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Purpose This study aims to investigate the influence of social camouflaging on victimisation and offending in relation to autism and pathological demand avoidance (PDA) traits. Camouflaging aims to overcome or conceal difficulties in social and communication skills. Autistic individuals report camouflaging in response to threat and being verbally and physically assaulted when they have not camouflaged. Thus, camouflaging could be associated with victimisation. Camouflaging could also impact on specialist support available to an individual, potentially increasing the risk of victimisation or offending. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional study was conducted using 220 participants from the general population who completed online questionnaires measuring victimisation and offending, autism and PDA traits, camouflaging and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Findings Correlational analysis found positive associations between camouflaging and victimisation, and camouflaging and lifetime offending. Greater camouflaging and PDA traits predicted greater offending, whereas greater autism traits predicted fewer offending behaviours. While correlated, camouflaging was not significantly predictive of victimisation. Victimisation was predicted by symptoms of depression and PDA traits. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to consider camouflaging as an influencing factor on offending and victimisation in autistic and PDA individuals.

Emerging research advocates prison-based peer support programmes not only for the recipients of support but also for those providing it. Such programmes are founded on principles such as reciprocity, shared problem-solving and empathy. Accordingly, there have been recent claims that such structures may engender a magnified impact in carceral settings characterized by deprivation and adversity. Specifically, it has been argued that peer supporters garner opportunities to enact prosocial behaviours and consequently energize desistance narratives while serving time. However, as intrigue and optimism around this untapped resource grow, so too does the need to explore any hindrances that might halt progressive developments. This article presents data from qualitative interviews held with incarcerated peer supporters in the UK. Transcripts of the institutional challenges that participants faced when undertaking their roles were thematically analysed, and suggestions for practitioners are offered. The article calls for professionals and policy makers to further explore the redemptive potential of prison-based peer support.

Mental health difficulties, family and childhood adversity factors, substance use and conduct problems have all been linked to offending behaviour in the general population. However, no large-scale study with comparison groups has investigated these risk factors in relation to autistic offenders. The current research included 40 autistic offenders, 40 autistic non-offenders, 40 typically developed (TD) offenders and 39 TD non-offenders. Conduct problems risk factors differentiated autistic offenders from both non-offender groups (autistic and TD) and mental health risk factors differentiated autistic offenders from both TD groups (offenders and non-offenders). Further research is required to understand more about the role of both conduct problems risk factors in autistic offenders (e.g., age at onset, frequency of behaviours) and the mental health needs of autistic offenders.

There is limited information regarding the use of risk assessment tools with aging offender populations. It is known that the likelihood of offending behaviour decreases with age, a small group of men either continue or begin to offend sexually in the later decades of life. The current study investigated the predictive validity of the Static-99 and the Static-99R, in a sample of convicted Australian sex offenders aged 50 and older. A sample of 118 participants was identified, of which 17 (14.4%) re-offended within a follow-up period ranging from four months to 20 years (M = 9.07 years). There were seven recidivists (13.46%) above the age of 60 years (n = 52) and 10 aged 40 to 59.9 years (n = 66). Both the Static-99 and Static-99R demonstrated moderate predictive validity with both age groups. The limitations of this study are discussed as well as recommendations for future research.

The results of research on emotional intelligence and personal characteristics of teenagers under suspended sentence are considered in the article. The purpose of research: studying of emotional intelligence level and comparison of aggression and anxiety between teenagers under suspended sentence and law-abiding teenagers. Methods of research: Bass – Darki test (BDI) - for evaluation of aggression and animosity; questionnaire of Spielberger-Khanin (STАI) for evaluation of situational and personal anxiety; EIS test (Hall) - for studying emotional intelligence level. It is shown, that the comparative analysis has revealed authentic distinctions of all parameters using EIS technique, parameters of situational and personal anxiety using STAI technique, indirect aggression and feeling of fault using BDI questionnaire among teenagers under suspended sentence and law-abiding teenagers. The correlation analysis revealed that the more aggressive a teenager under suspended sentence is, the lower his/her emotional intelligence, self-motivation and emotional awareness are, and as a result, the worse he/she distinguishes emotions of other people. The revealed significant interrelations between personal characteristics, emotional intelligence and aggression have shown that it is possible to control animosity and aggression of teenagers under suspended sentence if their self-motivation and emotional awareness are raised. The psychological status of teenagers under suspended sentence shows directions for psych corrective work with them which should include, besides individual consultations, group work to decrease aggression, situational and personal anxiety and, what is the most important, to form emotional competence.

