Assessments designed to estimate the probability of sexual offense recidivism have gained popularity due to research that suggests these instruments are psychometrically sound for this purpose. The Static-2002 (Hanson & Thornton, 2003), an actuarial instrument of sexual recidivism, has been validated in specific populations, but in the absence of multicultural populations. It is necessary to establish the validity of the Static-2002 for a multicultural population, especially considering the increasing impetus to mandate measures of sexual recidivism. This study was designed to assess the predictive validity of the Static-2002 as an actuarial instrument that estimates the probability of sexual, violent, and general recidivism within a multicultural population. Recent criminal histories and de-identified archival records of 103 adult sex offenders were used to complete demographic questionnaires and to calculate retroactive predictive accuracy scores for the Static-2002. Records were obtained from a private practice office in South Florida, which provides outpatient treatment to conditionally released offenders. Hypothesis testing utilized a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC AUC) analysis to examine the discriminating power of the Static-2002 and to identify optimal cutoff values for each risk category. These cutoff values were then compared to the established Static-2002 risk categories to evaluate the cutoff scores' congruency. For this sample population, resulting ROC AUC values indicated the predictive accuracy of the Static-2002 to be moderate for any (including general; .67) offense recidivism, and high for violent recidivism (.74). However, the Static-2002 was ineffective for predicting sexual recidivism among this sample population since the predictive accuracy of the ROC area for sexual reoffenses was not statistically significant above chance (p = .07). The four Static-2002 risk categories derived for this study are: low, moderate-low, moderate-high, and high. When compared with the established Static-2002 risk categories, this study's risk categories were found to be mostly concurrent with the established categories. Similar to previous research, this study found that when the sample population differs racially/ethnically from the normed population (60% of this study's participants were Hispanic), the Static-2002 was ineffective for accurately predicting sexual reoffending. However, the Static-2002 effectively predicted violent and general recidivism with this sample population.

Because there has been a paucity of research on the educational needs of females with academic, behavioral, and emotional problems involved with the juvenile justice system, this study has been an attempt to classify and compare specific characteristics of this population. In particular, it examined their demographics, disability prevalence rates, along with academic, behavioral, and emotional functioning levels, in order to further understand their relationship to the resocialization or recidivism of the different groups of female juveniles incarcerated in the state of Texas, and contribute to the research for further developing successful prevention and intervention programs. Various demographic factors of the female juveniles in this study were examined: (a) offender type, (b) county of commitment, (c) race/ethnicity, (d) age at first referral, and (e) English language proficiency. Prevalence rates of special education disabilities were determined. Academic functioning was measured by (a) IQ; (b) last school grade completed; (c) Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) reading gain score; and (d) TABE math gain score. Behavioral functioning was indicated through (a) offense history, (b) documented behavior incidents, and (c) total risk score. Emotional functioning included DSM-IV diagnoses and treatment needs. Due to the design of the research being a descriptive exploration, the findings produced this compilation of attributes. The population of study typically reached an education level of 8th grade or less before becoming incarcerated. Their IQ is usually in the range of 80 to 90 points, with their reading and math achievement levels lagging about five years behind those of their age group. Their gains in reading and math are usually two to three levels per year. The female juveniles averaged 10 documented behavior incidents during their periods of incarceration. Their Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores at intake showed they had moderate mental health symptoms and/or moderate difficulty in social, occupational, or school functioning. For this study population, there were almost twice as many recidivists as first-time offenders, and the findings showed that their characteristics, even those of different disability groups, were much more alike than different.

This paper shows that while incarceration is associated with economic losses, the economic benefits associated with a GED may be nearly twice as large for high school dropouts that have been incarcerated than for dropouts who have not been incarcerated. My results, though imprecisely estimated, suggest that this relationship may be one of correlation, rather than causality. I find that among the formerly incarcerated the GED is associated with other positive outcomes, particularly lower rates of drug use.

