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The concept of organized crime has dynamically evolved, with researchers contending that it is a social construct or an umbrella concept encompassing different empirical manifestations. Scholars have often suggested classifying organized crime groups into those involved in "racketeering" or "governing" and those engaged in "transit crime" or "trading." However, these propositions were never assessed at the level of individual criminal careers. We address two primary objectives: first, we test differences in the criminal careers of organized crime offenders between organized crime contexts that are historically different—comparing Italy, which is primarily known for racketeering organized crime, to the Netherlands, which is characterized more by transit crime. Second, we explore differences between criminal careers of organized crime offenders born in different decades; doing so allows us to measure differences in offending patterns in shifting organized crime contexts due to broader social changes while considering more country-specific changes in law enforcement and organized crime policies. The study relies on the criminal careers of 4480 organized crime offenders in Italy (n = 3360) and the Netherlands (n = 1120). We analyze the distributions of criminal career parameters, crime categories, age-crime curves, and offending trajectories. Offenders in Italy exhibit higher offending, earlier violence, earlier onset, and decline; offenders in the Netherlands display later onset, slower decline, and a greater involvement in drug and property offenses. Also, both samples show generalist offending patterns, long-lasting careers, and involvement in organized crime in adulthood. We also find substantial variation across decades of birth, with younger offenders in both countries reporting higher frequencies. We attribute this to the interplay of increased offending among younger individuals, the implicit selection bias in the sampling, and greater law enforcement pressure due to stricter anti-organized crime policies since the 1980s and 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on assisted desistance has not considered the influence of criminal-involvement factors on the receptivity to assistance. Although most crimes committed are motivated by the prospect of gain, current knowledge on desistance from lucrative offending is still rudimentary. The purpose of this study was to examine the assistance in the desistance process of 27 individuals having committed profit-driven crimes. First, based on life story narratives, the acknowledgment of assistance was explored. Then, how and when this assistance arose in participants' lives was studied. Results demonstrate the value of the assisted desistance framework in understanding desistance. Other findings include the fact that assistance may take many forms and may arise at various phases in the process of desistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well-known that experiences of out-of-home care (OHC; foster-family care and residential care) are linked to criminal behavior. Less is known how criminal activity in the OHC population develops over the life course and to what extent such development is characterized by desistance or persistence. Using population-based longitudinal register data for more than 740,000 Swedish men and women, of which around 2.5% have experience of OHC, followed until age 40, results from group-based trajectory modelling and multinomial regression suggest that OHC-experienced individuals with various timing and duration of placement, especially men first placed as teenagers, have substantially elevated likelihood for persistent offending compared to peers without OHC experience. However, most OHC-experienced followed pathways characterized by desistance. Our findings have implications for understanding the dynamics of offending in OHC populations and underscores the necessity for interventions that can prevent the onset of criminal careers, as well as disrupt or modify the ongoing paths of offending within this disadvantaged group of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, using data from the Community Criminal Courts where a majority of elderly offenders are tried and sentenced, investigates the socio-economic profile of elderly offenders and the factors influencing their criminal motivation in Singapore. It revisits conceptualizations of offending in older age which until now has received scant attention even in Asian societies where ties to conventional institutions are thought to be "protective." The majority of elderly offenders in this study were "revolving door prisoners" and were never in possession of any efficacious social capital that would have prevented them from committing a crime or enabled their re-entry process, a problem compounded by the study's findings that almost 70% of the sampled offenders had experienced mental health issues. This would have spelled adverse consequences for their desistance and, conversely, their recidivist behavior, a finding that was consistent with many other studies that had examined the association between psychosis and crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the associations between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds (vs non-Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) and in-hospital death due to self-harm, repeat self-harm and mental health service use after self-harm. Method: A retrospective study of 42,127 self-harm hospital inpatients aged 15+ years in Victoria, Australia, from July 2008 to June 2019. Linked hospital and mental health service data were used to assess in-hospital death, repeat self-harm and mental health service use in the 12 months following index self-harm hospital admission. Logistic regression and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were used to estimate associations between cultural background and outcomes. Results: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people accounted for 13.3% of self-harm hospital inpatients. In-hospital death (0.8% of all patients) was negatively associated with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background. Within 12 months, 12.9% of patients had self-harm readmission and 20.1% presented to emergency department with self-harm. Logistic regression components of zero-inflated negative binomial regression models showed no differences in the odds of (hospital-treated) self-harm reoccurrence between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and non- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse self-harm inpatients. However, count components of models show that among those with repeat self-harm, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people (e.g. born in Southern and Central Asia) made fewer additional hospital revisits than non-Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people. Clinical mental health service contacts following self-harm were made in 63.6% of patients, with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people (Asian backgrounds 43.7%) less likely to make contact than the non-Culturally and Linguistically Diverse group (65.1%). Conclusions: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and