Ireland looked at 50 young male prisoners completing an AMP and 37 who were the control – both groups had committed similar offences and had similar anger levels. Behaviour was assessed at 2 weeks before and 8 weeks after the course – there was a 92% improvement for the group on the course and no improvement in the control.
Self-report data holds some validity because the data comes from the prisoners themselves.
They focus on learning about triggers from angry episodes and give people the tools to control their anger in the future so they should have long term benefits.
AMPs don’t include a discussion of morality or understanding from a victim’s point of view and this is said to limit their success – the person isn’t always led to take responsibility.
An issue with self-report data is that prisoners might want to look good so say the groups are helping. They might be motivated by the idea of an early release or a break from normal prison routine.
They are only useful for criminal acts caused by anger and so this means that they cannot be used on everyone.