This was a qualitative research study involving Aboriginal offenders at a Federal institution in the Ontario Region. The purpose of this study was to illuminate the Aboriginal offenders‘ perspectives on their experiences that led to their incarceration. The major research questions guiding this study include: 1. What experiences do Aboriginal offenders feel contributed to their incarceration? 2. What do Aboriginal offenders feel could have prevented their incarceration? 3. How do Aboriginal offenders describe their experiences with the Residential School and child welfare systems? 4. What are the Aboriginal offenders' perspectives on their experiences with CSC‘s healing and intervention programs? One of the goals of this study was to provide information to CSC to improve the reintegration programs and help Aboriginal offenders become law abiding citizens. The data was collected from individual interviews, which was analyzed in detail to develop themes. The analyses sought for stories that captured the depth of the experiences that led to the Aboriginal offenders‘ incarcerations. This study provided the personal perspective of the offenders as to how the Residential School and child welfare system have impacted their lives, and offers some insight into the over-representation of Aboriginal offenders in the prison system. This study also demonstrated how the socio-economic situation of these Aboriginal offenders played a role in their path towards prison. It is important to capture the voices of the iii Aboriginal offenders‘ experiences towards incarceration. Their stories offer ways to help other Aboriginal people. We must have Aboriginal community members involved in the lives of Aboriginal youth to prevent them from getting into trouble, and find alternative positives outlets and activities. We must instill and provide hope and inspiration so that our youth have something to look forward to in their lives. I know this is happening to varying degrees in our Aboriginal communities; however, we need to keep working towards this goal. In addition, CSC might consider allocating more resources and financial assistance to Aboriginal communities, who are dealing with their people involved within the prison system. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-02-24 20:22:59.526

No description available.

This study was focused on exploring the relationship between victimization history, attachment to parents, pornography exposure/use, and characteristics of the sexual offences committed by male adolescents. It was hypothesized that, the poorer the attachment to parents, the greater number of abuses experienced, and the more exposure to pornography, the more likely an adolescent would be to have had more victims, have offended against more age groups, have both male and female victims, have committed penetration in his sexual offences, and have been forceful or violent in his sexual offences. The study involved secondary analysis of a large data set that was based on prior administration of an extensive survey which also included a number of psychological measures and questionnaires. A total of 308 male participants ranging in age from 13 to 20 at the time of completing the survey were included in this study. Participants were 12-17 years of age at the time of their sexual offending. A series of regressions were used to examine if attachment to parents, history of abuse/neglect, and pornography use could predict the number of victims, age group of victims, gender of victims, sexual intrusiveness, and level of force in the sexual offences that had been committed by the participants. Predictor variables that emerged as important in this study were the duration of the sexual offending, having experienced three or more types of abuse, and exposure to live sex. In general, it was suggested that treatment efforts should focus on intervening promptly and reducing the duration of an adolescent’s sexual offending and that intervention for all types of abuse be prioritized. Additionally, it was recommended that future research seek to identify characteristics that might predispose certain victimized individuals to develop sexual offending behaviours in the future. In general, it was noted that further explorations are needed regarding applicable theoretical approaches, as well as the various factors, and interactions among factors, that contribute to the characteristics of sexual offences committed by male adolescents.

This thesis presents a follow-up study of young offenders released from secure custody at the Manitoba Youth Centre. It attempted to investigate three questions: What are young offenders' experiences within the community following their release from secure custody?, How do young offenders view their program experiences at the Manitoba Youth Centre? and What are the youn offenders' perceptions regarding the benefits of their program experences toward community adjustement? Twenty-eight youths who had been in secure custody for at least three months and discharged to an address in Winnipeg were interviewed. The study based on a qualitative research model describes the experiences, thoughts and perceptions of these young offenders. The results found that the young offenders' experiences within the community were less than ideal. Most of them lived in several different places, were in school or work for short periods of time and were reinvolved with the law. They viewed their program experiences at the Centre as favourable. Yet, the young offenders felt they did not benefit in the community from these program experiences. The conclusion is that the Manitoba Youth Centre needs to consider factors that have been demonstrated to help young offenders adjust in the community. The recommendations start with the development of theories and the incorporation of intervention strategies. Relapse Prevention is proposed as it takes into consideration many of the youths' comments and suggestions.

No description available.

This thesis describes an investigation into the type of car crime often referred to as 'joyriding'. Stealing a car for the fun of driving can be carried out quite excessively, and this has led to a number of anecdotal comments that joyriding may be 'addictive'. This has particularly been the case in Northern Ireland, where many joyriders have continued in the behaviour despite the threat or experience of serious paramilitary punishment. However, whilst several studies of car crime have alluded to the suggestion that some joyriders appear to be addicted to the behaviour, research conducted to specifically investigate this phenomenon has been scant. The present study therefore explores this notion further by exploring joyriding within the context of an addiction model. Following 10 pilot interviews with a total of 33 young offenders, the main study consisted of 76 semi-structured interviews conducted with 54 convicted joyriders (aged between 15-21 years), 12 professionals with care and control of joyriders, plus 11 non joyriding young offenders; the sample being drawn from both the Midlands and Northern Ireland. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and a qualitative thematic analysis was undertaken using QSR NUD *IST software. The career of the joyrider is presented in terms of how it maps on to the career pattern of (other) potentially addictive behaviours from initiation through to cessation of the behaviour. Discussion considers how the activity can be understood within the context of a deviant subculture, as well as an investigation of possible dependency to joyriding by some individuals as defined using DSM IV-type criteria. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how notions of `addiction', and 'addiction to joyriding', are perceived by the respondents, and how these notions compare with the 'diagnostic' criteria. Finally, the process of stopping joyriding is discussed within Prochaska and DiClemente's (1984) stages of change model, and related intervention strategies are suggested for the rehabilitation of joyriders at each of the hypothesised stages of change.