non-Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people did not differ in the likelihood of hospital-treated repeat self-harm, but among those with self-harm repetition Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people had fewer recurrences than non-Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people and utilised mental health services less following self-harm admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Juvenile Military Court (JMC), established in 2009 in the West Bank, handles offenses perpetrated by Palestinian minors, consisting mostly of security-related violations. With the establishment of the JMC, and a subsequent three-stage legal reform in handling juvenile offenders, Palestinian minor suspects and defendants have been accorded various procedural rights. This study addresses the impact of these rights on the criminal careers of Palestinian minors appearing in the JMC. It first reviews the demographic profile of 8,301 minors handled by the JMC between 2000 and 2018, describes their offenses, and offense transition between their initial and second arrest. Using trend analysis, the study compares minors' reoffending level in the years before and after the reform. The findings suggest significant differences in minors' reoffending level between the years preceding and following the legal reform. Possible explanations for the findings are offered, and the article concludes with policy implications and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the 2011 'riots' attracted a huge amount of political, media and academic attention, the state's punitive reaction to the unrest received far less analysis, despite being characterised by exceptionally harsh practices at every stage from arrest to sentencing. Drawing on interviews with criminal justice professionals who were at the heart of this response, and focusing in particular on the Crown Prosecution Service's unusually punitive approach, this article examines the imaginations, assumptions and claims that allowed professionals to variously justify and problematise this vindictive backlash. The article shows how an imagination of the disturbances as an apolitical and unprecedented outbreak of violence was central to many professionals' accounts. Yet this imagination, I contend, requires significant erasure and elision. Forgetting England's long history of unrest, and ignoring or dismissing the police killing of Mark Duggan that immediately precipitated the disturbances, were vitally important in allowing professionals to ignore the vital connections between the unrest and entrenched structural racism that has consistently underpinned post-war urban unrest – and to position the harsh law and order response as reasonable, proportionate, necessary and adequate. In doing so, the article makes a significant contribution to scholarship on the unrest, and on the importance of amnesia and ignorance - conceived as active, collective and inherently political processes - in normalising punitive and discriminatory state practices, both in the wake of the riots and in their longer aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing evidence about heterogeneous pathways leading individuals into organized crime, there is limited knowledge about the differences in the criminal career between individuals who entered criminal organizations in their youth and those who joined at an older age. This study assesses the differences between early and late recruits in the Italian mafias through logistic regressions considering several criminal career parameters computed on the period prior to recruitment. Results show that recruitment in the mafias is far from a homogenous process. Early recruits report an early criminal onset, lower educational attainment, more serious offenses within a shorter time-span, and more frequent violent co-offending; late recruits show a later onset, more prolific and versatile—but less serious—offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminological theories and widespread assumptions about crime suggest that the modus operandi involved in sexual crimes should have changed over time given various contextual changes, such as better criminological knowledge (e.g., forensic awareness) as well as improved investigative techniques (e.g., forensic evidence analysis). The aim of this study was to test whether the modus operandi patterns of individuals having committed a sexual assault against female strangers have changed over time during the period of 2003–2017. More specifically, the study has identified changes in the trends of monthly counts and (relative) participations for sexual assaults during the study period in France. The measure of participations – a concept borrowed from the field of criminal career – was used to overcome the inherent limitations associated with this type of data. Results show that despite some significant changes in the modus operandi involved in sexual crimes, overall the modus operandi patterns appear to be fairly stable over time. The findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely acknowledged that factors such as previous offending and unemployment increase the risk of offending, but it remains unclear to what extent this also holds true for terrorist suspects. Using register-data on individuals suspected of a terrorist offense in the Netherlands, the present study takes on a life-course criminological approach to study the background and criminal career of terrorist suspects. Moreover, we compare their background to that of general criminal suspects and members of the general population. Our findings support the idea of a "new" crime-terror nexus at the individual level and show similarities between terrorist suspects and regular suspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides the characteristic of a female recidivist through a qualitative empirical analysis of socio-demographic, criminal-legal, and criminal-executive features of convicted women serving their sentences in the Chernihiv Correctional Institution No. 44 by conducting an anonymous survey of 123 female recidivists. The characteristic features inherent to female recidivists have been identified and generalized and, on this basis, a typical characteristic of such persons has been worked out based on the analysis of results of the survey of convicted women. This category is mostly represented by middle-aged people from 36 to 48 years. This person has a secondary or secondary special, vocational education, is unmarried, without stable socially useful ties, and the existing family ties have deteriorated after being sentenced to imprisonment, and by occupation she has a predominantly working specialty. She is serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term mainly from 2 to 5 years for middle grave crimes, has 3 to 4 convictions, which indicates her extensive criminal experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing mass incarceration in the United States will require criminal legal professionals to shift away from carceral punishment and toward alternative approaches to justice. Education on the physiological, social, and behavioral impacts of traumatic events (i.e., trauma education), especially when enhanced with messaging about the malleability of behavior (i.e., growth mindset intervention), may help promote this shift. We assessed the impact of trauma education alone and enhanced with a growth mindset intervention on 344 U.S.