Race, conventional crime, and criminal justice: The declining importance of skin color

Blacks in the United States are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated in numbers disproportionate to their percentage of the population. One explanation is that racial discrimination against Blacks pervades the American system of criminal justice. This study examined the nature and extent of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system by evaluating five propositions using data from extant literature. Little evidence was found to support the allegation that the criminal justice system systematically discriminates against Blacks.     

Effortful control,negative emotionality,and juvenile recidivism: an empirical test of DeLisi and Vaughn’s temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior

Recently, DeLisi and Vaughn articulated a temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior which they expressed as the first within criminology to use temperament explicitly, and as the exclusive explanatory construct of both antisocial behavior and negative interactions with the criminal justice system. We provide an initial empirical test of the theory’s two main constructs of effortful control (EC) and negative emotionality (NE) with respect to juvenile offending using a sample of 27,712 adjudicated youth. Cox regressions reveal youth with lower levels of EC and those with higher NE re-offend faster, controlling for demographics plus many prominent risk factors. Furthermore, the approximately 5% of youth at the extreme ends of both low EC and high NE evidence higher recidivism rates and faster time to failure. The findings show strong initial support for temperament theory, and we discuss relevancy for future research, prevention and intervention.     

Problems in the measurement of dynamic risk factors in sexual offenders

ABSTRACT

Having valid and reliable tools to measure ‘dynamic’ risk factors and minimising assessor bias is said to be critical in helping to make decisions regarding how individuals convicted of committing crime should be managed and treated, and how resources within the Justice System should be prioritised. This article outlines the problems and issues associated with the measurement of such putative dynamic risk factors (see Ward, 2015 Ward, T. (2015). Dynamic risk factors: Scientific kinds or predictive constructs. Psychology, Crime and Law, 22(01-02), 2–16. [Google Scholar] [Dynamic risk factors: Scientific kinds or predictive constructs. Psychology, Crime and Law.], 22(1–2), 2–16], this volume for a critique of current conceptions of these), and suggests ways of ensuring that measurement is conducted in the most appropriate way for the population being dealt with. Specifically, we would note that the evidence suggests that psychometric analysis, and structured professional judgment can be used to measure dynamic psychological problems using some tools within some samples. However, their use can be hindered by a number of conceptual factors including how the tests are designed and used, their reliability and validity, the context in which they are used, and the samples used. Finally, we would note that interviews are also an important part in the process of dynamic assessment.     

Human Rights Law: Australia and Slovenia

The human rights legal framework of Australia and Slovenia are vastly different. This article explores the evolution of human rights laws of Slovenia and Australia. While the study and comparison of Australia and Slovenia is uncommon, and not often used as an example to highlight aspects of human rights, both states have a long history of cooperation. The first Slovenian reportedly arrived in Australian in 1855. Since then, and particularly following World War Two, there has been a steady stream of Slovenian’s migrating to Australia. Slovenia upon independence prepared a new constitution that reflected the democratic human rights of the European Union, in 1991, and ratified the European Convention on Human rights in 1994. This article highlights how the opportunity Slovenia had to develop a new constitution, they were able to include many human rights that are often found in legislation. Australia’s constitution came into effect in 1901. Being more than 100 years old, there has been no attempts to revise the Australian constitution and expand the current express human rights. This article will determine whether the European Union’s human rights laws have not only influenced Slovenia’s human rights laws, but also Australia’s. This article suggests that Australia has much to learn from the Slovene experience, but is constrained by its constitution and region. This article highlights how a state formed in recent times, has had the opportunity to develop a constitution that reflects modern day human rights while an older state with longer established democracy has fallen behind in its protection of human rights.     