Female offenders’ experiences within the criminal justice system and the way in which they become involved with the criminal justice system are very different than that of male offenders. Previous research that has been conducted on female offending does show that womens’ contact with the criminal justice system can often be related to histories of abuse and to mental illness, and that these can also be related to subsequent re-contacts with the criminal justice system. Abuse, mental illness and gender, along with control variables (age, aboriginal identity, LSI-OR score), were investigated in a sample of 522 male and female Ontario Provincial offenders. When males and females were compared at the bivariate level using a chi-square comparison, females were found to be significantly more likely to re-contact. Abuse and mental illness were not found on their own to be significantly related to re-contact, but when the relationship between the three variables was examined, mental illness was found to be both significant and positively correlated to both gender and abuse. Examination into the relationship between the variables found a strong relationship between gender and abuse, gender and mental illness, mental illness and abuse as well as strong relationship in the three way interaction between gender, mental illness and abuse. The cross tabulation demonstrated that women who had experienced abuse were identified as being much more likely to be suffering from a mental illness. Logistic regression was used to model the relationship between re-contact, gender, abuse and the risk for re-contact. All possible interactions (as noted above) were included in the model, but the model that best fit the data included only the controls (age, aboriginal identity, LSI-OR score), gender, abuse, mental illness and the interaction between mental illness and gender. Results indicated that there was a significantly higherrisk for re-contact for females with mental illness, compared with men with mental illness or or to men and women without mental illness.. Even though abuse as a single variable or as part of an interaction was not found to be significantly related to re-contact, it is still of importance to note that the chi-square comparisons demonstrated that abuse is significantly related to gender and mental illness, therefore the relationship was still important when looking at the implications of the research. It is recommended that future research further investigate the different needs of male and female offenders and the role that experienced physical, sexual and emotional abuse, mental illness and gender plays in not only offending behaviour, but in the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders within the provincial correctional system.

This study addressed substantial limitations in the literature pertaining to intimate partner violence (IPV). In particular, I addressed the gender symmetry debate, and identified factors associated with the dynamics of violent relationships by examining the correlates related to perpetrating and suffering IPV for both men and women. Finally, I examined attitudes towards IPV, communication behaviour, and conflict management techniques as a function of abuse history. Participants were recruited from three samples of the New Zealand population (student, general, and incarcerated). The inclusion of an incarcerated sample enabled the examination of more severe, frequent and injurious violence than is typically experienced within the student and general samples. There were three phases to the study. The first phase explored incidence rates and psychological correlates of IPV. As expected, the incidence of IPV was highest within the incarcerated sample (Chapter 5). Of greater significance, the incidence of IPV was similar for males and females, with the majority of violence being bi-directional (Chapters 4 & 5). Moreover, the psychological correlates associated with IPV were similar for perpetrators and victims, and males and females (Chapters 4 & 5). Due to the bi-directional nature of IPV, analyses presented in Chapters 4 and 5 were limited by the categorisation of participants as both perpetrators and victims. In Chapter 6, I overcame this limitation. The attitudes of victims were examined separately to individuals experiencing bi-directional violence. Validating the findings of Chapters 4 and 5, the attitudes and behaviours of victims and perpetrators were similar. These included being more hostile and negative towards others and ones� partner, being more controlling, and reporting more communication problems. I also further explored gender symmetry in IPV. Male and female IPV was found to be similar in frequency, severity, and similarly associated with control. However, the type of acts perpetrated differed across gender. During the second and third phase of the study, I further examined participants� communication behaviour (Chapter 7), conflict behaviour, and attitudes (Chapter 8). Findings revealed that perpetrators and victims employed less facilitative and polite linguistic devices (Chapter 7) and reported fewer skills for dealing with conflict (Chapter 8) than did other individuals. An examination of attitudes towards IPV revealed males and females had similar attitudes and were more condoning of female, than male-perpetrated IPV. Moreover, individuals with a history of IPV were the most condoning of violence. Additionally, a number of correlates associated with experiencing IPV were also associated with attitudes condoning IPV (Chapter 8). Overall, the findings revealed IPV to be bi-directional and gender symmetrical. Male and female IPV was similar in incidence, severity, and injury. Furthermore, the psychological correlates associated with IPV were similar for men and women, and perpetrators and victims. Individuals with a history of IPV were more controlling, hostile towards others, more condoning of IPV, employed less positive communication styles, and lacked skills for dealing with conflict. In light of these findings, suggestions are offered for violence prevention initiatives in the discussion sections of each chapter and in the final chapter (Chapter 9).

The BarOn EQ-i model of emotional intelligence and Factor 1 of Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: Screening Version were used to assess emotional literacy and callous-unemotional traits in sixty female offenders. Findings suggest that female offenders show significant emotional literacy deficits compared to the normal population especially in areas of empathy, social responsibility and interpersonal relationships. This association was examined further in relation to criminal history variables; seriousness and chronicity. Emotional literacy was predictive of criminal history, but not offender type. Contrary to expectations, callous-unemotional traits only showed a few relations to emotional literacy namely, significant correlations between PCL: SV Factor 1 score and aspects of problem solving. Violent offenders with high callous-unemotional traits showed significantly more emotional literacy deficits than non-violent offenders with high callous-unemotional traits, especially in interpersonal and adaptability emotional literacy areas. Interestingly those that demonstrated suicidal ideation regardless of offence type showed the poorest emotional literacy abilities and were more likely to show higher levels of callous-unemotional traits. The implications and recommendations for future research as well as the limitations of the study are discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 121-127)