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No description available.

It has been reported that there is an over-representation of people with learning disabilities in prison populations. Various explanations have been offered for this including theories that people with disabilities are susceptible to criminal behaviour, and that they receive different treatment within the justice system. There is no evidence of over-representation of people with learning disabilities in the UK penal system although evidence does suggest that there are a significant number of prisoners with borderline learning disabilities who are psychologically vulnerable. This research set out to examine current levels of contact that psychiatrists have with various criminal justice agencies, as well as exploring the attitudes and beliefs of other criminal justice workers in order to assess current arrangements of treatment and care for offenders who have a learning disability. 791 consultant psychiatrists registered in four sections of the Royal College of Psychiatry were surveyed to detect current levels of contact with five criminal justice agencies, and also to assess their levels of involvement with the diversion of mentally disordered offenders into health care provision. Responses indicated that forensic and general psychiatrists had the highest levels of contact with criminal justice agencies, although there was also limited contact with child and learning disability psychiatrists. Forensic psychiatrists were also shown to be the group who were most likely to be involved with diversion schemes, and there was some evidence to suggest that respondents were unhappy with current arrangements for diversion because of bed and staff shortages. An attitude survey concerning offenders with learning disabilities was distributed to 100 criminal justice professionals (judges, magistrates, police and appropriate adults). 28 of these respondents also participated in semi-structured interviews which provided qualitative data to supplement the findings of the attitude survey. These studies provided evidence that criminal justice professionals were not eager to assign special rights to people because of their learning disability status, but instead were confident that the present legal system could accommodate the needs of offenders with learning disabilities in the present system. However, significant concern was raised by all respondents that specific training in needed to address learning disability issues before this can be fully achieved. There was little evidence found to support `susceptibility' theories of learning disability offending, although there was some evidence which gave support to the `different treatment' hypothesis.

Policing, the enforcement of law and the keeping of order within society, is continually and increasingly under the public microscope. There are many varied and conflicting work doctrines, the control of which is partly directed by the chief officers that lead the police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For the police service, the assessment of the work that is carried out has to be justified before an increasingly large and critical audience. Within England and Wales, a relatively recent change in Government has itself led to a change of focus on policing issues and political examination from hitherto unknown quarters. Whilst policing in an environment of change and increasing political influence, individual police forces and their members are being increasingly held to account, not only for their performance but their actions leading to that performance. This research examines the problematic nature of measuring and developing performance within a police service that not only expects, but demands personal development and individual growth in an occupation seeking to become revered as a profession. The performance of the individual during the two year probation period is closely examined and has been re-designed within this research. It is suggested that during this period the focus of any police officer should be on the needs of the individual within a relevant policing context, not on the performance requirements of the policing environment that officer serves. The concepts of competency, competence, behaviour, skills and performance related tasks are all closely scrutinised and reviewed with a focal aim of increasing the effectiveness of police assessment. The links between these standard setting processes and performance assessment are examined. This will also assist the service members to become proclaimed as the professional police officers they seek to be. This work has remained iterative and qualitative throughout the research. Members of all police forces have been consulted and data is drawn from them all. Within national policing, each of the recommendations that have stemmed from the research have been tested and found to be agreeable. This agreement was drawn from members of the federated ranks (those lower and perhaps more pragmatic in the organisation), members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and the leaders and members of the strategic boards of the organisations concerned. It is recognised that for some, the recommendations are too progressive and could be viewed as 'revolutionary' and a step too far. The findings that emerge from this research involve at a strategic level recommending an additional role for the HMIC (Training) as a clearing house for police training research functions, the analysis of the role of the forthcoming police National Training Organisation. At a tactical level the research outlines a three dimensional model of police assessment to be used within any emerging police assessment/competency framework models as well as outlining how appraisals should embrace the advantages of including European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) processes within the structure of police officer assessment. This research recognises the link between organisational competence and the competence of individual employees and make these explicit within the overall umbrella of 'performance management'.