-based criminal legal professionals' attitudes about the criminal legal system and perceptions of trauma-informed judicial practice, and assessed whether profession type moderated intervention impact. Compared with trauma education alone, mindset-enhanced trauma education led to increased perceived appropriateness of considering trauma in judicial decision-making (main effect) and greater support of alternative sentencing for nonviolent crimes among lawyers and judges (moderation effect). Although effects were small, findings support the enhancement of trauma education with growth mindset interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine differences in patterns of criminal arrests between US citizens and foreign citizens among a sample of individuals incarcerated for homicide in Texas. Data for this project come from administrative records of inmates incarcerated in Texas for homicide. Drawing from the criminal careers literature, official arrest records are assessed to compare differences in criminal histories with growth curve models for the examination of criminal careers of non-Texas born US citizens and foreign citizens. Notable findings are that the age-crime curves are remarkably similar between the two groups, but the curves differ in degree, with those of US citizens peaking significantly higher across all crime types examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sentenced offenders who re-offend prior to serving their previously imposed sentence (multiple conviction offenders) are situated between multiple and repeat offenders. This article examines how they should be sentenced based on censure, consequentialist and desert theories. I conclude that these aims cannot be achieved if they are treated as repeat offenders, and neither can the requirement of proportionality. Censure is, similarly, communicated primarily via hard treatment not via sentence pronouncement. I further analyse all continental European penal codes; half of them do not have any provision governing the sentencing of multiple conviction offenders (tacitly treating them as repeat offenders) and only two countries provide detailed sentencing guidance. I conclude by offering recommendations for the principled sentencing of multiple conviction offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called 'wall of silence' presents a threat to successful police investigations and criminal trials. Explanations for it have focused on cultural narratives, including distrust in the police, a 'no snitching' culture and manipulative 'professional criminals'. Drawing on a study of serious multi-handed violence and 'joint enterprise' as a legal response, this article highlights the role of the law, and its agents, in generating silence among young suspects, whose primary concern is the legal risks of talking. Yet, these young people face a precarious trap, as their silence is interpreted as guilt by the police, propelling them towards charge. This article concludes that to avoid over-charging and to encourage young people with knowledge of serious violence to talk, structural change is needed. The system must reverse the legal rules regarding silence and reform the law on secondary liability to reduce the legal risks of talking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bourdieusian criminology has produced useful concepts such as the street-criminal field, capital and habitus. In employing these concepts, this article demonstrates the importance of the criminal role model-image, such as the respected career criminal, as an ego-ideal among lower class youths who identify with these role models, acquiring bodily and mental criminal dispositions using the results of ethnographic research conducted in a run-down district in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Focusing on a non-Western context with an original theoretical articulation, this article further suggests that the affective relationship between these disadvantaged lower class youths and respected older criminals lubricates the youths' formation of criminal habitus and likewise constitutes a 'strategic mutuality' flowing through certain practices in the street-criminal fields. The original finding lies in revealing a strategic affinity transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques and skills across generations, and further making crime as work a reliable source of income for disadvantaged youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several European countries have recently been confronted with mutually arranged confrontations between hooligan groups in a predesignated setting. This article explores the significance of this form of collective violence for those involved and how this relates to existing collective violence theory. In addition to international and national questionnaires and subsequent in-depth interviews with police officials, two case studies were conducted and compared with a 'regular' (not mutually arranged) hooligan confrontation. We also assessed the criminal history and psychological traits of individuals participating in mutually arranged fights (n = 38) and individuals taking part in a regular confrontation (n = 76). Our results indicate that the meaning of mutually arranged confrontations differs importantly from that of spontaneous collective violence. Furthermore, data indicate that criminal career measures differ between individuals who are involved in mutually arranged confrontations and spontaneous collective violence. Theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal and qualitative studies have highlighted that courtroom actors consider multiple aspects of criminal records. However, most quantitative studies on sentencing only included the number of prior convictions or arrests, with little attention to the seriousness trends of those priors. Taking stock from studies on criminal careers, we used group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) to identify patterns of escalation and de-escalation among a defendant sample in New York State (n = 56,017), and then examined the role of trajectory groups in four decision points: dismissal, charge reduction, incarceration, and incarceration length. We found that escalation, de-escalation, and a higher stable level of crime seriousness were associated with less favorable outcomes at multiple decision points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that guns, as objects used in and for crime, have received insufficient criminological attention. It proposes a socio-material perspective for taking crime guns seriously as material agents in the ways many serious crimes are planned and executed. Drawing in part upon affordance theory, the perspective links the 'objective' physical properties of guns to their allure and take up for the purposes of carrying out crime. Guns are powerful organising objects in the commission of crime, it is argued, capable of provoking as well as enabling a range of threatening and harmful activities. The perspective is developed drawing upon interview data from a large qualitative study of convicted gun criminals. These data enable the notion of materiality to be considered at different stages of criminal career, particularly prior to first criminal gun use through to enforced or voluntary desistance. The article concludes with a consideration of policy options suggested by the socio-material perspective. In a post-Covid 19 world in which guns have gained greater salience in many countries, it is argued that the need to 'dematerialise' gun attraction and use has never been greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The near-repeat phenomenon usually occurs with any crime. Hence, to implement preventive measures, it is of great interest to figure out at which spatio-temporal scale crimes are more likely to be repeated by offenders. The Knox test is the most used statistical tool for evaluating the presence of the near-repeat phenomenon given a dataset of crimes that are located in space and time. The classic version of this test assumes that crime risk is homogeneous in both space and time, although this assumption rarely holds in reality. