New developments in interventions for working with offending behavior

Abstract

This chapter discusses some criteria for justifying innovation practice. The criteria are based on common sense, experience, and pragmatism. In effect, they acknowledge that innovation is, implicitly, an active choice not to use treatment as usual and, as such, needs to be ethically and professionally grounded. Using behavioral principles in assessment and intervention for any kind of behavior would be justifiable simply because of the weight of evidence supporting the underlying theory. The past 20 years have seen a growth in the use of the “third‐wave” behavioral interventions with offender populations such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP). More recently, Jones has proposed that addressing trauma‐related and offense‐related altered states of consciousness is a critical task for those intervening with offending behavior and that the impact of altered states of consciousness on the capacity and willingness to self‐regulate needs to be more effectively recognized.