The present study investigated the relationship of 16 Personality Factor (16 PF) Scores to institutional adjustment, educational level, recidivism, and escapism of 665 prisoners in a maximum security prison. Two phases of data analysis were conducted. Multiple two-tailed Students' t tests resulted in significant differences on all 16 PF Factor Scores between prisoners and Cattell adult norm group. Significant differences were also found between prisoners and Cattell prisoner norms. In phase two, four multiple linear regression models were constructed. Significant 16 PF scales, age, and educational differences were found within the prisoner sample. Possible implications of the use of the 16 PF in regression models in paramorphic clinical prediction programs are discussed.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The diploma thesis Characteristics of the criminal career and chronic offender of a violent crime is divided into two parts: theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical part deals with risk factors that can lead to criminal career, psychological characteristics of chronic offenders and offenders of violent crime. Finally, theoretical part mentioned the concept of criminal careers with basic elements: participation, frequency, duration, starts a criminal career, the interval between of the offenses, the remaining length and finishing of the criminal career, specialization or universality, severity and escalation, accomplice to criminal career. The theoretical part also summarizes the basic statistics on the crime of chronic offender. The empirical part is the quantitative retrospective study of the forensic expertises in the field of clinical psychology. The main task of the thesis focused on the assessment of escalation - increased severity of crimes during individual criminal career of the chronic offender of violent crime. The basic hypothesis is: The length of the first and last imprisonment sentence is not differing. In terms of qualitative description of escalation of violent crime, I examined the first and last type of aggression, the first and last degree of violence and the first and...

This study examined the effectiveness of a family counseling intervention program called the Parent Monitoring Program (PMP) on reducing the rate of recidivism with first-time juvenile offenders in New Orleans, Louisiana. The PMP is a multimodal treatment intervention that combines individual, family, and group, counseling services to juvenile offenders and their families. Pugh, Force, Rault, and Triche (2000) reported that with effective and innovative family and community based intervention programs, juvenile offenders can be deterred from further delinquent behaviors. There is a great need for research studies to examine effective interventions that address reducing the rate of recidivism with juvenile crime (Cullen & Grandeau, 2000). This study looked at the differences in recidivism rates for the treatment group, juvenile offenders who completed the PMP, versus the control groups those juvenile offenders who either did not complete the PMP, or who refused the PMP services. The participants (N=1144) were mainly African Americans of low SES who committed minor offenses from the years 2001-2003. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to find out the differences in recidivism rates between the treatment and control groups, as well as levels of offenses in terms of recidivism rates and gender differences. Results of the analyses indicated that those participants who completed the PMP had lower recidivism rates than those who did not complete or refused the PMP service. In addition, level of offenses was positively associated in terms of recidivism (p <.001). However, in terms of recidivism, there were no differences between males and females xiii ( p =.108). Faculty members in counselor education can use the findings from this study to pay attention to the problems that this special population faces. Counselors can become more aware of the importance of a multimodal approach with emphasis on family involvement and early intervention. The multi cultural issues and risk factors that surround this population are of relevance to the curriculum in counselor education programs. Future research should look at the impact that religious organizations have on juvenile delinquency in terms of recidivism rates and the important role that the community plays.

The current study investigated the predictive utility of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and emotional facilitation to distress (EFD) for multiple antisocial outcomes in a sample of juvenile justice-involved males. Although CU traits and EFD did not generally interact to predict antisocial outcomes, CU traits were a consistent predictor of total, proactive, and reactive forms of aggression over 18 months. Similarly, CU traits and time interacted to predict total and violent self-reported offending, such that CU traits were positively associated with both outcomes, but this association weakened over the 18 month timeframe. Racial and ethnic differences only emerged for the prediction of days to any arrest or a violent arrest. Specifically, different factors appear to be important of the prediction of any arrest across racial/ethnic groups, whereas being Black was associated with fewer days to arrest, despite self-reporting similar levels of violent offending. Last, a joint trajectory model for CU traits and EFD was not estimated due to a lack of stability in EFD. However, the majority of the sample exhibited average or increasing levels of CU traits over the 18 month timeframe, highlighting the importance of examining not only the factors that can result in CU traits, but also the factors that can lead to increases in CU traits over time in justice-involved youth.

The submitted work, as follows from its title, is concerned with criminal recidivism, in the first part primarily from a criminological perspective, while the second part of the work then deals particularly with the perspective of criminal law. As there has been a tendency to neglect recidivism in the professional literature in recent years, this work attempts to provide an overall summary of the subject of criminal recidivism while endeavouring to mention the most important aspects that are closely related to recidivism. Consequently, the introductory part of the work is devoted to a general delimitation of criminal recidivism and its various forms. The work attempts to make a basic excursion into this subject area while simultaneously endeavouring to evaluate the effectiveness of the commonest approaches employed in connection with criminal recidivism, primarily in relation to the current legislation in this country and abroad. In the context of foreign legislation and especially of the application of life sentences in the most serious cases of recidivism in some countries (including the former legislation in the Czech Republic) as obligatory punishment, considerable space is devoted here to the "three strikes law", which is applied primarily in the U.S.A. and, recently, also by our Slovak...