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to highlight the necessity of adjusting the standard version of the Knox test, including spatial and temporal effects that allow for the consideration of crime risk heterogeneity. In this regard, a methodology that has already been proposed for addressing this issue is described and adapted. This methodology is then put into practice through a dataset of burglaries recorded in the city of Valencia (Spain) in 2016 and 2017. The results yielded by both versions (standard and adjusted) of the Knox test confirm that the near-repeat phenomenon took place for the burglaries that occurred in Valencia during the period under investigation. However, using the adjusted version of the Knox test leads to a reduction in the number of spatio-temporal intervals that are declared as statistically significant. This fact should be born in mind before making decisions on preventive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study evaluates a geographically based focused deterrence (FD) intervention, extending knowledge about FD impact beyond crime data to also examine residents' lived experiences with gangs and gun violence via a two-wave household survey. We employ a quasi-experimental design and utilize time-series analyses, coefficient difference tests, and mixed-effects ordinal logistic regression. The results show a significant reduction in shots fired incidents in the target area relative to comparison areas. Shots fired calls for service trended downward citywide, but the magnitude was doubled in the target area. Survey data showed substantive declines in the target area on all six gang and gun violence outcomes, significantly exceeding changes experienced in comparison areas. We conclude that focusing geographically as well as on repeat offenders is an effective FD approach, and evaluating community surveys provides an improved understanding of the community impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hackers often engage in website defacement early in their criminal careers to establish a reputation. Some hackers become increasingly prolific and launch a large number of attacks against their targets, whereas others only launch a few attacks before eventually desisting from a life of crime. A better understanding of why some hackers launch a large number of attacks, while others do not, will assist in the implementation of targeted intervention strategies. Therefore, the current study, using a sample of 119 active hackers, seeks to answer two research questions: (1) Are there different groups of website defacers based on attack volume? (2) Which observed hacker-level characteristics can be used to predict latent class membership? We find that two unique groups of website defacers exist: low-volume defacers (69%) and high-volume defacers (31%). Social media presence, the content of the defacement, and the type of defacement are all predictive of latent class membership. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family and domestic violence (FDV) is a significant social issue that causes major harm across Australia. Alcohol has been identified as a contributing factor to FDV, and as such increased understanding of the role of alcohol in police-reported FDV incidents may provide the basis for developing specific clinical and forensic approaches. This study aims to identify the key correlates of alcohol-related FDV within police-reported FDV incidence. Data sourced from several states and territories across Australia were used to profile demographic and personal factors involved in police-reported FDV incidents, and to identify the types of incidents involving alcohol. For each state, three separate binary regressions were conducted for family violence, intimate partner violence, and FDV incidents in which alcohol was involved. Between 24% and 54% of FDV incidents reported to police were classified as alcohol-related. Although there appeared to be an association between relative socioeconomic disadvantage and an incident being alcohol-related, this association varied across states. Where victim and offender data were available, offenders were significantly more likely to be alcohol-affected than victims. Alcohol-related FDV incidents were also twice as likely to involve severe physical violence including injuries that were life threatening, as well as an increased likelihood of recidivism. This study demonstrates that alcohol plays a substantial role in police-reported FDV across Australia. It also demonstrates that other factors such as drug use, breach of orders, and repeat offending are associated with alcohol involvement across family violence and intimate partner violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has emphasized the applicability of the Principles of Effective Intervention for batterer intervention treatment programs (BIPs), including using differentiated treatment models for first-time offenders compared to repeat offenders. The current study seeks to examine treatment matching across clients in two such differentiated BIPs from a mid-Atlantic state-one short-term program aimed at first-time IPV offenders (n = 121) and one program implementing BIP "as usual" (n = 125)-regarding client characteristics and recidivism. Findings indicate that clients in the short-term program were not significantly different than those referred to BIP "as usual" regarding common risk factors such as substance use, education, or employment, and while clients in the short-term program had fewer criminal history offenses, participants were rarely first-time criminal offenders. Further analyses showed no impact of the short-term program completion on client recidivism, while completion of BIP as usual was related to lower rates of reoffending among the program's clients. Findings suggest the importance of how clients are matched to their level of treatment and more education and monitoring of referral agencies regarding differentiated BIP models. Further research is needed to assess whether short-term BIP programs are associated with recidivism reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Armed banditry is prevalent in Nigeria. It has competed with insurgency for the soul of Nigeria's national security. Contemporary trajectories