Attachment Models in Incarcerated Sex Offenders: A Preliminary Italian Study Using the Adult Attachment Interview

A group of sex offenders (clinical group: n = 19) was compared to a nonclinical sample matched by age, years of education, and gender (control group A: n = 19) to verify a higher incidence of insecure attachment models among sex offenders. In addition, we tested whether sex offenders were characterized by specific childhood experiences, compared to control adults (control group B: n = 19) with the same secure/insecure attachment classification. Results showed significant differences between offenders and control adults on both the AAI continuous score and the distribution of the two-way attachment classifications. Furthermore, sex offenders reported more intense experiences of rejection by the father figure and abuse in the family context during early childhood compared to not offenders subjects with the same attachment classification.     

Punishment and the Duties of Offenders

This paper offers a partial critique of one of the central lines of argument in Victor Tadros’ The Ends of Harm: his attempt to show that a system of deterrent punishment can avoid the objection that it treats those who are punished ‘merely as means’ to our goals, by arguing that we may legitimately use someone as a means if in doing so we are simply forcing her to do what she anyway had an enforceable duty to do. I raise some questions about the idea of forcing someone to do what she has a duty to do; about what duties a wrongdoer incurs towards his victim, and how they may be enforced; and about whether we can move from such duties to a justification of criminal punishment as a deterrent.     

Male Versus Female Substance Abuse Patterns Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders: Comparing Strain and Social Learning Variables

The present study explores gender differences in substance use among a juvenile correctional population. Hypotheses derived from general strain theory and differential association/social learning theory are evaluated in order to examine the relative importance of family transitions, family dysfunctions, victimization, and peer substance use. The data include information on approximately 5,000 incarcerated juveniles (89 percent males, 11 percent females). Comparisons across gender indicate similarity with respect to alcohol and marijuana, but earlier age of onset and greater current use among females for most other substances. Regression analyses reveal similarity across genders in the preeminence of peer substance use as a predictor, but mixed results with respect to the influence of family factors and victimization. Findings are consistent with the tenets of differential association/social learning theory on the whole, but also indicate potential differences in sources of strain for males and females with respect to age of onset of alcohol/marijuana use.     

共犯人关系的再思考

刑法总则规定了哪些参与人,刑法对共犯人如何分类(参与类型),是两个不同的问题。我国刑法总则虽然规定了主犯、从犯、胁从犯与教唆犯四种情形,但不能据此认为这四种情形就是对共犯人的分类。刑法理论必须以罪刑法定原则为根据,确定刑法总则应当规定哪些参与类型。由于刑法分则规定的是正犯,所以,只有当刑法总则规定了教唆犯、帮助犯时,才能扩张地处罚教唆犯与帮助犯,否则便违反罪刑法定原则。由于共同正犯不以实施构成要件行为为前提,所以,如果对共同正犯按照正犯处罚,就必须有刑法总则的明文规定。主张刑法第26条规定的主犯与正犯是交叉关系、递进关系或者等同关系以及双层次区分说的观点,都存在缺陷。刑法第26条是关于共同正犯的规定,该规定贯彻了"部分行为全部责任"的原理。教唆他人犯罪的,如果在共同犯罪中起主要作用,就属于(共谋)共同正犯,按正犯处罚;如果起次要作用,则是狭义共犯中的教唆犯,应当按从犯量刑。基于实质标准,对起次要作用的实行者,也只能按从犯处罚。     

Duff on the Legitimacy of Punishment of Socially Deprived Offenders

Duff offered an argument for the conclusion that just or legitimate punishment of socially deprived offenders in our unjust society is impossible. One of the claims in his argument is that our courts have the standing to blame an offender only if our polity has the right to do so since our courts are acting as the representatives of, or to use the exact phrases by Duff, “in the name of”, or “on behalf of”, the whole polity. In this paper I will challenge that claim. I will argue that the courts can be seen as acting, not on behalf of the whole polity, but only on behalf of a subset of its citizens, namely, the just citizens (i.e. the citizens who cannot be seen to have wronged the deprived offenders).     

