Tracey A. Skilling

Evidence of a Taxon Underlying Serious Antisocial Behavior in Boys

It has recently been argued from studies of adults that chronically antisocial offenders constitute a discrete class of individuals. If this is true, it is likely that the class can be identified in childhood. Taxometric analyses were applied to items assessing antisociality in children. These items were similar in content to several established measures of antisocial behavior in children: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, Conduct Disorder; the Psychopathy Checklist–Youth Version; and the Childhood and Adolescent Taxon Scale. Participants were 1,111 school-age boys from a community sample of students. Taxometric analyses using each of the three measures of antisocial behavior yielded evidence of an underlying taxon. In addition, two other tests of consistency strengthened the conclusion that a taxon underlying serious antisocial behavior can be demonstrated in children.

Juvenile delinquency: Understanding the origins of individual differences.

Evolutionary Psychology Behavioural Genetics and Delinquency Proximal Mechanisms and the Development of Juvenile Delinquency A Taxonomy of Juvenile Delinquency and an Integrated Theoretical Perspective Sex Differences in Aggression and Female Delinquency Prevention and Intervention.

The Relationship Between Matching Service to Criminogenic Need and Recidivism in Male and Female Youth Examining the RNR Principles in Practice

Research supports rehabilitative programming that recognizes youth’s level of risk to reoffend and addresses their criminogenic needs and responsivity factors. The risk–need–responsivity (RNR) framework takes a gender-neutral approach that critics assert overlooks the unique needs of female offenders. While matching treatments to RNR principles has been shown to reduce recidivism for male youth, it is unclear whether the same is true for female youth. Comparative analyses of 39 male and 37 female justice system–involved youth indicated that across RNR categories, females and males were similar in the quality and quantity of criminogenic needs and had these needs met through probation services at a similar rate. However, while the RNR assessment tool predicted recidivism equally well for male and female youth, the matching of services to RNR factors was significantly associated with reduced reoffending for boys but not for girls. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Examining Implementation of Risk Assessment in Case Management for Youth in the Justice System

Research on implementation of a case management plan informed by valid risk assessment in justice services is important in contributing to evidence-based practice but has been neglected in youth justice. We examined the connections between risk assessment, treatment, and recidivism by focusing on the individual criminogenic needs domain level. Controlling for static risk, dynamic criminogenic needs significantly predicted reoffense. Meeting individual needs in treatment was associated with decreased offending. However, there is “slippage” in the system that reduces practitioners’ ability to effectively address needs. Even in domains where interventions are available, many youth are not receiving services matched to their needs. Implications and limitations of findings are discussed.

Moderators of informant agreement in the assessment of adolescent psychopathology: Extension to a forensic sample

A well-documented finding in developmental psychopathology research is that different informants often provide discrepant ratings of a youths internalizing and externalizing problems. The current study examines youth- and parent-based moderators (i.e., youth age, gender, and IQ; type of psychopathology; offense category; psychopathic traits; parental education, income, and stress) of informant discrepancies in a sample of young offenders and compares the utility of youth and caregiver reports against relevant clinical outcomes. Results indicate that gender moderated the discrepancy between informant reports of somatic complaints, while parenting stress moderated the discrepancies across reports of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Variables unique to the forensic context (e.g., offense category) were found to moderate cross-informant discrepancies in reports of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Further, youth self-reports of internalizing symptoms predicted a clinician-generated diagnosis of a mood disorder, while caregiver reports of aggressive behaviors predicted the presence of an externalizing diagnosis. Results highlight the importance of assessing informant agreement in the context of forensic assessment and raise questions surrounding the optimal use of informant data in this setting.

Making “What Works” Work: Examining Probation Officers’ Experiences Addressing the Criminogenic Needs of Juvenile Offenders

This study qualitatively explored frontline perspectives on the challenges of addressing youths’ criminogenic needs within a risk–need–responsivity (RNR)-based case management framework. Twenty-nine probation officers from Toronto, Canada participated in semistructured interviews. Emergent themes included the importance of targeting “high impact” criminogenic needs (needs that—when effectively addressed—also have an impact on other need domains in addition to a direct impact on criminogenic risk), the salience of specific responsivity factors in case management, the lack of evidence-based programming available to youth, and respondents’ uncertainty regarding their role in addressing criminogenic needs. Results highlight the need for research examining the interrelationship of criminogenic needs, specific responsivity factors, and educational outcomes of youth on probation. Findings also support recent initiatives that provide concrete training to probation officers around implementation of the need and responsivity principles in effective case management of justice-involved youth.

