THE STORIES ARE DIFFERENT, but the ending is always the same. “It wasn’t my fault.” “I had no choice.” “He had it coming.” These are the typical comments from both men and women who are ordered by the courts to attend anger management classes as part of probation for offenses ranging from assault to injury to a child to road rage incidences. Rayna Cutting, owner of Sharp Focus Counseling in Denton, runs anger management courses for probationers from Denton County and has grown accustomed to the all too familiar attitude from participants when they first start the course.
“Of course, they’re always the victim. They don’t see anything wrong with the way they behaved,” she said.
For the last five years, Denton County courts have been referring defendants to anger management courses as a part of their probation for certain violent offenses. Cutting says she has seen the number of referrals from the courts for defendants with anger-related incidences growing. And, in the last few years, she has seen more and more participants coming to the classes who haven’t been ordered by the courts, at least, not yet. Some people who have gotten in trouble with the law come to the classes before they’ve even gone before a judge because they have been referred by their attorneys hoping the course will help get them a lighter sentence.
Courts in counties across Texas and the United States have been using anger management courses for first-time offenders and misdemeanor anger-related offenses as an alternative to jail time. The basic premise behind anger management programs is that the underlying cause of certain offenses- anything from yelling at a police officer to road rage – is anger. Probation officials say the purpose of the classes is to reduce the recidivism rate among probationers by helping them develop adaptive approaches to dealing with anger.
“Rather than throwing them in jail and then letting them out and nothing’s different, we’re trying to get to the root of the problem,” Cutting said. “We’re hoping to help people see that they have no control over what other people do, but they can control their own reaction.”
Dr. Ann Brockett, field service specialist for the Criminal Justice Assistance Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, estimated the majority of probation departments in Texas use some form of anger management courses, whether its through an outside agency or counselor or through their own in-house program run by the probation department. For instance, Brazos County offers anger management courses through its Social Services Unit along with other programs such as substance abuse treatment and psychological services. The Kerr County probation department brings in an outside counselor to run courses for probationers ordered by the courts to attend classes.
Depending on the county, sometimes the probation officer recommends the anger management courses for a particular defendant or the prosecutor or judge will order it as they see fit. David Weeks, Walker County District Attorney and president of the District and County Attorneys Association, said in Walker County usually he or one of the district judges will include anger management as part of a plea agreement for first-time offenders as a proactive approach to keeping the person from serving jail time.
“When you’re dealing with these kinds of problems, you’re constantly looking for alternatives to try to get to the root of the problem. You’re trying to find a way to get these people out of the criminal justice system and back on the right track,” he said.
“Lot of times it has to do with domestic dispute cases. You have one person who doesn’t want to prosecute anymore, but rather than let the defendant walk out the door, you have them take the classes instead.”
Kim Valentine, administrative coordinator of the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, says from a robation standpoint, anger management classes make sense for a large percentage of offenders.
“It really gets to the root of the problem. If these people on probation can learn how to cope with their anger and other emotions more appropriately, then they are less likely to re-offend,” she said.
Anger management courses have been around for a number of years but have recently gained more attention because of highly publicized violent incidences, such as stories of road rage and juvenile violence. Courses can run anywhere from six to 12 weeks and can vary depending on content and structure. Brockett said there are no set guidelines from the state on curriculum for anger management courses, but a number of accepted programs from psychologists and private business are available. Most programs follow what is called a cognitive behavior approach, says Brockett. This approach focuses on how people think and interpret situations and how this effects their reactions and behavior.
Dr. Teresa Williams with the Dallas County Community Supervision and Corrections Department recently started an anger management program for probationers as part of the department’s Comprehensive and Assessment Treatment Services. Since 1998, the Dallas County CSCD has used CATS to screen every felony case for mental health and substance abuse problems. The program then offers in house substance abuse and mental health treatment. Williams said it seemed like a natural progression to include anger management as part of the intervention treatment for probationers.
In Dallas County, the program is very structured and combines two theoretical perspectives – cognitive behavior and systems theory – to guide the content of the course. The program focuses on the theory that people who commit anger-induced crimes have distorted thoughts or interpretations that contributes and leads to anger. The goal is to get participants to recognize those thoughts or interpretations and see the relationship between how they think and their angry responses.
The course begins by introducing participants to the causes and effects of their behavior. Initially, Williams says she wants participants to see what they get angry about and what happens when they get angry. For instance, participants say they yell, curse or hit somebody. Then, participants are asked to evaluate the cost of their behavior. Most participants mention freedom, money, family and relationships with loved ones as the things they lose when they explode and become violent.