Aims: Offending behaviour in adolescents with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) is rare. However, some theoretical links have been drawn between sexual offending and autism-typical deficits....

This article aims to outline briefly the important role of culture in the development of the human mind and behaviour, and therefore argues that cultural information is a key part of forensic explanation. We suggest that differing cultural experiences, such as marginalisation, contribute to the differential representation of individuals and groups in criminal justice systems. This occurs through several means, but we focus specifically on individual operation of agency in particular cultural contexts. Building on previous theoretical work, we present a preliminary model, the cultural–ecological predictive agency model. Through an exemplar, we show how this model might assist in understanding better the role of dynamic risk factors in individual behaviour, by locating and incorporating cultural–historical contexts and information.

Since the mid-90s there has been almost a 50% reduction in the volume of crime in England and Wales - a trend that has been mirrored in many Western countries (Greenberg Justice Quarterly, 31(1), 154–188, 2014). Despite previous assumptions, for example, declining birth cohorts, it is proposed here that the decline in crime for the 1995–2005 period can largely be attributed to a doubling of the probability of a crime being ‘proven’ (cf Lloyd et al. 1994; MOJ, 2012; Taylor 2016). However, in the last decade these reductions in crime rates have levelled off to a relatively stable degree. Analysis of published data relating to the performance of the criminal justice system in England and Wales suggests that reductions in crime levels since 2005 are largely accounted for by the fall in proportion of the youth population engaging in offending behaviour. It is argued that falls in rates of crime are largely independent of the offending frequency of young people or variations in the probability of offences being proven; rather, reductions in youth crime over this period could largely be attributed to policy changes, including multiagency interventions targeted at young people who were at risk of starting to offend (McAra and McVie 2015; Smith 2015). Further discussion suggests that the binary proven reoffending rate is not an accurate barometer of criminal justice system performance; rather it is argued that reductions in the youth offending population feed forward into later reductions in the number of adult offenders and further impact on overall crime rates in the longer term.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the awareness of intellectual disabilities (ID) amongst professionals in the criminal justice system (CJS) and their knowledge of those persons, either as victims, witnesses, suspects, accused or defendants. Design/methodology/approach A survey of the professionals in the CJS (n=388), combined with a series of focus group interviews with experienced professionals (n=20), was conducted. Findings One out of three respondents (police, district attorneys and judges) reported that they have regular contact with suspects who have an ID. Differences in knowledge of ID amongst professionals in the CJS can explain awareness and detection of persons with ID. Research limitations/implications Non-responders may represent professionals with no knowledge or less interest in these issues. Originality/value Reflections on ID have not previously been studied in the Norwegian CJS. The findings serve as a basis and status quo for further research.

How police understand youth offending at least partly informs their responses to it. It is therefore vital to document police implicit theories about youth offending. However, little previous research has examined this topic. This article addresses this gap by examining police implicit theories about youth crime and how it ought to be addressed. Using social control theory as an analytic framework, it critically examines 41 semi-structured qualitative interviews with police undertaken for a larger study in Queensland, Australia. A number of implications stem from the analysis, not the least of which is the disjuncture between police implicit theories of youth offending, and the localised, historicised and contextual realities of young people’s – especially marginalised young people’s – offending behaviour.

