摘要:

The notion of ‘cognitive distortion’ has become enshrined in the offender treatment literature over the last 20 years, yet the concept still suffers from a lack of definitional clarity. In particular, the umbrella term is often used to refer to offence‐supportive attitudes, cognitive processing during an offence sequence, as well aspost‐hocneutralisations or excuses for offending. Of these very different processes, the last one might be the most popular and problematic. Treatment programmes for offenders often aim to eliminate excuse‐making as a primary aim, and decision‐makers place great weight on the degree to which an offender “takes responsibility” for his or her offending. Yet, the relationship between these after‐the‐fact explanations and future crime is not at all clear. Indeed, the designation ofpost hocexcuses as criminogenic may itself be an example of fallacious thinking. After all, outside of the criminal context,post hocexcuse‐making is widely viewed as normal, healthy, and socially rewarded behaviour. We argue that the open exploration of contextual risk factors leading to offending can help in the identification of criminogenic factors as well as strengthen the therapeutic experience. Rather than insist that offenders take “responsibility” for the past, we suggest that efforts should focus on helping them take responsibility for the future, shifting the therapeutic focus frompost hocexcuses to offence‐supportive attitudes and underlying cognitive schemas that are empiric

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532506X114608

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose. This paper considers the criminogenic needs of women offenders, raising the question of whether there may be women‐specific criminogenic needs.Arguments. The risk‐needs model of offending has become increasingly influential in both research and practice. Simply, the risk–needs model holds that some aspects of an individual's functioning are risk factors for offending. The distinction can be drawn between static and dynamic risk factors: the former are historical, the latter reflect current functioning and are amenable to change. These dynamic attributes linked to offending – such as financial status, emotional problems, and substance use – are referred to ascriminogenic needs. Needs assessment instruments, such as the Level of Service Inventory‐Revised (LSI‐R; Andrews&Bonta, 1995) have been developed to assess criminogenic need and predict risk of offending. Much of the research informing the risk–needs model has been carried out with male offenders, leading to questions about the criminogenic needs of women offenders and whether there may be women‐specific criminogenic needs.Conclusion. An overview of typical criminogenic needs, as assessed by the LSI‐R, suggests that there are probably common needs for male and female offenders. A common need does not imply that aetiology or level of importance of that need is the same for men and women, while some events, such as physical and sexual abuse, are arguably criminogenic needs for women. The implications for practice and research of understanding more about women‐specific criminogenic

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X57991

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose. The predictive validity of the psychopathy checklist‐youth version (PCL:YV) and Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) for juvenile offenders were compared to examine whether a broad needs–risk tool predicted violence better than a focused individual assessment of psychopathy.Methods. 94 adolescents from residential and secure units were interviewed and assessed using the PCL:YV and YLS/CMI. Total scores were retrospectively applied to staff‐recorded incidents of violence, total number of charges and convictions and formally recorded assaults. The predictive accuracy of each tool was assessed using correlational and receiver operator characteristic analyses.Results. The PCL:YV was a better predictor of staff‐recorded violence than the YLS/CMI; both instruments were similar in their ability to predict total number of charges and convictions and assaults. When subdivided by gender, the correlations for predicting staff recorded violence in male participants were significantly higher than for female participants for both test instruments. Both instruments were broadly equivalent in their association with assaults and charges and convictions by gender.Conclusion. The PCL:YV is a better predictor of recorded violence than the YLS/CMI, but for charges and convictions and assaults, the YLS/CMI and PCL:YV were comparable for UK adolescent offenders. When recalculated to exclude the likelihood of predictor–criterion overlap, the results were the same. These findings are discussed in relation to the value of using risk–needs assessment instruments as compared with scales with a more psychopathological and person

