Icelandic Prison Research Articles

The relationship of suggestibility and compliance with self-deception and other-deception

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship of interrogative suggestibility and compliance with other-deception and self-deception. The Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 1), the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Other and Self-Deception questionnaires (ODQ and SDQ) were administered to 237 Icelandic prison inmates. Other and Self-Deception scores did not correlate significantly with suggestibility and compliance, whereas significant correlations were found between the deception scores and EPQ Psychoticism, Neuroticism and Lie scores. The EPQ Lie score explained about one-third of the variance in the ODQ score, suggesting a considerable overlap between the two impression management measures. The most important practical implication of the findings is that self-favouring bias does not appear to significantly influence suggestibility and compliance scores.

PREDICTING RE‐OFFENDING: A 5‐YEAR PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF ICELANDIC PRISON INMATES

The study investigates differences in psychological, offending history, and substance use variables between desisters and recidivists among 461 Icelandic prison inmates, who were followed up 5 years after their release from prison. Almost half (48%) of the sample were re‐convicted during the 5‐year period and had received one or more prison sentences. Recidivists scored significantly lower than desisters on the Gough Socialization Scale, and desisters scored significantly higher on Self‐Deception and Other‐Deception Questionnaires. Recidivists had more extensive offending history, and had reported more substance use than desisters. A discriminant function analysis was performed in order to investigate which variables discriminated best between desisters and recidivists. The results indicate that offending history variables and low other‐deception, discriminated best between the two groups. The results emphasize the importance of previous criminal history and antisocial personality traits as risk factors and impression management or social desirability as a protective factor.

The role of personality and blame attribution in prisoners' experiences of anger

The emotion of anger has gained researchers' interest in recent years [Novaco (1994) In: J. Monahan & M. J. Steadman (Eds.), Violence and mental disorder: developments in risk assessment. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; (1997) Legal and Criminological Psychology, 2, 77]. However, it is still unclear what influences the expression of anger. The current study investigated the relationship between anger, personality and blame attribution in Icelandic prisoners. Sixty-nine male offenders completed the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Novaco Anger Scale. No differences were found in the anger levels of violent/non-violent offenders. Results indicated that recidivism, psychoticism and neuroticism were predictive of anger levels, but no relationship was found between blame attribution and anger. The findings of this study suggest that in terms of anger management programmes in prison, it might be advantageous to target repeat offenders and take into account personality factors that seem to influence anger.

False confessions: The relative importance of psychological, criminological and substance abuse variables

The aim of the study was to investigate the relative importance of psychological, criminological, and substance abuse variables in differentiating between alleged false confessors and other prison inmates. The participants were 509 inmates newly admitted to all Icelandic prisons over a four-year period. Sixty-two (12%) of the inmates claimed to have made a false confession to the police sometime in the past. A discriminant function analysis was used to identify the variables that best discriminated between the alleged false confessors and the other prison inmates. Out of 17 psychological variables and 16 criminological and substance abuse variables, two variables (number of previous imprisonments and the score on the Gough Socialisation Scale) correctly classified 93% of the non-false confessors and 32.3% of the alleged false confessors, with a total classification rate of 82.7%. The findings suggest that among Icelandic prison inmates, antisocial personality characteristics and the extent and severity of criminal behaviour, as judged by number of previous imprisonments, are the best predictors of offenders claiming to have made a false confession to the police. The implication is that among some prison inmates, making a false confession is a part of their criminal life style.

