Individuals with convictions for violence are likely to have both violent and nonviolent subsequent reoffences. Individuals who have committed violent offences are often required to participate in ...violence treatment programming prior to release. The aim of this study was to examine whether violence intervention programs offered in community or institutional correctional settings are effective for reducing general and violent recidivism among individuals with previous histories of violence. In total, 21 controlled studies with data from 17,223 violent offenders (99% men) were included in the meta-analysis for general recidivism, and 19 controlled studies with data from 8,863 offenders (99% men) were included in the meta-analysis for violent recidivism. This article extends an earlier meta-analysis by Papalia et al. (Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 26(2), 1–28 2019) by adding seven new studies to the meta-analysis of general recidivism and five new studies to the meta-analysis of violent recidivism. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that the odds of general recidivism were 25% lower, and the odds of violent recidivism were 24% lower for individuals who participated in interventions compared with the control groups. The results of the present study are consistent with previous meta-analyses, which support the use of correctional violence treatment programs. Implications for future research are identified, considering these findings.
Objective
This study explored relationships between aggressive script rehearsal, rumination, and anger rumination with aggressive behavior.
Method
One hundred and twenty‐nine incarcerated males (M = ...33.54, SD = 8.67) completed the Schedule of Imagined Violence, Preservative Thinking Questionnaire, Anger Rumination Scale, and the Life History of Aggression‐Aggression subscale. Correlations were run to examine associations between the variables and a four‐step sequential multiple regression was performed to assess for the unique contribution of rumination, anger rumination, and aggressive script rehearsal to aggressive behavior.
Results
Results revealed moderate‐strong positive associations between aggressive script rehearsal, rumination, and anger rumination. Moderate‐weak associations were found between these three constructs and aggressive behavior. Regression analyses revealed aggressive script rehearsal was uniquely related with aggressive behavior and path analysis demonstrated aggressive script rehearsal mediated the relationship between rumination/anger rumination and aggression.
Conclusion
These results clarify the nature of the relationships between these conceptually connected constructs and suggest that the frequency with which someone rehearses aggressive scripts impacts on the likelihood of aggression more than anger rumination and general ruminative processes. The frequency with which a person rehearses aggressive scripts should be a critical consideration in violence risk assessment and treatment programs for people deemed to be at risk for violent behavior.
Past research into the effectiveness of multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) in reducing reoffending it limited. Thus, the current study aimed to evaluate proven reoffending patterns ...for MAPPA managed individuals.
Proven reoffending for 39,501 MAPPA managed individuals was investigated by (1) examining patterns in the timing and frequency of proven reoffending for MAPPA managed individuals; (2) examining 1-, 3-, and 5-year proven reoffending patterns of MAPPA managed individuals by MAPPA category, age, and gender; and (3) comparing crime harm levels and recall to custody for MAPPA managed individuals pre- and post-MAPPA adoption.
Taken together, our findings show that proven reoffending rates for individuals managed under MAPPA are substantially lower than those reported in proven reoffending statistics for England and Wales.
Our results suggest that MAPPA is making a positive contribution to a managing individuals convicted of sexual and violent offenses. Additionally, our findings provide the best evidence to date that MAPPA management may also be effective at reducing less serious offenses which do not typically involve immediate removal from society. These findings are considered in light of their theoretical and practical implications while potential limitations and avenues for future research are outlined.
Despite a recent increase in the number of studies published on sexual homicide (SH), several of these studies have been based on small and nonrepresentative samples. This study aims to describe and ...compare two samples of SH from France (n = 412) and Canada (n = 350) where data have been collected and coded with the same tool. The data include variables related to the crime, the offender, and the victim characteristics. The overarching goal is to further the knowledge about French SH and to assess the possibility of merging French and Canadian cases to create a cross-national database of 772 cases of SH. Among the 126 variables included in the comparative analysis, 31 (24.60%) presented significant differences between the two samples. Overall, findings suggest that SH cases between the two countries are more similar than they are different.
This paper reviews the existing literature on the relationship between social media and violence, including prevalence rates, typologies, and the overlap between cyber and in-person violence. This ...review explores the individual-level correlates and risk factors associated with cyber violence, the group processes involved in cyber violence, and the macro-level context of online aggression. The paper concludes with a framework for reconciling conflicting levels of explanation and presents an agenda for future research that adopts a selection, facilitation, or enhancement framework for thinking about the causal or contingent role of social media in violent offending. Remaining empirical questions and new directions for future research are discussed.