This article examines the post-sanction offending behaviour of individuals who received a warning or exclusion from a Business Crime Reduction Partnership in England. Noteworthy desistance occurred following the receipt of the warning (76%) and the exclusion (37%). Displacement of offending was observed, with most of those who continued to offend doing so only at business premises away from where they received their initial sanction. Variation in post-sanction offending behaviour was explored according to offender age and sex, offence time and whether the offence concerned theft, violence, abuse or alcohol. Higher rates of recidivism were observed among male offenders and those committing abuse offences, higher rates of displacement among those who committed theft offences, and the most varied and unpredictable offending among those who continued to offend post-exclusion. The findings presented here highlight the importance of holistic, multi-sector Business Crime Reduction Partnerships that make information on offenders easily accessible to their members.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based treatments in routine clinical practice often fail to achieve or sustain amelioration of severe behaviour problems in adolescents. Better understanding of mechanisms underlying such severe behaviour problems could improve treatments. Underlying schemata and schema modes may play an important role.AIMS: To compare early maladaptive schemata, schema modes and behaviour problems in adolescent boys showing disruptive and offending behaviours with those in typically developing boys. We hypothesised a relationship between disconnection and rejection schemata on the one hand and behaviour problems (including offending) on the other in adolescent boys with disruptive behaviour disorders. We also hypothesised that this offending group would differ significantly from typically developing boys on these measures and that schema modes would mediate relationships between schemata and overt behaviours.METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, fifty-five 12-19-year-old boys with disruptive behaviour disorders referred to an in- or out-patient clinic were matched to fifty-five typically developing boys from a previously generated school sample. Group differences on self-reported schema related measures and externalising behaviour measures were compared using t-tests. Mediation analyses were performed to assess the mediating role of schema modes in the relation between schemata and behaviour.RESULTS: Boys diagnosed with disruptive behaviour disorders and engaging in offending behaviours had higher scores on externalising modes and lower scores on healthy modes than the typically developing boys. There were no differences between these groups, however, in disconnection and rejection schemata. In the offending behaviour group, externalising modes mediated the relationship between disconnection and rejection schemata and externalising behaviours while healthy modes mediated a relationship between these schemata and overt prosocial behaviours.IMPLICATIONS: The potential impact of healthy modes has not previously been shown in studies of schemata in young offenders. Our findings suggest that treatments for adolescents with severe behaviour problems should not only target maladaptive schemata and dysfunctional modes, but seek also to boost healthy modes.

OBJECTIVES: Services supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities are changing in the UK with a drive towards community care and reducing inpatient provision. More needs to be known about the experiences and opinions of individuals living in inpatient settings. Women with intellectual disabilities and offending behavior are a particularly complex, under-represented group affected by these organizational changes. This research aims to consult women with intellectual disabilities, living in a secure hospital, to explore their housing experiences and hopes for future home and care environments. METHOD: Seven participant’s experiences, and the meaning they assign to these experiences, were explored through semi-structured interviews. Their narratives were analyzed utilizing Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. RESULTS: Four superordinate themes emerged from the analysis (i) hospital as helpful (ii) hospital as undesirable (iii) a sense of belonging (iv) ‘I want to be as independent as I can.’ The subtheme ‘importance of people’ emerged throughout with illustrations of why people are important relating to each superordinate theme. CONCLUSIONS: The women interviewed experienced living in hospital as both helpful and undesirable. They wanted to live as independently as possible in the community. However, they identified several helpful aspects of hospital including receiving specialist support for their complex needs. They desired independence, freedom to choose, personal space, familiarity, and support from individuals who understand their needs. Whilst it is recognized that hospitals cannot be homes for people, they do have a function in providing helpful specialist support to some individuals with intellectual disabilities who have committed serious crimes and/or cannot safely be supported in the community.

To date, there has been very little research into the phenomenon of female-perpetrated institutional child sexual abuse (CSA). This study explored 71 cases of CSA perpetrated by women working with children, considered by UK police and courts between 2000 and 2016. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis was employed to examine court reports, professional regulatory body decisions, media reports and an online sentencing database in order to identify perpetrator and victim characteristics, the nature of the offending behaviour, modus operandi and criminal justice system responses. Findings indicate most women offended alone and had no previous criminal or employment records of concern. Victims were typically male and 15–16 years old. Most women received custodial sentences, typically of 2–3 years in length. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.

Despite growing criminological interest in the many ex-service personnel mired within the UK’s criminal justice system, there remains a paucity of qualitative research studies examining the (violent) veteran offender. In response, this paper mobilizes the voices of veterans to explore the key life events that can shape their offending behaviour. Countering reductionist explanations of violent crime committed by ex-service personnel, we contend that veterans’ violence may be rooted within personal biographies and psyches, conditioned by military experiences and represent the psychosocial consequences of the socioeconomic transformations of advanced capitalism.

