Although some research has suggested that the use of a more humane, or empathic, interviewing style with suspected sex offenders is likely to bring about more admissions (Holmberg & Christianson, 2002; Kebbell, Hurran & Mazzerole, 2006; see also Kassin & Gudjonsson, 2004 for a review), much of this research has been conducted with offenders long after they had been interviewed by the police. Thus, the main aims of this thesis were to examine whether the use of empathy by interviewers had any measurable benefit during an interview as well as identifying interviewers’ beliefs and understanding about what empathy is. Chapter one outlines the impact of empirical research on investigative interviewing in recent decades, including the meaning and definitions of different question typologies and the way in which research could move forward. The chapter also details the advances in police training in England and Wales, including the Professionalising the Investigation Programme (PIP), designed to enhance and professionalise police investigations per se. The current literature concerning empathy and its efficacy in relation to investigative interviewing is reviewed in Chapter two. The chapter concludes with a summary outlining the lack of training for police officers in the area of empathy and proposes a more refined model for measuring empathy. Chapter three outlines the findings from an empirical study which focuses on police officers’ perceptions and the challenges associated with interviewing suspects of different types of crime. Interviews with suspects of crimes against children were shown to be the most difficult for police officers to conduct. Officers reported that they would show the least amount of empathy towards interviewees suspected of child rape. Furthermore, participants’ qualitative responses revealed that many officers did not believe empathy should be used at all in interviews with suspects, regardless of the crime. Chapter four examines the use of empathy and the impact of question type on the amount of Investigation Relevant Information (IRI) obtained by examining transcripts of actual police interviews with suspects of child rape. The use of appropriate questions led to significantly higher amounts of information elicited that may be relevant to the investigation, while empathy (calculated by counting the number of examples of spontaneous empathy, empathic opportunities that were continued) did not have any impact on the amount of IRI elicited. The study outlined in Chapter five extended this methodology and analysed the effects of empathy and question type on the amount of IRI obtained from interviews with suspects of three different high stakes crimes: adult murder; filicide; and child rape. As in the previous analysis (Chapter four), no direct effects of empathy on the amount of IRI elicited were found. However, in interviews classified as empathic, interviewers asked significantly more appropriate questions than they did in interviews classified as non-empathic, and significantly more items of IRI were elicited from appropriate questions. The study outlined in Chapter six investigates police officers’ beliefs about what determines the ‘quality’ of investigative interviews. The questionnaire consisted of four excerpts from real life interviews, which varied on two dimensions – the balance of appropriate to inappropriate question, and whether they contained examples of empathy. Analysis revealed that officers were mostly able to detect which interviews contained appropriate questions, and that they used the appropriateness of questions as a determinant of overall ‘quality’ in interviews. However, one reason why respondents may have used appropriate questions as a proxy for quality is that, as revealed by their qualitative responses, empathy was difficult to identify. The final Chapter provides an overview of the findings, outlines the limitations and challenges associated with this kind of research, suggests recommendations for future research and discusses the implications for police practice.

Education, training and employment (ETE) are considered of great importance to desistance from crime and the rehabilitation of the offender (Clarke, 2010; Farrall, 2002; SEU: 2002). This study sets out to investigate the use and success of such an intervention in a local Probation Trust area, with a convenience sample drawn from a population of adult offenders (aged 18 years+). It makes use of a triangulation (mixed) methodology conducted through a series of assisted questionnaires undertaken with offenders and semi-structured interviews, with both offenders and staff members, to better evaluate the success of such a programme, as well as assessing the experience and understanding of the individual participants. Data collected during the assisted questionnaire – both in specific answers and open conversation – and in the follow-up interviews suggest a positive experience for the individual. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the provision of ETE provides for a clear and supportive service, which helps the individual to move away from crime in an informed and positive manner. This is a finding supportive of earlier work completed in the field suggesting that desistance is a process of moving away from crime and not the end result (Laub and Sampson 2001). Much of the evidence points towards a greater concentration upon those outcomes which are not always seen as being target led or funding-related, which have often been termed as soft skills and soft-outcomes. Indeed, a number of the findings of this study are reflective of those reported by McNeill and Weaver (2010: 6), providing for honesty and clarity; informal and respectful relationships; recognising the importance of the social for the individual. It is believed that these similarities only strengthen the conclusions drawn within the thesis. Consequently, the thesis observes ETE as a service which supports desistance through one-to-one engagement, treating the offender as an individual in need of assistance and guidance which focuses on the future rather than the past, and identifies the need to replace a focus upon risk with a one-to-one desistance focused management as the way forward for the probation service.

