David M. Day

Examining the Therapeutic Utility of Restraints and Seclusion With Children and Youth: The Role of Theory and Research in Practice

Restraining and secluding children living in residential facilities, though controversial, are commonly practiced by staff to manage disruptive behavior. In an effort to address some of the ongoing issues about the practice, this article examined the reasons for their use, their theoretical underpinnings, and extant empirical evidence in support of the theories. It is suggested that the current array of theories be updated and comprehensive research programs be encouraged to assess their clinical utility with various populations in a variety of settings.

Potential mediators between child abuse and both violence and victimization in juvenile offenders

Juvenile offenders are at risk for involvement in both fighting behavior and peer victimization. Understanding the potential causal mechanisms leading to these outcomes is important to address the needs of this population. The present study tested four mediator models of violent perpetration and peer victimization in a sample of 112 incarcerated youth (68 males and 44 females). In the models, the relationship between child physical and emotional abuse and fighting and victimization was expected to be mediated by impulsiveness, depression, and drug use. Multiple mediator models were tested according to Preacher and Hayes (2008). Depression fully mediated the relation between child emotional abuse and victimization and partially mediated the relation between child physical abuse and victimization. Drug use fully mediated the relation between child emotional abuse and fighting. These results suggest that treatment of depressive symptoms and drug use among juvenile offenders with a history of child physical or emotional abuse may limit violent perpetration and peer victimization in this population.

Evaluation of a Targeted Cognitive-Behavioral Program for Children with Conduct Problems — The SNAP® Under 12 Outreach Project: Service Intensity, Age and Gender Effects on Short- and Long-Term Outcomes

This study tested the effectiveness of a multifaceted, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program for antisocial children — the SNAP® Under 12 Outreach Project (ORP) — in relation to age, sex and indices of treatment intensity. Study participants were 80 clinic-referred children (59 boys and 21 girls) aged 6—11 years assigned to one of the following groups: control (CG; n = 14) who did not receive the ORP, matched (MG; n = 50) who received the ORP, and experimental (EG; n = 16) who received an enhanced version of the ORP. Results indicated significant pre—post changes for the EG and MG for Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)-measured delinquency and aggression, but no improvement for the CG. Positive relationships between the number of individual ORP components (e.g. number of childrens CBT sessions) received and CBCL change scores were also found. Statistical associations tended to be larger for girls and older children (i.e. 10—11 years old) who may have been more cognitively advanced. Also, the number of childrens CBT sessions predicted later convictions, even after controlling for prior CBCL delinquency scores. Findings from this study support the effectiveness of the ORP, but also highlight the need to take into account client characteristics when offering clinical treatment.

Criminal Trajectories and Risk Factors in a Canadian Sample of Offenders

This study contributed to the criminal trajectory literature using a Canadian-based sample of offenders and examined childhood and adolescent predictors of trajectory group membership. The sample comprised 378 males who had been sentenced as youth, between 1986 and 1996, to one of two open custody facilities in Toronto, Canada. Official criminal records were obtained from late childhood and early adolescence into adulthood for an average follow-up of 12.1 years. Childhood and adolescent predictors reflecting individual, family, peer, and school domains were extracted from client files. Trajectory analysis yielded four groups, labeled moderate rate (MR); low rate (LR); high-rate, adult peaked (HRADL); and high-rate, adolescence peaked (HRADOL). Multinomial regression analyses indicated that risk factors representing the family and peer domains differentiated the MR, HRADL, and HRADOL groups from the LR group. Moreover, whereas both child and adolescent risk factors were associated with the MR, HRADL, and HRADOL groups, only adolescent risk factors were associated with the LR group.

Cumulative Childhood Maltreatment and Depression Among Incarcerated Youth Impulsivity and Hopelessness as Potential Intervening Variables

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system are at high risk for mental health problems, particularly depression. Furthermore, these youth often present with a history of childhood maltreatment. Despite research consistently demonstrating a link between childhood maltreatment and depression, our understanding of intervening factors of this relationship remains limited. This study examined impulsivity, hopelessness, and substance use as potential explanatory variables in the relationship between cumulative childhood maltreatment and depression severity among 110 incarcerated youth. The data were analyzed using path analysis. As hypothesized, cumulative maltreatment maintained a strong direct relation with depression severity in the context of the additional variables in the final model. Cumulative maltreatment also had an indirect relation with depression severity through both impulsivity and hopelessness. Contrary to expectation, substance use was not an explanatory variable in the model. These findings suggest that impulsivity and hopelessness might be important factors to consider in future studies on the relation between childhood maltreatment and depression symptoms among incarcerated youth.

Can We Distinguish Juvenile Violent Sex Offenders, Violent Non-sex Offenders, and Versatile Violent Sex Offenders Based on Childhood Risk Factors?

