The legitimacy of classifying female offenders in the correctional system has been disputed (especially the application of male-normed risk assessment tools), and yet, there is a need to accurately determine the risk of re-offending and the criminogenic needs of the offender along with general and specific issues (i.e., responsivity) that will encourage successful program delivery. The Level of Service Inventory Ontario Revision (LSI-OR; Andrews, Bonta & Wormith, 1995) is an assessment tool used throughout Ontarios probation services and provincial institutions. Although the first edition of the LSI was based primarily on a male sample, later revisions included norms for female offenders based on samples spanning three continents (Blanchette & Brown, 2006). Although its reliability and predictive validity has been demonstrated across many field settings and offender populations, few studies (e.g., Rettinger, 1998) have addressed the question of predictive validity on a sufficiently large sample of female offenders to convince the skeptics of the LSI-ORs applicability to women (Blanchette & Brown).<p> The current study examined internal consistency, the ability to discriminate recidivists from non-recidivists with t-tests, and the capacity to predict recidivism with correlation and receiver operating characteristic analysis. The sample consisted of 2831 female offenders who were either released from a provincial correctional facility, completed a conditional sentence in the community, or completed a sentence of probation in Ontario during a one year period (2002/2003). Special consideration was given to female offenders from different disposition groups, with different racial backgrounds, with mental health issues and with prior victimization. The LSI-OR had very strong internal consistency and was able to distinguish offenders who committed a re-offence from those who did not commit a re-offence; both when considering the scale as a whole and when considering individual subscales. The LSI OR was also found to predict recidivism for all female offenders. It also predicted recidivism for all subgroups with the exception of female offenders released on a conditional sentence and who had been previously victimized. While the use of the LSI-OR to assess provincial female offenders is supported, however, new risk levels are suggested to increase the predictive ability and reduce the potential for over-classification.

Current literature suggests that the Level of Service Inventory (LSI) and its derivatives (LSI-R, LS/CMI, LSI-OR) are capable of predicting violent recidivism, even though they were not initially designed for this function (Girard & Wormith, 2004; Mills & Kroner, 2006). The purpose of this study was to generate violence prediction scales, based on items or subscales from the LSI-OR, using five different statistical techniques. These analyses were completed on the full construction sample, then the males and the females separately to determine how the scales differ from each other and what, if any, benefits would accrue from utilizing a gender-specific scale.<p> A cohort of 27,027 offenders who were released from custody or entered into community supervision over a one year period was included in the study. There was an average followup time of 4.4 years. In this sample there was a general recidivism rate of 36.0% and a violent recidivism rate of 11.3%. Fifteen violence prediction scales were generated that ranged in predictive validity from r = .139 to r = .214. The scale with the highest predictive validity was the 11 item scale created from the full sample using the item linear regression technique. The scale contained items indicating that history of assault, lack of education and anger management issues were related to violent recidivism. Risk levels were developed for this new scale to classify offenders from very low to very high risk.<p> Although there was little difference in the predictive validity of the generated scales, the stepwise multiple linear regression technique was identified as the most successful method of creating a tool for predicting violent recidivism. There was no increase in predictive validity when using the scale that was developed for just the females in the sample, although fewer items were consistently generated for females than males. Therefore the full sample item linear regression scale is recommended for the prediction of violent recidivism of both male and female offenders in the jurisdiction from which the data were collected. Future research directions may replicate this study in other populations and further analyze the gender differences in violent recidivism.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-198). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-135).

Although their numbers are in the minority in the general offender population, psychopathic offenders are responsible for a significant proportion of the most serious offenses committed (Hare, 1993, 2003). A particularly serious concern is that they are a notoriously challenging population to work with clinically and effectively treat (Polaschek, 2014; Salekin, 2002). Recent findings suggest, however, that psychopathic offenders are able to demonstrate treatment changes that translate into reduced recidivism (Olver & Wong, 2009). A greater understanding of the etiology and treatment responses of psychopathic offenders is needed (Salekin, 2002). Consequently, the present archival dissertation program of research aimed to explore the etiological and treatment response variables of psychopathic and nonpsychopathic sexual offenders in a sample of 302 federal inmates. The influence of psychopathy, risk, and treatment change as it pertained to rates of long-term recidivism was explored. Further, to add to the growing body of literature suggesting that psychopathy may be best conceptualized as different subtypes, cluster analysis was utilized to examine the potential of subtypes of psychopathic offenders who respond differently to treatment. Finally, it has been proposed that psychopathic traits may be adaptive and thus, treatment resistant (Harris & Rice, 2006). Therefore, the relationship between treatment response and evolutionarily relevant variables was explored. Phase one results were consistent with past findings (Olver & Wong, 2009; Olver, Stockdale, & Wormith, 2011) where psychopathic offenders demonstrated higher rates of treatment drop out, but the majority did complete treatment in the current sample. Furthermore, although psychopathic offenders amassed fewer risk relevant treatment gains than their nonpsychopathic counterparts on the whole, there was a group of psychopathic individuals whose therapeutic gains were high and resulted in similar recidivism rates to the nonpsychopathic offenders. Finally, after controlling for comprehensive baseline risk level and treatment change, the PCL-R no longer significantly predicted violent or sexual recidivism. Moreover, treatment change was associated with reduced recidivism, regardless of risk level or psychopathy. This provided support for Wong and colleagues (2012) two component model for the treatment of psychopathy, wherein if service providers can manage and respond to the specific responsivity issues with psychopathic individuals and increase their engagement in treatment, then risk relevant changes that result in lower recidivism are possible. In phase two, two subtypes of psychopathic offenders were found using PCL-R facet scores that were consistent with the primary and secondary distinction. The primary subtype demonstrated a high degree of the classic psychopathic personality traits, whereas the secondary type had more behavioral and lifestyle traits and to a lesser degree, the callous personality. In terms of external variables, the secondary group had slightly higher risk levels, treatment change, and rates of violent reoffending, but the differences failed to reach statistical significance. Finally, in phase three, there was evidence for psychopathy’s relationship with proxies for adaptation, but the evidence for adaptation had little bearing on treatment response. Furthermore, the adaptive markers were largely accounted for by the general antisociality of psychopathy, rather than the psychopathic personality itself. The results were then integrated and implications for the future treatment of psychopathic offenders were discussed.