•One of the first comprehensive literature reviews on social media and violence.•Interdisciplinary look at prevalence rates and typologies of cyber violence.•Explores individual risk factors, group processes, and context of cyber violence.•Provides a framework for reconciling conflicting levels of explanation.
When Justice Frank Vincent sentenced serial killer Paul Denyer to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of Natalie Russell, Elizabeth Stevens and Deborah Fream in the Supreme Court of ...Victoria in December 1993, he described the crimes as 'almost beyond comprehension'. With great foresight, he said that the crimes would continue to cause anguish to the families of the victims and others who loved them. Despite Denyer's guilty plea and his age (21), he declined to set a non-parole period, considering Denyer to be a continuing danger to the community. He wrote that he did not wish to abrogate his responsibility to 'some distant Parole Board' but would leave it to a decision of the Executive Government of the time to decide whether to release him (1993 VicSC 764).
Previous research has shown that mock and actual jurors give little weight to actuarial sexual offending recidivism risk estimates when making decisions regarding civil commitment for so-called ...sexually violent predators (SVPs). We hypothesized that non-risk related factors, such as irrelevant contextual information and jurors' information-processing style, would influence mock jurors' perceptions of sexual recidivism risk. This preregistered experimental study examined the effects of mock jurors' (N = 427) need for cognition (NFC), irrelevant contextual information in the form of the offender's social attractiveness, and an actuarial risk estimate on mock jurors' estimates of sexual recidivism risk related to a simulated SVP case vignette. Mock jurors exposed to negative risk-irrelevant characteristics of the offender estimated sexual recidivism risk as higher than mock jurors exposed to positive information about the offender. However, this effect was no longer significant after mock jurors had reviewed Static-99R actuarial risk estimate information. We found no support for the hypothesis that the level of NFC moderates the relationship between risk-irrelevant contextual information and risk estimates. Future research could explore additional individual characteristics or attitudes among mock jurors that may influence perceptions of sexual recidivism risk and insensitivity to actuarial risk estimates.
Violent criminal offenders with personality disorders (PD's) can cause immense harm, but are often deemed untreatable. This study aimed to conduct a randomized clinical trial to test the ...effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy for rehabilitating offenders with PDs.
We compared schema therapy (ST), an evidence-based psychotherapy for PDs, to treatment-as-usual (TAU) at eight high-security forensic hospitals in the Netherlands. Patients in both conditions received multiple treatment modalities and differed only in the individual, study-specific therapy they received. One-hundred-three male offenders with antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, or paranoid PDs, or Cluster B PD-not-otherwise-specified, were assigned to 3 years of ST or TAU and assessed every 6 months. Primary outcomes were rehabilitation, involving gradual reintegration into the community, and PD symptoms.
Patients in both conditions showed moderate to large improvements in outcomes. ST was superior to TAU on both primary outcomes - rehabilitation (i.e. attaining supervised and unsupervised leave) and PD symptoms - and six of nine secondary outcomes, with small to moderate advantages over TAU. ST patients moved more rapidly through rehabilitation (supervised leave, treatment*time:
(5308) = 9.40,
< 0.001; unsupervised leave, treatment*time:
(5472) = 3.45,
= 0.004), and showed faster improvements on PD scales (treatment*time:
(1387) = -2.85,
= 0.005).
These findings contradict pessimistic views on the treatability of violent offenders with PDs, and support the effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy for rehabilitating these patients, facilitating their re-entry into the community.
The risk of violence following childhood maltreatment is uncertain. This meta-analytic review identified prospective studies that have examined this association. We systematically searched three ...electronic databases (PsycINFO, EMBASE, and MEDLINE) and completed a targeted search on Google Scholar. These were supplemented with scanning reference lists and correspondence with authors. We considered non-English-language and unpublished studies. Studies were included if childhood maltreatment was measured before age 18 years and occurred before violent outcomes. We identified 18 eligible studies with data on 39,271 participants. We conducted meta-analysis to calculate odds ratios (ORs) using random-effects models. Heterogeneity was explored through subgroup analyses and meta-regression. The overall OR of violent outcomes in childhood maltreatment was 1.8 (95% confidence interval 1.4, 2.3) with substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 92%). Meta-regression suggested that risk of violence following childhood maltreatment was more elevated in samples with higher percentage of females, in higher quality investigations, in studies with case-linkage methods compared to that followed-up participants over time using a prospective cohort design, when general population or matched controls were used rather than selected population controls, and when violent outcomes were ascertained in older individuals. In conclusion, the risk of later violence perpetration was modestly increased in individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment. Preventative strategies and interventions for childhood maltreatment may have an important role in violence reduction. Methodological issues and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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