Police Officers’ Perceptions of a Sex Offender Registration Scheme: Identifying and Responding to Risk

This article reports on interviews with 17 participants responsible for managing sex offenders on a sex offender register scheme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted that covered the topics of the participants’ policing experience and their thoughts on the register and risk assessment. Nine themes were identified as being particularly important: the purpose of the register; concerns about community perceptions; a lack of resources; recognition that risk assessment is essential but limited; a desire to tailor interventions to individual offenders; the need for more training despite staff competency; the inadequate sharing of information; concerns about how well the legislation captures the sex offending space; and confusion about how to interpret online offending. This research provides first-hand views on how the register can be improved and how police would like a register to look when executing the essential and challenging job of monitoring convicted sex offenders upon their release back into the community.     

Sexual Offender Treatment Effectiveness Within Cognitive-Behavioral Programs: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of General,Sexual, and Violent Recidivism

The current sexual offender literature focuses on recidivism reduction in an effort to increase public safety. While cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) programs are considered a mainstream treatment method, it is essential to study recidivism as an indicator of treatment effectiveness. This meta-analysis examines research published since 1970 to determine the overall effectiveness of treatments in reducing recidivism among adult male sexual offenders. Decade of implementation and CBT treatment features are also assessed as moderator variables. The results from the 25 studies identified were converted into 42 weighted effect sizes utilizing a random-effects model. Significant overall effect sizes were found for sexual and violent/combination recidivism; however, multiple indices indicate heterogeneity in the effect sizes. Significant differences were found in the overall effectiveness of the treatments by decade, and the treatments delivered during the 1990s were found to be related to lower levels of sexual and violent/combination recidivism.     

Criminal Justice Outcomes of Those Appearing before the Mental Health Tribunal: A Record Linkage Study

To examine the utilisation of the insanity defence in Queensland and insanity acquittee reoffending, offences cleared by the police were compared with charges heard by the Mental Health Tribunal (MHT) and appearances before the MHT from 1985 to 2002 were cross-linked with police databases. Only 0.24% of cleared offences were heard by the MHT. This plea rate was similar to that in the US jurisdictions where the insanity defence has been extensively researched. Overall, persons not afforded an insanity defence reoffended more frequently, committed more offences, including more violent offences, and committed more serious offences as measured by the National Offence Index. Furthermore, offending occurred sooner than that of insanity acquittees. Evidence was not found for “over-use” of the insanity defence and overall, recidivism was lower and less serious for insanity acquittees. There is a need for further research to more comprehensively identify factors associated with positive outcomes.     

Moral Disengagement Strategies in Sex Offenders

Sexual abuse is a heterogeneous phenomenon. The literature on sexual offenders considers risk factors in the individual and familial history as well as precursors such as cognitive distortions, defence mechanisms and moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms. This study investigates the MD in sex offenders and non-sex offenders in a sample of 362 males comprising a control group of 268 non-offenders, a group of 42 detained sex offenders and a group of 52 detained non-sex offenders. Participants were administered a semi-structured interview and the Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS). The results show a significant difference between the jailed participants (non-sex offenders and sex offenders) and controls; offenders were found to generally display overall higher levels of MD. Among the jailed participants, sex offenders seem to make more use of MD mechanisms than non-sex offenders.     

A cultural–ecological perspective on agency and offending behaviour

This article aims to outline briefly the important role of culture in the development of the human mind and behaviour, and therefore argues that cultural information is a key part of forensic explanation. We suggest that differing cultural experiences, such as marginalisation, contribute to the differential representation of individuals and groups in criminal justice systems. This occurs through several means, but we focus specifically on individual operation of agency in particular cultural contexts. Building on previous theoretical work, we present a preliminary model, the cultural–ecological predictive agency model. Through an exemplar, we show how this model might assist in understanding better the role of dynamic risk factors in individual behaviour, by locating and incorporating cultural–historical contexts and information.     