Objective: The Dynamic Risk Outcome Scales (DROS) is a Dutch multi-scale observer-rating instrument for treatment progress and outcome of individuals with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning and severe challenging or offending behaviour. This article contains a description of the instrument and the first part of its psychometric evaluation with the emphasis on the suitability for measuring change.Method: The data come from routine outcome measurements during seven years for more than 600 patients in three treatment centres. The factorial structure and factorial stability of the DROS are evaluated by confirmative factor analysis. In addition, the internal reliability, test-retest reliability, and smallest detectable change of the scales are determined.Results: The hypothesized factorial structure is supported and found to be stable across repeated measurements. The scales are sufficiently reliable and sensitive to change for outcome evaluation of individual patient...

There is a growing body of literature which highlights that women follow distinct and often gendered pathways into crime. Violence, coercion and love within intimate relationships have been increasingly acknowledged as motivating factors for female offending behaviour. However, there is a lack of understanding of the ways in which emotions, such as love and fear, influence co-offending women’s pathways into crime. This chapter will highlight the significance of emotions for female co-offenders, particularly when they are in an intimate, violent, exploitative and/ or controlling relationship with their partner/ co-offender. Female offenders more broadly are typically viewed to be wholly independent, rational agents or as lacking control in relation to their offending behaviour and thus having their agency completely denied. However, this dichotomy is problematic, as it fails to consider how emotional dimensions of co-offending relationships may influence offending behaviour and experiences of agency. The importance of acknowledging such emotions in social context when attempting to understand such women’s offending ‘choices’ will be explored. Collectively, this chapter will highlight that emotions and offending behaviour are inextricably connected for female co-offenders. Such emotions need to be acknowledged and understood alongside structural factors if criminologists are to fully understand such women’s motivations for offending.

This comparison of cybercrime offenders within and outside the workplace reveals they display very different types of offending behaviour, involving different demographics, initiation pathways, and types of offence. The Cambridge Computer Crime Database (CCCD) is a database of open source information about cybercrime arrests and prosecutions in the United Kingdom. This study analyses data from the CCCD spanning nine years, from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2018. Insiders are more likely to be older, and commit less-technical offences, primarily data and system breaches. They are less likely to offend with others, the offences are less likely to be international in nature, and they are less likely to receive a custodial sentence. Most alleged offenders are men, but women are more likely to offend within their occupation than outside the workplace. Of those that offend in the workplace, the largest group consists of police officers or police staff. This is likely to reflect differences in the type of organisations that pursue criminal action against insiders. We draw on a strain theory framework to argue that these findings accord with different kinds of strain and differing reactions to strain. The data for crimes outside the workplace support a `subcultural' pattern of adaptation to strain, with offenders tending to be younger, male and linked to co-offenders. The findings relating to insiders support an opportunity model of crime, with inter-workplace variation in opportunities, working cultures and sources of strain present in different workplaces.

The distinct setting in which cyber-dependent crime takes place may reduce the similarity in the deviance of social network members. We test this assumption by analysing the deviance of the most important social contacts of cyber-dependent offenders and traditional offenders in the Netherlands ( N = 344 offenders; N = 1131 social contacts). As expected, similarity in deviance is weaker for cyber-dependent crime. Because this is a strong predictor of traditional offending, this has important implications for criminological research and practice. Additionally, for both crime types the offending behaviour of a person is more strongly linked to the deviance of social ties if those ties are of the same gender and age, and if the offender has daily contact with them. Implications and future criminological research suggestions are discussed.

Children who spend time in care are more likely to have an official record of offending behaviour than the general population. However, there is a lack of longitudinal research on the timing, severity and volume of offending in relation to time spent in and out of care. Furthermore, differences in patterns of offending by identifiable groups in care are rarely a focus of research. The current study is both longitudinal and identifies eight groups within the care population with different volumes of recorded offending: ranging from a mean of 41.75 (prolific) to 1.60 (low). Substance misuse, gender and reasons for referral to care were associated with different patterns of offending in and out of care. The study is primarily based on a sub-sample of 64 children who had offended whilst in care. The sub- sample represents 38.5% of a cohort of children who had been in care or were taken into care over a particular time period (2008-2011) in one local authority. The placements and recorded offences of the 64 children were tracked for a further two years (2011-2013). The study highlights future areas of research and the need for more tailored responses to different groups within the care system.

