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.     

Examination of an interventionist-led HIV intervention among criminal justice-involved female prisoners

The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation, adherence and protocol fidelity for the Reducing Risky Relationships for HIV (RRR-HIV) study. The RRR-HIV study is a phase III trial of a randomized intervention to reduce human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors among incarcerated women in four US states: Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky and Rhode Island. The intervention consists of five interventionist-led prison-based group sessions and a sixth individual community-based session. Data on adherence, implementation, acceptability and fidelity of the intervention were obtained from forms completed after the five prison-based sessions by both the interventionist and participant. Data from the sixth session were collected by the interventionist. Of the 363 women recruited to date, 173 (47.6%) have been randomly allocated to the experimental RRR intervention, of which implementation measures were available for 162 (93.6%). Almost three-quarters of women attended all five sessions, each of which lasted a median of 90 minutes, indicating successful implementation of the protocol across multiple study sites. Interventionists and participants alike reported that all of the topics for each session were discussed, suggesting adherence to the protocol. In addition, protocol interventionists indicated that more than 95% of the women were engaged/involved, interested, and understood the materials presented, indicating high levels of acceptability among the participants and fidelity to the intervention protocols. The majority of participants also answered all of the post-test questions correctly, which is another strong indicator of the fidelity to the intervention. Results suggest that the RRR-HIV study has been successfully implemented across multiple study sites. Adherence to the protocol, as well as protocol fidelity and acceptability, were also strong, which is essential to establish prior to examining outcome data.     

Animal abuse proclivity: behavioral,personality and regulatory factors associated with varying levels of severity

ABSTRACT

To date, research into adult-perpetrated animal abuse has consisted of studies using forensic and psychiatric samples. Given that animal abuse goes largely unreported, it is unclear whether the findings from the current literature are generalizable to unapprehended, undetected abusers in the community. However, the emergence of proclivity methodologies fills this gap by examining the relationships between animal abuse propensity and factors such as empathy, attitudes towards animals and antisocial behavior. The current study aimed to extend this literature by examining further individual-level variables (i.e. personality traits) and behavioral factors as correlates of animal abuse proclivity and as a function of varying levels of animal abuse severity (e.g. neglect versus severe violence). One hundred and fifty participants took part in this correlational study. We found low extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, anger regulation, and illegal behavior to be significant factors related to animal abuse proclivity. We also found low extraversion, anger regulation, and illegal behavior to be significant factors across varying levels of animal abuse severity, but low neuroticism to be a unique factor related to less severe forms of animal abuse proclivity. These findings are further discussed in light of their theoretical and treatment implications.     

Predicting norm enforcement: the individual and joint predictive power of economic preferences,personality, and self-control

This paper explores the individual and joint predictive power of concepts from economics, psychology, and criminology for individual norm enforcement behavior. More specifically, we consider economic preferences (patience and attitudes towards risk), personality traits from psychology (Big Five and locus of control), and a self-control scale from criminology. Using survey data, we show that the various concepts complement each other in predicting self-reported norm enforcement behavior. The most significant predictors stem from all three disciplines: stronger risk aversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism as well as higher levels of self-control increase an individual’s willingness to enforce norms. Taking a broader perspective, our results illustrate that integrating concepts from different disciplines may enhance our understanding of heterogeneity in individual behavior.     

Don't Mention the War: The Court of Appeal,the Criminal Cases Review Commission and Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland

Despite the vast transitional justice scholarship relating to prisoner release, amnesties and prosecutions when conflicts end, there is a significant gap in practice and academic literature regarding wrongful convictions. Uniquely amongst post‐conflict societies, Northern Ireland has a body for investigating miscarriages of justice, albeit one designed for ‘ordinary’ appeals. In the absence of a formal truth‐recovery process, criminal appeals are becoming a proxy for addressing the role of the state during ‘The Troubles,’ as well as remedying individual injustices. This article examines the approach of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal during the conflict. It charts the developments in its decision‐making following the cease‐fires and the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. It concludes that the current system is unsatisfactory as it ignores the effects of the conflict on the appeal process and offers no insights into the role of the Court during the conflict. Alternative models are suggested.     

The three dimensions of online child pornography offending

Abstract

The internet has opened up opportunities for non-contact sex offending, such as the viewing of child pornography. This paper proposes a model for the classification of child pornography offenders as an aid for their assessment and treatment, deducted from empirical studies and existing typologies for child pornography offenders. Different subgroups of child pornography offenders may be described according to three dimensions: (1) type of offending, (2) the motivation behind child pornography offending and (3) the situational and social engagement in the offending behaviour. Distinct pathways of child pornography offending can be identified, related to differing criminogenic needs, severity of offending, and appropriate assessment and treatment strategies for the offenders.     

Social networks and the study of relations: networks as method,metaphor and form

Abstract

Networks have recently become fashionable in social analysis but most of the new network approaches have paid scant attention to the long history of reflections upon the potential of networks as an analytical device in the social sciences. In this paper we chart the developments in networking thinking in two disciplinary areas – social network analysis and social anthropology – in order to highlight the enduring difficulties and problems with network thinking as well as its potential. The first half of the paper explores the uses of network approaches over the past fifty years, situating theoretical and methodological questions in their broader disciplinary contexts. The authors then show how emerging issues from both bodies of work offer the promise of new kinds of networking thinking.