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Mandated Anger Management from the Perspective of Violent Offenders City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2016 Mandated Anger Management from the Perspective of Violent Offenders Cory M. Feldman The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1725 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Mandated Anger Management from the Perspective of Violent Offenders by Cory Feldman A dissertation submitted to the Graduate faculty in Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2016 i © 2016 Cory Feldman All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date__________________________ ___________________________________________ Chair of Examining Committee Ric Curtis, Ph.D. Date _____________________ ____________________________________________ Executive Officer Deborah Koetzle, Ph.D. Jayne Mooney _______________________________________ David Brotherton _____________________________________ Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Acknowledgements I must start by thanking my dissertation chair and personal hero, Ric Curtis, for making all things possible. Jayne Mooney worked with me even while she was out of the country and David Brotherton who kept me on his radar and urged me to be irreverent at every opportunity, you have my deepest gratitude. Jennifer Wynn, for cheerleading, rallying, and championing this research and whose confidence fueled this project. I would also like to thank Michael Jacobson, who believed in me when even I had my doubts. In addition to my committee, other faculty and friends have been instrumental: Lucia Trimbur, Bill Heffernan and Deborah Koetzle all gave me their time and energy when this project was still in its infancy. Kathy Mora without whom I would have self-destructed years ago. Lloyd Klein gave me hours of his life that he will never get back just to talk critical criminology with me and edit early drafts. Jock Young inspired me to buck academic trends and unleash my criminological imagination, for including me in your work, and indoctrinating me into this method, thank you, wherever you are. Jeff Mellow met with me in jail and in the delivery room while this dissertation was being crafted, always urging me to finish, thanks for having my back. I would also like to posthumously thank my first mentor, the late great Ric Culp, who urged me to pursue a PhD despite a shaky academic track record, “What else are you going to do, just watch tv?” My family has played a major role in my ability to do this work. To my husband Kingsley Rowe and children, Kaya and Solomon: you didn’t even exist when I started, but I could not have completed this without you. My parents who helped me survive when everything seemed stacked against me. My sister Sydney who never gave up on me and Cassi edited multiple drafts, for which I apologize but am eternally grateful. And Marly for being so wonderful and raising my son. My comrades, Rebecca, Ashmini, Amber, and Kevin thanks for paving the way. We did have some good times. My student researchers Christopher Etienne and Rosie Anderson who accompanied me on this journey, thank you and I plan to be at your defense in another eight years. Jorge, thank you for opening your home, giving me your time, and being all around brilliant. Finally, to the people whom this research focuses on, thank you for opening your life to me, I hope I was able to tell your story, it was an honor to be trusted to try. iv ABSTRACT Mandated Anger Management from the Perspective of Violent Offenders by Cory Feldman Adviser: Ric Curtis Anger management is a mandated treatment for violent offenders (VOs) in Harlem, New York returning from prison under parole supervision. This dissertation asks VOs to describe their experiences with parole-mandated anger management (AM). The objectives of this research are to help illuminate the reasons why anger management is mandated for VOs and why, for some, mandated AM may be potentially harmful to their reintegration. To date, there have not been any studies exploring the role of AM for people on parole charged with violent offenses; the extant literature on AM provides neither formal evaluations nor long-term follow-up to indicate what the effect from AM is on the process of reintegration after prison. This research uses grounded theory methodology to question the assumptions underlying mandating anger management treatment for VOs. Semi-structured interviews with 26 VOs on parole in Harlem provide rich description of their experience in AM. Through the lens of symbolic interactionism, the qualitative data reveal that the majority of VOs did not report benefits from being mandated to AM and discussed profound needs that AM was unable to address. Notable findings include that participants’ level of anger and motivation for treatment were heterogeneous as were their self-reported anger and violence. VOs described justifications for continuing to use violence, in particular, self-defense and regulating an illegal economy. Rather than producing therapeutic outcomes, VOs describe AM as an extension of parole or a means of generating income for the agency providing services. The VOs explain why AM does not reduce violence or ease reintegration and that some participants may be better served by professional mental health services that address trauma recovery. VOs describe the ideal type of reentry intervention to reduce violence and propose services that connect VOs to mainstream activities like work and education as crucially important, along with opportunities to discuss strategies for overcoming the obstacles that reentry in itself presents. A final point is the role of assessment to determine the appropriate level and modality of care. All respondents described a general lack of specificity with their referral to AM despite the range of demographics. The findings have implications for effective practice in prisoner reintegration and human services development. v DEDICATION To Harland Kessaris, thank you for more than a decade of guidance and friendship, this is not the culmination, just a stop on our road, and I look forward to our next project. vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Background .......................................................................................................................... 3 Research Question ............................................................................................................... 7 Organization of the Dissertation ......................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER ONE: A Brief History of Mandated Anger Management ............................................ 9 What Is AM? .........................................................................................................................11 Justifications for Violence ................................................................................................................... 18 AM Program Evaluations ....................................................................................................22 Punishment as Treatment ...................................................................................................27 CHAPTER TWO: VIOLENT OFFENDERS ......................................................................................... 31 Reintegration After Prison ..................................................................................................34 Anger Management as Performance ..................................................................................42 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 45 Grounded Theory ................................................................................................................46 Method .................................................................................................................................47 Positionality .........................................................................................................................49 Research Questions ............................................................................................................49 Recruitment and Sampling Procedures .............................................................................50 Sample Characteristics ................................................................................................................ 51 Data Collection ....................................................................................................................52 Interview Process ........................................................................................................................... 53
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