A State Census of Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits: Comparing Forensic DNA Testing Outcomes by Geographic and Population Density Characteristics*

A growing number of U.S. cities and states have large numbers of unsubmitted sexual assault kits (SAKs) in police property facilities. Prior research conducted in large urban cities has found that testing these kits yields a sizable number of DNA profiles that meet FBI eligibility for upload to the national criminal DNA database CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and uploaded profiles return a substantial number of matches to existing criminal profiles in CODIS. It is unknown whether these findings are unique to large urban cities with high crime rates. The purpose of current study was to document forensic testing outcomes from a state census of previously unsubmitted SAKs, which included large urban–suburban centers, as well as smaller cities and rural counties. We inventoried all previously unsubmitted SAKs in Michigan (N = 3422 SAKs) and submitted all kits for forensic DNA testing. A total of n = 1239 SAKs had a DNA profile that met eligibility for upload into CODIS (36.2% unconditional, 56.5% conditional CODIS eligible rate) and n = 585 SAKs yielded a CODIS Hit (17.1% unconditional, 47.2% conditional CODIS hit rate). These rates are consistent with studies from urban areas suggesting approximately half of SAKs tested yield a CODIS profile and approximately half of those uploaded profiles yield a hit. We compared SAK forensic testing outcomes by geographic and population density characteristics, and although rates were often higher in larger metropolitan areas, the obtained rates in micropolitan and rural areas suggest testing is warranted in smaller jurisdictions as well.     

Development of a psychometric typology of child molesters: implications for treatment

Cluster analysis of psychometric data measuring offense-specific and socioadequacy problems from a sample of 437 untreated child molesters was carried out. This analysis identified three clusters: Cluster 1 contained men who reported low levels of self-esteem and intimacy and an inability to deal with negative emotions, Cluster 2 contained men who demonstrated a poor understanding of the harm caused to their victims, and Cluster 3 contained offenders who had global offense-specific and socioaffective problems. However, there were no significant differences among the three groups of child molesters in their offense characteristics or their risk levels to support the clustering. It is suggested that these psychological clusters have implications for differing treatment interventions with these three groups.     

Validity and reliability of the Self-Report Delinquency among a sample of at-risk youths

Self-Report Delinquency scales have formed the basis of much understanding of juvenile delinquency today, but further improvement and extensive measurement research on self-report measures of crime are needed. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the shorter general delinquency scale version of the classic commonly used Self-Report of Delinquency (SRD) measure created for the original National Youth Survey (NYS) using a sample (N = 412) of male (n = 200) and female (n = 212) at-risk Portuguese youths. The shorter version of the SRD demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability, namely in terms of its latent one-factor structure, internal consistency, convergent validity, divergent validity, concurrent criterion validity and discriminant groups validity that overall justifies its use among this population. The shorter general delinquency scale version of the SRD is a valid and reliable measure from a modern psychometric perspective that can be used with at-risk youths.     

The Criminology of Homicidal Ideation: Associations with Criminal Careers and Psychopathology among Federal Correctional Clients

Homicidal ideation is a clinical construct that is almost entirely absent from the criminological literature. The current study examines the criminology of homicidal ideation using archival data from a population of federal supervised release felons from the Midwestern United States. ANOVA, Poisson regression, negative binomial regression, and epidemiological tables indicated that 12 % of offenders experienced evidence of homicidal ideation and these offenders perpetrated more murders, attempted murders, kidnappings, armed robberies, and aggravated assaults, had more severe and extensive psychopathology, and were more likely to be chronic offenders. Homicidal ideation is an important construct that should be studied more not only for its association with murder, but as an omnibus risk factor for severe criminality.     

Service Providers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of the Legal Service Needs of Crime Victims

Currently, there is an expansive body of victimization literature within the criminal justice field, which covers a number of essential topics such as victimization trends and patterns, short-and long-term effects of victimization, as well as specific effects of intimate partner violence and sexual assault victimization. Despite the variety of topics examined by empirical research, there is a noticeable lack of discourse pertaining to civil legal services for crime victims. This study is among the first to take a close look at civil legal services for victims by exploring three uncharted areas including: (a) service providers’ knowledge of civil legal services, (b) the legal needs of crime victims and available services, and (c) barriers between victims and accessing civil legal services. Using quantitative and qualitative data from interviews with service providers, policy implications and future research recommendations are discussed.