This thesis presents a series of studies that explore the creation of an autism friendly environment within the Criminal Justice System. The first study explored the perception and understanding of police officers regarding autism. It was found that although police officers have some knowledge of the traits of Autism Spectrum Disorder, they fail to accommodate for these when planning a witness or a suspect interview. Appropriate Adults support vulnerable suspects in custody and the second study found that Appropriate Adults also failed to apply what they know about autism to their work. However, the study revealed instances where the characteristics of autism can damage the progress of an interview. Hence, the study concluded that to be effective, Appropriate Adults must monitor behaviours which may arise as a result of internal characteristics. Study 3 examined how people from the higher end of the autism spectrum understand the current caution. It was found that people with autism performed comparably to those from the general population. Overall both populations where not very good at explaining the caution in full, and performed poorly when explaining its function. An alternative version of the caution was devised for study 4, however this had mixed results. It was useful to participants when they explained the caution one sentence at a time, and helped in the understanding of its function. However, there were damaging effects. People with autism performed poorly when explaining the sentence which informs that what is said can used as evidence. Study 5 attended to people from the higher end of the autism spectrum as witnesses. Results showed that the Mental Reinstatement of Context and Sketch plan Mental Reinstatement of Context both had a positive impact on the recall of information. Additionally the use of memory jogs, a colour search and an alphabet search helped people with autism to provide additional pieces of information, particularly relating to person descriptors.

The role of developmental and situational factors in offender risk assessment and risk management has been largely ignored. This may be due to the fact that developmental and situational theories mainly focus upon explaining how offenders transition in and out of offending yet provide little information regarding the underlying process of change. Offender narratives, on the other hand, may provide insight into the manner in which offenders interpret and make sense of the world around them that may account for that change. This paper discusses the contributions of developmental and situational theories in understanding offending behaviour and how these can be understood through the offender’s personal narrative to provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical base for the risk assessment and risk management of offenders. The findings of this research have implications for both risk assessment and risk management, which until now have not fully considered the role of situational and developmental contexts and the importance of self as manifested through the personal narratives of offenders.

A neglected area of research within criminality has been that of the actual experience of the offence for the offender. The social science literature contains only scattered evidence of what it means, feels, sounds or looks like to commit a particular crime. Katz (1988) in his work Seductions of Crime proposed that empirical research has to focus on the foreground, rather than the background of crime and that the emotional significance of crimes needs to be considered more fully in order to understand the psychological processes that sustain and encourage cnme. This research examines and proposes a model of Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) by exploring the emotions that criminals experience and the narrative roles that they act out across a broad range of crimes. Hypotheses and a series of questions were derived from the Circumplex of Emotions (Russell, 1997), Frye (1957), Narrative Theory (McAdams, 1988) and its link with Investigative Psychology (Canter, 1994). The analysis was based on 120 cases. Convicted for a variety of crimes, incarcerated criminals were interviewed and the data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). Results showed that the emotions reflected the circumplex structure of emotions postulated by Russell (1997) for non-criminal experiences. Thus, it was possible to identify four themes in relation to emotions: Elation. Calm. Distress. and Depression. However, they showed a stronger distinction between pleasure and displeasure than for the normal range of noncriminal experiences. with Russell's 'arousal' dimension being less clearly differentiated. In addition, criminals' emotions were found to be more intense than these of a "normal" population. Concerning criminal narrative roles four distinct themes were identified. These themes are: Adventurer. Professional. Revenger and Victim that reflect Frye's (1957) four story forms (Mythoi): Comedy, Irony, Romance and Tragedy. Further analysis showed that the emotional experiences are thematically significantly associated to the narrative roles, a finding that was supported both by statistical tests and Smallest Space Analysis. When both emotions and narrative roles were subjected to SSA four themes of Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) were identified: Elated Adventurer, Calm Professional, Distressed Revenger and Depressed Victim from which scales with very high alpha reliability scores could be derived. Offenders' criminal history using the 042 Self-Report Offending Questionnaire (Youngs, 2001) was examined in relation to their Criminal Narrative Experience. Smallest Space Analysis showed that the d42 offending behaviours could be differentiated according to four themes: Violence, Dishonesty, Antisocial and Planning. Statistical tests revealed that the Elated Adventurer theme is significantly correlated with the offending behaviours of Planning, Dishonest and Antisocial while the Calm Professional with Planning. By examining differences between the index cnme and Criminal Narrative Experience analysis showed that different subsets of crimes were more likely to be associated with different emotions and narrative roles. The themes that reflect Criminal Narrative Experience were found to differentiate between different types of crimes. In broad terms, Elated Adventurer and Calm Professional were found to be associated with property offences (theft, burglary and robbery) and be experienced more pleasant than Distressed Revenger and Depressed Victim that were found to be associated with crimes against the person (sex offences, violence and murder) and experienced unpleasant. The implications of these findings for understanding crime on the basis of the Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) are discussed. Important future directions for the study of crime are outlined.