The Gudjonsson Confession Questionnaire-Revised (GCQ-R) factor structure and its relationship with personality

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the factor structure and reliability of the Gudjonsson Confession Questionnaire (GCQ-R) and to investigate its relationship with personality. The GCQ-R measures offenders' reported reasons for confessing to the police and their attitude towards the confession. A total of 411 Icelandic prison inmates and 108 juvenile offenders completed the GCQ-R. A principal component analysis was conducted on the data and six factors were rotated using varimax procedure. The Cronbach alpha coefficients for the six factors ranged between 0.63 to 0.85. The test–retest correlation coefficients for 53 inmates ranged between 0.84 and 0.94. The findings indicate that the GCQ-R is a reasonably reliable instrument. Personality scores, measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Gough Socialisation Scale and the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), correlated significantly with the factor scores from the GCQ-R among the two groups of participants. Psychoticism, neuroticism and compliance were the best predictors of confessing behaviour. The findings indicate that personality is a significant predictor of the reasons offenders report for having confessed to the police.

The criminal history of ‘false confessors’ and other prison inmates

In this study 56 Icelandic prison inmates who claimed to have made a false confession to the police sometime in their lives were compared on various criminological variables with 423 other prison inmates. The ‘false confessors’ were found to have a significantly more active criminal life-style than the other inmates, including having obtained a criminal conviction younger and having spent more time in prison. They had also had significantly more experience of police interrogations than the other inmates. The authors conclude that among this sample false confession was very much a part of their criminal lifestyle. The ‘false confessors’ in the present study appear to be quite different from those suspects who confess falsely due to unfamiliarity and inexperience with police interrogations and procedures.

Illicit drug use among Icelandic prisoners prior to their imprisonment

AbstractThis study investigates illicit drug use among new admissions to Icelandic prisons over a 21‐month period. Of all new admissions, 344 (96%) agreed to participate in the study. They were asked questions about their previous use of illicit drugs and this was related to the nature of their current offence. Cannabis and amphetamines were the most commonly used illicit drugs, with 62% and 50% of the subjects admitting to having used these substances at some time in their life. The corresponding figures for having consumed these illicit drugs during the previous six months were 31% and 28%, respectively. Only 11 subjects (3%) reported having used opiates. Seventy‐three subjects (23%) reported intravenous drug use. Women prisoners (43%) more commonly reported injecting drugs than men (21%) prisoners. Significant differences were found between offence categories, with persons convicted of drug and property offences most commonly having used illicit drugs. Copyright © 1996 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

The psychological characteristics of ‘false confessors’. A study among icelandic prison inmates and juvenile offenders

In this study the psychological characteristics of 62 prison inmates, who claimed to have made a ‘false confession’ during a police interview, were compared with those of other inmates. The personality tests administered were the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Gough Socialisation Scale, the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 1). the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), and the self-deception (SDQ) and other-deception (ODQ) questionnaires of Sackeim and Gur. In addition, Ravens' Standard Progressive Matrices were administered. The results showed that the ‘false confessors’ were significantly more antisocial in their personality, compliant and emotionally labile, than the other inmates and had lower self-deception and other-deception scores. A subgroup of coerced-internalized ‘false confessors’ was identified and they differed from the others in terms of elevated suggestibility and confabulation scores as measured by the GSS 1. In a parallel study of 108 juvenile offenders it was found that none of them reported having made a ‘false confession’, in contrast to 12% of the prison inmates. Overall, the results indicate that ‘false confession’ in Iceland may be largely confined to persistent offenders who possess antisocial personality characteristics.

The relationship of confabulation to the memory, intelligence, suggestibility and personality of prison inmates

This study investigates the relationship of confabulation to memory, intelligence, suggestibility and personality, as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Gough Socialisation Scale. The subjects were 255 Icelandic prison inmates. Confabulation was measured from the memory narrative of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 1). The two components of confabulation--distortions and fabrications--were scored and analysed separately. Distortions and fabrications correlated poorly with each other. Furthermore, the confabulation scores correlated very poorly with the other psychological variables. The only positive correlations were a positive relationship with GSS Shift and a negative relationship with intelligence. Language: en

The relationship of confabulation to the memory, intelligence, suggestibility and personality of prison inmates

This study investigates the relationship of confabulation to memory, intelligence, suggestibility and personality, as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Gough Socialisation Scale. The subjects were 255 Icelandic prison inmates. Confabulation was measured from the memory narrative of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 1). The two components of confabulation—distortions and fabrications—were scored and analysed separately. Distortions and fabrications correlated poorly with each other. Furthermore, the confabulation scores correlated very poorly with the other psychological variables. The only positive correlations were a positive relationship with GSS Shift and a negative relationship with intelligence.

