Perceived community cohesion and perceived risk of victimization: A cross-national analysis

Prior research illustrates that community characteristics may be associated with the perceived risk of victimization. In our analysis, we suggest that cognitive evaluations of the risk of victimization within one's neighborhood may be shaped by cognitive assessments of the willingness of community members to help each other. We test this link using data for 11 countries from the 1992 wave of the International Crime Survey. The data provide substantial support for the hypothesis that individuals who perceive their communities to be cohesive express lower levels of perceived risk of criminal victimization in their neighborhoods.     

To what extent does civil commitment reduce sexual recidivism? Estimating the selective incapacitation effects in Minnesota

PurposeThis study examines the selective incapacitation effects of civil commitment on sexual reoffending among 105 Minnesota sex offenders who were civilly committed between 2004 and 2006.MethodsThe Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-3, a sexual recidivism risk assessment instrument, was used to estimate what the four-year sexual recidivism rate would have been for these offenders had they been released to the community. Integration of Survival with Quality of Life (iSQoL) software was used to extrapolate the survival curves over a 50-year period to develop a lifetime sexual recidivism estimate.ResultsIf the 105 civilly committed sex offenders had been released to the community, an estimated nine percent would have been reconvicted of a new sex offense within four years. Civilly committing these offenders therefore likely reduced the overall four-year sexual recidivism rate by 12 percent. The results further suggest that if these offenders had been released to the community, an estimated 28 percent would be rearrested for another sex offense within their lifetime.ConclusionsTo better align the costs of civil commitment with its public safety benefits, states operating these programs should emphasize the use of intermediate alternatives in the community for a more positive return on investment.     

Forensic psychiatric inpatients and aggression: An exploration of incidence,prevalence, severity,and interventions by gender

BackgroundPrevious investigations suggest that women judged to be not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCR-MD) differ markedly from their male counterparts in important ways, underscoring the necessity of subsequent study.ObjectiveThe goal of the present study was to inform our understanding of the presenting profile of female forensic psychiatric patients and contrast their risk of inpatient aggression with their male counterparts.MethodThe population of patients assessed and/or treated at a secure Canadian forensic psychiatric hospital were available for study. In total, 527 patients had complete data and were part of intensive retrospective file reviews; inpatient aggression was evaluated using the Overt Aggression Scale.ResultsWomen were no less likely than men to have a violent index offence and to perpetrate inpatient aggression. Examining the range of aggressive behaviours and severity levels did little to increase the relevance of gender to inpatient risk.DiscussionFemale forensic patients represent a highly selected subgroup of women with exceptional clinical and behavioural challenges and associated treatment needs.     

The relationship between risk,deviance, treatment outcome and sexual reconviction in a sample of child sexual abusers completing residential treatment for their offending

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between static and dynamic risk and reconviction in a sample of child sexual abusers who had completed a long-term residential treatment programme for their sexual behaviour problems. Results found that only High/Very High risk men as measured by a static risk assessment schedule (Risk Matrix 2000) were reconvicted for sexual offences (17% over a 2-year period, 42% over a 5-year period). Results also showed that it was generally men who were rated as a high level of dynamic risk that were reconvicted for a sexual offence (13% versus 5% over a 2-year period; 44% versus 10% over a 5-year period). The study also indicated the benefits of residential treatment for such High risk/High Deviance men in that no men who left the programme having responded to treatment had been reconvicted for sexual offences at either follow-up period.     

An analysis of the relationship between being deaf and sexual offending

Abstract

Research demonstrates that deaf offenders are over-represented within the criminal justice system. In addition, those deaf offenders who are incarcerated within prison estates or psychiatric units are predominantly incarcerated for sexual offences. This paper will evaluate the existing literature surrounding the reasons behind this bias. In particular, this review will examine the characteristics of deaf offenders in relation to their personalities, language and brain development and abilities to communicate. This paper will consider proposed associations between mental illness and childhood sexual abuse amongst deaf individuals and later sexual offending. This paper attempts to evidence differences between deaf and hearing offenders in order to explain why more deaf offenders commit sexual crimes than hearing offenders. This paper will conclude that the research is scarce and inconclusive and that current assessments and treatment are potentially inadequate due to the profound difficulties associated with accurately understanding and communicating with the deaf offender.     

Characteristics of children with problem sexual behaviour and adolescent perpetrators of sexual abuse: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

People who commit sexual offences are a heterogeneous group, with research suggesting that children and young people commit a large proportion of all sex offences, especially those committed against other children. This systematic review provides a synthesis of literature concerning the characteristics of children and adolescents who exhibit harmful sexual behaviour. There is a particular focus in this review on studies that examine the characteristics of children and young people exhibiting these behaviours within institutional and organisational settings or which take a situational and/or developmental approach to understanding sexually abusive behaviour. Using a developmental and life-course criminology lens, this review explores implications from the literature for the prevention and response to child sexual abuse, with a particular focus on institutional contexts where the perpetrators are children and adolescents.     

