Mandatory Anger Management Programmes for Violent Offenders: Between Psychological Intervention and Administrative Coercion
Schlagwörter:
emotional regulation; aggressive behaviour; prison rehabilitation; autonomyAbstract
This paper analyses the legal regime and the actual functioning of the specific psychological assistance programme "Anger Reduction" ("Diminuarea furiei"), developed by the Romanian National Administration of Penitentiaries for persons convicted of violent offences or who display aggressive behaviour during the execution of their sentence. It seeks to clarify the status of "mandatory" participation at the intersection between psychological intervention and administrative coercion. The criminological literature grounded in the Risk-Need-Responsivity model, together with meta-analyses on coerced treatment, has highlighted the limited effectiveness of mandatory interventions; however, the hybrid regime specific to the Romanian penitentiary system has not yet been the subject of a systematic analysis.
The research combines a normative analysis of the applicable legal framework with observations drawn from the practice of Galați Maximum Security Penitentiary, informed by the professional perspective of the co-author in her capacity as senior psychologist ("psiholog principal"). The study identifies a hybrid framework in which inclusion in the programme becomes formally mandatory through the Individualised Plan for Educational and Therapeutic Evaluation and Intervention, while refusal does not trigger disciplinary sanctions but only an administrative notation with indirect effects on the individualisation of the sentence. This configuration constitutes a form of quasi-coercive treatment, with significant implications for the principle of responsivity and for therapeutic autonomy, and contributes to the understanding of the relationship between clinical and administrative logics in the execution of custodial sentences.
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