Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Offenders’ anger control classes help make some more dangerous

ENGLAND: Anger management courses for convicted armed robbers, wife beaters and stalkers are being axed by the prison and probation services following an official inquiry into the murder of the city financier John Monckton.

Home Office instructions sent to the probation service say that anger management courses are counterproductive and actually help violent offenders who make premeditated attacks to manipulate the situation to their advantage.

The official inquiry report said that Hanson’s 24 sessions of an anger management course known as CALM had helped him convince a parole board review panel that he should be released.

Home Office instructions say that such courses for violent offenders who commit their crimes purposefully rather than impulsively are now “considered wholly inappropriate”. They add that it is now thought the courses “have the potential to equip the offender with additional control mechanisms and increase his/her capacity to manipulate a situation to their advantage and power”.