Derek Carson

A forensically valid comparison of facial composite systems

An evaluation of E-FIT, PROfit, Sketch, Photofit and EvoFIT composite construction techniques was carried out in a “forensically friendly format”: composites of unfamiliar targets were constructed from memory following a 3–4-hour delay using a Cognitive Interview and experienced operators. The main dependent variable was spontaneous naming and overall performance was low (10% average naming rate). E-FITs were named better than all techniques except PROfit, though E-FIT was superior to PROfit when the target was more distinctive. E-FIT, PROfit and Sketch were similar overall in a composite sorting task, but Sketch emerged best for more average-looking targets. Photofit performed poorly, as did EvoFIT, an experimental system. Overall, facial distinctiveness was found to be an important factor for composite naming.

Pathways Into Services for Offenders with Intellectual Disabilities Childhood Experiences, Diagnostic Information, and Offense Variables

The patterns and pathways into intellectual disability (ID) offender services were studied through case file review for 477 participants referred in one calendar year to community generic, community forensic, and low, medium, and maximum secure services. Data were gathered on referral source, demographic information, index behavior, prior problem behaviors, diagnostic information, and abuse or deprivation. Community referrers tended to refer to community services and secure service referrers to secure services. Physical and verbal violence were the most frequent index behaviors, whereas contact sexual offenses were more prominent in maximum security. Age at first incident varied with security, with the youngest in maximum secure services. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or conduct disorder was the most frequently recorded diagnosis, and severe deprivation was the most frequent adverse developmental experience. Fire starting, theft, and road traffic offenses did not feature prominently. Generic community services accepted a number of referrals with forensic-type behavior and had higher proportions of both women and people with moderate or severe ID.

An assessment for attitudes consistent with sexual offending for use with offenders with intellectual disabilities

Background. Over the past 10 years, the focus of assessment and treatment for sex offenders has changed from the assessment of skills and deviant sexual preferences to the assessment and treatment of cognitions that might be considered to encourage or justify inappropriate sexual behaviour. There have been a few assessment measures of deviant sexual cognitions developed for adults in mainstream sex offender populations but none in less able populations. The present study describes an assessment questionnaire consisting of 7 scales for cognitions associated with rape, voyeurism, exhibitionism, dating abuse, stalking, homosexual assault and offences against children, designed to be used by sex offenders with intellectual disabilities. Method. Four groups of subjects were employed in this study – sex offenders, non-sexual offenders, non-offenders all with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intelligence and a further group of normal men. All subjects completed the questionnaire and 86 subjects provided reliability data. Results. Each item was subjected to 3 tests of reliability. Retained items were required to achieve an item-to-total correlation of at least 0.4. Of the 7 scales, 5 achieved an internal consistency coefficient of 0.8 or greater. All scales successfully discriminated between groups even when the normal controls were eliminated because their scores were so low. Conclusions. It is possible to develop scales to assess cognitions related to types of offences which discriminate between sex offenders and other groups with intellectual disabilities. The final scales have robust statistical properties and can be used for clinical and research purposes. Some caution was noted in the use of attitudinal assessments for sex offenders.

Perceptual priming is not a necessary consequence of semantic classification of pictures.

Four experiments investigated how repetition priming of object recognition is affected by the task performed in the prime and test phases. In Experiment 1 object recognition was tested using both vocal naming and two different semantic decision tasks (whether or not objects were manufactured, and whether or not they would be found inside the house). Some aspects of the data were inconsistent with contemporary models of object recognition. Specifically, object priming was eliminated with some combinations of prime and test tasks, and there was no evidence of perceptual (as opposed to conceptual or response) priming in either semantic classification task, even though perceptual identification of the objects is required for at least one of these tasks. Experiment 2 showed that even when perceptual demands were increased by brief presentation, the inside task showed no perceptual priming. Experiment 3 showed that the inside task did not appear to be based on conceptual priming either, as it was not primed significantly when the prime decisions were made to object labels. Experiment 4 showed that visual sensitivity could be restored to the inside task following practice on the task, supporting the suggestion that a critical factor is whether the semantic category is preformed or must be computed. The results show that the visual representational processes revealed by object priming depend crucially on the task chosen.

Community services and people with intellectual disabilities who engage in anti-social or offending behaviour: referral rates, characteristics, and care pathways

Provision of health and social support to people who engage in anti-social or offending behaviour and have intellectual disabilities (ID) remains a challenge to services. Numerous population studies have produced contradictory findings with reviews calling for the development of more fruitful approaches and recommending investigation of the care pathways operating within ID services. This study reports on the pathways through services encountered by adults with offending or anti-social behaviour referred to 15 UK community ID services in 2002. Pathways through services were tracked for 24 months post referral. Referral rates, demographic characteristics, and associations with anti-social or offending behaviour were statistically analysed for 237 cases. Most referrals originated from the local community (66%); a high proportion were female (40.5%). Community services appeared encapsulated, serving adults with offending behaviour over the long term, but predominantly (74%) those already known to local ID services. Implications for services and future research strategies are considered.

