This thesis examined the effectiveness of an intensive, community-based intervention for youth presenting with complex psychological needs, and their families, and discussed the need to understand and address the multiple risk and protective factors across several systems associated with aggressive, violent, antisocial and offending behaviour in young people, in order to intervene effectively. The intervention is based on the principles of Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST), a renowned intensive, community-based intervention for aggressive, violent and antisocial young people, which is explored in the literature review (Chapter 1). The available evidence-base on MST demonstrates that the behaviour of young people considered at significant risk to themselves and/or others can be managed safely within the community, while engaging their caregivers and wider ecology to effect positive changes that are sustainable. The research study (Chapter 2) reports on a modest sample of 17 young people and 12 caregivers who completed research measures prior to and following the receipt of the intensive intervention based on MST principles aimed at improving youth and family functioning. Positive changes in both individual functioning and family environment observed were found to be consistent with the existing evidence-base regarding the effectiveness of community based interventions. This provides support for moving away from traditional office-based approaches to engaging these clients in order to prevent further deterioration in behaviour and subsequent placement of the young person away from his/her family and community. A discussion surrounding the use of psychometric measures provides insight into the role of the family environment in assessing and intervening with this client group in Chapter 3. Finally, the importance of recognising families as the key to a successful system of care is further explored in the case study in Chapter 4. Overall, this thesis provides support for the abandonment of a simplistic superficial understanding of social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties in young people to a more ecological, dynamic approach, which has implications for prevention of the detrimental and long lasting costs of youth social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

This thesis considers the experiences of those working with offenders with personality disorder (PD). Chapter one introduces the concept of PD and identifies the aims of the thesis. Chapter two comprises of a systematic literature review of the psychological consequences of working with offenders with PD. The evidence suggests that working with offenders with PD can result in staff ’burnout’, feeling professionally isolated, reduced self-efficacy, and negative emotional lability. Despite the dominance of negative consequences from their work, positive experiences were also identified including feeling professionally challenged and satisfied. Chapter three explores the experiences of professionals working within ‘Unit A’ for offenders with PD and personality difficulties located within a high security prison. The results indicate a multiplicity of factors impact on the experiences of professionals working on the unit, including the prison environment, synergy of the workforce, the level of support required and provided, knowledge level, and individual perceptions. Additionally, the by-product of personal change was identified, which in turn influenced professionals’ experiences of working on ‘Unit A’. The findings demonstrate that numerous factors influenced a professional’s experiences working on ‘Unit A’, and most appear external to the challenging personality traits of the individuals with PD. Chapter four provides a critique of the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES; Schalast et al., 2008). Findings suggest that the EssenCES has an emerging research base which supports its rise as a valid and reliable measure of social climate. The chapter highlights the strengths of the EssenCES but also highlights the psychometric limitations of the measure. The final chapter discusses the thesis findings with reference to the need for further research and the implications for current practice.

This thesis explores risk factors for recidivistic arson in adult offenders. Chapter one provides an introduction to the characteristics of adult firesetters and theoretical approaches to understanding their behaviour. Chapter two provides a critique of the Fire Setting Scale (FSS) in terms of its psychometric properties and concludes that the FSS shows promise as a psychometric measure of fire interest and antisociality associated with firesetting in the general population. Chapter three contains a systematic review of the evidence base relating to risk factors for recidivistic arson in adult offenders. Standardised effect sizes are calculated and the data synthesised to identify risk factors with varying strengths of empirical support. The 15 studies reviewed varied in quality, contained few female subjects, and often studied psychiatric rather than wider criminal justice populations. The empirical research presented in Chapter four consists of a retrospective case-control study comparing a large sample of recidivist and first-time arsonists on a range of variables. Separate analyses for female and male subjects revealed differences in risk factors. Logistic regression was used to build predictive models of arson recidivism which were then operationalised into gender-specific risk prediction tools. Theoretical and clinical implications of the thesis are discussed in Chapter five, and a preliminary model of arson recidivism is proposed.

Offence supportive cognition (OSC) is an important theoretical and clinical concept in researching and treating adult sexual offenders. Much less is known about the role, relevance and measurement of OSC with younger sexual offenders, and this thesis aims to address that gap. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to OSC research, highlighting issues with measurement. Chapter 2 presents a systematic review of literature that has examined OSC in younger sexual offenders, with the aim of establishing whether OSC is a treatment need in this group. Chapter 3 examines the psychometric properties of the Children and Sex Questionnaire-Adolescent Version (CASQ-AV; Beckett 1995), a measure of child abuse supportive beliefs that is in widespread use with younger sexual offenders. Chapter 4 aims to establish the reliability and validity of the CASQ-AV using data from a large sample of young adult sexual offenders (aged 18 to 21 years) serving prison sentences. Chapter 5 draws together the findings from previous chapters, highlighting that overall, the role of OSC in younger sexual offender populations is poorly understood, the relevance of this concept as a treatment need may have been overestimated, but psychometric measurement is possible. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

This thesis evaluates the combination of two criminal justice interventions in the field of the domestic violence. The intervention, termed a Domestic Violence Court Advisory Service (DVCAS) throughout the thesis, comprises two elements –Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and Specialist Domestic Violence Courts (SDVCs). Both initiatives were instituted in the wake of much criticism of the treatment of domestic violence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). To date, however, there has been no rigorous evaluation of the combined efficacy of these initiatives – in particular, regarding their impact on the number of offenders brought to justice. This thesis examines how a DVCAS can increase the successful prosecution of domestic violence offences through increased victim participation, better court outcomes and a wide and varied use of sentencing options. The thesis highlights ‘what works and why’ in prosecuting domestic violence offences, and in so doing identifies a number of outcomes to suggest that certain practices in the police and CPS do not always support the DVCAS in achieving its aims, in particular, through ineffective investigations, inappropriate safeguarding responses and poor prosecution practices.

