The attribution of blame and type of crime committed: Data for northern ireland

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the relationship between type of offence and the attributions offenders make about their criminal act. The subjects were 80 prisoners serving prison sentences in Northern Ireland. All subjects had completed the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory (Gudjonsson and Singh, 1990). Significant differences in attribution were found between offender groups. Sex offenders and those who had committed acts of interpersonal violence reported most guilt about their offence and they attributed the cause of their offence more to mental factors (e.g. loss of self-control) than other types of offenders. Violent offenders had the highest external attribution and sex offenders the lowest. The mean attribution scores were compared with those of English prisoners and it was found that Irish violent prisoners had significantly lower mental element attribution and higher external attribution than English prisoners.