An investigation into the risk perceptions held by maximum security correctional officers

Maximum security correctional officers play a crucial role in the establishment of order within their respective institutions of employment, yet they are also exposed to numerous occupational dangers that can threaten their general welfare. When they perceive high levels of injurious risk from workplace hazards, this cannot only jeopardize their job performance but lead to a poorly managed prison institution. Currently though, few studies have explored correctional officer perceptions of workplace dangers and risks, and even fewer have explored the factors that influence officer perceived risk of injury. Questionnaire data from a statewide population of maximum security correctional officers (N?=?649) were gathered in order to examine officer perceived risk of injury from workplace dangers, and the antecedents to this judgment. Results illustrated how officers perceived a high degree of injurious risk from their work, and that their risk perceptions were largely a product of psychological features of dangers. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

From Maltreatment to Delinquency: Service Trajectories After a First Intervention of Child Protection Services

The relationship between maltreatment in childhood and delinquency in adolescence is recognized. However, the data available do not reveal what proportion of children under the supervision of child protection services (CPS) later transfer to youth legal services, nor the sequence of services provided by these two systems. This study sketches a preliminary portrait of Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) incidence among Quebec children and adolescents as a consequence of a first crime after initial CPS case closure (N = 14,252). It quantifies the scope of the phenomenon and identifies the best predictors of YCJA incidence from among the administrative data available. Survival analysis revealed a 15.4% YCJA incidence for the entire cohort in the five and a half years following termination of initial intervention; boys between 12 and 17 years old when their initial CPS cases were closed were at the greatest risk (27.2%).     

Correlates and predictors of juvenile delinquency in Ghana

Research on juvenile delinquency has focused almost exclusively on western societies with the consequence that very little is known about delinquency and its associated factors outside this context. The aim of this study is to investigate correlates and predictors of juvenile delinquency in Ghana, a developing country. Analysis of data from a sample of 264 boys showed theft as the most common juvenile offense in Ghana. Individual factors were strongly related to juvenile delinquency compared with family factors and perceived neighborhood condition. The best predictor of juvenile delinquency was academic difficulties. Most childrearing variables failed to predict delinquency in Ghana. The findings indicate not only similarities but also important differences particularly with regard to conceptualization and relation between parental childrearing and delinquency.     

DEALERS,THIEVES, AND THE COMMON DETERMINANTS OF DRUG AND NONDRUG ILLEGAL EARNINGS*

Drug crime often is viewed as distinctive from other types of crime, meriting greater or lesser punishment. In view of this special status, this article asks whether and how illegal earnings attainment differs between drug sales and other forms of economic crime. We estimate monthly illegal earnings with fixed‐effects models, based on data from the National Supported Work Demonstration Project and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Although drug sales clearly differ from other types of income‐generating crime, we find few differences in their determinants. For example, the use of cocaine or heroin increases illegal earnings from both drug and nondrug crimes, indicating some degree of fungibility in the sources of illegal income. More generally, the same set of factors—particularly legal and illegal opportunities and embeddedness in criminal and conventional networks—predicts both drug earnings and nondrug illegal earnings.     

Predicting multiple victim versus single victim sexual abuse: an examination of distal factors and proximal factors associated with the first abuse incident

Abstract

Official and confidential self-report data on 83 convicted adult male sexual abusers were analysed to examine whether sexual offending progression can be better predicted from distal antecedents, or from proximal antecedents and outcomes associated with the first sexual abuse incident. Fifty-six offenders who sexually abused more than one victim (multiple victim offenders; MVOs) were compared to 27 offenders who sexually abused a single victim only (single victim offenders; SVOs). MVOs were younger at the time of their first sexual abuse incident, and were more likely to first abuse male and non-familial children. With the exception of sexual attraction to male children, no differences were found between the two groups on distal antecedents. Proximal antecedents and outcomes associated with the first sexual abuse incident were significantly related to multiple victim offending. Logistic regression analysis identified the presence of sexual difficulties in the month prior to the first abuse incident, and sexual excitement immediately preceding the first incident, as significant unique predictors. Implications for risk assessment and risk management are discussed, and future research directions proposed.     

