The present research has demonstrated that adolescent offenders are able to learn
appropriately about financial reward and do not have a global emotional deficit, they also
focus on reward compared to punishment to a greater extent that older participants, they
demonstrate increased reward perseveration and self-report higher levels of reward drive
(reward seeking traits) compared to non-offending adolescents. Furthermore, at least in terms
of self-report, many different aspects of ASB appear to be associated with reward seeking in
a positive direction including an association between fun seeking (an impulsive form of
reward seeking which is closely associated with sensation seeking) and offence rate,
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of reward/sensation seeking. The findings of reduced punishment sensitivity as evidenced by
lowered BIS scores, increased perseveration on the CPT and impaired fear learning suggest a
robust punishment processing deficit perhaps related to fearlessness that also needs to be
considered. These findings would appear to have potential implications for policy and
practitioners working with young offenders. It is important to examine individual risk factors
for antisocial behaviour as it can provide avenues for more effective and potentially tailored
intervention (Fishbein et al., 2009). Often intervention programs have been developed
without an adequate understanding of the individual risk factors involved with the
consequence of wasting limited resources (Moffitt, 2005).
Our results would seem to suggest that interventions should capitalise upon the ability
to learn about rewards, the increased focus on rewards and the reward seeking drive of these
individuals. Clearly, if this reward seeking is a stable and enduring personality trait it could
be difficult to modify, but potentially funnelling towards prosocial reward seeking activities
may be one possible route for change (Zuckerman, 2008). This supports the inclusion of
diversionary activities for young offenders which provides individuals with the opportunity to
obtain rewards, sensations, thrills, by socially acceptable means. Young offenders report and
evince higher levels of drive for their rewards (BAS and CPT respectively) and pursue them
despite negative consequences; potentially increasing opportunities to focus on positive goals
as opposed to antisocial ones may elicit a drive for these rewards also.
The home office has funded the positive futures policy
(http://www.posfutures.org.uk). And this initiative has been described by the crime and
security minister has having the aim of “supporting young people to achieve their full
potential and divert them away from crime and substance misuse.” The programme
incorporates diversionary activities such as sport and physical activities, arts and education to
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education and employment. This policy is an initial step in the right direction and suggests
that there is a governmental shift in emphasis on to the focus on reward.
Another possibility is the provision of incentives/vouchers for positive behaviour. Our
reward conditioning data imply that these young people as a group are able to learn the
association between stimuli and rewarding consequences. Of course as noted previously
further research needs to include an investigation on whether different types of reward have
an effect on behaviour; whether offenders are able to learn about delayed rewards and do they
motivate behaviour and also whether providing rewards for positive behaviour leads to any
change in the antisocial behaviour.
Contingency management methods (systematic reinforcement of desired behaviour)
such as voucher programmes are more frequently used in the United States particularly in
relation to adult substance users and include the incorporation of vouchers for abstaining
from substances, adhering to treatment plans etc. (Petry, Martin, Cooney, & Kranzler, 2000).
We showed that in adolescent offenders, as well as being able to learn effectively about
rewards, and being reward seeking, they also frequently use alcohol and drugs; substance use
was associated with aspects of offending, implying similar reward seeking type behaviours.
Perhaps it is time to make a concerted effort to research the effectiveness of these
contingency programmes in the UK with an emphasis on adolescent antisocial behaviour in
general as opposed to substance users specifically. One recent study in adolescent substance
users found support for the feasibility of a family-based contingency management model to
treat substance use and conduct problems (see Kamon, Budney, & Stainger, 2005). Research
such as ours on individual differences in reward sensitivity could be important for assessing
who would benefit most from reward based treatments.
Our research shows that as well as being reward oriented, these young offenders
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Lose punishment windows, poor fear conditioning). The criminal justice policy tends to focus
on deterrence and punishment and these results would imply that antisocial individuals as a
group are less responsive to these tactics. In addition, it has been argued that as a result of
poor conditioning, antisocial individuals may find it more difficult to learn the associations
between negative emotions and harmful actions (Marsh & Blair, 2008). Perhaps pointing out
these associations more clearly might help to overcome some of these difficulties; restorative
justice may be one particular route in which this can occur.
Of course, implementation of interventions that do not involve punishment and focus
only on rewarding the individual are unrealistic and likely to face opposition given the
criminal justice system‟s reliance on it and societal expectations about the necessary course of action. But an understanding of how personality traits associated with reward and
punishment can influence behaviour and therefore potentially affect intervention response is
an important endeavour. Finally, encouraging the use of positive incentives for positive
behaviour and avoiding punishment is not a new idea and is simply the application of basic
principles of psychological behavioural change. However, with accumulating evidence
suggesting that young offenders demonstrate increased levels of reward seeking and reduced
levels of punishment sensitivity , they appear to be a group that would particularly benefit
from these psychological principles; the increasing knowledge on this would suggest a need
for change in policy and practice.