Semantic priming of person recognition: Categorial priming may be a weaker form of the associative priming effect

An interactive activation and competition account (Burton, Bruce, & Johnston, 1990) of the semantic priming effect in person recognition studies relies on the fact that primes and targets (people) have semantic information in common. However, recent investigations into the type of relationship needed to mediate the semantic priming effect have suggested that the prime and target must be close associates (e.g., Barry, Johnston, & Scanlan, 1998; Young, Flude, Hellawell, & Ellis, 1994). A review of these and similar papers suggests the possibility of a small but non-reliable effect based purely on categorial relationships. Experiment 1 provided evidence that when participants were asked to make a name familiarity decision it was possible to boost this small categorial effect when multiple (four) primes were presented prior to the target name. Results from Experiment 2 indicated that the categorial effect was not due to the particular presentation times of the primes. This boosted categorial effect was shown to cross domains (names to faces) in Experiment 3 and persist in Experiment 4 when the task involved naming the target face. The similarity of the pattern of results produced by the associative priming effect and this boosted categorial effect suggests that the two may be due to the same underlying mechanism in semantic memory.

The relationship between assessed risk and service security level for offenders with intellectual disability

Following social policies of deinstitutionalisation, few offenders with intellectual disability (ID) are diverted into local hospitals and they are now referred to a range of community and secure services. Of 197 participants, the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide was completed on 181 and the Static-99 on 83. Assessed risk was then related to six levels of service: community generic, specialist community forensic ID, learning disability in patient, low secure, medium secure and high secure. On both assessments, those in high secure had a significantly greater average assessed risk than in the community. Correlations between assessed risk and level of service showed low to medium effect sizes. Despite an orderly relationship between assessed risk and level of security, the effect sizes are not large suggesting that factors may intervene to place some individuals of a high risk in community settings and others of a low risk in secure settings.

Referrals into services for offenders with intellectual disabilities: variables predicting community or secure provision.

BACKGROUND There is a need for research to promote an understanding among service developers on why people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are referred to offender services in order for them to receive appropriate assessment and treatment. Previous studies investigating referrals into forensic ID services have concentrated on referral sources and administrative variables such as legal status. AIMS To construct a predictive model for choice of service referral based on a comprehensive range of information about the clientele. METHOD We conducted a case record study of 336 people referred to community services and 141 to secure provision. We gathered information on referral source, demographics, diagnosis, index behaviour, prior problem behaviours and history of abuse. RESULTS Comparisons revealed 19 candidate variables which were then entered into multivariate logistic regression. The resulting model retained six variables: community living at time of referral, physical aggression, being charged, referral from tertiary health care, diverse problem behaviour and IQ < 50, which correctly predicted the referral pathway for 85.7% of cases. CONCLUSIONS An index act of physical aggression and a history of diversity of problem behaviours as predictors against the likelihood of community service referral suggest that professionals have similar concerns about people with ID as they do about their more average offending peers; however, the more severe levels of ID mitigated in favour of community referral, regardless. Offenders with ID tend to be referred within levels of service rather than between them, for example, form tertiary services into generic community services.

Pathways through services for offenders with intellectual disability: a one- and two-year follow-up study.

The pathways through services for offenders with intellectual disability were reviewed. Participants were 197 offenders with intellectual disability accepted into three types of community and three types of secure forensic intellectual disability services. They were first compared with 280 participants referred but not accepted into services and were then followed-up for 2 years to review pathways through services. Those accepted into services had a higher charge rate than did those who were referred (46% and 25%, respectively). The greatest diversity in pathway was seen in participants in community forensic intellectual disability and inpatient services. Individuals in secure settings showed the least diversity over time, and, similarly, a relatively high percentage of those accepted into generic community services remained in these services.

Alcohol and its relationship to offence variables in a cohort of offenders with intellectual disability

Abstract Background Alcohol use and misuse may be lower in people with intellectual disability (ID) than in the general population but may be related to offending. Method Alcohol-related crime and history of alcohol use was recorded in 477 participants with ID referred to forensic ID services and related to offending. Results Level of alcohol-related crime and history of alcohol misuse was lower than in some previous studies at 5.9% and 20.8%, respectively. History of alcohol abuse was associated with alcohol-related offences and theft. Higher rates of alcohol problem history were associated with histories of a number of offences, psychiatric disturbance in adulthood, psychiatric disturbance in childhood, and experiences of childhood adversity. Most effect sizes were weak or moderate. Conclusions The convergence of childhood adversity, psychiatric problems in childhood and adulthood, and alcohol abuse is consistent with studies that have found these as risk markers for offending.