A significant number of patients with intellectual disability (ID) were admitted to forensic mental health asylums during the period 1915–1987. Many of these patients stayed for more than a decade, because of previous offending behaviour. We investigated the daily lives of 262 patients with an ID using casebooks. Two of the patients were studied more in detail. The available documents describe most of these patients as sociable, well-behaved and socially engaged although they missed having contacts outside the hospital. Long-stay patients were studied more in detail. © 2018 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

The Life as a Film (LAAF) procedure is described. This was developed for use with offenders, building on McAdams’ (1993) explorations of autobiographical accounts from effective individuals. The advantages of the LAAF for a prison population are discussed, together with the content dictionary used for analysing LAAF responses. The LAAF reveals implicit and explicit aspects of self concepts and relationships to others, as well as perceived agency and future orientation within a dynamic storyline. Quotations are given to illustrate those psychological processes that underlie criminality, complementing Presser's (2009) work on offender reform and Maruna's (2001) study of narratives of desistance. The values of the LAAF for understanding the maintenance of offending behaviour and the consequent implications for interventions with offenders are discussed.

This study examines the outcomes of frequent relations between juvenile and adult prisoners at the populous prisons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan in districts Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Swabi and Mardan. According to SPARC (2015), there were total of 199 juvenile prisoners out of them 132 were taken as a sample size through Sekaran (2010) sample size table. The primary data was collected through interview schedule, with major aim to see association of joint dwelling of adult prisoners and juvenile inmates in the selected prisons. For measuring the association between adult and juvenile inmates, a Chi-square test was applied by using Microsoft Excel. It was found that there exist a strong association of adult with juvenile inmates; which resulted in reinforcing the delinquent behaviour of juvenile by supporting them financially, providing them with various kinds of drugs and persuading them to join their networks after they were released. Such situation was directly contradictory to the well-being of juvenile inmates at jails, where they were supposed to rehabilitate their offending behaviour. The study recommends establishment of separate jails for juvenile inmates, being inclusive part of the JJSO-2000.

Purpose Substance misuse (SMU) is widely prevalent in mentally disordered offenders and is linked with violence and offending behaviour. There is however, a scarcity of literature dedicated to investigating SMU and its clinical correlates in relation to patients detained within high secure hospital settings. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and severity of SMU and corresponding treatment needs in patients with a primary diagnosis of personality disorder (PD) in comparison with mental illness (MI) in a high secure hospital. Design/methodology/approach The responsible clinicians of all patients (n=240) detained in a high secure hospital were asked to record information using a SMU screening questionnaire over a ten-month period. Details requested included substance type, history of past use and assessment and treatment needs. Data were recorded and then analysed: descriptive statistics were conducted to report historical use of substances, cross tabulations and χ2 analysis explored the relationship between SMU and treatment status and diagnosis and offending behaviour and a means comparison analysis was employed to explore length of stay and treatment of SMU. Findings A total of 230 questionnaires were returned (95 per cent of the patient population). A history of SMU was reported in 88.6 per cent of the sample, with alcohol and cannabis misuse being the most prevalent. At least one substance had been abused by 74.3 per cent of the sample. In two-thirds of the sample, SMU was linked with the onset of mental health problems and symptom exacerbation, including violence. Interestingly, patients with a diagnosis of MI as compared with PD were more likely to have used substances (93.3 per cent compared to 81.9 per cent) and were more likely to need treatment for SMU (64.3 per cent compared to 36.8 per cent). In those with an MI diagnosis, SMU was more likely to be linked with violence and index offence (74.3 per cent compared to 59.0 per cent). Practical implications SMU is significantly prevalent in high risk mentally disordered offenders and linked to onset of mental health problems and offending. Patients with schizophrenia have a higher prevalence of SMU than PD and are likely to be more in need of treatment. Violence and offending are more likely to be related to SMU in schizophrenia than in PD. Originality/value This study substantiates existing evidence that SMU contributes to mental health problems and criminogenic behaviour. Furthermore, the study reports new findings that characterize differences of the relationship of SMU to offending in schizophrenia and PD in forensic psychiatric patients presenting to a high secure hospital.

