The generalized instructional set of the Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI): socially desirable responding and faking

Accurate assessment of criminal attributions can assist in explaining crime and identifying offender treatment targets. The current study examines the relationship between a new method of assessing the cognition of criminal attributes, the Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI) and a measure of socially desirable responding. 300 participants including incarcerated offenders, released offenders, sex offenders, and university students participated in the current study. Results indicate minimal relationships between socially desirable responding and the CRAI. In a fake-good testing situation, the faking index had appropriate sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive power in identifying fake-good responses. The CRAI's instructional set of general observation as opposed to self-representation appears to limit socially desirable responding and also allows the CRAI to be administered to nonoffender populations.     

Debt,Incarceration, and Re-entry: a Scoping Review

American Journal of Criminal Justice - People involved with the criminal justice system in the United States are disproportionately low-income and indebted. The experience of incarceration...     

Validation of the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Questionnaire

A validation study of the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Questionnaire (CSA-KQ) was conducted on a sample of 1712 non-empanelled jurors in the greater Sydney area, Australia. The CSA-KQ contains nine items derived from empirical findings on common misconceptions about typical features of abuse offences, children’s responses to child sexual abuse, and their ability to give reliable evidence. Study 1 tested the factor structure of the questionnaire in a sample of 843 non-empanelled jurors. The best model indicated by exploratory factor analysis had two factors: the Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children and Contextual Influences on the Report. Study 2 cross-validated the findings and tested the predictive validity of the CSA-KQ in a realistic simulated trial in which an 11-year-old complainant alleged abuse by her grandfather. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the findings of Study 1, showing strong reliability for each of the factors (ρ_y?=?0.70 to ρ_y?=?0.80) and for the CSA-KQ (ρ_y?=?0.76). CSA-KQ scores were significantly correlated with the perceived credibility of the complainant (r?=?0.23). Moreover, the CSA-KQ scores predicted verdict: jurors with greater knowledge about CSA were more likely to convict the defendant than jurors who knew less about CSA.     

Are women really difficult? Challenges and solutions in the care of women in secure services

Abstract

Concern about the approach to the care of women in secure hospitals led to radical Department of Health Guidance in 2002 and 2003. This paper explores the views and experience of senior clinicians and managers involved in delivering care through semi-structured interviews. The gendered nature of the therapeutic challenge and the complexity of the women in their care are both articulated as well as the extent to which respondents see themselves as having addressed clinical practice guidance. Service delivery is substantially informed by the ideas of relational security, attachment theory and the recovery model. Traditional concepts of security were considered unhelpful in the care of women. Reliance on respondents’ views as to the quality of care offered must remain limited in view of the continuing absence of corresponding clinical outcome data. However, their responses should inform amendments to current service organisation.     

Effective HRM Implementation by Line Managers: Relying on Various Sources of Support

We explore one of the key underlying mechanisms that mediate the HRM–performance link, namely HRM implementation by line managers. The purpose of our study is to examine the role of various sources of support in explaining effective HRM implementation by line managers. Results indicate that HR, supervisor, and coworker support are relevant in explaining line managers’ HR role performance. In addition, younger line managers and those with greater supervisory experience are found to perform better in their HR role. Hence, organizations should consider developing a broad support network to ensure effective implementation of HRM by line managers.     

Demanding Their Rights? Collective Identity and the Tactics of Older Persons’ Organisations at the UN

ABSTRACT

Recent scholarship in International Relations focuses on the tactics of international non-government organisations and transnational advocacy networks, with scholars mostly explaining the diverse and dynamic tactics of organisations working on similar issues. Based on multiple qualitative data sources, this article explores why the members of a transnational advocacy network, comprising organisations of, and representing, older persons, that are calling for a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons adopt tactics that are static, uniform and surprisingly softly-softly, despite their modest gains since the issue was put on the UN’s agenda nine years ago. The article demonstrates many of the existing explanations for tactical choices, but it extends what we know by importing the concept of collective identity from social movement studies. It argues that the older persons’ network has a weak collective identity that is conservative in nature, which influences the tactics deployed at the UN.     

The ‘us vs them’ mentality: a comparison of police cadets at different stages of their training

ABSTRACT

Any depiction of police culture includes a strong ‘us versus them’ element, but research has been unable to satisfactorily explain its development and evolution. In particular, very few studies have focused on the training period, between when an individual chooses a police career and his/her first day as an officer. A total of 1,979 pre-university students from seven colleges in Quebec (Canada) completed a self-administered survey where they had to answer general questions about the police followed by specific questions about four realistic videos of fictional police interventions involving use of force. Unsurprisingly, the analysis suggests that students in Police Technology tend to think they are more supportive of the police and the use of force than students in other programs. However, students in Police Technology increasingly indicate that the majority of people would report a more negative opinion than they have, suggesting that police candidates increasingly disidentify with the rest of the population.