of armed banditry in Nigeria have been full of complications. One of the complications is the emergence of crime lords who engage in a self-aggrandizing but also socially sensitive criminal career. This paper seeks to explore the phenomenon of 'crimelordism' as a new trend in armed banditry in Nigeria. Utilizing a mixed qualitative method, the paper posits that the prevalence of grossly under-governed territorial spaces, especially in the countryside and borderlands of Nigeria, has created a vacuum of security that is being exploited by criminal kingpins to establish enclaves of criminality where they wield and exercise quasi-territorial powers. The paper submits that 'crimelordism' holds critical implications for Nigeria's national security in view of its ruinous impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multiyear study of felony driving while intoxicated (DWI) probationers explores the efficacy of the Wisconsin Risk Need Assessment tool along with sociodemographic factors as measures of probation outcomes. To date, few studies have explored the relationship between risk assessment data and technical violations as well as subsequent arrests of individuals on probation. The sample for this study consists of 596 chronic DWI offenders on community supervision in one county who either had been rearrested for a new offense, violated a technical condition of their probation, or committed no violations within the first 5 years of community supervision. The findings are that older defendants and those who had more dependents were more likely to have committed a technical violation compared with the other two groups. Those rearrested for a new offense were slightly younger compared with the other two groups, less likely to be employed and younger at the age of first adjudication of guilt. This study highlights the limited overall utility of the Wisconsin tool in determining probation outcomes and that static factors may be as important as dynamic factors when developing a supervision strategy for chronic DWI offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the discrimination and calibration properties of Violence Risk Scale–Sexual Offense version (VRS-SO) risk and change scores for sexual and violent recidivism as a function of age at release, on a combined sample of 1,287 men who had attended sexual offense-specific treatment services. The key aim was to examine to what extent VRS-SO scores can accurately discriminate recidivists from nonrecidivists among older cohorts, and if the existing age-related adjustments in the instrument adequately correct for increasing age. VRS-SO risk and change scores showed consistent properties of discrimination for sexual recidivism across the age cohorts, via area under the curve and Cox regression survival analysis, as demonstrated through fixed effects meta-analysis. Calibration analyses, employing logistic regression, demonstrated that age at release was consistently incrementally predictive of violent, but not sexual, recidivism after controlling for individual differences on static and dynamic risk factors. E/O index analyses demonstrated that predicted rates of sexual recidivism from VRS-SO scores, particularly when employed with Static-99R, were not significantly different from those observed among age cohorts; however, calibration was weaker for general violence. Implications for use of the VRS-SO in sexual recidivism risk assessment with older offenders are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialized domestic violence courts are presumed to be more effective than general case processing in understanding and addressing the unique issues associated with this crime type, which should lead to reduced recidivism among offenders. Research, however, is less clear about whether and how domestic violence courts reduce recidivism. This study analyzes data from a misdemeanor, expedited domestic violence court in southeast Texas to assess whether defendant characteristics and court processing characteristics influence recidivism among offenders processed through the specialty docket. Results indicate that case processing time was a significant predictor of rearrest for domestic violence. Offenders who had a prior domestic violence arrest were twice as likely to have a subsequent domestic violence arrest. Offenders who received a jail sentence were significantly more likely to have a subsequent domestic violence arrest. Policy implications and future research needs are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2014 it has been possible to apply juvenile criminal law to young adults aged from 18 up to and including 22 years old in the Netherlands. This policy change is referred to as the Adolescent Criminal Law (ACL). According to the theory behind ACL, providing special treatment within the juvenile justice system to young adults during their transition into adulthood could reduce recidivism. In order to determine the relevance and impact of ACL regarding the application of juvenile sanctions to young adults, in this study a 'Recently Introduced Policy instrument' (RIPI) evaluation was conducted. The results suggest that applying juvenile justice sanctions to young adults could offer opportunities to cut short criminal careers and reduce crime amongst young adults. In addition, we found that the proportion of juvenile sanctions applied to young adults has increased despite the overall crime drop amongst young adults. Implications of our findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STABLE-2007 is a measure of risk-relevant propensities for adult males convicted of a sexual offense. This meta-analysis evaluated the ability of STABLE-2007 and its items to discriminate between recidivists and nonrecidivists, and the extent to which STABLE-2007 improves prediction over and above Static-99R. Based on 21 studies (12 unique samples, N = 6,955), we found that STABLE-2007 was significantly and incrementally related to sexual recidivism, violent (nonsexual) recidivism, violent (including sexual) recidivism, and any crime. Scores on STABLE-2007 items and the three STABLE-2000 attitude items also discriminated between individuals who sexually reoffended and those who did not sexually reoffend. These findings support the use of STABLE-2007 in applied risk assessment practice and the interpretation of STABLE-2007 items as indicators of treatment and supervision targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a novel data set comprising the criminal records of 11,138 convicted mafia offenders, we compute criminal career parameters and trajectories through group-based trajectory modeling. Mafia offenders report prolific and persistent careers (16.1 crimes over 16.5 years on average), with five distinct trajectories (low frequency, high frequency, early starter, moderate persistence, high persistence). While showing some similarities with general offenders, the trajectories of mafia offenders also exhibit significant differences, with several groups offending well into their middle and late adulthood, notwithstanding intense criminal justice sanctions. These patterns suggest that several mafia offenders are life-course persisters and career criminals and that the involvement in the mafias is a negative turning point extending the criminal