Containing violence.

Abstract

The use of behavior modification techniques to control criminal violence has been condemned as a violation of human rights because it destroys the possibility of moral choice, an important component of personality. Beehler examines the conditioning used on Alex in Anthony Burgess's book and film A Clockwork Orange and concludes that Alex was left still capable of moral choice except where acts of violence were involved. He argues that behavior modification to control violence is preferable to imprisonment, psychosurgery, or electronic surveillance, and counters objections that its use destroys autonomy, violates privacy and trust, and depersonalizes offenders.