Punishment, Socially Deprived Offenders, and Democratic Community

The idea that victims of social injustice who commit crimes ought not to be subject to punishment has attracted serious attention in recent legal and political philosophy. R. A. Duff has argued, for example, a states that perpetrates social injustice lacks the standing to punish victims of such injustice who commit crimes. A crucial premiss in his argument concerns the fact that when courts in liberal society mete out legitimate criminal punishments, they are conceived as acting in the name of all citizens—on behalf of the whole political community. Resisting this premiss, Peter Chau has suggested that courts ought to be conceived as acting only in the name of “just citizens”: citizens who cannot be plausibly seen as having contributed to distributive injustice. When conceived in this way, Chau argues, courts can no longer plausibly be regarded as lacking standing to punish. This article uses the debate between Duff and Chau to explain why the question of whether to punish socially deprived offenders can only be answered adequately when connected to broader concerns of democratic theory. Specifically, it argues that Chau’s proposal is not available within the context of the kind of political community upon which (Duff rightly believes) a system of liberal criminal law depends for its justification and maintenance: a community in which citizens see the law as embodying shared norms whose specific demands they disagree about. State officials are morally permitted to see themselves as acting on behalf of a subset of the citizenry, I argue, only in circumstances of democratic crisis: circumstances in which a moral community can no longer be plausibly said to exist.     

Punishment and Paperwork: White-Collar Offenders Under Community Supervision

This article examines how changes in penal ideology may affect the experiences of white-collar offenders under community supervision. In-depth interviews with white-collar offenders on their experiences while under federal probation are used to examine how changes in criminal punishment have undermined the traditional reintegrative and rehabilitative goals of community supervision. The analysis suggests that shifts to a more managerial, actuarial model that seeks depersonalized efficiency has unintended consequences that delegitimatize the criminal justice system, and foster sentiments of degradation. Based on these findings, considerations for future research are discussed.     

Deterrence and Individual Differences Among Convicted Offenders

Conflicting evidence exists on how criminal propensity moderates deterrent effects, and there is little empirical evidence on this issue from relatively experienced offenders. This study tested how variation in criminal propensity (operationalized as “low self-control”) moderates deterrent effects in a sample of convicted offenders in New Jersey’s Intensive Supervision Program in 1989 and 1990. Offenders’ perceptions of the risks and consequences from violating ISP were associated with whether they successfully completed ISP. Moreover, lower self-control did not diminish, and if anything, enhanced these deterrent effects.

Substance Use and Intimate Violence Among Incarcerated Males

The purpose of this study was to examine substance use patterns among a sample of incarcerated males who report engaging in levels of intimate violence, as well as identifying similarities and differences in demographic, economic status, mental health, criminal justice involvement, relationships, and treatment factors for three groups of incarcerated males - those who report perpetrating low intimate violence, those who report perpetrating moderate intimate violence, and those who report perpetrating extreme intimate violence the year preceding their current incarceration. Findings indicated that low intimate violence group's perpetration consisted almost exclusively of emotional abuse. Moderately intimate violent males and extremely intimate violent males, however, report not only high rates of emotional abuse but physical abuse as well. The distinction between moderate and extremely violent groups was substantial. Findings also indicated that perpetrators at different levels of violence in this study did not vary significantly in age, employment history, marital status, or race. However, the three groups showed significant differences in three main areas: (1) cocaine and alcohol use patterns, (2) stranger violence perpetration and victimization experiences, and (3) emotional discomfort. Implications for substance abuse and mental health treatment interventions and for future research are discussed.     

Adapting to Prison Life: A Qualitative Examination of the Coping Process among Incarcerated Offenders

Research on general strain theory has demonstrated the impact of strain on decisions to engage in crime and delinquency. However, people differ in their responses to strain and only some resort to crime or delinquency. There remain gaps in our knowledge of when, and under what conditions, individuals will react to strain with offending behavior. We rely on interviews with 40 incarcerated men to understand how they cope with specific prison strains, and why they make such coping choices. We find considerable variation in inmates’ coping responses. They use a variety of coping strategies—behavioral, cognitive, and emotional—and only some of these strategies involve offending. Our findings indicate that responses to prison strain are partly a function of past experience with strains, including prior experimentation with coping techniques. Results highlight the unfolding nature of the coping process and expose factors that deserve further attention in tests of GST.     