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X68719

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Aim. To describe the implications of a Court of Appeal murder case involving a 15‐year‐old youth. His attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not identified at trial, but 8 years later it was and his conviction was quashed.Method. An analysis of the judgments by the Court of Appeal at an earlier hearing (1997) and in 2004, together with a review of how the relatively new diagnostic concept of ADHD, can be employed to aid assessment of important vulnerable qualities.Results. One of the primary effects of ADHD in the case was to ‘affect’ the IQ scores, making it look as if the defendant was suffering from mental retardation and so masking his other more relevant vulnerabilities.Conclusions. ADHD symptoms are relevant to contended issues around adverse inferences and fitness to plead and stand trial. A comprehensive ADHD assessment, including neuropsychological testing, is necessary where there are indications of a history of child

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X58954

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

1Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of the Criminal Attribution Inventory's (CRAI) normative instructional set (respondent's perception of theaveragetype of crime) in assessing criminal attributions.Methods. To determine the role of the CRAI's instructional set, a content‐equivalent, personal instructional CRAI set was created. Correlations with an established criminal attribution scale (Blame Attribution Inventory [BAI]) and a measure of socially desirable responding (Paulhus deception scales [PDS]) were calculated. Partial correlations between the CRAI and BAI, controlling for the personal instructional CRAI, were calculated. Partial correlations were also calculated between the personal instructional CRAI and the BAI, controlling for socially desirable responding.Results. The normative instructional CRAI assessed similar domains as the personal instructional CRAI and made an additional contribution to criminal attributions. Socially desirable responding was minimally related to the normative instructional CRAI and could not account for the differences between the normative and personal instructional CRAI sets.Conclusions. The CRAI's normative instructional set assesses personal criminal attributions within the external blame domain assessing unique attributional variance. Such an instructional set has utility in assessing criminal attributions among those offenders who deny their offence

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X67585

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose. The danger of stereotyping child sex offenders is that such stereotypes allow suspected abusers to avoid detection. The current study investigated whether professionals involved in the treatment of sex offenders endorsed less stereotypes of sex offenders than an ‘inexperienced’ group of teachers.Method. Sixty professionals involved with sex offenders and 71 school teachers completed three questionnaires: the Stereotypes of Sex Offenders Questionnaire; Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders Scale (Hogue, 1993) and Knowledge of Child Abuse Questionnaire (created for the present study). Mediation analyses were then conducted on the relationships between the scores.Results. Experienced professionals endorsed negative stereotypes less, had more positive attitudes towards sex offenders and expressed more knowledge of child abuse than the inexperienced group. Further, attitudes towards child sexual offenders were significantly mediated by the effect of knowledge of child abuse on group (experienced, inexperienced). However, there was no significant mediation for the effect of knowledge on child abuse on the relationship between group (experienced, inexperienced) and stereotype consistent scores.Conclusions. The less knowledge of child abuse, the more stereotypical one may be about potential child sex offenders. Thus, it may be useful to increase knowledge on child abuse in inexperienced groups to counter stereotyping and allow greater detection of offend

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X68818

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose. The purpose of this paper was, firstly, to replicate Porter and Alison's (2001) leadership behaviour scale and, secondly, to extend this research through the use of a new sample of group robbery offenders. This will provide further support for the use of such a scale to identify potential criminal leaders and also offer insight into the dynamics and hierarchical structures among group robbery offenders.Methods. One hundred and five cases of group robbery, yielding 290 offender behaviour profiles, were coded according to each offender's level of involvement at each chronological offence stage in terms of decisions, actions and orders. A multidimensional scaling procedure examined the combinations of these, and produced a partially ordered scale of leadership behaviour with the defining aspects being initial decision making and involvement in the offence outcome.Results. The scale identified potential leaders in 103 of the 105 robbery groups, where these leaders scored higher than non‐leaders on the leadership behaviour scale. Two‐thirds of groups comprised a dichotomous leader/follower distinction, whilst the remaining third comprised more dispersed, linear and lieutenant hierarchies.Conclusions. These results further support the leader behaviour scale originally proposed by Porter and Alison (2001). The results also offer insight into the processes by which robberies evolve; namely, through a series of decisions of one individual who then either participates first or gives orders to his fellow group members to participate, although the former seems far more frequ