Risk assessment with adolescent sex offenders

The paper describes an evaluation of a risk assessment tool's effectiveness in distinguishing adolescent sexual offenders who had committed further sexual offences from those who had not. The sample consisted of 50 male adolescent sexual offenders referred to a forensic outpatient service within a healthcare setting. The adolescents within the sample were designated recidivists versus non-recidivists using two methods: clinican's judgement and Home Office records for reconvictions. The risk assessment achieved a moderate to high level of sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing the recidivists from non-recidivists using clinician's judgement of recidivism as outcome. However, the tool was unable to distinguish recidivists from non-recidivists. The risk assessment tool described has potential in the identification and modification of contextual and clinical risk factors, in informing professionals’ decision-making and in developing and implementing a comprehensive risk management plan.     

Static screening instruments for risk of minor and major violence

Background: Screens for violent convictions that are simple, accessible and parsimonious are needed, as a first stage in identifying those at high risk for further assessment. Aims: To construct and validate screening tools for minor and major violence convictions for released prisoners. Methods: Internal validation sample of 1647 serious offenders and an external validation of 46,704 general prisoners. The outcomes were binary indicators for having at least one conviction for minor and major violence. Risk factors were convictions for violence and age. Results: In the external validation sample, the instrument for risk of minor violence (PMIV) identified correctly 60.8% of male and 66.2% of female general prisoners. For risk of major violence, the instrument (PMAV) identified correctly 68.0% of male and 79.3% of female prisoners. Conclusions: The PMIV and PMAV will efficiently assist practitioners in a first stage of screening before in-depth clinical assessment of risk for future violent convictions.     

Criminal and alcohol problems among Swedish drunk drivers--predictors of DUI relapse

The prevalence and types of crime offences, as well as predictors of relapse, among drivers suspected of driving under influence (DUI) were investigated. A total of 1830 Swedish DUI drivers responded to the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test — AUDIT. Information about previous DUI offences, other traffic offences along with other types of criminal offences was taken from a crime register. A total criminality (including all traffic offences) of 64% in the period of five years before investigation was analyzed. 40% of the sample had other criminality besides traffic violations during that period. 14.3% of the drivers relapsed to DUI in the two-year period after the investigation. In terms of DUI relapse, the following factors were the main predictors: previous traffic violations, previous DUI offences, previous other criminality (frauds or other acts of dishonesty) and detection hours between 12.00 and 19.00. Detection in general traffic controls and high BAC (blood alcohol concentration) when detected were the strongest factors with negative correlation to DUI re-offence.     

Maternal Predictors of Noncoital Sexual Behavior: Examining a Nationally Representative Sample of Asian and White American Adolescents Who Have Never had Sex

Current research in adolescent sexuality has largely focused on vaginal-penile intercourse, with less attention to noncoital sexual activity. This study examined how maternal factors influence the transition from virginity to noncoital behavior among White and Asian American youth who have never experienced vaginal intercourse. We conducted logistic regression analyses to examine whether traditional maternal predictors of coital sex were important in understanding noncoital sexual activity of these two populations. Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were utilized. For White Americans (n = 3,926), direct and indirect maternal factors were associated with noncoital sexual involvement: maternal support, control, mother–child communication about sex, and adolescents’ perceptions of maternal approval of sex. In contrast, only maternal support was associated with the onset of noncoital sexual behavior for Asian Americans (n = 611). The study underscores the need to explore culturally specific factors that may influence Asian American adolescent noncoital sexual behaviors.

Predictors of Support of Legislation Banning Juvenile Executions in Oklahoma: An Examination by Race and Sex

The Supreme Court has recently decided to re‐examine the constitutionality of executing individuals under the age of 18 at the time of the offense. The Supreme Court’s reliance on public opinion as evidenced through opinion polls and changing laws in the 2002 Atkins decision has suggested that public opinion may play a role in the Court’s decision regarding juvenile executions. There is considerable evidence that the majority of Americans favor a ban on juvenile executions. In the current study, we use Oklahoma data collected in 2003 by the Oklahoma University Public Opinion Learning Laboratory to examine more closely the factors that predict a support of a ban on juvenile executions. Interestingly, only one fourth of Oklahomans oppose such a ban. Earlier research suggested that religious fundamentalism is linked to support of juvenile executions, but we did not find this, suggesting that public opinion may be shifting. We then analyzed the data separately by race and then by sex. Our findings suggest that there may be differences between groups in the predictors of support for a ban on juvenile executions, at least in Oklahoma, indicating the need for further research.