Exploring Differences in Youth and Parent Reports of Antisociality Among Adolescent Sexual and Nonsexual Offenders

This study examined the extent of, and explored several possible explanations for, the discrepancies found between adolescent and parent reports of conduct problems in adolescent sexual and nonsexual offenders. We found that adolescent sexual offenders scored lower on measures of conduct problems than did nonsexual offenders, whether on the basis of adolescent or parent report, though the difference was much larger for parent reports. Examining this discrepancy more closely, we found that parents of sexual offenders reported less antisocial behavior than did their sons, whereas parents of nonsexual offenders reported more antisocial behavior than did their sons. The same pattern of results was obtained for reports on impulsivity, but much less so with respect to antisocial personality traits such as narcissism and callousness. Measures of family functioning were generally not related to these parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of conduct problems, but these discrepancies were positively correlated with parental reports of stress. The implications of these findings for the interpretation of research on adolescent sexual offenders and comparisons of sexual and nonsexual offenders are discussed.

Measuring Antisocial Values and Attitudes in Justice-Involved Male Youth Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of the Pride in Delinquency Scale and the Criminal Sentiments Scale–Modified

The Risk–Need–Responsivity (RNR) framework for working with offenders has been well validated. Factors that contribute to reoffending within adult and youth forensic populations have been identified, including antisocial attitudes, but less is known about the measurement of this construct in youth. Thus, in the present study, the reliability and validity of criminal attitudes measures were examined in a sample of justice-involved male youth (N = 291). Two measures widely used with adult offenders were included in the present study: the Pride in Delinquency Scale (PID) and the Criminal Sentiments Scale–Modified (CSS-M). Both measures were found to be reliable and valid, and of importance, useful in the prediction of reoffending behavior (area under the curve = .70 and .69 respectively). These findings further support the use of the RNR framework in general with youthful offenders, and more specifically, the use of criminal attitudes measures with youth.

A Process Evaluation of Toronto’s First Youth Mental Health Court

Les tribunaux de santé mentale pour les jeunes sont un type de tribunal spécialisé relativement nouveau. Ils sont conçus pour répondre aux besoins en santé mentale des jeunes ayant des démêlés avec la justice, généralement dans le but de les dissuader de récidiver. Dans le cadre d’une évaluation des processus du premier tribunal de santé mentale pour les jeunes de Toronto, les dossiers de 127 jeunes ayant participé au programme (de 2011 à août 2013) ont été examinés pour (1) décrire le fonctionnement du tribunal et les clients desservis, (2) explorer les variables explicatives de causes réglées et (3) examiner la manière dont le tribunal répond aux besoins criminogènes de ses clients et à ses besoins en matière de santé mentale. La plupart des clients ont satisfait les exigences du tribunal, le temps de traitement d’un dossier étant comparable à celui des tribunaux de la jeunesse « traditionnels ». Ceux dont les causes étaient réglées avaient plus de chance d’avoir un diagnostic de troubles mentaux et une plus grande motivation à recevoir le traitement initial. La moitié de ces jeunes a reçu le traitement ciblant leurs besoins en matière de santé mentale. L’analyse d’un sous-échantillon de dossiers a indiqué que, pour la plupart des jeunes, les questions de santé mentale étaient indirectement reliées à leurs infractions, ce qui souligne le besoin de répondre non seulement aux besoins en matière de santé mentale, mais aussi aux besoins criminogènes dans les tribunaux. Les résultats sont examinés en lien avec les meilleures pratiques pour traiter les jeunes ayant des démêlés avec la justice et ayant des besoins en matière de santé mentale.

The role of mental health and specific responsivity in juvenile justice rehabilitation.

Understanding the role that mental health issues play in justice-involved youth poses challenges for research, policy, and practice. While mental health problems are generally not risk factors for criminal behavior according to the risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) framework of correctional psychology practice, prevalence rates are very high and RNR principles suggest that mental health as a responsivity variable may moderate the success of interventions targeted to criminogenic needs. In this study we investigated the relationships among mental health status, criminogenic needs treatment, and recidivism in a sample of 232 youth referred for court-ordered assessments and followed through their community supervision sentence (probation). Youth with mental health needs were no more likely than youth without these needs to reoffend, regardless of whether those needs were treated. Youth who received mental health treatment also more frequently had their criminogenic needs matched across several domains, suggesting an association between mental health treatment and intermediate treatment targets. However, mental health did not moderate the effect of criminogenic needs treatment: youth who had a greater proportion of criminogenic needs targeted through appropriate services were less likely to reoffend, regardless of mental health status. Findings are consistent with the RNR stance that, within a correctional context in which the primary goal of intervention is preventing recidivism, treatment for mental health needs should be in addition to criminogenic needs treatment, not in replacement of it. They also point to the need for continued research to understand precisely how mental health treatment interacts with intervention targeting criminogenic needs.