The present study examined the interrelationship of risk for recidivism, treatment readiness and responsivity, treatment-related change, treatment attrition, and recidivism among sexual offenders. It provided a cross validation of selected risk assessment measures, including the Static-99R, STABLE 2007, and Violence Risk Scale – Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO), as well as a clinical rating scale, the Treatment Readiness, Responsivity, and Gain Scale: Short Version (TRRG:SV). The primary focus of the study was to evaluate the relationship between treatment-related change and recidivism. The study was archival and participants included 185 federally incarcerated adult male sex offenders who participated in the Clearwater Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Regional Psychiatric Centre (Saskatoon, SK) between 1997 and 2001 and were followed up for an average of 9.3 years (SD = 3.0) post-release. Twenty percent of the sample was convicted for a new sexual offense, 45% for any new violent (including sexual) conviction, and 61% for any new conviction. The Static-99R, STABLE 2007, and VRS-SO all predicted violent recidivism (AUC = .62 to .72), as did the TRRG:SV (AUC = .32 to .37). Moreover, the dynamic risk measures demonstrated significant incremental validity, controlling for the Static-99R, in the prediction of sexual and violent recidivism. Treated participants made significant pre- to post-treatment changes on the VRS-SO, STABLE 2007, and TRRG:SV. Changes on the VRS-SO were significantly associated with lower rates of violent recidivism, with and without controlling for pre-treatment risk. Changes on the TRRG:SV were significantly associated with lower rates of sexual and violent recidivism. Significant predictors of treatment attrition were identified in the domains of criminal history, pre-treatment risk, treatment readiness and responsivity issues, and institutional adjustment. Implications for offender assessment, management, and rehabilitation are discussed.

Willis and Grace (2008, 2009) developed a protocol for measuring quality of planning for community reintegration by sexual offenders, and showed that poor planning was a risk factor for sexual recidivism. The present study evaluated the reliability and predictive validity of Willis and Grace’s protocol with a large, representative sample of child molesters who completed a prison-based treatment programme between 1993 and 2000. Overall, the quality of reintegration planning was good for the sample as a whole, with an average equal to 61.7% of the maximum possible score. Results supported the reliability and predictive validity of the protocol in assessing reintegration quality. Reintegration scores were negatively correlated sexual recidivism and with measures of pre-treatment static and dynamic risk, particularly the Criminality and Treatment Responsivity factors of the Violence Risk Scale: Sexual Offender Version (VRS: SO; Olver, Wong, Nicholaichuk, & Gordon, 2007). Measures of intelligence and treatment outcome were positively correlated with reintegration quality, particularly the Standard Goal Attainment Scaling for Sex Offenders (SGAS; Hogue, 1994), suggesting that offenders who were successful in achieving treatment goals were also likely to have effective reintegration plans. Survival analyses (Cox regression) showed that reintegration planning contributed additional validity for predicting sexual recidivism when static risk but not dynamic risk was controlled. Overall, results support the utility of Willis and Grace’s protocol for measuring quality of reintegration planning. Future research should examine reintegration planning for other types of sexual and non-sexual offenders.