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X68692

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose.This paper combines material from domestic violence, animal aggression and neuropsychology research to construct a model to account for some domestic violence offending. The basic hypothesis is that some incidents of domestic violence can be understood in terms of the operation of primitive defence mechanisms, which are also implicated in panic attack. Perceptions of threat from an intimate partner could potentially trigger these same neuronal circuits thus releasing violent and emotionally charged responses at the spouse.Arguments. The hypothesis is based on:(a)the marked anatomical/physiological overlap of the neural substrates underlying defensive aggression and those implicated in panic attack,(b)reports of panic attack‐like symptoms experienced by perpetrators during domestic violence assaults,(b)experimental evidence that demonstrates that standard physiological challenges can elicit panic/anger attacks in some domestic violence offenders (Georgeet al., 2000).Conclusions. Panic/anger attack represents inappropriate activation of affective defensive responses due to inappropriate control of critical midbrain sites by the amygdala and/or prefrontal cortex. Panic attacks could be potentially suppressed by increasing the capacity of the prefrontal cortex to inhibit the midbrain affective defence mechanisms. However, learnt associations between stimuli and panic responses are difficult to extinguish and panic responses typically show sensitization overtime. The same may be true of the behaviour of domestic violence offenders. There is a need to establish the typology of the subgroup of offenders who perpetrate panic attack related domestic violenc

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X80788

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose. In a series of studies, the authors developed the Victim Concern Scale (VCS) to assess levels of concern for diverse types of crime victims. The goal was to derive a psychometrically sound instrument and to assess victim concern in relation to other crime‐related attitudes and victim advocacy endorsements.Methods. Through several scale iterations, participant responses to the VCS were examined. Participants also completed measures of empathy and provided judgments about specific victim/crime scenarios. In addition, in two large samples (college [N= 276] and community [N= 478]), victim concern was compared with other attitudes, attributions and participant demographics.Results. Participants readily distinguished among different victims. Four factors emerged from the VCS. Raters endorsed the highest levels of concern for victims of violent crimes and the lowest level for ‘culpable’ victims. Women and older respondents showed higher levels of concern across all categories of victims. Both victim concern and emotional empathy influenced advocacy responses to victimization. Victim concern was unrelated to such traits and attitudes as authoritarianism, political ideology or punishment goals; moreover, a high level of concern for victims did not preclude endorsement of rehabilitative goals for offenders.Conclusions. The VCS appears to be a valid instrument for assessing levels of concern for victims. It differs meaningfully from measures of general empathy. The VCS could be used to assess differential attitudes across demographic groups or as a measure of change following exposure to educational or other persuasive interve

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X79573

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Purpose. The present survey examined the beliefs of different occupational groups (police officers, social workers, teachers) and members of the general public about (i) cues to deception in young children (5‐ to 6‐year‐olds), adolescents (14‐ to 15‐year‐olds) and adults, and (ii) the underlying processes (emotions, cognitive load and attempted verbal and behavioural control), which may explain why cues to deceit do occur.Method. Two hundred and six participants completed a ‘cues to deception’ and ‘processes underlying deception’ questionnaire for three different age groups (young children, adolescents and adults).Results and discussion. The survey revealed that participants believed that liars are nervous, have difficulties in formulating their lies and do not fully endorse their lies. In general, participants associated more cues with deception than seems justified on the basis of deception literature. Participants generally associated the same cues to deceit for all three age groups but, when differences between age groups did emerge, this was most likely to be amongst teachers. Although participants believed that adults control their speech and behaviour more when they lie than adolescents and young children do, this did not result in participants believing that adults exhibit fewer cues to deceit. No major occupational differences emerged, although out of the four participating groups, teachers were most likely to associate cues with deceptio

ISSN:1355-3259    

DOI:10.1348/135532505X60816

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2006

数据来源: WILEY