Understanding the developmental precursors of juvenile violent sex offending can contribute to the promotion of effective early intervention and prevention programs for high-risk children and youth. However, there is currently a lack of research on the early characteristics of adolescents who commit violent sex offenses. Drawing on the literature regarding the generalist and specialist positions of criminal behavior, the aim of the present study was to compare childhood risk factors for three groups of juvenile offenders: (a) pure sex offenders (PSO; n = 28); (b) violent non-sex offenders (VNSO; n = 172); and (c) versatile violent sex offenders (VVSO; n = 24). Nineteen risk factors comprising four life domains (individual, family, peer, and school) were identified from a file review. Three hierarchical logistic regression analyses examined associations between risk factors and offender groups. The results reflected the underlying heterogeneity of the sample, offering support for both the specialist and generalist positions of criminal behavior. PSOs differed from VNSOs on the basis of higher odds for precocious sexual behavior. Second, VVSOs differed from VNSOs on the basis of higher odds for precocious sexual behavior, criminal family members, and an adolescent mother, as well as lower odds for poor school behavior. Third, PSOs were marginally more likely to have engaged in early overt antisocial behavior compared with VVSOs. Fourth, many of the childhood risk factors examined were not associated with any offender group. In conclusion, VVSOs appeared to differ on the greatest number of risk factors from VNSOs, suggesting that VVSOs share a more similar developmental pathway with PSOs. The prevention and future research implications of these findings are discussed.

Group-based Criminal Trajectory Analysis Using Cross-validation Criteria

In this article, we discuss the challenge of determining the number of classes in a family of finite mixture models with the intent of improving the specification of latent class models for criminal trajectories. We argue that the traditional method of using either the Proc Traj or Mplus package to compute and maximize the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) is problematic: Proc Traj and Mplus do not always compute the MLE (and hence the BIC) accurately, and furthermore, BIC on its own does not always indicate a reasonable-seeming number of groups even when computed correctly. As an alternative, we propose the new freely available software package, crimCV, written in the R-programming language, and the methodology of cross-validation error (CVE) to determine the number of classes in a fair and reasonable way. In this article, we apply the new methodology to two samples of N = 378 and N = 386 male juvenile offenders whose criminal behavior was tracked from late childhood/early adolescence into adulthood. We show how using CVE, as implemented with crimCV, can provide valuable insight for determining the number of latent classes in these cases. These results suggest that cross-validation may represent a promising alternative to AIC or BIC for determining an optimal number of classes in finite mixture models, and in particular for setting, the number of latent classes in group-based trajectory analysis.

Change in Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revised (LSI-OR) Risk Scores Over Time: An Examination of Overall Growth Curves and Subscale-Dependent Growth Curves

The dynamic nature of risk to re-offend is an important issue in the management of offenders and has stimulated extensive research into dynamic risk factors that can alter an individual’s overall risk to re-offend if addressed. However, few studies have examined the relative importance of these dynamic risk factors, complicating the task of developing case management and treatment plans that will effect the most change. Using a large, high-risk sample and multi-wave data of a common risk assessment tool, the Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revised (LSI-OR), the current study investigated the relationship among criminogenic risk factors and their role in influencing the overall risk score. Results indicated a diverse pattern of effects on the eight subscale scores, specifically suggesting that changes on Procriminal Attitude/Orientation, Criminal History, and Leisure/Recreation subscales resulted in a quicker rate of change to the overall risk score over time. These results suggest that some factors may be driving the change in overall risk and could potentially effect the most change if prioritized for intervention. Practical implications and implications for further research are discussed.

Developmental risk factors distinguish violent sexual offending, violent non-sexual offending and versatile violent offending in adulthood

Abstract The continuity of developmental risk factors from childhood into adolescence to predict criminal adult offending has not been investigated. From a developmental and life-course perspective, the issue is of both theoretical and practical importance, as understanding the long-term impact of early life experiences on adult outcomes that carry forward across major developmental periods can assist clinicians with the identification of targets for early intervention and prevention. The aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which childhood and adolescent risk factors distinguish among three offender subgroups in a sample of adult male offenders. The results indicated that the groups were more clearly distinguished on adolescent risk factors, giving greater prominence to proximal than distal predictors. As well, from a dose-response perspective, the pure sex offenders showed the most adverse developmental history and were differentiated from both the versatile violent sex offenders and the violent non-sex offenders.

Distinguishing among weapons offenders, drug offenders, and weapons and drug offenders based on childhood predictors and adolescent correlates

BACKGROUND Weapons and drug offences incur a large cost to society and tend to be strongly associated. Improved understanding of their antecedents could inform targeted early intervention and prevention programmes. AIM This study aimed to examine differences in criminal careers, childhood predictors and adolescent correlates among weapons-only offenders, drugs-only offenders and a versatile group of weapons + drugs offenders. METHOD We conducted a longitudinal records study of 455 young Canadians charged with drug and/or weapons offences who started their offending in late childhood/early adolescence. RESULTS Consistent with expectation, differences emerged in their criminal careers as the versatile group had a longer criminal career and desisted from offending at a later age than weapons-only offenders. Against prediction, weapons-only offenders experienced the greatest number of childhood predictors and adolescent correlates. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The three offending groups could be differentiated on offending trajectories and developmental factors.In making links between past events and later behaviour, life-course criminology may inform development of effective early intervention and prevention strategies.As weapons-only offenders experience the greatest level of adversity in childhood and adolescence, they may benefit most (of these three groups) from early intervention and prevention programmes.A reduction in weapon carrying and use might be achieved by early identification of children risk factors (e.g. family adversity) and appropriate intervention.