Theoretical suppositions suggest a potential vulnerability in some individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) to displaying offending behaviours. Additionally, it is recognised that the features of ASCs may result in possible barriers to treatment. A systematic review was undertaken to\ud identify empirical evidence examining the effectiveness of treatment programmes for offenders with ASCs and to explore the potential impact of ASC symptoms on treatment outcomes. The studies identified consisted of a small number of case series and a collection of case reports with little or no direct comparisons to offenders without ASCs. A synthesis of the findings highlighted variability in treatment approach and impact. Effectiveness was primarily defined by reduction in further offending behaviours and was found to be variable across the data. The potential relationship between the symptoms of ASCs and treatment outcome was explored with all case reports identifying the need for adaptations to treatment programmes, necessitated by the symptoms of ASCs. This systematic review joins an existing body of literature emphasising need for more controlled research into the effectiveness of offending behaviour treatment programmes for individuals with ASCs, and for further investigation into the impact of the clinical features of ASCs on treatment outcomes.

This article explores the potential benefits of developing partnerships with victims in managing threats to\ud their personal safety via smart police use of electronic monitoring technologies. The central premise for this position is\ud that traditional surveillance responses that seek to manage offending behaviour have limited effectiveness and do not\ud create a sense of security for victims. Using a pilot project currently underway in Buenos Aires, we extrapolate the\ud potential implications of a victim-focused strategy for the policing role and the effectiveness of responses to high-risk\ud repeat offences. The pilot project seeks to enhance victims’ sense of their own safety, reduce the risk of repeat violence\ud and develop indirect benefits for police legitimacy. Utilized in this way, there is significant potential for electronic\ud monitoring to facilitate smarter policing and demand reduction.

Purpose – Substance use contributes to the development of criminogenic behaviour and mental health problems. However, the extent and severity of substance use and the relationship to offending in mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) admitted to regional medium secure units has received relatively limited research attention. Design/methodology/approach – Case note reviews (n=57) and semi-structured interviews (n=21) of past substance use levels, substance use problems and forensic history were conducted at a medium secure unit in South East England. Findings – Results highlighted the high prevalence of substance use among MDOs, especially when determined by self-report. At least one-third (case note review) or almost half (self-report) used alcohol at the time of their index offence, although many failed to recognise use as problematic. Significant correlations were found between heavy past use of alcohol and use of alcohol at time of offending. Past heavy use of alcohol significantly predicted whether or not the individual was convicted of a violent offence. Research limitations/implications – The small sample from one area limits the generalisability of findings as substance use demographics vary. Methodological shortcomings were noted when comparing data from self-report and case note information. Retrospective recall bias may influence past perceptions of substance use. Practical implications – These preliminary findings indicate the importance of assessing substance use in MDOs and considering its relationship to offending behaviour in treatment and risk management. Originality/value – Although anecdotally substance use is known to be high and likely to be related to offending behaviour amongst MDOs, there is little previous research highlighting this.

To examine the links between empathy and cognitions, 50 interview transcripts were analysed from a sample of male sex offenders who had abused children, recruited from four prisons in the North Island of New Zealand. Thematic analysis revealed an overarching framework where participants appeared to create “psychologically comfortable positions” that enabled them to offend. The main themes identified were: “complete denial”; “partial denial”; “justifications: beliefs and attitudes to support offending behaviour”; excuses: ignoring the perspectives of others”; and “taking responsibility for own actions”. These findings suggest that rather than viewing empathy as a trait-like process applied equally to all situations/people by each person in line with their empathic abilities, it would be better construed as a construct that is variously applied (i.e. it may be blocked by the presence of psychologically comfortable cognitions). This has implications for the way in which empathy is addressed in sex of...

The relationship between anger, violence and offending is not well understood; there is debate in the current literature regarding the nature of this relationship. This issue is of importance because of the widespread use of anger management programmes as a means to reduce anger-mediated offending. This study specifically examined the role of anger in offending behaviour for patients with coexisting problems with anger and psychosis. Grounded theory was used to analyse patients’ file data from an Anger Management and Emotion Regulation programme in a Medium Secure Unit. Grounded theory analysis allowed for a theory of offending to be generated, showing what concepts contribute to offending and thereby determining the role anger plays in offending in mentally disordered patients. Anger, mental illness, substance misuse and social issues were recognised as contributing factors to offending behaviour. This provides justification for managing anger in order to prevent reoffending.