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This thesis exarrunes the nature and extent of psychopathy in adolescent offenders with a history of physical aggression, and the implications of psychopathy for institutional behaviour and motivation to change. The sample included female participants. There were three parts to the study. Part 1 examined the nature and extent of psychopathy in the sample using the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (pCL-YV; Forth, Kosson & Hare, 2003) (n=79). Scores were lower than found in previous studies with adolescents. There was no significant relationship between age and psychopathy, nor were there significant gender differences in total PCL-YV scores. There was a significant positive correlation between psychopathy and previous offending behaviour. Part 2 of the study (n=74) examined institutional misconduct. There was a significant relationship between psychopathy and institutional misconduct, physical aggression, verbal aggression and breach of rules. The predictive validity of the PCL-YV was compared with the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youths (SA VRY; Borum, Bartel & Forth, 2003) and the Youth Level of Service Inventory/Case Management Inventory (YLSI/ CMI; Hoge and Andrews, 1994) in relation to institutional misconduct. The SA VRY emerged as the strongest predictor, supporting the utility of this tool as a short-term predictor of risk. The predictive validity of these tools was not supported for female participants. This highlights the need for gender-sensitive approaches to risk assessment. The nature and extent of bullying was examined usmg the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist Hospital Version (Revised) (Ireland, 2004). (n=66). There was a significant relationship between psychopathy and self-reported bullying in females, but not in males. This suggests there are gender differences in the expression of psychopathy, with psychopathy being strongly related to the perpetration of psychological harm in females. Part 3 of the study examined the relationship between psychopathy and motivation to change, as measured with the Stages of Change Scale (n=66). No significant relationship was found. A follow up interview study of high and low psychopathy participants (n=28) explored adolescent offenders' attitudes to change. Although the responses of low and high psychopathy participants were similar, high psychopathy participants more often reported difficulties applying skills learned. This highlights the need to design treatment that emphasises the application of skills with high psychopathy offenders. Overall, the findings suggest that psychopathy is evident in adolescents and is related to antisocial behaviour, although this may be expressed differently in males and females. Psychopathic offenders appear to express motivation to change so attempts should be made to offer treatment to this group and reduce their risk of harm to others.

This thesis provides an exploration into the extent to which different types of care environment are criminogenic. It investigates: kinship; foster; and residential care, from the perspectives of care leavers, members of the Leaving Care Team [LCT] and carers. The research looks at experiences: before; during; and after care, with quantitative risk assessment and semi structured interviews. The overall aim of this thesis is to evaluate the extent to which different types of care environments have the propensity to be criminogenic and highlight what can be changed to improve life chances of looked after children, free from offending. In order to do so, the following research questions were central: are care environments criminogenic?; to what extent does the Risk and Protective Factors Paradigm [RPFP] successfully measure this?;to what extent does attachment to significant others help answer this question?; and what, if anything, can be done to reduce criminogenic risk in care?The main findings within the risk assessments showed residential placements to be the most criminogenic, with the highest increase of risk ‘during care’ and reduction after care. Foster placements had constant risk levels, showing concerns with the ability of foster care to reduce risk. With kinship placements being seen as the least criminogenic. All participant groups, showed Living arrangements, Emotional/Mental Health and Family/Personal Relationships to be the biggest influence to offending. The central findings from the semi structured interviews were as follows: attachment underpins the experience of risk; Clear differences within institutional versus family settings, with long term foster care offering same outcomes as kinship; having ‘no one to let down’ was the most cited reason for offending. The recommendations were as follows: Recommendations for research: urgent prospective longitudinal studies focused on attachment in care and its consequences on risk and offending. Recommendations for practitioners: focus on attachment; listen to the cared-for and carers more closely and consistently. Recommendations for policy makers: invest in and plan for high quality care for all placements; transform residential care, moving away from authoritarian parenting practices; have a 'care-revolution' in terms of attachment-focussed training, monitoring and practice; mainstream family preservation/early intervention programmes (alternatives to care) and massively recruit foster- and kin-carers.

The explanations of the remarkable decrease in crime that has been reported over the last two decades in a number of western countries thus far are assessed here as having been limited and unconvincing. In the light of these limitations, this thesis explores three under researched factors and their potential impact on recorded and reported crime rates in England and Wales. First, the contribution of security measures to the fall in crime is evaluated. The likely impact of security measures is found to be limited to few crime categories and is seen as an unlikely major determinant of the crime drop. Second, the impact that the recent increase of immigration into the UK may have had on recorded crime levels is examined. European immigrants in particular are found to be associated with lower crime rates, especially with low rates of robberies and assaults. However, the link between immigration and crime is noted to highly fluctuate depending on outside factors and cannot account for the cross-national relative uniformity of the crime drop. Third, changes in volume and distribution of repeat victimisation are explored. Analyses demonstrate that a large proportion of the decrease in crime can be attributed to a drop in repeat events against the same targets. The thesis concludes with suggestions about further research likely to clarify the crime drop and hence to identify mechanisms whereby it might be sustained.

This thesis is based on the findings from an ethnographic study of young people living in a social housing estate, Hillview, in the South of England conducted between July 2006 and December 2007. It is based on findings generated from a combination of observation data, interviews, focus groups and documentary research. The principle aim of the research was to examine the impact of community safety policies and strategies from the perspective of the young people in this neighbourhood.