This thesis forms part of the criteria for the qualification of the Doctorate in Forensic Psychology Practice (ForenPsyD). Its overall aim is to examine the prevalence of mental disorders and unmet needs among offenders managed by the Probation Service, because the understanding of this has very important implications for epidemiology, health service planning and future offending. The first chapter of this thesis presents a general introduction to the topic. Chapter two is a single case study, which describes work undertaken in relation to risk assessment and development of a care plan with a client managed by the Probation Service. A number of previously researched risk factors for offending have been identified in this case, these included: high numbers of previous convictions, presence of mental disorders, substance misuse, poor educational and vocational skills, poor cognitive and interpersonal skills, and limited social support. This study also demonstrated the practical utility of the Structured Assessment of Personality Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS; Moran et al., 2003), a brief screening measure for personality disorder case identification. The Structured Assessment of Personality Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS; Moran et al., 2003) is discussed and evaluated in chapter three. Presented evidence suggests that this measure can rapidly identify individuals at high risk of personality disorder with a good level of psychometric properties. Based on the above and developing evidence supporting its validity and reliability with forensic populations the SAPAS has been chosen to screen for case identification in the empirical study. Chapter four presents findings from the literature review on the prevalence of mental disorders in offenders on probation using a systematic approach. A total of 18 studies published between 1993 and 2013 were reviewed, suggesting significant lack of research in this area. The little research that exists demonstrates mixed findings as the prevalence of mental disorders reported varies making a comparison between the papers difficult. Despite the above, where possible weighted average prevalence rates were calculated. The estimated overall prevalence of PD was 19%, any current mental disorder 6%, alcohol misuse 62%, drug abuse 54, anxiety 13% and depression 10%. The findings from previous chapters were considered and informed more in depth, empirical research on the prevalence of mental disorders amongst offenders on probation presented in chapter five. The present study estimated that 61% of the probationers suffer from a current mental disorder according to Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI; Sheehan et al., 1998), and found that a significant proportion experience difficulties with regards to social needs such as financial and housing difficulties, which have been previously identified as significant risk factors for reoffending. Finally, chapter six presents overall findings discusses its implications, explores limitations and provides direction for future research. Several wider implications can be drawn from this thesis, which shows that high numbers of probationers suffer from a variety of Axis I disorders, likely personality disorders, substance misuse and have a number of social needs. Based on these findings, it is possible to conclude that there is a need for the mental health substance misuse and social needs of offenders to be given a higher priority in terms of service delivery, education and research.

This thesis examines the assessment and treatment of problematic and offending behaviours within the Deaf population, to identify pertinent issues for the management of individuals displaying such behaviours. Chapter 1 reviews the relevant literature related to problematic and offending behaviours in the Deaf population and outlines the remaining thesis. Chapter 2 presents a systematic review evaluating the relationship between hearing parent Deaf child dyads and behavioural problems demonstrated by Deaf children and adolescents. Despite highlighting a number of methodological limitations, the review indicates that hearing parent-Deaf child dyads have some effect on the demonstration of Deaf children and adolescent behavioural problems. The empirical paper in Chapter 3 investigates the vulnerabilities of Deaf individuals in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and the effectiveness and use of the policies implemented to protect Deaf people involved in the CJS. The findings are based on the perceptions of professionals and British Sign Language interpreters who have experience of working with Deaf people involved in the CJS as well as police officers’ experiences. The findings revealed that neither the professionals working with Deaf people involved in the CJS, nor the CJS in terms of the police, courts or prisons were perceived as possessing sufficient skills to meet the needs of Deaf individuals. Neither was the CJS equipped to implement and adhere in full to the requirements of policies aimed at protecting Deaf people. Chapter 4 examines the predictive validity of the Historical/Clinical/Risk Management- 20 (HCR-20; Webster, Douglas, Douglas Eaves & Hart, 1997) showing it to be a valid and reliable tool within hearing forensic populations. However, the review indicates the need for further research within the Deaf population and makes recommendations for such work. An individualised approach to the assessment and treatment of a Deaf forensic in-patient with Borderline Personality Disorder is presented in Chapter 5. The case study highlights that assessments and treatments developed for the hearing population are insufficient in meeting the treatment needs unique to Deafness without necessary adaptations. Chapter 6 offers concluding comments, discussing further implications for clinical practice.