Purpose Social deficits are central within conceptualisations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and separately linked to offending behaviour. Social problem-solving interventions are often used with offenders, but little research has examined the social information processing (SIP) skills of individuals with ASD and a history of criminal offending behaviours. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper will introduce the SIP model, review SIP research as applied to those with ASD and in forensic populations, and further consider the relevance to the assessment and treatment of offenders with ASD. Findings Difficulties in all areas of the SIP model are noted in ASD and research suggests these difficulties may be directly linked to behaviour. Practical implications It is possible that identifying SIP abilities and deficits could improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes for this group. Originality/value This paper reviews the utility of social information models in the offending behaviour of people with ASD.

Purpose. Ward (2000) has hypothesized that sexual offenders hold offence supportive implicit theories (ITs) or schemata that function to facilitate or maintain offending behaviour. The present research aimed to determine whether rape-prone men hold the same offence supportive ITs as those that have been identified in rapists. Method. This study adopted both an explicit measure of ITs and also an implicit measure of ITs (an interpretative bias task). In the implicit task, participants viewed ambiguous stimuli (one-sentence statements) that may be interpreted in either a rape-supportive manner, or a non-rape-supportive manner. Participant's interpretation of the stimuli was assessed via a memory recognition task. We predicted that men higher on proclivity to rape – who presumably hold strong mental representations of rape-supportive themes – would be more likely to interpret stimuli in a rape-supportive manner relative to non-rape-supportive stimuli compared to men lower on rape proclivity. Results. Using multiple regression to determine the relative contributions of both explicit and implicit measures for predicting rape proclivity, we found that only the explicit, self-report questionnaire and one of the ITs, ‘women are sex objects’ (as measured by the interpretative bias task), was significantly related to a person's rape proclivity score. Conclusions. This result indicates that rape-prone men may not share the same beliefs as convicted rapists, which could be a key difference between men at risk of offending, and those who have been convicted of a sexual offence.

Over the past two decades, research has produced inconsistent results regarding the crime prevention potential of restorative justice conferencing for young offenders. Some comparative research has suggested that restorative justice conferencing reduces reoffending compared with other youth justice processes (Strang et al 1999). Other quantitative research has examined the circumstances under which conferencing reduces crime and has found that offender characteristics, conference features and post-conference life experiences are important in explaining reoffending after a conference (Hayes and Daly 2003). Drawing upon observation and interview data obtained from a sample of 25 young offenders who attended conferences in south-east Queensland, the study reported in this article explored how experiences in conferences relate to post-intervention offending behaviour. The results of the study suggest that young people in the sample who continued (n=9) or stopped offending (n=16) one year after their conference, had positive experiences in telling their story, meeting their victims and hearing their victim's stories in conferences. However, there were some key differences. Some young people who continued offending were disappointed when victims did not attend or perceived victims as being hostile towards them. In contrast, some young people who stopped offending viewed their conference experience as an event that helped them avoid future offending because the conference highlighted the consequences of their offending for victims. These results suggest that while, on balance, conference processes are judged positively, there are important interactional features that can bear negatively on post-intervention offending.

Background: Diazepam is a benzodiazepine which has a history of usage among problem drug using groups. It has also been linked to aggression in laboratory settings. This article will examine illicit diazepam use and violence amongst predominantly alcohol-orientated offenders.Methods: A self-complete survey of male Young Offenders (n = 172) recruited during their induction into Scotland's only Young Offender's Institution was carried out during 2007. Qualitative interviews (n = 30) were conducted during 2008 on another sample recruited in the same way.Results: Survey respondents tended to report alcohol, rather than illegal drugs as being related to their offending behaviour. The exception to this pattern was diazepam, which when used in conjunction with alcohol was associated with violence, including weapon use. The 2008 interviews confirmed this and raised further concerns about the way in which diazepam was being mixed with alcohol, in relation to its mode of action, source of supply, dosage and users’ ...

The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development is a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 South London males from age 8 to age 48. In this survey, it was previously found that men who marry relatively early reduce their offending behaviour after marriage, unlike those who marry relatively late. Further analyses confirmed that the original findings were not caused by regression to the mean. Comparisons between those who married at age 25 or older and those who married at age 18-24 on risk factors at age 8-32 suggest that the later-married men tended to be more nervous, more likely to have experienced a broken home, to be drug users and binge-drinkers, to maintain aggressive attitudes from age 18 to 32, and to continue to go out with their male friends after marriage. The later-married men tended to marry older women who had less influence than younger women on their offending behaviour. They were more likely to be long-term low-rate offenders than those who married early.