Examining Predictors of Depression Among Older Incarcerated Women

For older women in prison, adjustments to prison life are often affected by a variety of mental and physical health symptoms. Many come to prison with specific histories of traumatic life experiences that place them at risk for high levels of depression. Using data gathered from 327 older women (mean age = 56.5), we examined the relationship between a variety of preprison conditions and prison deprivation factors as possible predictors of depression. Stepwise regression results indicated that depression was greater for those with prior abuse histories, functional health problems along with poorer perceptions of mental and physical health, safety and other prison environment concerns. Although race was not a significant predictor in the regression model, a t-test did find that whites were more depressed than African Americans in our sample. Other correlates of depression are also identified that lend insights into the high rates of depression found among elderly women in prison. With such high rates of psychiatric disorders among women offenders, more treatment interventions are needed to adequately serve this population.     

Measures Tending to Combat Recidivism Among Women Offenders

[Editor's Note] Traditionally crime has been the domain of males for a number of reasons, chief of which is the fact that they have had more responsibility in both domestic and occupational areas. In the administration of justice differential treatment has been practiced in accordance with age, sex, social status, race, ethnicity, wealth, education, prestige, and other idiosyncrasies of individuals. Females have a distinct advantage over males in the following areas: 1) the public's report to the police; 2) police arrest; 3) the court's sentence; 4) incarceration. There is evidence to show that because of this males not only risk becoming offenders more than females, but also risk becoming victims of that offense.

To cite some examples, in 1972 male arrests outnumbered female by almost six to one in the United States, and only 18 percent of the arrests for Crime Index offenses were women. According to an F.B.I. report approximately 20 per cent of total property crime arrests in 1972 were female. Yet it should be noted that some crimes are committed more by females than by males, such as offenses against chastity and common decency, prostitution, embezzlement and fraud, forgery and counterfeiting, larceny and theft. Recently the F.B.I. reported a rise in female offenses, particularly among those under the age of 18. According to this report, well over half the runaways apprehended are young women.

As a result of a higher educational level among women, more women remaining single due to professional and occupational interests, and the Contemporary Women's Liberation movement, a gradual increase in criminality among women is anticipated, although this is disputed by the French correspondent in the following article who argues for a reverse trend. Yet with more women competing with men in the future and becoming more active politically to achieve equality, crime as a predominantly male pattern of behavior may change.

Crime among women has yet to be thoroughly studied. Some criminologists maintain that female criminality is “masked” or “suggestive” behavior because to a great extent female criminals are hidden or unreported, or in some instances men commit crime on behalf of women. Any meaningful assessment of female criminality must take into account complex physiological, psychological and socio-cultural factors.

The meeting of the International Council of Women in conjunction with the Third United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1965 marked only a small beginning in the understanding of this segment of criminal behavior. This article deals only with recidivism among women offenders, and readers are advised to discover how other societies treat female criminals. Although several recommendations are made as to how women offenders can best be served, much more research into female criminality must be done before reaching any definite conclusions. Some causal factors paralleled the male counterpart, but before this segment of criminality can be treated effectively, causal elements of a more general nature must first be established. [Source: “Measures Tending to Combat Recidivism Among Women Offenders,” article submitted by the International Council of Women, Standing Committee for Social Welfare to the 3rd United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Stockholm, A/CONF. 26/NGO/2, 4 May 1965.]     

Exploring Sex Differences among Sentenced Juvenile Offenders in Australia

Recent research applying latent class analysis (LCA) reveals considerable diversity in the self‐reported offending patterns of incarcerated females and suggests that a failure to recognize these patterns will hinder the ability to understand mechanisms that lead females to serious offending. Using data from a cohort of serious juvenile offenders in Queensland, Australia, this paper extends the earlier research by using LCA to assess sex differences in juvenile criminal offending. Results indicate that female offenders are not a homogenous group with respect to their offending patterns, that there is a degree of symmetry between male and female offenders, and that childhood experiences of maltreatment increase the likelihood of membership in the most serious offending group for both males and females. Implications for theory and policy as well as directions for future research are highlighted.     