Illicit Drug use among “False Confessors”: A Study Among Icelandic Prison Inmates

In this study the illicit drug use of 62 prison inmates who claimed to have made a “false confession” during police interrogation sometime in their lives was compared with those of other inmates. The results showed that the “false confessors” were significantly more frequent users of illicit drugs than the other inmates and had more serious drug abuse problems, including intravenous drug use. Twenty-five per cent of the false confessors and 10% of the other inmates were heavily dependent on drugs. The difference was highly significant. The drug-dependent false confessors were particularly likely to have confessed falsely to protect someone else from being arrested and prosecuted.

Personality characteristics of drug-dependent offenders

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether personality questionnaires could differentiate significantly between drug dependent and non-dependent prisoners. The subjects were 340 Icelandic prisoners who were serving sentences for various offences. The psychological tests administered were the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Gough Socialisation Scale, and self-deception (SDQ) and other-deception (ODQ) questionnaires. Drug dependency was defined on the basis of regular illicit drug use during the previous 6 months (that is, weekly or more frequent consumption) and an experience with intravenous drug use. The 43 (13%) drug-dependent subjects scored significantly lower than the other prisoners on the Gough Socialisation Scale and the ODQ and SDQ, and significantly higher on the EPQ Psychoticism, Neuroticism, and Addiction Scales. However, when socially desirable responding (that is, the ODQ and SDQ scores) was controlled for by an analysis of covariance, only the Gough Socialisation Scale...

The reasons why suspects confess during custodial interrogation: data for Northern Ireland.

This study looks at the reasons offenders give for having confessed during police interrogation. A number of hypotheses were tested, following the work of Gudjonsson and Petursson (1991) on an Icelandic prison sample. The subjects were 80 offenders who were serving prison sentences in Northern Ireland for violence, sex or property offences. The subjects completed the Gudjonsson Confession Questionnaire. All of the hypotheses tested were supported, indicating that there are three primary factors associated with the reasons why criminals make confessions during interrogation. These factors are referred to as Internal Pressure, External Pressure and Proof. The factors were found to be associated with the type of offence committed and the attitude of the offender towards his confession.

The personality of Icelandic prisoners: some normative data

Several psychologic tests relevant to criminal behaviour were administered to 80 Icelandic prisoners. These were the Standard Progressive Matrices, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Gough Socialisation Scale, the Arrow-Dot Test, the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory, and two Deception questionnaires. As predicted, Icelandic prisoners had elevated scores on EPQ Psychoticism (P) and Neuroticism (N), but the hypothesis was not confirmed with regard to Extraversion (E). The sample scored low on the Gough Socialisation Scale, similar to American prisoners. The sample as a whole did not have elevated Arrow-Dot impulsivity scores. Attribution of blame for the crime had some significant correlations with personality. High P scorers tended to blame their crime on external factors, such as provocation, and neurotic introverts reported the greatest amount of guilt for their offence.

Overcontrolled hostility among prisoners and its relationship with denial and personality scores

This study investigates the significance of other-deception and self-deception in relation to overcontrol as measured by the Overcontrolled Hostility (O-H) Scale of Megargee, Cook and Mendelsohn ( Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 72, 519–528, 1967). The subjects were 74 Icelandic prisoners who had, in addition to the O-H Scale, completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Gough Socialisation Scale, the Arrow-Dot Test, and the deception questionnaires of Sackeim and Gur ( Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 213–215, 1979). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the deception questionnaires account for 44% of the variance in overcontrol. The personality tests did not add significantly to the variance after the deception scores had been controlled for. The importance of other-deception and self-deception to the concept of overcontrol and the implications for research are discussed.