Research has been conducted to identify the risk and protective factors for offending primarily in juveniles; however this research has not extended to high security adult offenders who represent the most significant risk to society. This thesis utilised previously researched risk factor models to identify developmental risk and protective factors and how these increase the likelihood of following an offending pathway in adulthood. This thesis includes a systematic review, review of a psychometric tool, an individual case study and a research paper, which identify specific factors relevant to types of high security offenders. The findings demonstrated that aggression and substance misuse were among the most common risk factors, which began in adolescence and continued into adulthood. Therefore, adult high security offenders could be retrospectively mapped onto juvenile risk factor models, suggesting that the factors identified in high risk samples are primarily developmental in nature. These results demonstrate that interventions with at-risk adolescents may be beneficial in reducing future risk. The findings support previous conclusions in that experiences of increased risk factors in conjunction with few protective factors increases the likelihood of individuals being involved in offending behaviour. Therefore, pro-active and reactive measures should be targeted towards such at-risk individuals.

Antisocial behaviour by adolescents continues to present a considerable challenge to society. One intervention which has shown promise in reducing serious antisocial behaviour is Multisystemic Therapy (Henggeler & Borduin, 1990). A systemic review of the most recent research exploring the effectiveness of MST was undertaken. Consistent with the rapid global spread; this review found several randomised control trials conducted in and outside of America. The findings indicate the need for a clear understanding of usual services within local systems prior to adopting new approaches and highlight a number of methodological limitations of the eleven included studies. Chapter 3 explores the personal lived experience of delivering MST in a sample of seven therapists in London teams using the principles of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Four themes were identified 1) Persisting despite challenges 2) MST and us 3) Relationships matter and 4) How do we know we are getting anywhere? The results have implications for clinical practice and are discussed in the context of directions for future investigations. Chapter 4 presents a critique of one of the few widely used risk assessment tools for adolescent general recidivism; the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory 2.0 (Hoge & Andrews, 2011).

Despite the fine’s position as the most commonly imposed sentencing disposal, it has been the subject of limited research. This dearth is a particular concern as recent statistics show that a large proportion of financial penalties are in arrears, with significant amounts being written-off. There have been various attempts in recent years to improve the enforcement process, which underscores the need for an evaluation of current policies and practices. The thesis is based on a study evaluating the enforcement of financial penalties by the Birmingham and Manchester city centre magistrates’ courts. The fieldwork was conducted both inside and outside the court building: defaulters’ appearances at the fines court, and fines clinic, were observed, and bailiffs and Civilian Enforcement Officers [CEOs] were accompanied as they attempted to execute distress warrants and bail warrants respectively. The thesis outlines various problems, and makes a number of proposals designed not only to raise the levels of effectiveness and efficiency but also the quality of justice. Taken together they provide a new coherent framework for the enforcement process.

This thesis aims to further this research base while focussing primarily on the Circle of Support and Accountability (CoSA) programme; one of the key programmes which helps utilise community support towards released sexual offenders as a means of reducing reoffending and aiding successful reintegration of the offender into society. A systematic literature review is presented which looks at the efficacy of social support as a means of reducing rates of reoffending. The review identifies eight studies which lend support to this notion, with four CoSA studies from around the world, showing strong support for their efficacy in this area. A research chapter looks at the experiences of the volunteers for CoSA looking at the successes and the difficulties within the programme. Volunteers were also assessed in relation to their own social support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The MSPSS was assessed for its validity as a psychometric measure of social support and was found to demonstrate good levels of reliability and validity and was deemed a suitable psychometric measure choice for the research. These findings are discussed in relation to their implication on current theoretical and practical links as well as making recommendations for future research.

The majority of research on rape myth acceptance (RMA) has been reported from a largely North American and European perspective. While this has certainly advanced our understanding of the area, generalising the experiences of western populations fails to take into account the sociocultural factors that are embedded in the realities of sexual violence across non-western societies. This thesis aims to examine RMA in non-western countries. Following the Introduction, a systematic review of the existing literature on the demographic and attitudinal factors associated with RMA in adults in non-western societies (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East) is presented. The results are consistent with western findings, however, the paucity of available research in non-western societies indicates a need for further research. In the next chapter, an empirical study contributes to this limited evidence base by exploring the relationship between RMA and a number of demographic and attitudinal factors, using a sample population of men and women from Jamaica. Participants’ RMA was measured using the Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression (AMMSA; Gerger et al., 2007). The AMMSA was appraised in terms of its psychometric properties in the penultimate chapter and was considered to be an appropriate choice of psychometric instrument for the study. The final chapter draws the thesis together by discussing the main findings and implications for future research and practice.