The use of electronic monitoring (EM) as a tool to supervise high-risk offenders has increased in the field of criminal justice in the state of Texas. Although EM is now widely used to supervise high-risk offenders to prevent them from committing further crimes, it is unclear whether EM has achieved the purpose of reducing reoffenses during parole supervision. Hirschi's social bond theory, which was later developed into social control theory, was used as the framework for this general qualitative study to explore retired parole officers' perceptions concerning whether EM is successful in preventing high-risk offenders from committing additional crimes. Interview data were collected from 10 retired parole officers who supervised high-risk offenders on EM in Harris County, Texas. The findings revealed that the 10 officers perceived EM to be an effective tool, but they perceived the role of capitalizing on positive social bonds was equally important in controlling criminal behavior. Specifically, the officers perceived that their bond with the high-risk offenders on EM could diminish offenders' propensity to commit new crimes. Opportunities for positive social change stemming from this study include recommendations to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to develop policies and training that is consistent with social bond theory, and retrain parole officers to emphasize to offenders positive contacts and relationship with family and continuing employment during the term of parole release in order to reduct opportunities for reoffense and futher victimization to the community.

<p>Priestley's One-to-One CBT programme is intended to reduce criminal recidivism. Data were collected from 1484 programme rounds in Sweden. 776 of these cases contained the data necessary for this study and were used in the analyses. The data included pre- and postprogramme test scores on areas addressed in the programme. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the tests or background data of participants have predictive properties for dropout and recidivism and whether test scores differ between sub-groups. To do this, t-tests and logistic regression analyses were performed. There were significant improvements on all scores post-programme. Only age predicted completion, with older participants being more likely to complete the program. Several variables were found to have predictive properties for recidivism. The most potent predictor for nonrecidivism was programme completion. The study finds a relation between some of the tests measuring psychological change, and recidivism. This partly supports the theory behind the programme.</p><p> </p>

When assessing the risk of violence, increasing interest has been shown in bringing science and practice closer together. Moving from clinical intuition in the first generation of risk assessment via actuarial scales in the second generation to the structured professional judgments where risk assessments are today produces better, more valid results when assessing the risk of violence. One of the best predictors of violence is gender. Approximately 10% of the violent criminality can be attributed to women; even so, it is increasing, especially among young women. It is therefore important to examine risk assessments from a gender perspective. Another important factor when assessing the risk of violence is psychopathy and there are indications that there might be gender differences in this diagnosis. Thus, a special interest has been focused on psychopathy in this thesis. The purpose with this work is to explore the similarities and differences in assessing risk for violence in male and female mentally disordered offenders, while the overall aim is to validate the violence risk assessment instrument HCR-20 for Swedish offender populations. The risk assessments for all six studies in this thesis were made by trained personnel using the HCR-20 instrument, where psychopathy was diagnosed with the screening version of the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL:SV). The study populations were both male and female mentally disordered offenders in either the correctional or the forensic setting. The findings show that both the validity and the reliability of the HCR-20 and the PCL:SV were good and the clinical and risk management subscales were found to have better predictive validity than the historical scale. Another finding was that there were more similarities than differences between genders in the HCR-20, while the opposite applied to the PCL:SV, where the antisocial behavior was performed in a different manner. Moreover, it was found that the gender of the assessor might be a factor to take into account when assessing the risk of violence in women, where the recommendation was that at least one assessor should be female. The conclusions were that the HCR-20 and the PCL:SV can be used In Swedish offender populations with valid results. For female offenders, there are differences in the antisocial behavior that is assessed in order to diagnose psychopathy and these differences tend to underestimate psychopathy among female offenders. Furthermore, the gender of the assessor might be of greater importance than has previously been realized. The overall conclusion was that this thesis supports the structural professional judgment method of making risk assessments in order to prevent violence in the community.

Priestley's One-to-One CBT programme is intended to reduce criminal recidivism. Data were collected from 1484 programme rounds in Sweden. 776 of these cases contained the data necessary for this study and were used in the analyses. The data included pre- and postprogramme test scores on areas addressed in the programme. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the tests or background data of participants have predictive properties for dropout and recidivism and whether test scores differ between sub-groups. To do this, t-tests and logistic regression analyses were performed. There were significant improvements on all scores post-programme. Only age predicted completion, with older participants being more likely to complete the program. Several variables were found to have predictive properties for recidivism. The most potent predictor for nonrecidivism was programme completion. The study finds a relation between some of the tests measuring psychological change, and recidivism. This partly supports the theory behind the programme.

