Book•
The Psychology of Criminal Conduct
01 Jan 1994-
TL;DR: For instance, the authors investigates the relationship between the beginning and maintenance of criminal activity and diverse risk predictors (singular and social, static and dynamic) in the development of criminal behaviour.
Abstract: Throughout the last decades the so-called Psychology of criminal conduct, which agglutinates scientific knowledge surrounding criminal phenomena, has been taking shape. We can find among the principal fields of interests an explanation for antisocial behaviour where learning theories, analyses of individual characteristics, strain-agression hypotheses, studies on social vinculation and crime, and the analyses of criminal careers are relevant. This last sector, also denominated ‘developmental criminology’, investigates the relationship between the beginning and maintenance of criminal activity and diverse risk predictors (singular and social, static and dynamic). Their results have had great relevance in the creation of crime prevention and treatment programs. Psychological treatments of offenders are aimed at the modification of those risk factors, known as ‘criminogenic needs’, which are considered to be directly related to their criminal activity. In particular, treatment programs attempt to provide criminals (whether juveniles, abusers, sexual aggressors, etc.) with new repertoires of prosocial behaviour, develop their thinking, regulate their choleric emotions, and prevent relapses or recidivisms in crime. Lastly, nowadays the Psychology of criminal conduct places special emphasis on the prediction and management of the risk for violent and antisocial behaviour, a field which will be addressed in a subsequent paper of this same monograph.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the predictive validity of nine dynamic risk factors in two samples of justice-involved individuals (n = 24,972) to identify promising targets for correctional programming.
66 citations
TL;DR: The goal is to survey some of the legal contexts within which violence risk assessment already plays a prominent role, explore whether developments in neuroscience could potentially be used to improve the ability to predict violence, and discuss whether neuropredictive models of violence create any unique legal or moral problems above and beyond the well worn problems already associated with prediction more generally.
Abstract: In this paper, our goal is to (a) survey some of the legal contexts within which violence risk assessment already plays a prominent role, (b) explore whether developments in neuroscience could potentially be used to improve our ability to predict violence, and (c) discuss whether neuropredictive models of violence create any unique legal or moral problems above and beyond the well worn problems already associated with prediction more generally. In “Violence Risk Assessment and the Law”, we briefly examine the role currently played by predictions of violence in three high stakes legal contexts: capital sentencing (“Violence Risk Assessment and Capital Sentencing”), civil commitment hearings (“Violence Risk Assessment and Civil Commitment”), and “sexual predator” statutes (“Violence Risk Assessment and Sexual Predator Statutes”). In “Clinical vs. Actuarial Violence Risk Assessment”, we briefly examine the distinction between traditional clinical methods of predicting violence and more recently developed actuarial methods, exemplified by the Classification of Violence Risk (COVR) software created by John Monahan and colleagues as part of the MacArthur Study of Mental Disorder and Violence [1]. In “The Neural Correlates of Psychopathy”, we explore what neuroscience currently tells us about the neural correlates of violence, using the recent neuroscientific research on psychopathy as our focus. We also discuss some recent advances in both data collection (“Cutting-Edge Data Collection: Genetically Informed Neuroimaging”) and data analysis (“Cutting-Edge Data Analysis: Pattern Classification”) that we believe will play an important role when it comes to future neuroscientific research on violence. In “The Potential Promise of Neuroprediction”, we discuss whether neuroscience could potentially be used to improve our ability to predict future violence. Finally, in “The Potential Perils of Neuroprediction”, we explore some potential evidentiary (“Evidentiary Issues”), constitutional (“Constitutional Issues”), and moral (“Moral Issues”) issues that may arise in the context of the neuroprediction of violence.
66 citations
TL;DR: Suggestions about conceptual and research work that needs to be completed in the future and one concrete example of a project in progress are offered.
Abstract: The HCR-20 has gained considerable acceptance by mental health, forensic, and criminal justice professionals since its initial publication only seven and a half years ago. Scientific evidence has gradually accrued to show that the guide can be used reliably and validly. Yet the scheme is sometimes misapplied. It is important that HCR-20 item definitions be kept anchored to the text to prevent “drift” that the guide be seen as a vehicle to promote discussion among colleagues rather than being viewed as capable of offering violence risk estimates that necessarily approach full accuracy; that would-be users should receive practice in coding case examples; and that, as urged in the basic manual, clinicians and researchers make all possible effort to avoid omitting items. The paper offers suggestions about conceptual and research work that needs to be completed in the future and offers one concrete example of a project in progress.
66 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses some of the claims made for experimental research in the field of rehabilitation of offenders and suggests that both policy officials and evaluators have tended to over-invest financially and intellectually in a technocratic model of reducing reoffending that emphasizes programs for offenders, and under-invest in models that see the process as a complex "people changing" skill.
Abstract: This article assesses some of the claims made for experimental research in the field of rehabilitation of offenders. It suggests that both policy officials and evaluators have tended to over-invest financially and intellectually in a technocratic model of reducing reoffending that emphasizes programmes for offenders, and to under-invest in models that see the process as a complex ‘people changing’ skill. It argues that the complexity of this process renders it hard to evaluate using experimental methods of evaluation such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs provide strong internal validity, but in complex settings offer weak external validity, making it hard to generalize from the experimental setting to other settings. The article suggests that the proper role for evaluative research in this field should be seen as building and testing middle-level theories about how best to change offenders’ behaviour.
66 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined recidivism risk factors in a sample of 320 male batterers attending community treatment and found that maintaining positive relationships with treatment providers was associated with reduced recidivitis.