“We ask them what they get out of having that negative behavior?“ Williams said. “Do they get control, respect, revenge? What are they after? Then, we have them start weighing what they get with what it cost them.”
The classes then tie those lessons into what participants are experiencing in their lives. Right now, Williams said she is experiencing a backlog for the classes because of the number of probationers being referreed. The classes tend to be large, with as many as 20 people per class. There are two classes –one in the afternoon and one if the evening – that run once a week for 10 weeks.
Williams said the idea of anger management classes is not to eliminate anger altogether. Anger is a part a life and a part of being human, she said, but many people have poor coping skills when dealing with anger and react in inappropriate ways, such as hitting or yelling. The idea of anger management is to get to the source of someone’s anger so they can learn more adaptive ways to express it, therefore avoiding disruptive behavior.
In Harris County, the Community Supervision and Corrections Department developed a program called “Thinking for a Change“ as part of the county’s residential boot camp facility. Offenders between the ages of 17 and 25 who are sentenced to boot camp go through an educational program that includes anger management as well as coping skills and financial management. Valentine said the program was implemented this past year after staff went through training at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The program has a 12-hour curriculum that focuses on teaching the offenders life skills and educating them on how their actions impact victims, society and themselves. The department also contracts outside agencies to provide anger management courses for probationers outside of the residential facility and for sex offenders. Valentine said the “Thinking for a Change“ program has prompted the department to expand it to probationers not in residential treatment within the region.
Many probation officials say feedback from participants in the program has indicated positive results. Cutting from Denton County said many participants came back to tell her that the program opened their eyes and helped them think differently.
Valentine said, “Every offender completes an evaluation form and the majority of them said they wanted more of these types of classes and that they learned a lot.”
Based on surveys conducted at the end of the program, Williams said she has seen moderate to significant changes in some of the participants. The following are some of the responses from participants in Williams’ classes: “The class helped me to find my main source of anger. It will still take time but I’m feeling much better.” “Some people don’t realize they have an anger problem. I think I have realized mine.” “This class was very helpful and helped me to bring a lot of things to the table and just learn how to think rather than react.”
But, Williams acknowledged there were some people that couldn’t be changed by a 10-week class. Which leads to the most common question people ask when talking about anger management classes - do they actually work? Can a six or 12-week class really impact whether a probationer reoffends? The jury still seems to be out on that answer.
The problem, says Dallas County CSCD Director Ron Goethals, is that there is not a lot of research out there to indicate whether anger management classes have an impacton the recidivism rate of probationers. The TDCJ has not conducted any studies examining the effectiveness of anger management courses, Brockett said. Most of the time, probation departments incorporate anger management programs because it just seems like a logical step when dealing with people with a history of violent or anger-induced behavior, Goethals said. Many probation officials say they are just now in the process of collecting data to evaluate whether the programs have been working.
Williams said she is currently researching the results of the anger management program in Dallas County to determine if there has been an impact on the recidivism rate. Goethals said the department would use the data to determine if the program works and whether it should be continued in the future.
However, Williams said there are studies supporting the cognitive behavior approach to dealing with anger problems, especially with offenders. And, she said her own study of Dallas County jail inmates indicated that the classes did have an impact. Williams initially started the anger management classes for jail inmates and had inmates fill out a questionnaire both before and after the classes toboth before and after the classes to gauge the level of their anger. Williams said she evaluated one group that went through the program for 10 weeks and one control group of inmates who did not take the classes. According to her research, inmates who took the classes indicated a significant decrease in feelings of anger at the end of the course. But, those in the control group showed an actual increase in angry feelings over the 10- week period.
Dallas County was using outside agencies to conduct the anger management classes. But, Goethals said using an outside agency doesn’t give the department as much control over the content and structure of the program.
“It’s a lot harder to research the results, especially if you’re using multiple vendors. You don’t know if you’re getting the same product in every place,” he said.
In most cases, the probationer is responsible for paying for the anger management courses when ordered by the courts as a condition of probation. If people are referred to outside agencies for classes it could cost $15 to $30 per session, Williams said. One of the benefits of operating an inhouse anger management program is that it offers a lace where indigent offenders can take classes, she said. If a probationer can’t afford to pay for outside counseling, they risk violating their court orders. The program in Dallas County operates on a sliding scale according to what participants can pay up to a maximum of $40 for the entire program. Indigent participants do not have to pay anything.