Adolescent offenders commit a significant number of physical and sexual assaults every year. A critical task for researchers and clinicians is to understand the distinct pathways that lead to these serious types of offending. The current study attempts to test the importance of these different pathways by comparing violent, violent sex, non-violent sex, and non-violent offenders based on SAVRY risk items, reoffending, and effects of treatment. A sample of 517 adolescents on probation was assessed for several risk factors (i.e., anger management, ADHD, low empathy/remorse) by probation officers. Recidivism over 12 months was assessed from official records. Results indicated that after controlling for race, groups differed on several risk factors, with significant differences noted between violent and non-violent sex offenders for anger management and attention deficit/hyperactivity problems, as well as violent sex offenders and all other offenders for low empathy/remorse. In comparison to non-violent offenders, violent offenders had more any re-offense and violent re-offense. While risk factors partially predicted the relationship between offender and recidivism, treatment did not moderate this relationship.

The present study was archival in nature and examined risk for recidivism, treatment-related changes in risk, protection against recidivism, treatment-related changes in protection, the relationship between risk and protective factors, and the prediction of positive community outcomes. A select set of risk- and protective-factor measures were used, including the Violence Risk Scale (VRS), the Historical Clinical Risk Management scheme-20 (HCR-20 version 2), the Structured Assessment of Protective Factors (SAPROF), and the PF List (an operationalized list of protective factors developed by the investigators). Participants included 178 federally incarcerated adult male violent offenders who participated in the Aggressive Behaviour Control treatment program at the Regional Psychiatric Centre (Saskatoon, SK) between 1998 and 2003. Participants were followed for an average of 9.7 years (SD 2.6) to assess community recidivism. Approximately 60% had at least one new violent conviction, 60% had at least one new nonsexual violent conviction, and 79% had at least one new conviction (i.e., any reconviction). Additionally, participants were followed for an average of 30.7 months (SD = 40.3) to assess institutional recidivism. Approximately 31% had at least one post-treatment major misconduct, 51% had at least one post-treatment minor misconduct, 12% had at least one post-treatment violent misconduct, and 56% had at least one post-treatment misconduct (i.e., any misconduct). Correlations between the risk measures scores support their convergent validity. Both the VRS and HCR-20 predicted all violent, nonsexual violent, and any recidivism. Dynamic variables on these tools generally added uniquely to the prediction of community recidivism over static variables. A similar but weaker pattern of results was observed for institutional recidivism. Additionally, treatment-related change scores on the risk measures added uniquely to the prediction of most recidivism outcomes, supporting the dynamism of these tools and the hypothesis that treatment-related changes translate to actual reductions in recidivism rates. Correlations between the protection measures’ scores support their convergent validity. The protective factor tools, the SAPROF and PF List, similarly predicted community recidivism and, to a lesser degree, institutional recidivism. Dynamism of the protective factor tools was supported and change scores on these tools added incrementally to the prediction of recidivism outcomes. Large correlations were observed between the risk and protection scores, suggesting that part of the predictive accuracy of the protection measures may relate to measuring the absence of risk rather than the presence of protection. Alternative hypotheses are discussed. Protection scores did not add incrementally to the prediction of recidivism over their respective risk scores. Risk, protection, and change scores were significant predictors of most positive community outcomes. Protection scores and risk change scores added incrementally to the prediction of positive community outcomes over their respective risk scores. As such, it appears that treatment-related changes may also represent increases in other positive community outcomes (beyond reduced reoffending) and that protection factors may have important benefits in risk assessment and treatment planning when other positive community outcomes are considered. Strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed.

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This paper addresses the question of whether individual delinquent behaviour, or criminogenic risks that lead to it, can be reduced for convicted violence offenders with personality disorder, using the newly developed offence-oriented therapeutic program TERČ ("TARGET"). If so, how will these changes manifest in the recidivism rate, and how they will reflect the personality characteristics of inmates. TARGET was first systematically applied within a special treatment unit for prisoners with mental and behavioral disorders in Liberec Remand Prison in 2008. It is based on selected elements of the Ambulant intensive program (AIP) from Switzerland. A total of 100 convicts were entered TARGET from 2008 to 2015. 65 individuals completed the program successfully, and 57 were released again. The already released graduates of TARGET re-offended within 12 months in 10.4%. Of all admitted TARGET participants, a total of 30.2% either relapsed or failed during the program since 2009. Graduates showed positive, statistically significant changes in the monitored areas of life satisfaction, emotional stability, insight, self-control and aggression, while on scales representing personality disorder no positive, statistically significant effect was observed. For later re-offending prisoners, the changes were...

