No description available.

Violent and aggressive behavior is a subset of antisocial behavior that is of particular concern to the criminal justice system and to the general public. A challenge facing mental health professionals and the criminal justice system is to assess—with a reasonable degree of accuracy—the likelihood that a young offender will recidivate and to arrange appropriate interventions. Because of its psychometric properties and high predictive validity, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is being incorporated into risk assessment batteries for use with adults. The purpose of the study was to extend the risk paradigm to adolescent offenders, investigating the predictive validity of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) from adolescence to adulthood. Subjects were 157 admissions, ages 12-18, referred to Youth Court Services for psychological or psychiatric assessment. Archival data were used to complete retrospectively the PCL:YV and to code criminal history and demographic data on each of the subjects. Follow-up criminal record data were collected, with an average follow-up time of ten years. Over the follow-up period psychopaths demonstrated a greater risk for committing violent offences than nonpsychopaths. They committed violent offences at a higher rate, earlier following their release from custody, and were more likely to escape from custody than nonpsychopaths. Further, results indicate that PCL:YV score, a difference in performance - verbal intellectual functioning (P > V Index), and history of self-harm contributed significantly to the prediction of violent outcome, over and above the contribution of a combination of criminal-history and demographic variables. Finally, background and demographic characteristics were compared between violent and nonviolent psychopaths. Findings are discussed in the context of current conceptualizations of psychopathy and adolescent antisocial behavior.

No description available.

One of the biggest challenges facing the South African prison system today is the phenomenon of recidivism (repeat offences). In ninety four percent of all cases offenders re-engage in criminal activities after they have been released from prison. This means that the majority of prisons in South Africa are ineffective in terms of rehabilitating offenders during their time in prison. The contribution of this research revolves around an analysis of the rehabilitation arrangements that are prescribed by the DCS to all Government correctional institutions (prisons). The Groenpunt maximum security prison is used as a case study to establish why rehabilitation is ineffective and to identify ways and means to reduce recidivism. In this regard the rehabilitation arrangements at Groenpunt maximum security prison is measured against the prescribed governmental rehabilitation arrangements. The following main findings (problem areas) emerged out of this research: • At Groenpunt maximum security prison the prescribed governmental prescriptions for rehabilitation are not being adhered to; and • Participation in rehabilitation programmes is not compulsory for offenders at Groenpunt maximum security prison. The above trends render rehabilitation ineffective and stimulate recidivism upon release. In order to rectify the above situation the research highlights specific shortcomings in the rehabilitation arrangements of Groenpunt maximum security prison that needs to be rectified in order to reduce recidivism. This boils down to the development of an individual needs based approach to rehabilitation and making participation in rehabilitation programmes compulsory for all offenders. It is further envisaged that the recommendations relating to Groenpunt maximum security prison can also be applied to other prisons in order to reduce the rate of recidivism in all South African prisons. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

One of the biggest challenges facing the South African prison system today is the phenomenon of recidivism (repeat offences). In ninety four percent of all cases offenders re-engage in criminal activities after they have been released from prison. This means that the majority of prisons in South Africa are ineffective in terms of rehabilitating offenders during their time in prison. The contribution of this research revolves around an analysis of the rehabilitation arrangements that are prescribed by the DCS to all Government correctional institutions (prisons). The Groenpunt maximum security prison is used as a case study to establish why rehabilitation is ineffective and to identify ways and means to reduce recidivism. In this regard the rehabilitation arrangements at Groenpunt maximum security prison is measured against the prescribed governmental rehabilitation arrangements. The following main findings (problem areas) emerged out of this research: • At Groenpunt maximum security prison the prescribed governmental prescriptions for rehabilitation are not being adhered to; and • Participation in rehabilitation programmes is not compulsory for offenders at Groenpunt maximum security prison. The above trends render rehabilitation ineffective and stimulate recidivism upon release. In order to rectify the above situation the research highlights specific shortcomings in the rehabilitation arrangements of Groenpunt maximum security prison that needs to be rectified in order to reduce recidivism. This boils down to the development of an individual needs based approach to rehabilitation and making participation in rehabilitation programmes compulsory for all offenders. It is further envisaged that the recommendations relating to Groenpunt maximum security prison can also be applied to other prisons in order to reduce the rate of recidivism in all South African prisons. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The present thesis is a detailed and in depth examination of the reasons of re-offending, perceived by young offenders in custody, drawn from the largest Young Offenders' Institution in Scotland. Mainly materialistic and affective reasons were provided, in line with previous research, yet the issue of drugs abuse emerged as salient. The thesis focused on the immediate and more proximally related factors of re-offending, predicting young offenders' decisions to re-offend in the future. One hundred and fifty two young offenders were randomly selected and participated in a structured interview. The interview assessed several background characteristics, their perceptions of the costs and benefits of their future offending, their perceived normative influences in their future offending and their perceptions of desisting from future offending by controlling several criminogenic factors in the future. In addition, the participants completed two self-reported measures: the Parental Bonding Instrument(PBI)- and the Moral Disengagement Scale(MDS). Intentions of re-offending in the future were predicted by perceived control and attitudes towards future offending. Background factors, related and predictive of recidivism and chronic offending, failed to contribute to the prediction of variation of intentions, over and above the contribution of perceptions of control and attitudes of re-offending. The results suggest that attitudes towards offending and perceptions of control over offending provide a parsimonious framework of assessing and predicting young offenders' intentions of reoffending in the future. Moreover, the detailed examination of the control and behavioural beliefs underlying the two constructs, perceived control to desist from offending and attitudes towards offending, can guide to the specific needs that are perceived as criminogenic by the young offenders and potentially inform the content and the direction of any intervention programs within the correctional settings of young offenders aiming at reducing levels of recidivism. Two dimensions of child-rearing practices, parental care and protection, were examined in relation to normative data, background characteristics and cognitive representations of future offending, and it was found that the relation between perceptions of parenting and intentions of re-offending were mediated by attitudes towards offending in the future. In addition, the associations of moral disengagement, as a failure of self-regulation of morality with past recidivism rates and age of initiation of offending were examined, and were found, contrary to expectations, mainly unrelated. However, the overall score of Moral Disengagement of the young offenders was significantly higher in comparison to normative data. The results suggest that Moral Disengagement could be a factor differentiating young people involved in criminal activity and processed by the legal system from young people who are not involved in criminal activity and/or are unaffected by official monitoring. Moral Disengagement, however, might not be related with frequency of offending within groups of young people in the correctional institutions. Moral disengagement was also found mainly unrelated with background characteristics of the young offenders, suggesting that self-regulation of morality is relatively independent from influences from the social environment. Finally, the relations of Moral Disengagement and cognitive representations of offending in the future were discussed in terms of self-regulation of hierarchically organised feedback loops.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Mary Alice Guttman. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-147).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Lana Stermac.

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-111). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / "Summer 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91).