careers beyond those observed in general offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the criminal career paradigm, the link between past and future criminal activities is important and the desistance process may vary for individuals whose criminal trajectories were punctuated by failure compared with those who achieved a certain level of success. This study, based on the life narratives of 27 individuals who maintained a state of nonoffending for more than a year, examines how criminal achievement modulates the desistance process. The aim is to understand whether criminal achievement acts as a barrier or a facilitator in the desistance process. A short questionnaire based on the life-history calendar method was used to classify individuals according to the parameters of their criminal careers. Narrative life stories were then used to look at the obstacles and frustrations encountered during desistance. The results show the relation between criminal achievement and desistance is complex: success in criminal activities is not always hindering desistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hate crime research has increased, but there are very few studies examining hate crime offenders. It is, therefore, difficult to determine to what extent those who perpetrate this offence might be different from those who have not committed hate crime. This study is the first to provide an account of the demographics and criminal histories of those serving time in prison for committing a hate crime. It is based on a large complete population of offenders in the UK. Hate crime offenders released from prison were found to have prolific criminal careers, having committed a wide range and large number of different types of offences. When compared with those who committed a general (non-hate) violent offence, violent hate crime offenders were significantly older and were considerably more prolific in their previous offending. Violent hate crime appeared quantitatively, as opposed to qualitatively, different from violent non-hate crime, but this was less clearly true when those who had committed public order hate crime were compared with other public order offenders. Interventions to reduce the later offending of violent hate crime offenders should be based on the effective interventions that exist for violent offenders, but should take into account knowledge about the surprisingly prolific criminal careers of hate crime offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between criminal behaviour over the life-course and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and general violence in later life. The study uses data on a subsample (N = 585) from the Dutch Criminal Career and Life-Course Study, and combines officially registered longitudinal data on convictions with self-reported data on IPV perpetration, violent offending and several individual factors, collected at age 60. The results show that those with a history of persistent general and violent offending over the life-course are at increased risk of perpetrating IPV and other violent crimes in later life. Additionally, certain background and current factors are also related to IPV perpetration. Men who have experienced family violence in childhood and those who are married are more likely to report IPV perpetration, whereas relationship quality and employment are associated with a reduced likelihood of IPV perpetration. The findings suggest that an integrated theoretical approach is most useful to understand IPV perpetration, with the ultimate aim of informing evidence-based interventions necessary for reducing IPV in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial proportion of partner-violent men reoffend subsequent to completing intimate partner violence (IPV) treatment. A critical step in enhancing treatment for IPV perpetration is to understand reoffense among those who recidivate following treatment completion. Investigating reoffenders' own perceptions regarding potential directions for treatment modification may improve overall treatment outcomes. Qualitative research examining the experiences of participants who utilize IPV treatment is limited. In the present study, we examined implications for treatment from an exploration of reoffenders' interpretation of their recidivist events and their beliefs regarding treatment effectiveness. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to generate theory regarding behavior change, treatment perceptions, and recidivist processes among men who experience difficulty staying nonviolent. Emergent qualitative themes revealed reoffenders' perceptions of treatment and suggestions for treatment modification. Reoffenders identified program factors that they believed would have enhanced program effectiveness for themselves, and thus may have prevented their recidivist incidents. Treatment implications that emerged from reoffenders' narratives are organized along three key dimensions: modality-specific variables, which were relevant to treatment approach and effectiveness of group therapy; content-specific variables, which were relevant to skill acquisition and skill application; and participant-specific variables, which were relevant to intrapersonal characteristics of the participants themselves. Recommendations for treatment enhancement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual offenses are often part of a larger criminal career also encompassing nonsexual crimes. However, most sexual offending typologies focus on an individual's most recent sexual offense. We compare data from Belgian and Dutch national conviction cohorts and use latent class analysis to distinguish groups of individuals based on their history of sexual and nonsexual offenses, considering continuity and variety. The resulting classification is compared between individuals convicted of sexual offenses and individuals convicted of nonsexual offenses. Results show that four latent classes can be distinguished based on continuity and variety in criminal histories of individuals convicted of sexual offenses, and that some of these classes resemble those distinguished among individuals convicted of nonsexual offenses. We find limited overlap between these latent classes and typologies based solely on the index offense. Results show marked similarities across countries. These results challenge theories of sexual offending to incorporate patterns of nonsexual offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although past studies demonstrated the heterogeneity of the criminal career patterns of juveniles with sexual offenses (JSOs), such studies did not directly assess whether JSOs have different adult offending outcomes compared with juvenile nonsex offenders. Using data on a subsample of males from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study, JSOs (n = 78), juveniles with violent offenses (JVOs; n = 550), and juveniles with nonviolent offenses (JNVOs; n = 281) were compared across a variety of adult offending outcomes. JSOs were not associated with a specific trajectory of general offending in adulthood, nor were they associated with a range of adult criminal career parameters (e.g., frequency, severity, specialization, and versatility). However, a range of other indicators of juvenile