This study uses a data set on adolescent offending, originally collected by a team of researchers at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City, to critically examine the role of incarceration in criminal rehabilitation. A theoretical explanation of recidivism is constructed using four criminological theories: life course theory (Sampson & Laub 1993), differential association theory (Sutherland 1939), deterrence theory, and reintegrative shaming theory (Braithwaite 1989). This thesis uses these theories to investigate societal factors that may contribute to young offenders’ recidivism (versus successful rehabilitation). It is argued that youths who: (1) come from unconventional family environments, (2) possess deviant peer associations, (3) receive incarceration as punishment, and (4) undergo a stigmatizing shaming process are more likely to recidivate. The combination of these factors is also expected to be intensified during incarceration. An empirical examination of the effects of these factors on recidivism supports the main hypotheses advanced. Although conventional family environments and deviant peer associations are successful in determining first-time offending, results from this study suggest that these are inadequate as predictors of recidivism. Conversely, an extension of Braithwaite’s (1989) reintegrative shaming concept was found to be a strong predictor of subsequent offending. Medium sentence lengths in prison were associated with increased risk to recidivate. Most importantly, the results gathered some support for restorative justice approaches to criminal rehabilitation. Future considerations for recidivism research are explored. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2009-12-16 15:53:46.514

The correctional experience of adult offenders has largely been ignored in comparison to youth and adolescent offenders in the correctional literature and even more so in terms of repeated offending behaviour. The perspective that self-esteem is also considered an important behavioural motivator and outcome of life experiences is reflected in the high amount of inclusion it enjoys as a treatment outcome in numerous correctional rehabilitation programmes. However, the dearth of research on the level of self-esteem of repeat offenders internationally and in the South African context does not reflect the importance of this relationship and with a 95% recidivism rate in South African prisons one can understand the need for investigation into this phenomenon. Descriptive, comparative and explanatory analyses were conducted using the self-concept theory of Carl Rogers to guide the research. A purposive sample of 73 male repeat offenders from correctional centres in the Zululand area of the KwaZulu-Natal province were included in the study. Self-esteem was assessed through the use of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form) and relative theoretical and empirical perspectives were utilised in the development of a questionnaire used to quantitatively assess multiple variables related to self-esteem and repeat offending behaviour. The level of self-esteem was therefore assessed in terms of the type of offence/s committed by the participants and in relation to a number of demographic (age, education, marital status, number of children and childhood socioeconomic status), psychosocial (parental closeness, parental availability, need for acceptance, familial abuse and treatment by community upon release) and correctional (exposure to correctional environment, experience of victimisation inside the correctional facility, visitations, conditions of the correctional centres and programme participation) variables. Inferential (t-tests, ANOVA and correlations) and descriptive (means, standard deviations and frequency distributions) statistical analyses were utilised to compare the self-esteem scores of the participants and provide a general description of the characteristics of the sample respectively. The reliability of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form) was also assessed producing a Cronbach alpha of .69 indicating that it was a reliable measure of self-esteem in the South African correctional context. The results indicated that the self-esteem scores of South African repeat offenders varied significantly in terms of offence type with aggressive offenders showing significantly higher levels of self-esteem than sexual, economic, narcotic and “other” offenders. Participants from the remaining offending categories did not show significant differences in self-esteem between one another. Demographic variables (age, education, marital status, number of children and childhood socioeconomic status) were not found to have a significant effect on self-esteem scores. Psychosocial variables related to familial relations (parental closeness and parental availability) were not found to be significantly different despite clear patterns emerging indicating an increase in self-esteem when parental bonds were strong and parents were perceived as available during childhood. The analysis of data related to the need for acceptance by friends and family members indicated that despite the repeated offending nature of the sample that there was still a degree of acceptance with conventional norms and values. Self-esteem was also seen to improve with perceptions of community support and fairness of treatment by community upon release. Experiences of abuse prior to incarceration and victimisation within the correctional facility were seen to negatively affect self-esteem however time and context related variables were determined to play a mediating role due to the increased effect witnessed for experiences that were more recent. Further correctional variables analysed showed increases in self-esteem in terms of prolonged exposure to the correctional environment, and increase in the frequency of visitations and positive perceptions of satisfaction with the conditions in the correctional centres. Programme participation was was however found to have no significant effect on self-esteem. Recommendations formulated for future research included the need for a longitudinal research design and the incorporation of contextual data in the form of non-offending control groups for the establishment of cultural norms and values through the use of qualitative interviews. The generally negative life experiences of repeat offenders were concluded to increase the need for the use of psychological defences and the creation of an increasingly false reality in an attempt to maintain some form of psychological consistency. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The current study investigated relationships between youth offending, family factors, and personality factors. As a follow-up study to McLoughlin et al, one of the primary focus of this study was to examine whether callous-unemotional traits and aggression could predict offending. The second primary focus of this study was to determine whether family factors also predict offending in combination with callous-unemotional traits and aggression. Police records of 126 youths were obtained, and these were analysed along with the responses that were collected in the previous years during 2007-2010. Several theories involving crime and family factors were also addressed. The results revealed that callous-unemotional trait and aggression were both related to offending. Family factors, particularly ones related to parenting were correlated with youth offending and antisocial behavioural traits.

