Emma J. Palmer

Criminogenic need and women offenders: A critique of the literature

Purpose. This paper considers the criminogenic needs of women offenders, raising the question of whether there may be women-specific criminogenic needs. Arguments. The risk-needs model of offending has become increasingly influential in both research and practice. Simply, the risk–needs model holds that some aspects of an individuals functioning are risk factors for offending. The distinction can be drawn between static and dynamic risk factors: the former are historical, the latter reflect current functioning and are amenable to change. These dynamic attributes linked to offending – such as financial status, emotional problems, and substance use – are referred to as criminogenic needs. Needs assessment instruments, such as the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R; Andrews & Bonta, 1995) have been developed to assess criminogenic need and predict risk of offending. Much of the research informing the risk–needs model has been carried out with male offenders, leading to questions about the criminogenic needs of women offenders and whether there may be women-specific criminogenic needs. Conclusion. An overview of typical criminogenic needs, as assessed by the LSI-R, suggests that there are probably common needs for male and female offenders. A common need does not imply that aetiology or level of importance of that need is the same for men and women, while some events, such as physical and sexual abuse, are arguably criminogenic needs for women. The implications for practice and research of understanding more about women-specific criminogenic needs are considered.

Sociomoral reasoning, perceptions of parenting and self‐reported delinquency in adolescents

This study considers the relationships between perceived parenting, sociomoral reasoning, and self-reported delinquency in a sample of high school adolescents. Correlational analysis revealed that moral reasoning was associated with a consistent disciplinary style. Self-reported delinquency was positively related to a number of the parenting variables but negatively correlated with moral reasoning. Separate analysis for males and females showed similar patterns for self-reported delinquency, with the exception that moral reasoning was negatively correlated with attachment and supervision among females. The most significant predictors of delinquency scores were parenting variables, with moral reasoning also playing a role for males. A factor analysis of the perceived parenting measure revealed two factors. The first factor reflected a warm, inductive and involved style of parenting with the second reflecting a parenting style characterized by physical punishment. Self-reported delinquency was negatively significantly associated with Factor 1, and positively related to Factor 2. There were also differences in the self-reported delinquency scores of the top and bottom quartiles of Factor 1 scores. These support the conclusion that a parental style that is perceived to be warm, involved and inductive is associated with lower levels of delinquency in adolescence. Copyright

An overview of the relationship between moral reasoning and offending

Through research it has been established that there is a relationship between level of moral reasoning and offending behaviour, with offenders generally reasoning at less mature levels than non-off...

Cognitive skills behavior programs for offenders in the community: A reconviction analysis

This study presents the findings of an evaluation of the effect on reconviction of three general offending behavior programs involving adult male offenders in the English and Welsh Probation Service. Using a quasi-experimental design controlling for population factors, there was no difference in the reconviction rates of offenders allocated to programs and a comparison group. Offenders who completed a program had a lower rate of reconviction compared to the nonstarter, noncompleter, and comparison groups. A range of explanations for this “completion effect” is discussed, particularly with regard to the emerging literature on readiness to change.

Offending behaviour programmes in the community: The effects on reconviction of three programmes with adult male offenders

Purpose. This study presents the findings of an evaluation of the effect on reconviction of three general offending behaviour programmes in the English and Welsh Probation Service with adult male offenders. Method. The study employed a quasi-experimental design comparing the reconviction rates of three groups: offenders who were allocated to and completed a programme, offenders allocated to a programme but failed to complete, and a comparison group. Results. The main finding from the analyses indicated that, controlling for salient population factors, the offenders who had completed a programme had a lower rate of reconviction as compared with non-completers and comparison groups. Additionally, the non-completers had a higher rate of reconviction than the comparison group. Conclusions. The findings are discussed in light of the extant literature and a range of explanations is presented. Research suggests that offenders typically show distinctive social cognitive styles, including impulsivity and problematic social perspective-taking, and experience difficulties in solving interpersonal problems in socially appropriate ways (for a review, see Antonowicz & Ross, 2005). Therefore, offending behaviour programmes attempt to reduce reoffending by changing offenders’ behaviour through cognitive skills training. This approach to reducing reoffending is supported by the results of metaanalytic reviews of offender treatment, in which interventions based on cognitivebehavioural principles have been shown to be effective in reducing the rates of reoffending (e.g. Andrews et al., 1990; Lipsey, 1992; Lipton, Pearson, Cleland, & Yee, 2002). These meta-analyses have shown interventions to have an average effect size