offending were associated with general offending in adulthood. For juvenile males who experience incarceration, many elements of their offending history mattered for adult offending outcomes, but not sexual offending. Policy implications for treatment and management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminologists and correctional administrators are continuously interested in understanding criminal career trajectories, including desistance, particularly to further develop correctional programming. One program that seeks to promote successful reentry by triggering desistance for youth and adults is the IF Project, founded in 2008 in Washington State. A central component of the IF Project program requires participants to write narratives that ask them to reflect on their journey to crime and to think about what they would have needed to break away from their criminal career trajectory. This research reports on a content analysis of 171 of these writings by adult prisoners in Washington State. Results from the content analysis reveal distinct and overlapping themes for both men and women that highlight the identity change process. Research and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores lived experiences of repeat drug offenders in Malaysia, their reasons for recidivating, and related shortcomings in prison rehabilitation programs. We categorize the prisoners' descriptions and interpretations of their experiences after participating in rehabilitation programming. We are able, as a result, to shed light on these offenders' perspectives on the treatment efforts in which they were involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the validity of the Static-99 and Static-99R in assessing sexual recidivism in Switzerland, based on a sample of 142 male sex offenders. Both tools showed predictive validity, but the Static-99R had better discrimination (OR = 1.82, AUC = .81) and calibration (Brier = .078, P/E = 0.96) than the Static-99. A cut score of four on the Static-99R maximized sensitivity (92.9%) and specificity (60.2%). However, although most offenders (98.7%) with a score < 4 did not commit sexual offenses in the 5-year follow-up period, only one in five (20.3%) offenders with a score ≥ 4 actually recidivated. Furthermore, the predicted number of recidivists in the well above average risk category (Static-99R ≥ 6) was 24% higher than expected in routine samples. The results suggest that the Static-99R may be a useful screening tool to identify low-risk individuals but offenders with scores ≥ 4 should be subjected to a more thorough assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been no prior research comparing risk factors for categories of convicted individuals (C-types: life-course-persistent; adolescence-limited; late-onset) compared with the corresponding categories of individuals who self-reported offending (SR-types). This article examines the extent to which these convicted and self-reported categories of individuals overlap, and explores childhood risk factors that predict categories of C-types and SR-types. Criminal career information about individuals involved in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) is used; 25 childhood factors were analyzed. C-types and SR-types were more problematic than both official and SR nonoffenders. Life-course persisters, adolescence-limited offenders, and nonoffenders overlapped in official records and self-reports, but late-onset offenders did not. C-types were significantly similar to SR-types in childhood risk factors; only a few differences were found. The differences between C-types and SR-types might be better conceptualized as quantitative rather than qualitative. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the subject becomes a professional criminal, setting out the life experiences of a group of (ex-)offenders in Turkey who have desisted from crime for 15 years. By analysing the socially-individuated trajectories of offenders, it analytically traces out how the primary habitus inherited from lower-class, migrant, doorkeeper cosmology fits in with the secondary criminal habitus: a bodily-mental, informally-trained capacity to carry out burglary. The formation of criminal habitus is dissected into conative, cognitive and affective components to demonstrate how specialist (physical) breaking and entering skills, maintaining composure, self-confidence, resourcefulness and fluency in the Turkish subcultural language of the street are developed in such a way as to professionalise the modus operandi of burglary. Undertaking the dispositional theory of action, the primary contribution lies in exploring the formative principles of the bodily and mental dispositions necessary to commit a criminal action in a non-Western context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drinking and driving poses a significant issue in the United States. Repeat offenders are especially problematic as they are responsible for a high proportion of all drunk driving offenses and are more likely to continue in their drinking and driving behaviors. This study examines the effectiveness of the Safe Streets Treatment Options Program (SSTOP) in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, to reduce recidivism among repeat offenders. The results indicate that participants of SSTOP had significantly fewer convictions, fewer subsequent sentences to incarceration, were sentenced to fewer days incarcerated in jail for subsequent offenses, and were less likely to receive another Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) conviction than those in the comparison group. Policy implications and directions for future research also are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent prison scholarship has employed an integrated model of the developmental/life-course perspectives and importation model to examine prison misconduct. Using longitudinal data from a large sample of inmates incarcerated in a U.S. prison system, this study attempts to validate and expand recent prison research by systematically examining the relationship among inmate characteristics and misconduct trajectories, particularly for the higher/chronic pattern of misconduct relative to other identified clusters. The results show that smaller groups of inmates have persistent criminal careers and continually engaged in high level of misconduct. In addition, several inmate characteristics associated with prison misconduct can also be useful to distinguishing high-risk inmates/persistent offenders from groups that offend at low rates over time. These findings could provide vital information to prison officials in developing and designing alternative prison services, assistance, and rehabilitation programs based on the misconduct trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Not only are childhood onset offenders at high risk of becoming serious persistent offenders, they are also at high risk of becoming victimized themselves. Furthermore, studies in the general population suggest that a combined perpetrator–victim group can be distinguished from a perpetrator-only and a victim-only group on individual and family risk factors. The current study investigated the co-occurrence of offending and victimization among first-time arrestees and the 