A Qualitative Examination of the Self-Medicating Hypothesis Among Female Juvenile Offenders

Substance misuse among criminally delinquent youth has typically been described as a concurrent part of their participation in risky and delinquent behavior. Using Khantzian’s self-medication hypothesis, this article presents an alternative view by presenting qualitative data which suggests that substance misuse for female juvenile offenders may serve as self-medication for mental health problems stemming from early trauma, often at the hands of their families. Based on the narratives of 30 female juvenile offenders, this article examines the lived experiences of girls with childhood trauma and substance misuse, followed by arrest and incarceration. The paper concludes with recommendations for juvenile justice and child welfare practitioners.     

The Effects of Visitation on Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders: How Contact with the Outside Impacts Adjustment on the Inside

The present study investigates how visitation from parents impacts youths’ mental health in the first two months of incarceration in a secure juvenile facility. A diverse sample of 276 male, newly incarcerated serious adolescent offenders (14–17 years) was interviewed over a 60-day period. Results indicate that youth who receive visits from parents report more rapid declines in depressive symptoms over time compared to youth who do not receive parental visits. Moreover, these effects are cumulative, such that the greater number of visits from parents, the greater the decrease in depressive symptoms. Importantly, the protective effect of receiving parental visits during incarceration exists regardless of the quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. Policy changes that facilitate visitation may be key for easing adjustment during the initial period of incarceration.     

Staying Out: Reentry Protective Factors Among Rural Women Offenders

The current study examines protective factors for women who transition from county jails to rural Appalachian communities, areas with limited health and behavioral health services. The study included drug-using women recruited from three jails in rural Appalachia and followed-up at 12-months post-release. Analyses focused on differences between women who remained in the community and those who returned to custody, as well as a multivariate model to determine protective factors for reentry success. At the bivariate level, staying out of jail was associated with being older, having a job, not using drugs, stable housing, receiving health treatment, and having prosocial peers. In the multivariate model, the most robust predictors of staying out of jail were drug use abstinence, health care utilization, and prosocial peers. Most research on criminogenic needs associated with reentry success have focused on men, and most focused on reentry to urban communities where services and resources are more accessible. These findings have important implications for criminal justice systems to implement reentry programs for women offenders during the transition to the community.     

Exploring the Effect of Exposure to Short-Term Solitary Confinement Among Violent Prison Inmates

Objectives

This study tracked the behavior of male inmates housed in the general inmate populations of 70 different prison units from a large southern state. Each of the inmates studied engaged in violent misconduct at least once during the first 2 years of incarceration (n = 3,808). The goal of the study was to isolate the effect of exposure to short-term solitary confinement (SC) as a punishment for their initial act of violent behavior on the occurrence and timing of subsequent misconduct.

Methods

This study relied upon archival longitudinal data and employed a multilevel counterfactual research design (propensity score matching) that involved tests for group differences, event history analyses, and trajectory analyses.

Results

The results suggest that exposure to short-term solitary confinement as a punishment for an initial violence does not appear to play a role in increasing or decreasing the probability, timing, or development future misconduct for this particular group on inmates.

Conclusions

Upon validation, these findings call for continued research and perhaps a dialog regarding the utility of solitary confinement policies under certain contexts. This unique study sets the stage for further research to more fully understand how solitary impacts post-exposure behavior.

     

Sentencing Juvenile Offenders to Life in Prison: The Political Sociology of Juvenile Punishment

Sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison is the most severe criminal penalty available, yet we know little about the factors that produce jurisdictional differences in the use of such sanctions. Political explanations emphasize conservative values and the strength of more conservative political parties. Threat accounts suggest that this sentence will be more likely in jurisdictions with larger minority populations. After controlling for many explanations using count models, the results show that larger numbers of juvenile life sentences are handed out in more politically conservative states with a stronger Republican Party. Findings also show that racial politics is a factor in juvenile life sentences. Those jurisdictions that have the most blacks and have judicial elections sentence the most juveniles to life terms. By highlighting the explanatory power of public ideologies, these findings support political explanations for the harshest criminal punishment directed towards juveniles.