Applying Sociological Positivism to Aggression Replacement Therapy Proposal Paper PDF

**Introduction** Youth and crime are inevitable, but not solvable. The proposal of my paper will indicate the purpose and intention aggressive replacement therapy has on rehabilitation of youth in Canada, who are subject to recidivism. Techniques and programs to improve aggression and criminality...

**Introduction** Youth and crime are inevitable, but not solvable. The proposal of my paper will indicate the purpose and intention aggressive replacement therapy has on rehabilitation of youth in Canada, who are subject to recidivism. Techniques and programs to improve aggression and criminality has been used to identify recidivism. Much attention in terms of Aggression Replacement Therapy, has used several techniques to improve self- control of children (Brännström, Kaunitz, Andershed, South & Smedslund, 2016). The 'ART' program, maintains the constructiveness of aggressive behavior by providing means to individuals who have symptoms of aggression. **l Positivism and Anger Management Therapy** Positivism and Aggression Replacement Therapy are intertwined and linked on the premise of predisposed, characteristics and social conditioning of the criminal (Eisler, White &Haines,2023). While Positivism seeks to understand the nature of offender and their predisposal, Aggression Replacement Therapy seeks to rehabilitate them. Therapy used as an intervention, is one of many beneficial programs that help youth in the rehabilitation of recidivism. Aggression Replacement Theory is evidence based, structured and aimed at helping youth with their aggression management. The importance of young therapy being used inter-disciplinary is substantial to the prevention and the rehabilitation of criminal behavior (Holmqvist, Hill & Lang,2009). Consequently, therapy as an over-all, has the beneficial means to the treatment of young offenders. **Treatment Model** The sole intent of the 'ART' treatment model lies solely on an individual diagnosis, similar to the positivist approach in its response to crime. It is thought that by using treatment models such as sociomoral reasoning, the purpose could ultimately help to re-integrate youth back into respectful social norms similar to the means in which positivism defines crime. Treatment model of 'ART', is designed upon the notion of aggression control. The purpose of 'ART', is to teach prosocial behavior through lessons, by focusing on the aggression control, interpersonal skills, and sociomoral reasoning (Holmqvist, Hill &Lang,2009). Aggression control training holds the implication of how young offenders think and react (Holmqvist, Hill&Lang,2009). By understanding the way youth react and think, a treatment model can be used to help the individual identify when anger is becoming pressured and condense. By assuming the way in adolescents are taught how to think, the detection of behavior can be identified, using psychological approaches to diagnose. "The aggression control training implies that the adolescent is taught how to think in sequences of physiological sensations, behaviors, and thoughts that can be used to detect that the individual is on the verge of becoming angry, with the aim of controlling anger in a socially competent way" (Holmquist, Hill &Lang pg. 77,2009). Ultimately, the nature and characteristics of the individual, is treated on an individual bias, and behavior of the individual is a reflection of psychological nature (Eisler, White& Haines, 2023). Positivism, is re-orientated to treatment rather than punishment, almost identical in the way Aggressive Replacement Therapy is determined to treat, rather than to punish. **Evidence for Aggression Replacement Therapy** Youth are more successful in terms of preventative programs, as certain factors that commute to crime are different from factors of adults. Positivism explains rehabilitation as a "cure" to crime and its main focus is on the curing of an individual. Preventive programmes, which embrace children and adolescents holistically depend on cognitive therapy and the cure to normality (Kaya, Fadime, Buzlu &Sevim, 2016). 'ART', focuses on the anti-social behavior of adolescents, and the needs to combat life situations. The intervention program helps children and adolescents to develop sufficient social skill and ethical reasoning (Kaya, Fadime, Buzlu&Sevim, 2016). As the individual progresses through 'ART', the need to re-enter the world of recidivism plummets. "a study investigating the effects of 'ART' on antisocial behaviours of children and adolescents who had stayed in runaway shelters for a short time, it was found that participants in ART training showed decreased antisocial behaviours" (Kaya, Fadime, Buzlu&Sevim, pg. 32, 2016). By implementing 'ART' training, youth deviancy in terms of crime prevention had descaled wildly, and individual deficiency in terms of positivism had helped to determine a cause to crime. **Effectiveness of Aggressive Replacement Therapy** 'ART' trials have indicated positive results amongst youth offenders. 'ART' has fallen into a broad category of cognitive-behavioral intervention and results have suggested that types of interventions have been more promising in regards to rehabilitative purposes. Brännström, Kaunitz, Andershed, South & Smedslund, 2016). As Positivism describes criminality "being nevertheless occurring" and "moral consensus constitutes moral behavior, programs like 'ART' look to fix the moral behavior of an individual (Programs that include ART training have been used inter-disciplinary to raise individual decisions through moral development. "The primary purpose is to raise the individual\'s level of moral reasoning, thus enabling them to make more mature decisions in social situations" (Brännström, Kaunitz, Andershed, South & Smedslund, 2016). Evidently, Aggressive Replacement Therapy has had tremendous impact on youth criminals, with most benefiting in terms of the program used. Such behavior, had been redirected into respectful norms. **Conclusion** Aggressive Replacement Therapy in a sense, has been one of the most beneficial treatments to effectively use the nature of offender and social conditioning to rehabilitate or "cure" an individual. It responds to the diagnosis on an individual basis, and the measurement of rehabilitation has had astonishing effects on the criminal justice system. The scientific understanding of aggression used to formulate treatment, has been evidential through Positivism. References Holmqvist, R., Hill, T., & Lang, A. (2009). Effects of Aggression Replacement Training in Young Offender Institutions. *International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology*, *53*(1), 74--92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X07310452 Kaya, F., & Buzlu, S. (2016). Effects of Aggression Replacement Training on Problem Solving, Anger and Aggressive Behaviour among Adolescents with Criminal Attempts in Turkey: A Quasi-Experimental Study. *Archives of Psychiatric Nursing*, *30*(6), 729--735. Brännström, L., Kaunitz, C., Andershed, A.-K., South, S., & Smedslund, G. (2016). Aggression replacement training (ART) for reducing antisocial behavior in adolescents and adults: A systematic review. *Aggression and Violent Behavior*, *27*, 30--41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2016.02.006 Eisler, White &Haines. (2023) Crime and Criminology *For additional information on APA Style formatting, please consult the [APA Style Manual, 7th](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines) Edition.*