THE LEVEL OF SERVICE INVENTORY- REVISED WITH ENGLISH WOMEN PRISONERS A Needs and Reconviction Analysis

This study examines the Level of Service Inventory—Revised (LSI-R) with a sample of English women prisoners. As data from an English sample of women offenders have not previously been published, a full psychometric examination is presented. Comparison of the womens scores with English male data showed a number of differences across areas of criminogenic need, although there was no difference in overall level of risk of reconviction. The predictive validity of the LSI-R with respect to reconviction showed reconvicted offenders to have elevated LSI-R subscales scores and total scores and to be in higher security bands. Multivariate analyses showed reconviction and time to reconviction to be predicted by the LSI-R total score, the Companions subscale, and the LSI-R security bands.

Linking different types of crime using geographical and temporal proximity

In the absence of forensic evidence (such as DNA or fingerprints), offender behavior can be used to identify crimes that have been committed by the same person (referred to as behavioral case linkage). The current study presents the first empirical test of whether it is possible to link different types of crime using simple aspects of offender behavior. The discrimination accuracy of the kilometer distance between offense locations (the intercrime distance) and the number of days between offenses (temporal proximity) was examined across a range of crimes, including violent, sexual, and property-related offenses. Both the intercrime distance and temporal proximity were able to achieve statistically significant levels of discrimination accuracy that were comparable across and within crime types and categories. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research.

Cognitive skills programmes for offenders

Abstract Following the impact of the meta-analyses and ‘What Works’ in offender treatment, cognitive skills programmes for offenders have become widely used in both the community and in custody. This overview is primarily concerned with the issue of effectiveness: do cognitive skills programmes have an effect on reoffending? The extant evidence suggests that there are lower rates of reoffending among offenders who complete cognitive skills programmes. However, there is a debate in the literature as to whether this ‘completion effect’ is a real treatment effect or an artificial side-effect of the use of non-randomised research designs. The ‘research design’ view is considered in detail, leading to the conclusion that it is based on a less than convincing argument and that a pragmatic explanation (which does not exclude a treatment effect) for the completion effect is required.

Level of Service Inventory-Revised Profiles of Violent and Nonviolent Prisoners:

Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) assessments were conducted on 251 male prisoners beginning prison sentences in six English prisons. The prisoners who were classified as violent, on the basis of either current or previous convictions, scored significantly higher than the nonviolent prisoners on the four LSI-R subscales of Criminal History, Companions, Education and Employment, and Alcohol and Drugs. In addition, those prisoners with a record of violent offenses gave higher total LSI-R scores, indicating an overall higher risk of recidivism. Multivariate analysis using the LSI-R subscales to classify the higher risk violent prisoners and minimum-risk nonviolent prisoners basically confirmed the findings of the univariate analysis. The implications of the findings for informing practice with violent offenders are discussed in terms of screening for intensity of service delivery and identification of targets for change. It is suggested that screening for drug and alcohol problems should be a prerequisite to working with violent offenders.

The Level of Service Inventory-Revised Profile of English Prisoners: A Needs Analysis.

This study considers the applicability of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) with an English prison population. After slight modification of the LSI-R for use in England, several items were added to amplify it for use in prisons. As data from an English prison population have not previously been published, full details are presented. Comparison with data from a Canadian prison population suggests that the LSI-R functions in a similar manner in assessing needs for both populations. The calculation of test-retest change scores over the duration of the sentence, based on the dynamic risk items, represents a new use of the LSI-R. This study precedes another study presently under way using this data set to search for relationships between LSI-R scores and recidivism. Such relationships, if reliably established, would have several applications within the prison service in terms of sentence planning and risk assessment.