Abstract: The present study examined recidivism risk factors in a sample of 320 male batterers attending community treatment. Recidivism was assessed by new charges for violence or for any offence during a 5-year follow-up period. The variables associated with recidivism among male batterers were similar to those found for other criminal populations (e.g. young, unstable lifestyle, substance abuse, criminal history). There was no evidence that potential offenders were deterred by expectations of negative consequences, either social (e.g. friends would disapprove) or official (e.g. being arrested, losing job). Maintaining positive relationships with treatment providers was associated with reduced recidivism.
66 citations
References
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TL;DR: It is suggested that delinquency conceals 2 distinct categories of individuals, each with a unique natural history and etiology: a small group engages in antisocial behavior of 1 sort or another at every life stage, whereas a larger group is antisocial only during adolescence.
Abstract: This chapter suggests that delinquency conceals two distinct categories of individuals, each with a unique natural history and etiology: A small group engages in antisocial behavior of one sort or another at every life stage, whereas a larger group is antisocial only during adolescence. According to the theory of life-course-persistent antisocial behavior, children's neuropsychological problems interact cumulatively with their criminogenic environments across development, culminating m a pathological personality. According to the theory of adolescence-limited antisocial behavior, a contemporary maturity gap encourages teens to mimic antisocial behavior in ways that are normative and adjustive. There are marked individual differences in the stability of antisocial behavior. The chapter reviews the mysterious relationship between age and antisocial behavior. Some youths who refrain from antisocial behavior may, for some reason, not sense the maturity gap and therefore lack the hypothesized motivation for experimenting with crime.
9,425 citations
28 Jul 2017
TL;DR: In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi attempts to state and test a theory of delinquency, seeing in the delinquent a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspirations, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within the law.
Abstract: In Causes of Delinquency, Hirschi attempts to state and test a theory of delinquency, seeing in the delinquent a person relatively free of the intimate attachments, the aspirations, and the moral beliefs that bind most people to a life within the law. In prominent alternative theories, the delinquent appears either as a frustrated striver forced into delinquency by his acceptance of the goals common to us all, or as an innocent foreigner attempting to obey the rules of a society that is not in position to make the law or define conduct as good or evil. Hirschi analyzes a large body of data on delinquency collected in Western Contra Costa County, California, contrasting throughout the assumptions of the strain, control, and cultural deviance theories. He outlines the assumptions of these theories and discusses the logical and empirical difficulties attributed to each of them. Then draws from sources an outline of social control theory, the theory that informs the subsequent analysis and which is advocated here. Often listed as a "Citation Classic," Causes of Delinquency retains its force and cogency with age. It is an important volume and a necessary addition to the libraries of sociologists, criminologists, scholars and students in the area of delinquency.
3,690 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2005TL;DR: Haug, Sorensen, Gruber, Song, Relapse Prevention for Opioid Dependence, and Wheeler, George, Stoner, Enhancing the Relapse prevention model for Sex Offenders: Adding Recidivism Risk Reduction Therapy to Target Offenders' Dynamic Risk Needs.
Abstract: Marlatt, Witkiewitz, Relapse Prevention for Alcohol and Drug Problems. Blume, de la Cruz, Relapse Prevention among Diverse Populations. Kadden, Cooney, Treating Alcohol Problems. Shiffman, Kassel, Gwaltney, McChargue, Relapse Prevention for Smoking. Carroll, Rawson, Relapse Prevention for Stimulant Dependence. Haug, Sorensen, Gruber, Song, Relapse Prevention for Opioid Dependence. Roffman, Stephens, Relapse Prevention for Cannabis Abuse and Dependence. Kilmer, Cronce, Palmer, Relapse Prevention for Abuse of Club Drugs, Hallucinogens, Inhalants, and Steroids. Collins, Relapse Prevention for Eating Disorders and Obesity. Shaffer, LaPlante, Treatment of Gambling Disorders. Wheeler, George, Stoner, Enhancing the Relapse Prevention Model for Sex Offenders: Adding Recidivism Risk Reduction Therapy to Target Offenders' Dynamic Risk Needs. Zawacki, Stoner, George, Relapse Prevention for Sexually Risky Behaviors.
2,866 citations
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a theory of criminality, heredity, and environment for criminality and apply it to the problem of illegal behavior in the United States.
Abstract: 1. Introduction.- 2. The Constitutional Theory of Criminality.- 3. Crime and Personality.- 4. Criminality, Heredity, and Environment.- 5. A Biological Theory of Criminality.- 6. The Function and Effectiveness of Sentencing.- 7. The Prevention and Treatment of Illegal Behavior.- 8. Sexual Deviations.- 9. Summary and Conclusions.- References.
404 citations
Book•
27 Apr 1993
TL;DR: The Measurement and Distribution of Crime, Criminology, and Psychology as mentioned in this paper The Measurement of and distribution of crime, crime, and mental health disorders, and the effectiveness and ethics of intervention with offenders.
Abstract: Crime, Criminology, and Psychology. The Measurement and Distribution of Crime. Classification of Offenders. Social and Environmental Theories of Crime. Individually Oriented and Integrated Theories of Crime. Biological Correlates of Antisocial Behavior. Familial and Social Correlates of Crime. Personal Attributes of Offenders. Aggression and Violent Crime. Crime and Mental Disorder. Sexual Deviation and Sexual Offending. Forensic Psychology and the Offender. Psychological Interventions with Offenders. Treatment of Dangerous Offenders. The Effectiveness and Ethics of Intervention. References. Index.
373 citations