Inom en snar framtid kan effektiva behandlingsmetoder mot antisocial personlighetsstörning komma att bli tillgängliga för användning. I denna uppsats driver jag en tes om hur vi på ett etiskt försvarbart sätt skulle kunna använda dessa metoder. Tesen begränsar sig till (1) tvångsbehandling (2) av våldsamma återfallsbrottslingar (3) som diagnostiserats med antisocial personlighetsstörning och psykopati, samt till (4) behandlingsmetoder som klassificeras som kapacitetsförbättringar riktade mot moralisk kompetens. Jag argumenterar för att vi har starka skäl att godta tesen, främst med hänseende på fördelarna det skulle innebära för patienten, potentiella brottsoffer, och samhället i stort. Jag diskuterar också de två allvarligaste invändningarna mot min tes – att behandlingen hotar patientens autonomi, respektive personliga identitet – men konstaterar slutligen att de inte tycks kunna falsifiera tesen.

The sexual abuse of children is an issue that society must address with urgency and commitment, given the profoundly damaging effects and widespread occurrence of this kind of crime. Providing psychological treatment to identified offenders is an important endeavour of the criminal justice system, with the aim of reducing recidivism and thereby preventing future victims. This dissertation explores a number of areas relevant to the treatment of sexual offenders on a sample of 223 adult males who completed a prison-based programme for child sexual offenders in New Zealand. Specifically, the assessment of treatment outcome and its relationship with recidivism, risk assessment, and the influence of specific offender factors on estimates of treatment outcome and risk were investigated. Study 1 (N = 218) is an independent validation of the validity of the Violence Risk Scale: Sexual Offender Version (VRS:SO; Olver, Wong, Nicholaichuk, & Gordon, 2007), a recently developed risk assessment instrument for sexual offenders that incorporates both static and dynamic risk factors and contains protocols for the assessment of change as a result of treatment. Results indicate support for the inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity, and predictive validity of the VRS:SO with regard to sexual recidivism, with pre-treatment and post-treatment scores showing superior predictive validity relative to a widely used measure of static risk (Static-99; Hanson & Thornton, 1999) and a measure of "Deviance" based on a 4-factor battery of relevant psychometric tests (Allan, Grace, Rutherford, & Hudson, 2007). In Study 2 (N = 218), three separate methods of assessing proximal treatment outcome (representative of three categories of treatment outcome measures that have previously been applied in the literature) are applied and compared in terms of their predictive validity with regard to sexual recidivism, and the relative advantages and disadvantages of their use. These measures are: change on a battery of relevant psychometric tests administered prior to and following treatment; change across treatment on the VRS:SO; and post-treatment ratings of the attainment of treatment goals as measured by a modified version of Hogue’s (1994) Standard Goal Attainment Scaling for Sexual Offenders (SGAS). Results indicate that positive treatment outcomes as measured by all of these methods are associated with reduced sexual recidivism. SGAS scores are identified as being relatively simple and efficient to obtain, however the VRS:SO and the psychometric battery are both able to provide useful pre-treatment clinical information regarding potential treatment targets for a particular offender. Study 3 (N = 223) and Study 4 (N = 216) are explorations of the influence of particular offender characteristics on response to treatment and risk of recidivism. Of particular interest was the personality construct of psychopathy (measured using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, PCL-R; Hare, 1991), and both studies are attempted replications and extensions of previously reported interaction effects involving this construct (Heilbrun, 1979; Seto & Barbaree, 1999). The results of Study 3 indicate that there is no interaction effect between PCL-R scores and treatment outcome (as measured by the SGAS) on sexual recidivism, in contrast to an influential study by Seto and Barbaree (1999). Study 4 reports an interaction effect between PCL-R scores and intelligence on recidivism, such that higher than average IQ scores appear to moderate the well-known association between psychopathy and risk. Overall, the findings reported in this dissertation suggest the importance of considering dynamic factors as well as static factors in sex offender risk assessments, and support the premise that dynamic factors are changeable, with change being associated with changes in recidivism. The potential for certain offender characteristics to influence treatment response and risk of recidivism is highlighted, and several areas for further exploration are identified.