Restoring ordinariness for women offenders: why every wing matters

Abstract

Psychologically informed planned environments (PIPEs) are specifically designed environments where staff members have additional training to increase their psychological understanding of their work. This understanding enables them to create a safe and supportive environment which can help facilitate the development and improvement of those who live there. They aim to maximise ordinary situations in order to support development and to approach this in a psychologically informed way, and by paying particular attention to issues relating to personality disorder. Since PIPEs have been introduced into the Criminal Justice System in 2011, significant improvements in institutional behaviour have been observed. This paper considers the development of the therapeutic environment of a PIPE Unit and in particular its translation for women in custody. Reflecting upon narratives taken from focus groups within a female PIPE Unit in England, it will theorise why, for many women, the environment plays a significant part in their recovery and progression in prison. Although this paper focuses on a PIPE environment, it is suggested that observations can also be transferred to other forensic environments, including therapeutic communities, enabling environments, treatment services, hospital wards, normal wing locations and so forth.     

A qualitative investigation of treatment components for families of youth who have sexually offended

ABSTRACT

Traditional treatment approaches for youth who commit sexual crimes are generally understudied and lack consideration for youths’ evolving context and development. A holistic model is important in service delivery, whereby multiple socio-ecological risk and protective factors are targeted in treatment. Family treatment, a key component of holistic practices, has not been well-defined for families of youth who have committed sexual crimes. Better understanding of the practical techniques used in service agencies can inform family services for youth. Using an inductive grounded theory approach, this qualitative study interviews service providers (N?=?19) to understand components of family treatment. Findings suggest components including problem solving, communication skills, and working through the pain meet certain goals of restructuring and uniting families. The therapeutic relationship was a component that meets all goals of family treatment and helps families and youth overcome stigma of sexual offending. Findings have implications for developing and testing models of family treatment for sexually abusive youth.     

Putting risk factors in their place: an evolutionary-developmental approach to understanding risk

ABSTRACT

The assessment of criminal risk plays a prominent role in the criminal justice systems of many different countries and risk assessment is employed in a number of different domains. Given the importance of risk assessment tools in forensic contexts, and the amount of research devoted to evaluating their accuracy in predicting re-offending, it might be expected that risk assessment tools are grounded in our best theoretical understanding of the causal processes that give rise to criminal actions. However, it is not at all clear that this is the case. In this article, I will argue that one important area of neglect is the failure to fully engage with the literature in developmental and life-course criminology which also has directed an enormous amount of effort in to identifying risk factors for offending. At the heart of this neglect, I will claim, is the failure to fully recognise the key distinction between predicting offending and predicting re-offending. I will further argue that an evolutionary developmental perspective provides the theoretical resources to provide fully explanatory accounts of offending and re-offending, and in which risk factors can be appropriately located. I conclude by briefly considering some implications for theory, research, and practice.     

Secure pathways for women in the UK: lessons from the women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) pilots

Abstract

Women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) is a model of care aimed at providing a more appropriate level of security for women and, in so doing, reducing the number of women in high secure psychiatric services. In 2007, three Department of Health commissioned WEMSS pilots became operational. This study compared the clinical outcomes of women in WEMSS with control women in six standard medium secure services and one high secure service matched on key clinical and risk characteristics, in order to examine their pathways of care. Our findings confirm that the WEMSS pilots were successful in transitioning women from high secure services who had previously been thought unsuitable for medium secure services. However, WEMSS showed no additional clinical benefit, suggesting that these women could be cared for equally well within standard medium secure services. We make recommendations about WEMSS and the future shape of women’s secure care in England.     

The parenting possible selves of young fathers in prison

Abstract

Even when motivated to desist from crime, many high-risk offenders fail quickly following release from prison. One cause may be a lack of preparation for release. Recent research with child-sex offenders has demonstrated that men who avoided reconvictions not only had better plans made for life on parole prior to their release, but plan quality also added significant incremental validity to the prediction of recidivism after controlling for both static and dynamic measures of risk. This study examined release planning in high-risk violent prisoners in an intensive cognitive-behavioural rehabilitation programme. We compared the predictive validity of plan quality with three well-validated risk assessment instruments. Men who were reconvicted had significantly higher scores on all three risk instruments and significantly poorer plans, but plan quality did not significantly improve prediction when risk was controlled. Plan quality was also significantly poorer in men who were reimprisoned, and did significantly improve prediction over and above each risk prediction instrument. Findings suggest that higher quality release plans may protect offenders from being quickly reimprisoned, despite high levels of assessed criminal risk, and that enhancing resources put into release planning may lead to improved parole outcomes.     