2-year predictive value of previously found clusters of dynamic risk factors of offending. Childhood first-time arrestees (N = 308; M age = 10.3, SD = 1.45) were clustered into three groups based on dynamic risk factors of offending in the individual, peer, school, and family domains: a pervasive high, an externalizing intermediate, and a low problem group. Police records and self-report data on re-offending and victimization of these children were collected over a 2-year follow-up period. Compared with the low problem group, the prevalence of re-offending was higher in both the externalizing intermediate group and the pervasive high group. The pervasive high group was most likely to display co-occurring future antisocial behavior and victimization. These findings emphasize that attention should be paid to victimization in addition to future antisocial behavior, especially if additional internalizing and family problems are present. Furthermore, the differences in re-offending and victimization between subgroups of childhood onset offenders stress the need for specific interventions tailored to the risk profile of a child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the case of a Victorian gentleman who operated at the tipping point between respectable gentleman and habitual criminal. The case of Henry Wilshin allows an exploration of ideas of class and respectability in Victorian England and the problematics of the distinction between the gentleman and the convict: an analysis of Wilshin's escapades places the deconstruction of the 'crimes of the law-abiding' in a Victorian context. The issues remain relevant today in debates concerning the banking industry. In the mid-19th century the expanding commercial enterprise of industrial Britain presented opportunities that were grasped by the unscrupulous, but the distinction between licit and illicit activity was far from clear. A gentleman offender like Henry Wilshin challenged Victorian assumptions of respectability. This article analyses Wilshin's career in the context of Victorian ideas of middle-class respectability and the operations of commerce. Neutralization theory will be advanced to reconcile the contradictions in Wilshin's life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate persists as to the amount of influence criminal history should have in determining the severity of imposed legal sanction for a criminal offense. One position maintains that the punishment for repeat and first-time offenders convicted for the same type of offense should be similar, whereas an alternative viewpoint argues that the state should sanction repeat offenders more harshly. We contribute to this discourse by investigating whether the amount of weight given to an offender's prior criminal record in sentencing affects the likelihood of repeat offending. Although initial findings showed that a substantive negative bivariate relationship existed at the county level between the weight-accorded prior criminal record in sentencing and repeat offending, this association disappeared in a more sophisticated nonlinear multilevel analysis. Our findings suggest that sanctioning repeat offenders more harshly than first-time offenders for similar offenses has little effect on attenuating repeat offending once other factors are controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In French Guiana, 4.5-5.0% of HIV-infected persons experienced an incarceration between 2007 and 2013. A cross-sectional survey was performed to describe the epidemiology and treatment outcomes of a population of HIV-infected inmates in French Guiana. The study population was patients released between 1/2007 and 12/2013, after >30 days of incarceration (n = 147). A secondary objective aimed to identify its main specificities, relative to both the general inmate population and the nonincarcerated HIV population. The socioeconomic situation of HIV-infected inmates was particularly precarious, relative to other detainees: 58.1% had never attended school (versus 5.5%, p < 0.01), 31.0% were homeless (versus 8.5%, p < 0.01), 63.9% were repeat offenders (versus 46.6%, p < 0.01), 33.3% were crack cocaine users (versus 9.8-12%, p < 0.01). The frequency of hypertension and chronic B hepatitis was also higher. Only 50.3% of inmates were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) versus 92.6% in the hospital HIV population (p < 0.001). Among untreated patients, 15.1% refused ART. Among those treated, 81.3% were virologically suppressed. Although comparisons were biased, HIV-positive inmates had more psychosocial vulnerabilities than the general inmate population. Despite ART availability and excellent treatment outcomes, undertreatment was a fact not completely explained by patient refusal. HIV-infected inmates should benefit from increased attention by health care and social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of U.S. law enforcement agencies have disclosed that they have large numbers of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs; also called “rape kits”) in police property storage. Whether previously untested SAKs should be tested for DNA evidence has been the subject of considerable public debate. To inform policy and practice regarding rape kit testing, the current study tested a sample of 900 previously unsubmitted SAKs from Detroit, Michigan, and documented the DNA forensic testing outcomes associated with those kits. We assessed how many SAKs yielded DNA profiles eligible for upload into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), the federal DNA criminal database; how many resulted in a DNA match (termed a “CODIS hit”); and how many of those hits were associated to other sexual assault crimes (i.e., serial sexual assault hits). Overall, there were 259 CODIS hits, 69 of which had DNA matches to another sexual assault case. The potential utility of a DNA profile and CODIS hit may vary depending on whether offender was known or unknown to the victim, so we examined these outcomes separately for SAKs associated with stranger- and non-stranger-perpetrated sexual assaults. We also present six case study examples of how DNA testing and CODIS hits helped identify serial sexual assaults in both stranger and non-stranger sexual assault cases. Implications for rape kit testing policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study tests two related hypotheses about recidivist sentencing premiums and the progressive sanctioning logic on which they rest: (1) among first-time felons, punitive sanctions will more effectively reduce recidivism than will less severe sanctions and (2) among second-time felons, progressively tougher sanctions will more effectively reduce recidivism than will progressions to comparable or less severe sanctions. Method: We use data on first-time and second-time felons and propensity score matching analyses to test these two hypotheses. Results: Although tougher punishment, and increasingly tougher punishment among second-time offenders, may sometimes reduce recidivism, less severe punishment appears on average to be more effective. Conclusions: The results raise questions about the effects of both tougher, and progressively tougher, types of sanctions in efforts to reduce recidivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]