An integrated case formulation approach in forensic practice: the contribution of Occupational Therapy to risk assessment and formulation

Forensic services focus on risk reduction and extol the value of multidisciplinary working. Due to the complex relationship of personality disorder and risk, a multidisciplinary approach to risk assessment, formulation, management and reduction is essential. Occupational Therapists provide a unique perspective; however, current literature pertaining to the contribution of Occupational Therapy is negligible. This paper aims to initiate discussion of the value of Occupational Therapy contributions to risk assessment and formulation with personality disordered offenders. A new approach is described that integrates occupational adaptation and multiple sequential functional analysis to provide a structured framework for Occupational Therapy risk assessment and formulation. A single case report is presented to demonstrate the advantages of the approach for identifying offenders’ strengths and difficulties, predicting risk of reoffending, identifying offence paralleling behaviour and informing and evaluating efficacy of intervention, thereby supporting the aims of forensic practice settings to assess, manage, treat and reduce risk.     

Exploring the criminal histories of stranger sexual killers

Although sexual homicide is receiving increasing research attention, few studies have examined the criminal histories of sexual killers in any detail. This study examined the criminal histories of 81 British stranger sexual killers to determine whether they were generalist, specialists or both and whether their criminal histories reflected violent, sexual, marginality and over control pathways. Results found most stranger sexual killers were generalist offenders and sexual homicide was part of a varied criminal repertoire and non-sexual crimes predominate. This ‘antisocial orientation’ means future offending may not be limited to sexual violence. Criminal histories reflected the violent, sexual, marginality and over control pathways, but offenders in the violent pathway were more criminally orientated. The clinical and investigative implications of these findings were considered as they suggest knowledge of the criminal histories of stranger sexual killers is an important consideration for criminal justice professionals.     

“Keeping Children Safe”: the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme in Scotland

Abstract

This article describes the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme in Scotland known as Keeping Children Safe (KCS), and the wider community engagement strategy developed by the charity Stop it Now! Scotland. The author coordinated the disclosure scheme on behalf of Police Scotland from November 2011 to March 2014. He is employed by Stop it Now! Scotland as a project officer. In 2011, Stop it Now! Scotland took over responsibility for the coordination of the KCS scheme from the Police. This work is embedded within a community engagement strategy known as the Upstream Project. The Upstream Project provides information to “community-facing” agencies to use in their interface with groups or individual adults in the community. To achieve this, a prevention toolkit was developed which includes a range of practical information and resources which adults can use to identify potential risk and take steps to prevent sexual abuse from occurring.     

CHANGES IN POLICE NOTIFICATION FOR RAPE, 1973–2000*

We use data from the National Crime Survey (NCS) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to explore changes in the likelihood of police notification in rape incidents. The findings indicate that during the 1970s and 1980s there was a significant increase in police notification by third parties and by victims raped by non‐strangers. During the 1990s the increase in rates of police notification in rape incidents accelerated and broadened in scope. In addition, differences in police notification between stranger and non‐stranger incidents diminished during the 1970s and 1980s and, by the early 1990s there was no significant difference.     

秦汉家族成员连坐考略

秦汉统治者为巩固其统治,继承了产生于奴隶社会的连坐法,并对其加以发展。秦汉家族成员的连坐涉及到父子、夫妻、兄弟姐妹、祖孙、从兄、宗族等各种亲属关系。与连坐有关的罪名有盗窃、罪犯逃亡、挟书、谋反、巫蛊、祝诅、首匿、见知不举、诽谤、妄言、非所宜言、妖言、降敌等。连坐法的施行,是封建统治者维护其统治的需要,也是封建地主家族争权夺利的工具。     

情节加重犯若干问题研究

加重犯分为结果加重犯与情节加重犯两类,二者的区别在于:结果加重犯的加重结果超出了基本构成要件的范畴,而情节加重犯的加重情节则在基本构成要件之内;情节加重犯之加重情节是量刑情节而非定罪情节;情节加重犯是单纯一罪。     

VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE … BUT HOW? A DECISION‐MAKING PERSPECTIVE ON THE VICTIM–OFFENDER OVERLAP*

This study applied a decision‐making perspective to examine the causal mechanisms underlying the relation between violent victimization and offending. We theorized that having been victimized affects an individual's appraisal of subsequent potentially conflictive situations in such a way that victims become more attuned toward the benefits of violence perpetration than toward its costs. Furthermore, we argued that this altered appraisal mediates the relation between violent victimization and violent offending. We tested these hypotheses by using data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths, a longitudinal study of Swiss youth (N = 1,013; 11–15 years of age). In line with expectations, path analysis results showed that prior victimization influenced the appraisal of decision‐making situations that, in turn, predicted subsequent self‐reported violent offending. Importantly, these mediation effects held when controlling for a variety of time‐stable factors, such as self‐control and risky activities, as well as prior victimization and delinquency. Implications for research and theorizing on the victim–offender overlap are elaborated in the discussion.     

Mass Reentry,Neighborhood Context and Recidivism: Examining How the Distribution of Parolees Within and Across Neighborhoods Impacts Recidivism

Recent scholarship focuses on the role neighborhood context plays in reoffending. These studies lack an examination of how the size of the parolee population at the neighborhood-level impacts individual recidivism. We examine how the size and clustering of parolee populations within and across neighborhoods impacts individual-level recidivism. Using data from parolees returning to three Ohio cities from 2000 to 2009, we examine how concentrations of parolees in neighborhoods and in the surrounding neighborhoods impact the likelihood of reoffending. We also examine whether parolee clustering conditions the relationship between neighborhood-level characteristics and recidivism. Results show concentrated reentry increases recidivism, while parolees in stable neighborhoods are less likely to recidivate. Also, the positive effect of parolee concentration is tempered when parolees return to stable neighborhoods. These findings suggest that augmenting resources available in neighborhoods saturated by parolees, as well as bolstering residential stability in these same neighborhoods might reduce reoffending.     

Desistance and dynamic risk factors belong together

ABSTRACT

Depending on definitions, dynamic risk factors and desistance are either highly intertwined or aligned with distinctly separate paradigms. This paper describes and critiques each concept, and then reviews research on how they may be linked, including some preliminary findings from a longitudinal study of the early phases of desistance in high-risk offenders. I argue that seeking to understand how reductions in dynamic risk work together with the development of the psychological components of desistance will shed the most light on how offenders move from persistence to the maintenance of desistance.     

Screening for mental disorder using the UK national offender assessment system

Probation officers have large caseloads with high levels of psychiatric morbidity but receive minimal training in recognising/managing mental health problems. In the UK, there is no national screening procedure for mental illness among offenders that is considered effective. This study’s aim was to develop a screening system for mental/personality disorders using the Offender Assessment System. Seven screens for mental disorder were developed using items from assessments on 574 prisoners: alcohol misuse, drug dependence, antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, learning difficulties, psychosis and severe mood disturbance. Internal validation showed that the screens performed well across accuracy estimates. Prevalence of mental disorders identified with the screens in test and validation samples was similar. However, the psychopathy and severe mood disturbance screens may be more effective in screening for true negatives. The screens are an economical method for prioritising mental health needs of the UK prison and probation population using routinely collected data.