Thy brother's keeper: A review of the literature on correctional officers

Individualized offender risk models do not account for expected reductions in risk that are caused by programmatic interventions, in part because of a presumption of program ineffectiveness. We examined two relatively unevaluated types of correctional programs—community-based prison release programs and prison furloughs—for adult males in the Massachusetts Department of Correction to determine whether there was an identifiable intervention effect on recidivism rates. We studied three samples of male inmates who were released during the 1970s, using base expectancy methodology to control for their background characteristics. We also examined 11-year trends in recidivism, comparing program participants to nonparticipants. Furlough participation, both alone and followed by prerelease, appears to have a pronounced and consistent positive impact on lowered recidivism. Implications for reintegration theory, risk assessment policy, and research are discussed.     

Dynamic risk and protective factors

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews the literature regarding the identification and measurement of risk factors considered imminent precipitants of subsequent criminal conduct (i.e. dynamic risk factors). This paper also frames these risk factors against the so-called protective factors that are presumed to mitigate risk. Commonality among recent dynamic risk and protective measures reflects general agreement regarding viable candidate variables. Empirical studies suggest such factors yield incremental predictive validity and should inform case-formulaic understanding of criminal conduct and pathways to desistance, although this is not common practice. As well, definitional and measurement considerations are not well advanced and speak to the need for further conceptual clarity.     

MDS use with crime scene data replicates poorly: response to Goodwill,Alison, and Humann (this issue) and Davis (this issue)

Abstract

Examinations of treatment attrition form an important – although sometimes neglected – component of evaluating a correctional programme's effectiveness in reducing recidivism. Previous research has identified offender characteristics that predict non-completion. This study investigated non-completion in 138 high-risk, violent male prisoners attending an intensive cognitive–behavioural programme. Almost one-third of men who commenced it did not complete the 7-month programme. Most asked to leave of their own accord, or were removed for ongoing offending. In contrast to previous research, no support was found for the hypothesis that those who terminated treatment prematurely were more in need of intervention than those who completed the programme; non-completers did not differ from completers on static estimates of criminal risk, PCL-R scores, demographic variables or self-report scales measuring dynamic risk factors. It was concluded that successful prediction using variables related to criminal risk and criminogenic need depends both on the characteristics of programme participants, and on contextual factors such as programme policies: when high-risk high needs offenders are a programme's target clientele, variables related to risk and need will have limited predictive utility. From a practice perspective, the programme was successful in retaining through to completion a relatively untreatable group: high-risk offenders with moderate to high PCL-R scores.     

Screening procedures in the United Kingdom for positions of trust with children

Abstract

Child services organisations need policies that minimise the risk of sexual abuse of the children in their care. In particular, managers (and the public) are justifiably concerned when abuse is perpetrated by individuals who should not have been working with children in the first place. Unfortunately, there has been relatively little work on determining unacceptable risk for sexually abusive behaviour in child service organisations. The purpose of this paper is to describe the contexts in which screening procedures are appropriate, review the academic literature on screening procedures and present the results of a pilot survey of current screening practices in the United Kingdom. We comment on the effectiveness of screening measures available for use by organisations and provide suggestions for improvement. Specifically, we recommend that screening procedures consider risk factors associated with the onset and persistence of child sexual abuse perpetration.     

The utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a screening measure among children and adolescents who light fires

Background: This pilot study examined the utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a standardised screening tool for behavioural and psychosocial problems by fire service-based programmes to identify at-risk young firesetters who are in need of further comprehensive multiagency intervention. Method: SDQ scores were obtained from 57 children and adolescents, aged 6–17 years, who were referred to the Fire Awareness and Intervention Programme in New Zealand for firesetting behaviour. Scores from firesetters aged 13–17 years were compared to those of typically developing New Zealand secondary school students. Results: Overall, young firesetters were at a high risk of clinically significant conduct and hyperactivity/inattention difficulties, and at low risk of clinically significant emotional problems. Cronbach’s alphas for most SDQ subscales were acceptable. Conclusions: We recommend that the SDQ be considered by fire service-operated interventions for use as an additional assessment tool for the young firesetting population.

Key Practitioner Messages ? Due to its financial and emotional cost, deliberate firesetting by children and adolescents is a significant concern for communities.

? There appears to be significant comorbidity between firesetting and serious antisocial behaviour, and many young firesetters engage in ongoing general offending behaviour.

? Intervention for child and adolescent firesetters is predominantly provided by fire services and typically involves fire safety education.

? Given the co-morbid behavioural and psychosocial problems present among young firesetters, there is a need for fire service education programmes to use a standardised assessment tool that screens for wider behavioural and psychosocial difficulties to assist in the identification and referral of high-risk young people to appropriate services for further intervention.

? The SDQ, a free, short and well-validated measure, could be adopted by fire service-operated education programmes to help detect and inform the referral of young firesetters who need more comprehensive multiagency intervention.