To date, a significant proportion of research has predominantly focused upon childhood abuse and neglect (CAB) without considering the impact of exposure to wider forms of trauma. This thesis therefore examines the impact of exposure to recurrent CAN and multiple traumatisation (i.e. exposure to recurrent CAN and at least one wider form of trauma) upon emotion regulation (ER) and the perpetration of violence. Chapter Two presents a systematic review that explored the literature on factors associated with the impact of recurrent CAN in comparison to multiple forms of victimisation among an adolescent and young adult population. Chapter Three explores the construct of coping and critiques the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997) assessment. Chapter Four presents an empirical paper exploring the impact of recurrent CAN and multiple traumatisation on ER and coping, in addition to the role of ER in relation to aggressive behaviour among university students (n=237) and the general population (n=95). Statistically significant findings demonstrated that both recurrent CAN and multiple traumatisation were predictive of difficulties both in ER and violent behaviour. A number of further variables including optimism, violent attitudes and level of education were also found to contribute to difficulties in ER and violent behaviour.

The following academic thesis explores the links between offender motivation and violence reduction treatment for adult male offenders, with a focus on those with a mental illness. The thesis begins with a systematic review of the literature regarding the impact of motivation on interventions aimed at reducing violence and aggression. The majority of reviewed studies provided tentative support for the theory that individuals with higher levels of motivation stay in treatment longer and have better treatment gains regarding violence reduction. The following chapter includes an empirical study investigating the impact of Stage of Change, as measured by the Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982), on the outcome of treatment. The focus of this study was the Violent Offender Treatment Programme (VOTP), designed for mentally disordered offenders, and its application within a High Security and a Medium Security hospital. The programme itself was found to be effective in reducing violence outcomes, however there was little support for the Stages of Change model as a form of categorising those who were more likely to improve. Chapter 4 then presents a Case Study of an adult male offender, with a diagnosis of Delusional Disorder, in order to ascertain whether the VOTP could be adapted for individual use. Case study results were not clinically significant but are discussed in light of current research and forensic practice. A critical appraisal of the Violence Risk Scale (Wong & Gordon, 1998-2003) is then presented in Chapter 5, due to this being a primary risk assessment tool referred to throughout the doctoral works. The thesis concludes with a chapter summarising the key points and involving a reflective element by the author.

This thesis aims to explore the role of trauma in an individual’s pathway to violence. Professionals consider offenders’ history of trauma when assessing risk of violence, and research has found an established relationship between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and perpetration of violence. Military populations may be particularly vulnerable to this relationship. The introduction explores relevant theories. The second chapter presents a systematic review of literature relating to the relationship between PTSD and violence in military populations. Few mediating psychological processes have been identified, therefore the role of cognition is considered. Chapter Three examines the psychometric properties of a measure of violent thoughts – the Firestone Assessment of Violent Thoughts (FAVT). This measure is used alongside the Schedule of Imagined Violence (SIV) in a research study in Chapter Four which aims to empirically assess the role of violent cognitions in mediating the relationship between PTSD and violence in a military population. The results support the relationship between PTSD and violence, PTSD and violent cognitions, and violent cognitions and violent behaviour. Violent fantasy measured by the SIV mediated this relationship. However, the violent thoughts measured by the FAVT did not account for a sufficient amount of the variance, suggesting there are other mediating factors. These findings are discussed in the final chapter contextualised in the literature and the implications for practice. Finally, it is considered whether a unique pathway to violence exists for military populations with PTSD, and a model of this pathway is presented based on the findings of this thesis.