Using attachment theory with offenders
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550508092812 |
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| Author | Maria Ansbro |
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Copyright © 2008 NAPO Vol 55(3): 231–244
DOI: 10.1177/0264550508092812
www.napo.org.uk
http://prb.sagepub.com
Using attachment theory with offenders
Maria Ansbro, University of Hertfordshire
Abstract Attachment theory has routinely been considered essential for those
working with children. However, contemporary literature and research on attach-
ment offers some compelling insights for work with offenders, particularly in the
way that empathy is developed and mood is regulated.
Keywords attachment, attunement, empathy, security, self-regulation
Introduction
Summaries always run the risk of being crude oversimplifications, but if one had
to summarize the recent history of the theories and methods used in the Probation
Service it would go something like this. Much of the 20th century was spent first
being driven by an evangelizing desire to save offenders, and then by applying
an often psychodynamically informed treatment model. By the 1970s a political
awareness of the social roots of crime cast such deterministic views into disfavour.
Worse was to follow, when all methods of intervention available to the criminal
justice system were declared ineffective. At least that was how it was perceived when
American academic Robert Martinson published an article in 1974 (Martinson,
1974) that is now usually alluded to as the ‘nothing works’ article (it’s full title was
‘What Works? Questions and Answers about Prison Reform’). In fact the liberally
inclined Martinson hoped his findings would lead to a reduction in the use of
imprisonment (why bother if nothing worked?) and he was appalled when his
material was used to justify entirely contrary policies.
During the 1980s, cognitive behavioural methods of work arrived in the UK
from Canada, and breathed new life into the rehabilitative ideal. Key figures in the
Probation Service such as Andrew Underdown promulgated their effectiveness and
oversaw their national implementation (Underdown, 1998). Programmes designed
to teach offenders new thinking skills were enthusiastically adopted, and they
remain a key plank of evidence-based practice delivered by the National Offender
Management Service (NOMS). Chapman and Hough (1998) set out the Home
231
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Office’s expectation that all practice in the Probation Service would conform to the
principles of ‘what works’; essentially cognitive behavioural programmes (delivered
according to risk, need and responsivity), delivered with large helpings of motiva-
tional interviewing and pro-social modelling. Such methods have since produced
mixed results, sometimes showing reductions in reconvictions and sometimes not
(Harper and Chitty, 2005). There is no doubt that programme work suits some
offenders very well, but in the Probation Service a climate has developed in which
other methods are frowned upon. It has come to feel as if cognitive behavioural
programme work is the only trick that the NOMS pony can perform. Rod Morgan
(Chief Inspector of Probation at the time) wrote in the Inspectorate’s 2002 Annual
Report of the Probation Service (Morgan, 2002) that the ‘what works’ agenda was
being accompanied by ‘a degree of programme fetishism’.
Despite this trend, there have been exciting ideas expounded in recent years that
offer contrasting ways of conceptualizing offending and devising interventions. Of
particular interest is the ‘criminal careers’ literature that reveals clear patterns of
desistance and persistence (Farrell, 2005; Farrington, 1997; Maruna et al., 2004).
This research has identified the constellation of factors that predispose individuals
to embarking on a criminal career, and likewise the factors that are associated
with growing out of crime. Importantly, the work on desistance has found a natural
partner with that of the ‘narrative’, which proposes that the opportunity to mental-
ize and verbalize a narrative of one’s life, re-writing the script from a hopeless
one to an optimistic one, can be instrumental in the choice to desist. It is proposed
that one place where that re-scripting can take place is within a relationship with
a Probation Officer/Offender Manager (Burnett and McNeill, 2005).
This article proposes that attachment theory similarly deserves a place in the
selection of alternative ideas vying for some space alongside cognitive behav-
iourism. Moreover, attachment has congruence with the ideas around desistance
and the narrative, because, like them, it proposes that the quality of the relation-
ship between offender and worker is pivotal to effective intervention.
Any cognitive behavioural therapist would agree that the quality of the relation-
ship between client/patient/offender affects outcome. However, the way that this
method of work has been translated into the language of offender management
has sometimes made the notion of a relationship (and the empathy and support
that goes with it) an embarrassment, something politically unpalatable. In compari-
son, challenging attitudes and breaking down denial struck just the right note.
Attachment theory examines the early emotional connection between infant and
carers, and how the quality of attachment affects later development. It is gener-
ally proposed that parents and carers who offer a ‘secure base’ (a style of caring
that is responsive and in tune with the child’s state of mind) tend to turn out psycho-
logically healthy children, who as adults can form good relationships, empathize
with others and can modulate their own extreme emotions without losing control.
Not even the most fervent advocate would pretend that the quality of attachments
is uniquely formative. However, when considered as part of a constellation of
social and psychological factors, it contributes to an understanding of patterns
of cognitions and behaviours that practitioners frequently struggle with in their
work.
Ansbro ● Using attachment theory with offenders 233
Attachment theory misunderstood
The connection between early neglect or abuse and later problems is written into
the fabric of our lives. It is evident in these two quotations, the first from the lyrics
of West Side Story sung by gang members of the ‘Jets’, and the second from the
Philip Larkin poem ‘This be no Verso’, presenting his typically toxic take on life;
Gee, Officer Krupke, we’re very upset;
We never had the love that ev’ry child oughta get . . .
. . . we’re depraved on account we’re deprived!
(Sondheim, 1957)
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
(Larkin, 1974)
However, the very ubiquitousness of the connection between early care and later
development can result in it being misunderstood as altogether too common-
sensical, deterministic and excusing of personal responsibility. In reality attachment
theory does much more than set down a simple connection; it goes on to offer a
rich analysis of the mediating psychological processes, with important messages
for practice.
Another corruption of attachment theory occurs when it is perceived as inher-
ently misogynistic, demanding near unbroken attention from the mother in the
critical early years, and burdening her with total responsibility for the child’s
development. Early Bowlby is employed (such as his much quoted 1951 statement
‘mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins and
proteins for physical health’, Bowlby, 1951: 240) to rail against contemporary
family trends, from working mothers to single parenthood and high divorce rates.
This is certainly a misuse of the theory, as attachment theorists place no special
mystique upon the maternal bond, instead focusing on the primary caregiver or
caregivers, and have come to examine the quality of interactions rather that the
amount of time spent with a primary carer.
Attachment, the secure base and offending
John Bowlby (1969, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1988) is credited with the genesis of
attachment theory, and the subject is now widely taught across the disciplines of
psychology and social care. Bowlby trained as a psychoanalyst, but was soon
drawn to a more eclectic approach to development that could acknowledge the
effect of environment as well as the inner world. He was struck by the responses
– initially despair, then withdrawal and detachment – of children when they were
admitted to hospital. His observations were made in the 1950s, when parents
234 Probation Journal 55(3)
were allowed infrequent visits as they were seen as disruptions to the hospital
regime. Whilst pre-1950s society was not entirely oblivious to the emotional needs
of children, the need for this human attachment was certainly underestimated,
demonstrated amply by film of 1950s maternity wards, with infants bundled up
and...
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