Violent Offenders’ Within-Treatment Change in Anger, Criminal Attitudes, and Violence Risk: Associations with Violent Recidivism

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the recidivist outcomes for a group of incarcerated violent offenders, based on whether they achieved pre-post raw psychometric change, reliable change, and/or clinically significant change (CSC) following treatment completion. Participants included 42 adult male violent offenders (age range 21 to 67 years) who participated in a medium- or high-intensity, group-based violent offender treatment program offered within prisons, operated by Corrections Victoria. These men were followed in the community for an average of 3.9 years post-release, and were assessed on four risk-related variables pre- and post-treatment: General Criminal Thinking (GCT), Trait Anger (T-Ang), Anger Expression/Out (AX/O), and Overall Violence Risk (OVR). Mean levels of GCT and OVR significantly reduced following treatment; no significant changes in T-Ang and AX/O were observed. Although a small proportion of offenders achieved reliable and/or CSC, within-treatment changes were not predictive of violent recidivism. This article describes, critiques, and tests methods of intra-individual within-treatment change and provides a blueprint for future analyses linking intra-individual change and violent reoffending.