部分刑事责任能力精神病违法者的犯罪学特征及其相关分析

目的研究在刑事案件中部分刑事责任能力精神病违法者的犯罪学特征以及这些特征与部分刑事责任能力的相关性,为司法精神病学鉴定提供客观的科学依据。方法对300例符合纳入和排除标准的研究对象使用自制的调查表进行研究,所得资料使用SPSS10.0软件进行统计分析。统计方法包括统计描述、spearman相关分析及多元成组t检验等。结果部分刑事责任能力精神病违法者犯罪时有一定的犯罪动机者为81.3%,作案前有可疑的诱发因素者占研究总体的73.0%,作案前对作案对象、工具有选择者分别占总体的64.7%和62%,59.7%对作案时间无选择,为临时起意。作案后50%的被鉴定人缺乏逃避掩盖等反侦察手段,或有可疑的反侦察行为者39.7%,无伪装75.0%或可疑伪装22%。被鉴定人的生活自理能力、工作学习能力轻度损害者分别为80.4%和74.3%。相关分析发现部分刑事责任能力与作案动机的相关系数为r=0.116(P=0.049)、与作案先兆(r=0.114,P=0.048)、作案的诱因(r=0.172,P=0.003)、作案地点选择(r=0.139,P=0.016)、作案工具选择(r=0.170,P=0.003)、作案后的反侦察手段(r=0.132,P=0.022)及自知力(r=0.293,P=0.000)。结论部分刑事责任精神病能力违法者是符合CCMD或/和ICD-10精神与行为障碍分类的精神障碍患者,作案多有犯罪动机,作案前有可疑的诱发事件,作案前对作案对象、工具有选择,作案后缺乏逃避掩盖等反侦察手段,或有可疑的反侦察行为。部分刑事责任能力精神病违法者在犯罪学特征与多项犯罪学特征呈正相关,其中与自知力和作案前诱因两项相关性较强,可将上述特征量化并结合作案当时的精神病理学特点,为部分刑事责任能力的评定提供较为客观的依据     

Integrating Individual and Group-based Offence-focussed Psychological Treatments: Towards a Model for Best Practice

This review explored outcomes of individual and group-based offence-focussed psychological treatments in studies published between 1 January 1990 and 31 August 2014. Very few high-quality studies using individual treatments (n = 13) were identified. There were even fewer comparisons of individual versus group-based treatment (n = 2); several studies incorporating both individual and group-based treatment components for high-risk high-need clients were also identified. Extant findings suggest comparable outcomes for group-based and individual treatment. In concluding, we adopt a pragmatic perspective and propose a model for conceptualising the role of individual treatment in offender rehabilitation and its relationship to group-based offence-focussed treatments. Group-based treatments are promoted due to their larger evidence base. Individual interventions may prepare clients for group treatment, and/or promote treatment gains when stable internal factors impair responsivity. Individual treatments may also help prevent high-risk clients from engaging in problem behaviours that may result in their removal from the programme. On occasions, individual treatments may be necessary to provide another treatment pathway when group treatments are not possible. Identifying and attending to responsivity factors through both individual and group-based treatments increases the likelihood that rehabilitation efforts are sensitive to each participant's needs.     

Social Cognitive Processing in Violent Male Offenders

Social cognitive processing deficits are widely believed to play a central causal role in aggressive behaviour. In this study 76 adult male prisoners (38 violent, 38 non-violent) were presented with a video scenario depicting an interpersonal provocation and asked to rate their experience of anger and the likelihood of them acting aggressively in response to the provocation. It was hypothesized that violent offenders would predict that they would be more likely to act aggressively, feel higher levels of anger, and report hostile attributions following an interpersonal provocation than non-violent offenders, but that hostile attributions would be associated with aggression only in those who scored higher on a measure of trait anger. While the results indicated that violent offenders reported significantly higher levels of trait anger and an increased tendency for hostile attributions than their non-violent counterparts, the interaction was non-significant. This suggests that hostile attributions may play a more important role than trait anger in predicting future acts of aggression, and has implications for the development of rehabilitation programmes in the treatment of anger and aggression in offenders.     

Factors Impacting upon Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders: The Role of Conservatism and Knowledge

Sex offender legislation is influenced by public pressure. However, there is evidence suggesting that the public's beliefs about sex offenders may be based upon myths and misperceptions. This study examined the relationship between knowledge of sex offenders in areas concerning their recidivism rates, treatment outcomes, and victim types, as well as current supervision and correctional management directed toward sex offenders and how this knowledge relates to overall attitudes towards sex offenders, sex offender treatment, and community notification laws. Further, we sought to examine how conservative belief systems affect this relationship. Using a sample of 559 undergraduate students we found that knowledge about sex offenders and conservative beliefs were significantly related to attitudes toward sex offenders such that those who had more conservative beliefs and less knowledge were more likely to have negative views toward sex offenders. Additionally, conservative belief systems moderated the relationship between knowledge about sex offenders and general attitudes toward sex offenders. These findings will be discussed as they pertain to the development of evidence-based sex offender policies.     