This thesis explores how young resisters and desisters in their teenage years maintain their resistance to and desistance from offending and asks to what extent they are agentic in the process. The term 'resister' refers to those who, according to a self-report survey, have never offended, and the term 'desister' to those who have offended and then ceased for at least twelve months. By situating desisters analytically adjacent to resisters, I have moved towards conceptualising desisters as current non-offenders. Desisters may have shared a past with persisters, as they have both offended. However, desisters share their current experience, that of maintaining non-offending, with resisters. It is this obvious, yet largely ignored, link between young resisters and desisters which underpins the thesis. Two qualitative methods, both of which elicited young people's own perspectives, were employed between 2003 and 2005. Secondary analysis of 112 qualitative interviews with resisters and desisters in their teenage years was conducted and peer led focus groups (in which a young peer, rather than an adult researcher, acted as the facilitator) were held with 52 teenage resisters. Young people's resistance to offending does not feature prominently in the literature. When it does, it is often associated with a state of innocence or passivity, while young desisters are said to 'grow out of' offending. This emphasis on an absence of offending, rather than on actively attained resistance, reflects an adult oriented view. The thesis challenges this by drawing on the sociology of childhood, a theoretical perspective which has not previously been applied to young people's resistance to and desistance from offending and which emphasises young people as agentic. Their agency is evidenced by the findings. Chapters Four and Five report how young people employ numerous strategies of resistance and desistance and Chapter Six how that they face trials and tribulations in maintaining their nonoffending, while Chapter Seven focuses on the 'being' rather than the 'doing' of sustaining non-offending. It is the work of Derrida that enables the argument to be taken a step further. Derrida's (1981) assertion is that binary oppositions are rarely neutral, but that one is the dominant pole. For example, in Western society the first of the following binary oppositions are usually regarded as the dominant or privileged pole: white/black, masculine/feminine, adult/child. In respect of the binary opposition at the heart of the current thesis, namely offender/non-offender, the non-offender is - from an adult perspective at least - the dominant pole and the non-offender is hailed as the norm. By contrast, several findings in the thesis point to the fact that the dominant pole in the binary opposition for young people is the offender rather than the non-offender. First, the discourse of young resisters and desisters suggests a view of the offender rather than non-offender as the norm. Secondly, many resisters and desisters face trials and tribulations, such as bullying, relating to their nonoffending status. Yet, if it were the case that the non-offender was the dominant pole and was privileged by young people (as it is in the adult population), resisters would not be penalised in such ways for not offending. Thirdly, some of the strategies used by resisters, such as involvement in anti-social behaviour, signify an attempt to compensate for their non-offending status. Again, if the non-offender was the dominant pole in the binary opposition, far from resorting to mechanisms to compensate for their non-offending behaviour, this behaviour would be encouraged, as it is by adults. This inverted world has implications for young resisters and desisters. Their resistance is to be understood in the context of an expectation of offending, rather than non-offending. Contrary to the notion of the pull of normality bringing desisters back to a non-offending state, the pull of normality among young desisters - and many resisters - is better understood as being towards offending. Resistance, evidenced by the strategies and trials and tribulations of resisters and desisters, is against this pull. Moreover, as non-offending is the modus operandi in the adult world, to be an adult non-offender requires less effort. For a young person, being a non-offender is more challenging than it is for adults and maintenance of resistance constitutes a struggle not previously reflected in adult representations. Adults, not having taken account of the different modus operandi of the young person's world, have not attributed agency to resistance and have underestimated young people's struggle to maintain resistance. The strategies demanded of resisters and desistcrs to maintain non-offending and the trials and tribulations which they face when they do have heretofore been overlooked.

Thesis (MPsy(Clinical))--University of South Australia, 1999.

Research on the factors underlying sex offender recidivism has not considered the importance of the reintegration process through which the offender rejoins the community after prison. This thesis reports findings from 3 empirical studies designed to explore whether poor release planning might contribute to sex offender recidivism. In Study 1, a coding protocol was developed to measure the comprehensiveness of release planning for child molesters, which included items relating to accommodation, employment, pro-social support, community-based treatment, and Good Lives Model (T. Ward & C.A. Stewart, 2003) secondary goods. The protocol was retrospectively applied to groups of recidivist and nonrecidivist graduates of a prison-based treatment programme, who were matched on static risk level and time since release. As predicted, overall release planning was significantly poorer for recidivists compared to nonrecidivists. Study 2 was a validation and extension of Study 1. The original coding protocol, and some revised items, were applied to matched groups of recidivists and nonrecidivists from a different treatment programme. Consistent with Study 1 findings, overall release planning was significantly poorer for recidivists. Data from Studies 1 and 2 were pooled (total N = 141) and Cox regressions showed that accommodation, employment, and social support planning combined to best predict recidivism, with predictive accuracy comparable to that obtained using static risk models. Study 3 investigated whether release planning was associated with actual reintegration experiences, and additionally explored released child molesters’ good lives plans. Release plans were rated for 16 child molesters, who were interviewed post-release about their reintegration experiences and good lives plans. As predicted, significant positive correlations were found between release planning and reintegration experiences 1 and 3 months following prison release, and results suggested that effective reintegration might help facilitate living a good life. Overall, results from the 3 studies suggest that poor release planning and subsequent reintegration experiences contribute to sex offender recidivism. Implications for researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and community members are discussed.