the same
resistance, only there is no chance that the real
issues underlying it will be dealt with. Initially all
groups of clients tend to rationalise their reasons
fnr offending along the lines of needing money,
the intluenceofmates, etc. It is only in the context
of the developing group with individuals’
behaviour fed back to them by their peers and
skilful handling of the feelings they have towards
the group leaders reflecting their attitudes to
authority, that we begin to get near the important
inner meanings that their offending behaviour
has for them.
If we give offenders questionnaires and ask
them why they offend, most will much more telling us. If the DTC method b open to the
comfortably answer&dquo; money’ , ’b~redom~, ere..;; :’_Chkrge of producing better adjittw ,çrhbtnats,
rather than ’anger’, ’inadequacy’, ’fear of then any method which attempts to change
forming trusting rel~tinnships~, etc. We are not behaviour will 1~~ open to similar a1cusadBfis, as
trained to work with the unconscious, But >y &dquo;presumably any change in any direction has a
believe understanding transference issues and paradoxical built-in tendency tpopposite efkcts,
working in a skilful and questioning way, helping e.g. Youth CllstOdt~~Phüis o~ ranging
them to reflect on the meaning of their beb~viour people by extreme physical fitness programmes,
which may often not be immediately evident to producing much fitter criminals who are better
them, is a really effective way to help open up able to evade police capture; social work groups
choices in their life and ultimately make which emphasise leader input and discussions on
decisions for change. However the meanings causes of crime providing clients with greater
should come from the client, however long it rationalisations for not really honestly
takes, and not from the interpretation of the confronting their own behaviour.
worker, however insightful. Any method has its built-in contradications.
So we can talk for hours on end to compulsive We have no doubt that our method of working
thieves about rational other ways of getting considerably increases the choices that clients
money and be surprised that they simply start can made when they leave about their future
stealing again as soon as they leave our behaviour and lifestyle. It leads them towards a
workplace. Work with them, however, on a ’gradually opening door’. It does look at the
feelings level on issues of envy, guilt, greed, whole person’s behaviour in the ’laboratory’ of
what they feel when they steal, who they choose the closed small group. The leaders’ task is to
to steal from, and perhaps more important, how help the group reflect on this and make the
they feel about the workerandyou begin to work connections between behaviour in the group and
on the very defenses that they set up to protect behaviour outside. This is done frequently at the
them from the influence and change. The DTC Centre and clients are constantly being
programme does deal with the initial problems confronted by their deviant behaviour whilst here
the clients bring, but it uses the intensity of the and connections are made with crime outside.
group time to go deeper into motivation and However, I feel it is not usually helpful to
personal meaning, using the material of how the separate this form from all the other
client relates ~n the intensive group and also in the manifestations of their personality. To use the
afternoon practicals to giveus an overall picture. example of A. Again, his not untypical approach
tolife is so all consumingly self-destructive that it
Success Rates? would be hopeless to see offending behaviour
It is not surprising to me that if someone begins outside that context. His whole life was offending
for the first time to look at their behaviour in the behaviour, largely againsthimself, but occasion-
context of peer group feedback and reflect on its
ally against gthers when he would end up back in
connection to their offending behaviour and to court.
improve their self-esteem, get a sense of being
good at something for the first time and look at In Conclusion
their responsibilities in their relationships, along Because this groupwork method is effective
with working on the personality factors behind with numerous sets of people (including
their addictions, then it will have an effect on probation officers) does not make it unsuitable
their offending. How easily this is measured by for our clients who often adapt to the emphasis on
computers remains another question. Working honesty of expression of feeling much more
with the whole person beyond their quickly than often more intellectually defended
rationalisations oftheir behaviour creates change ’professionals’. I trust that the changes wrought
that may be impossible to quantify. in this computer age with its emphasis on results
This does not mean that this method of working will not detract from the Centre’ consistent
is not open to statistical analysis and providing focus over 13 years, which lies in thc relation-
the figures necessary to show effectiveness on re- ships formed between people. The art and skills
offending rates. However, I reserve some of facilitating the positive force of such relation-
sceptisism as to what these figures are actually ships remains the probation task at the DTC.
131