The Rehabilitation of Offenders: Reducing Risk and Promoting Better Lives

This article examines the nature of offender rehabilitation and briefly reviews the effectiveness of correctional interventions in reducing recidivism. It then outlines the two most prominent contemporary theories of offender rehabilitation: the Risk-Need-Responsivity Model and the Good Lives Model (GLM). Our aim is to introduce these two broad rehabilitation frameworks and analyse their practice implications. We conclude that the GLM can offer an alternative view of offender rehabilitation that seeks to help offenders live more fulfilling lives while also reducing risk.     

Implementation of the Risk–Need–Responsivity Framework across the Juvenile Justice Agencies in Singapore

The Risk–Need–Responsivity (RNR) framework is regarded as the forefront of offender rehabilitation in guiding youth offender risk assessment and interventions. This article discusses the juvenile justice system in Singapore and the local research that has been conducted in relation to the RNR framework and the associated Youth Level of Service (YLS) measures. It describes a journey that saw the implementation of the RNR framework across the juvenile justice agencies and highlights the challenges that were faced during the implementation process on the ground. Finally, the article concludes by providing future directions for the implementation of the RNR framework in Singapore.     

The adaptation of a cognitive‐behavioural treatment programme for special needs sexual offenders

The need for specialized treatment programmes to address the specific requirements of different populations has been well recognized. One important area of treatment development has been for offenders who are unsuitable for existing mainstream treatment programmes. This paper describes the process of adapting an existing sexual offender treatment programme for use with sexual offenders who have special needs in an Australian correctional setting. The population comprised individuals with a variety of special needs including borderline or mild intellectual functioning, severe literacy problems, significant communication difficulties, and other important deficits and special needs. It should be noted that some of these special needs individuals would not meet the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability and this programme is aimed at the broader group inclusive of a number of special needs. Therapeutic adaptations have been guided by current research and practice, and specific examples are described and discussed. The authors believe that these adaptations may also have some utility for mainstream sexual offender treatment programmes. Research into the efficacy of these treatment adaptations with this population is currently underway.     

Extraction of Potential Difficult-to-Manage Psychiatric Cases among Criminal Offenders: 5-Year Data from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office

Abstract: In order to examine the characteristics of potential difficult-to-manage psychiatric cases, seven potential subgroups were extracted from the criminal offenders who were sent to the division of psychiatric diagnosis, Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office for Pre-Prosecution Psychiatric Justice (PPPJ). The following criteria were used to select the potential subgroups: offenders who had experienced compulsory discharge from a mental hospital, those who had experienced Involuntary Admission to the mental hospital by the Prefectural Governor at least twice, those who had experienced admission to mental hospitals on more than 5 occasions, those who had been put on PPPJ previously for other criminal matters at least 3 times, those who had previously attempted suicide, and those who had committed homicide or arson. From the results of this study, it could be concluded that at least two types of "difficult-to-manage" psychiatric cases exist in the criminal offenders.     

Suicide Screening Tools for use in Incarcerated Offenders: A Systematic Review

Self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales, recently reported as the highest in over a decade, are a significant cause of mortality. A lack of guidelines surrounding the screening and identification of suicide risk of new prisoners along with a dearth of effective screening tools indicate the need for review. Our aims are to examine findings on the effectiveness of prison specific suicide screening tools used with adult prisoners. Papers were identified via systematic searches of databases, scanning grey literature, and reference checking. Included studies were published over the period between 2000–2016. PRISMA guidelines were followed. Studies were selected based on population – adult imprisoned offenders; intervention – suicide screening tool; comparators – participants screened vs. not screened outcome – suicide or attempted suicide. Data was extracted manually. A narrative synthesis presented the findings between different screening tools. Eight screening tools were critically appraised. Evidence suggested that the VISCI and Dutch screening tools are most effective in identifying those at risk and reducing suicide and/or self-harm behavior. Variance in methodological quality and associated factors indicate the need for further development of prospective studies to develop robust screening tools. This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42016035471).     

Psychiatric evidence: a study of psychological issues

This article discusses the nature of psychiatric evidence in Icelandic criminal proceedings and presents findings from an investigation of the role of amnesia, malingering and overcontrolled hostility among different types of offenders. Amnesia was most common in homicide cases, and was almost invariably associated with alcohol intoxication. An unexpectedly high rate of overcontrolled hostility was found among sex offenders, which may have important theoretical and clinical implications. The results indicate that deliberate faking of an intellectual deficit on psychometric tests occurs rarely in a forensic context.