Behavioral therapy as a means of primary prevention of juvenile crime (Using the example of arkhangelsk region)

Abstract

The article is based on a study aimed at primary prevention of juvenile delinquency through behavioral therapy. The authors used a combination of psychological methods to survey 36 teenagers from two institutions in the city of Archangelsk that provide medical, social and psychological assistance; these high risk teenagers participated in deviant behaviors but did not have a criminal record. The study consisted of three stages: Stage 1 — primary psycho-diagnostics of adolescents; stage 2 — forming experiment; stage 3 — control, secondary diagnostics. The results of primary diagnostics and the hypothesis that most difficulties of teenagers are connected with their lack of necessary skills became the basis for developing and implementing a behavioral corrective training program. Simultaneously with this training program aimed at promoting positive behavior, the authors used the token method — a program of adaptation based on a system of rewards and punishments represented by red and blue tokens. The authors put forward their hypothesis that the correction of adolescent deviant behavior, as a primary measure of crime prevention using methods of behavioral therapy, will be productive if the following complex of psychological conditions is observed: The corrective process should be aimed not only at changing the deviant teenager’s attitude, values, motives and behavioral stereotypes, but also at forming effective elements of behavior (patterns); the correction process should use the etiological approach; a success situation should be created for all deviant teenagers.