Jusqu’à présent, très peu d’études sur les auteures de violences ont considéré l’acte délinquant comme partie intégrante d’une trajectoire criminelle ; plutôt, les études se sont bornées à dresser leur processus de passage à l’acte de manière isolée. Pourtant, nombre d’entre elles commettent de multiples délits et ont, à proprement parler, une trajectoire criminelle. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’explorer et comprendre les trajectoires criminelles des auteures de délits de violents, et plus particulièrement leur début et leur évolution. Pour ce faire, nous avons approché l’agir violent comme le phénomène émergent de la rencontre entre des facteurs externes, à travers les circonstances de vie et internes, à travers la subjectivité individuelle. Pour mener à bien notre objectif, nous avons rencontré 40 personnes incarcérées en France, auprès de qui ont été réalisés des entretiens exploratoires et semi directifs jumelés à des cartes de vie. Cette méthodologie est apparue comme la plus pertinente pour saisir pleinement l'évolution des trajectoires criminelles, les changements dans les circonstances de vie des auteures de violences, leur subjectivité et l'émergence leur violence. Notre thèse a mis en évidence plusieurs résultats. D’abord, nous nous sommes penchées sur l’histoire de vie des participantes à notre étude, laquelle se révèle jallonnée d’embuches qui ont mené à l’établissement de vulnérabilités (Chapitre III). A ce stade, les auteures de violences se distinguaient peu. L’étude des caractéristiques de leurs délits à en revanche permis d’identifier trois parcours de délinquance différents, dont deux trajectoires (Chapitre IV). D’abord, un parcours de délinquance isolé, où l’acte criminel est unique. Ensuite, une trajectoire spécialisée, avec la commission de plusieurs infractions d’une même nature. Enfin, une trajectoire diversifiée, avec la commission d’infractions de nature diverse. Nous avons ensuite identifié la transition composée d’événements affectifs, cognitifs, comportementaux et contextuels menant à l’émergence de la violence (Chapitre V). L’agir violent apparaît en effet être le résultat d’un mode d’adaptation inadéquat à un ressenti négatif engendré par un changement dans les circonstances de vie, favorisé par un état d’intoxication, l’accumulation de ressentis négatifs antérieurs non évacués et par l’accroissement de vulnérabilités issues d’une trajectoire de vie globalement difficile. Nos résultats montrent également que les auteures de violences mettent en avant d’autres événements comme constituant des points tournants dans leur parcours de vie. Accorder une place de choix à la subjectivité de nos participantes a permis d'offrir une compréhension plus riche et plus précise de leur discours mais aussi de l'émergence de leur comportement violent. Finalement, il ne nous a pas été possible d’identifier, comme nous le souhaitions, comment évoluaient les modalités de commission des délits et quels facteurs étaient responsables de ces évolutions, en raison de la forte non reconnaissance des auteures de violences (Chapitre VI). Il est en effet apparu que ces dernières reconnaissaient peu leur implication et leur responsabilité dans les faits pour lesquels elles ont été condamnées. L’étude de leur discours a permis de mettre en avant deux versants de tactiques de présentation de soi visant à se désapproprier leurs délits. Les implications théoriques sont également discutées. / Until recently, very few studies dedicated to female violent or sexual offenders have considered the offense as part of a criminal path. To date, the fact that offending by a woman can evolve and repeat under different conditions over the series of assaults has never been considered by studies on offense process studies. However, many female offenders commit multiple offenses that are part of a criminal path. This thesis aim to explore and understand the criminal paths of women who committed physically violent and/or sexual offenses, and this, paying special attention to the beginning and the evolution of this path. The perspective adopted here allows us to approach violent offense as an emerging phenomenon resulting from external factors (through local life circumstances) and internal causes (through individual subjectivity). The data used is based on 40 female violent offenders incarcerated in France with whom we conducted exploratory and semi- directed interviews twinned with life map calendars. This methodology seems to be the best option to fully understand the development of offending, the changes appearing in local life circumstances and in offending, the subjectivity of these women as well as the offense process. Our thesis highlighted many results. Firstly, we traced the life history of the participants to our study, which appeared to be full of challenges that led to a lot of vulnerabilities (Chapter III). At this stage, the female violent offenders appeared to be a homogenous group. The study of the characteristics of their offenses enabled us to identify three deliquent paths including two trajectories (Chapter IV). First, an isolated offending path with a single criminal act. Secondly, a more specialised trajectory with the repetition of criminal acts of the same nature. And lastly, a diversified trajectory with a multiplicity of infractions. We then identified a transition towards the emergence of violence made of, affective, cognitive, behavioural and contextual components (Chapter V). Violent action appeared to be the result of an inadequate adaptation to negative affects caused by a change in life circonstances, favored by intoxication, the accumulation of anterior negative affects that have not been evacuated and by the increase of vulnerabilities coming from a globaly difficult life history. Our results also show that female violent offenders emphasise other events as constitutive of turning points in their life. To allow for more subjectivity from our participants, enabled us to have a richer and more precise understanding of their testimony and also of the emergence of their violent behaviour. Finally, it wasn’t possible to identify, as we aimed to, how the offending modalities were evolving and what factors were responsible for this evolution beacause of the high propensity of female offenders to refuse to acknowledge their crimes (Chapter VI). Indeed, it appeared that the female offenders were very little inclined to acknowledge their involvement and their responsability in the crimes for which they were convicted. The study of their testimony put forward two parts of a strategy consisting of presenting themselves in a way that disassociated them with their crimes.