As APACs têm sido apresentadas por seus gestores e pelos atores que lhe apoiam como um modelo alternativo de prisão que consegue, mediante uma metodologia própria, diminuir até 15% a reincidência das pessoas que cumprem pena nesses locais, enquanto nas demais prisões a reincidência é superior a 70%. O trabalho descreveu as APACs em Minas Gerais, onde elas já representam 17% do total de unidades prisionais, analisando se o baixo índice de reincidência obtido por elas seria, de fato, um produto da sua metodologia ou poderia estar sendo influenciado também pela sua seletividade. Paralelo a essa questão, também se analisa o papel das APACs dentro do sistema prisional de Minas Gerais, uma vez que os seus gestores classificam-nas como uma alternativa às demais prisões. Para embasar nosso trabalho trazemos os debates sobre: as prisões enquanto um mecanismo de punição, assim como debatemos o constante desejo por sua reforma; sobre o conceito de reincidência, que deve ser tratado com cuidado em razão das diferentes maneiras que existem para mensurá-lo; e sobre as políticas públicas e seus atores uma vez que as casas apaqueanas recebem apoio institucional e financeiro do governo de Minas Gerais, de forma que foram alçadas a atores da política prisional daquele Estado. Os resultados foram obtidos a partir da analise dos dados fornecidos pelo INFOPEN no ano de 2014. Os resultados apresentam informações interessantes sobre as prisões apaqueanas quando elas são comparadas com prisões não apaqueanas ao demonstrar que a seletividade pode ser considerada relevante para os índices de reincidência dessas unidades prisionais, assim como apontamos que as APACs possuem um papel dentro do sistema prisional mineiro. / APACs have been presented by their managers and by the actors who support them as an alternative model of imprisonment that, through its own methodology, is able to reduce up to 15% the recidivism of people serving their sentences in these places, while in the other prisons the recidivism is superior to 70%. The study described APACs in Minas Gerais, where they already represent 17% of the total number of prison units, analyzing whether the low rate of recidivism obtained by them would in fact be a product of their methodology or could be influenced by their selectivity. Parallel to this issue, is also the role of APACs within the prison system of Minas Gerais, since their managers classify them as an alternative to other prisons. To support our work we bring the debates about: prisons as a mechanism of punishment, just as we debate the constant desire for its reform; on the concept of recidivism that must be treated with care because of the different ways in which it can be measured; and on public policies and their actors, since the houses of Achaean receive institutional and financial support from the government of Minas Gerais, in a way that has been elevated to actors of the prison policy of that State. The results were obtained from the analysis of the data provided by INFOPEN in the year 2014. The results present interesting information about the Apaquean prisons when they are compared with non-Apaquean prisons when demonstrat that selectivity can be considered relevant for the recidivism indexes of these prison units, as well as pointing out that the APACs have a role within the prison system of Minas Gerais.