It seems undeniable that immediate social contexts exert an important influential role on adolescent behavioural adjustment. Research thus far has found that certain family, school and community/neighbourhood environment characteristics may influence a youth’s involvement in risk activities such as antisocial behaviour and drug use, and even delinquent behaviour. However, the mechanisms that link these characteristics to such behaviours have not yet been thoroughly analysed and prior research has focused mainly on adult populations. The objective of this study was to analyse the joint contribution of specific factors, deriving from family, school and society, which have an effect on levels of drug consumption, antisocial and offending behaviour, in a sample of 2528 youths (aged 10 to 16). In particular, in accounting for involvement in risk activities and ultimately in offending behaviour, we examined interactions among the following variables: living in a disadvantaged community, quality of relationship with parents, distrust in local police, attitude to social norms, and rejection of and from school (truancy, suspension and expulsion). A structural equation model was calculated to account for these interactions, which revealed patterns of influence with important practical implications related to social policies on risk behaviours in adolescence.

This study was carried out as part of a larger study commissioned by the UK Department of Health to investigate the service pathways for offenders with learning disabilities (LD). The study covered three health regions in the UK and included 477 people with LD referred to services because of antisocial or offending behaviour during a 12-month period. Data were collected concerning demographic, individual, offending behaviour and service characteristics. The findings of the study are broadly consistent with contemporary research concerning this population, particularly in relation to the nature and frequency of offending, history of offending, psychopathology, age and gender distribution. However, very few of those referred had any form of structured care plan, despite having significant offending histories, and this may have compromised early identification of their needs and communication between the health, social and other services involved.

Previous studies have related mental disorder and antisocial personality disorder to criminal behaviour, but little is known about the associations with other personality disorders. The aim of this study was to examine independent associations between offending behaviour over the lifetime and personality disorder in a representative sample of male offenders. A two-stage survey was carried out among prisoners in all prisons in England and Wales. DSM-IV personality disorder was measured using SCID-II in the second stage among 391 male prisoners. Independent relationships between personality disorder scores and lifetime offences were examined using multiple regression. Findings demonstrated several independent relationships between personality disorders and offending behaviour. Strongest associations were found between the conduct disorder and adult antisocial components of antisocial personality disorder, with no evidence that these were the consequence of the other Axis II disorders. Future research should investigate the functional links between personality disorder and offending behaviour.

Individuals being treated in medium secure hospitals have typically engaged in some form of offending in other service settings or while in the community. Although psychological treatment for addressing such behaviour in medium secure hospitals is beginning to be developed, at present there is a lack of evidence of ‘what works’. This paper reports a review of the type and level of offending behaviour engaged in by those in a single medium secure service, including the conviction histories for such behaviours and the psychological approaches to risk reduction and offending behaviour taken in medium secure hospitals in England and Wales. The need to develop an evidence base for psychological treatment in medium secure services including at the individual level is clearly indicated.

The vast majority of business offenses, whether systematic and serious or small and relatively harmless, remains undetected by public regulatory authorities. Yet, they are often witnessed in some form by employees, local residents, customers, competitors, accomplices or other parties. Reporting these signals to authorities can provide valuable information to regulatory agencies’ own detection and investigation activities, and thus contribute to more efficient and effective enforcement. Although an extensive scholarship exists on reporting, it has mainly focused on whistle-blowers: insiders who are directly part of or involved in the offending behaviour. This study focuses on one type of external witnesses, namely bystanders who maintain a professional relationship with a company. These could include suppliers, customers, and competitors. These parties distinguish themselves from whistleblowers in the sense that although they sustain a close relation with a (suspected) offending business, they are not directly part of the organization, let alone do they take part in the offense. Therefore, the name ‘bellringers’ has been suggested for this category. Building on the existing literature about whistleblowing and bell-ringing, this paper asks what motivates ‘bellringers’ to report suspected business violations to enforcement authorities, and how they experience the reporting process. To answer this question, an extensive empirical study was carried out of more than 350 reports of offenses at three inspectorates in the Netherlands, and 60 interviews with reporting business owners and representatives of business sector organizations and inspectorates.