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Introduction: Past research into the effectiveness of multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) in reducing reoffending it limited. Thus, the current study aimed to evaluate proven reoffending patterns forMAPPAmanaged individuals. Methods: Proven reoffending for 39,501 MAPPA managed individuals was investigated by (1) examining patterns in the timing and frequency of proven reoffending for MAPPA managed individuals; (2) examining 1-, 3-, and 5-year proven reoffending patterns of MAPPA managed individuals by MAPPA category, age, and gender; and (3) comparing crime harm levels and recall to custody for MAPPA managed individuals pre- and post-MAPPA adoption. Results: Taken together, our findings show that proven reoffending rates for individualsmanaged under MAPPA are substantially lower than those reported in proven reoffending statistics for England and Wales. Discussion: Our results suggest that MAPPA is making a positive contribution to a managing individuals convicted of sexual and violent offenses. Additionally, our findings provide the best evidence to date that MAPPA management may also be effective at reducing less serious offenses which do not typically involve immediate removal from society. These findings are considered in light of their theoretical and practical implications while potential limitations and avenues for future research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists, and geographers in particular, have long been interested in examining spatial patterns of offending in order to generate a “geography” of crime and criminality. This paper examines what value, if any, a geographical approach to the study of sexual offending might offer. Utilising published official data from England and Wales it presents for the first time geographical analyses of the registration, risk assessment and management of Registered Sexual Offenders (RSOs) across 42 Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) areas. In doing so it considers and evaluates the methodological issues pertaining to the use of such data and such a geographical approach. We conclude that geographical interpretations of both the incidence of RSOs and the rates of risk allocations between MAPPA areas provide valuable insights and raise new questions about the way in which RSOs are managed nationally and are thus worthy of further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes as its starting point a definition of islands that goes beyond geographical isolation to consider islands as social constructs insofar as they reflect feelings of isolation, separateness, distinctiveness and otherness. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of the 'dry' island, an island that although once surrounded by water has long since lost its physical isolation due to changes in sea level and drainage patterns. Taking the Isle of Ely in the fens of East Anglia in the United Kingdom between AD 1200-1600 as a case study, and utilising archaeological evidence for diet and for the local Ely ware pottery, it is possible to reconstruct a cognitive mappa, which describes the perception of islandness amongst the island's medieval inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personality disorder was once a ‘diagnosis of exclusion’ and consequently many people, including offenders, were unable to access appropriate care. Some offenders therefore slipped through the net, with devastating consequences. However, recent developments in the health and criminal justice fields have sought to address this problem. One such initiative was the establishment in the Northwest of England of three specialist multi-disciplinary Forensic Personality Disorder Assessment and Liaison Teams. Their task is to assess high-risk offenders with personality disorder and provide a gate keeping and monitoring function to agencies involved in their care and management. This practice-based paper outlines the work of the Greater Manchester team. It describes the team's approach to the assessment of these individuals and outlines some of the professional and ethical challenges encountered so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors discuss the contribution of a forensic community team to a multi-agency public protection panel (MAPPP) held in a borough within the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. The clinical service provision was audited over a 21-month period between October 2001 and July 2003. The purpose of the audit was to evaluate the clinical demand of MAPPP liaison and determine resource implications. This audit identified a number of important issues, which are discussed, including the crucial role and contribution of mental health teams, the additional burden on clinical teams, the absence of increased resources, the lack of protocols and guidelines, ambiguity about the ‘duty to co-operate’, poor integration of criminal justice system members' views about risk with a forensic mental health perspective, and lack of co-operation of non-patient offenders with mental health teams. A challenging task that faces mental health teams is how to integrate forensic services effectively and ethically with the criminal justice system in such a manner that dangerous offenders can be managed with safety and dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]