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Strategies for Administering Rewards and Sanctions

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Drug Courts

Abstract

In the social and psychological sciences, few findings have been so reliably demonstrated that they may qualify as laws of human behavior. The principles of operant conditioning or contingency management are one such set of laws. These principles have been proven time and again in a multitude of diverse settings to the point that they are no longer the subject of scientific dispute. The techniques for effective implementation of operant conditioning are reviewed in this chapter. If one’s goal is to improve adaptive functioning and reduce antisocial behavior on the part of offenders, then it is essential to closely monitor their behavior and impose certain and immediate sanctions for infractions and rewards for achievements (1). Failing to punish misconduct inevitably makes behavior worse, and failing to reward accomplishments makes those accomplishments less likely to recur.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Treatment Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, USA

    Douglas B. Marlowe JD, PhD (Director of Law and Ethics Research and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry)

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  1. Douglas B. Marlowe JD, PhD
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Solano County, Benicia, CA, 94510, USA

    James E. Lessenger MD, FACOEM (Consultant in Occupational Medicine) (Consultant in Occupational Medicine)

  2. Superior Court of California, Tulare County, Porterville, CA, 93267, USA

    Glade F. Roperd JD (Judge) (Judge)

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Marlowe, D.B. (2007). Strategies for Administering Rewards and Sanctions. In: Lessenger, J.E., Roperd, G.F. (eds) Drug Courts. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71433-2_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71433-2_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-71432-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-71433-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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