Nonviolent Offenders Research Articles

The Predictive Performance of Risk Assessment in Real Life: An External Validation of the MnSTARR

ABSTRACT Using multiple performance metrics, this study externally validates the Minnesota Screening Tool Assessing Recidivism Risk (MnSTARR) among a sample of 3,985 inmates released from Minnesota prisons in 2014. While the Minnesota Department of Corrections implemented a fully-automated risk assessment (MnSTARR 2.0) in 2016, the original MnSTARR was a manually-scored, gender-specific recidivism risk assessment that predicted multiple types of recidivism – felony, nonviolent, violent, and both first-time and repeat sexual offending (only for males). The results show the MnSTARR achieved adequate predictive performance. The average area under the curve (AUC) was 0.73 for males and 0.77 for females. Nonetheless, the MnSTARR would have achieved better predictive performance had it used an automated scoring process. Further, the findings showed the MnSTARR performed better for Whites than Nonwhites, and the magnitude of this difference would have been minimized using automated scoring. In sum, while the MnSTARR had adequate validity, performance is likely to be improved with automated systems.

Violent Offending, Nonviolent Offending, and General Delinquency: Exploring the Criminogenic Risk Factors of Hong Kong Male and Female Adolescents.

Limited information is known about the offending phenomenon of Hong Kong adolescents, specifically from a theoretical standpoint. Using a sample of 892 secondary school students, this study aims to explore the criminogenic risk factors of juvenile delinquency in Hong Kong adolescents. Grounded in the theoretical propositions of mainstream criminological theories (i.e., self-control, social control, social learning, general strain, and routine activity), the adolescents' types of delinquent behavior (i.e., violent, nonviolent, and general delinquency) are examined. Findings indicate that male adolescents reported significantly higher levels of violent, nonviolent, and general delinquency than female adolescents. Relative to females, males are also reported significantly higher levels of pro-violence attitudes, deviant peer influence, alcohol and drug use, and perceived neighborhood disorganization. However, female adolescents are found to have higher levels of self-control, social bonding, and negative temperament than their male counterparts. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that deviant peer influence in addition to alcohol and drug use is found to be general risk factors for engaging in all sorts of delinquent activity. A high level of pro-violence attitudes is significantly associated with violent offending, while low self-control is a significant predictor of nonviolent offending and general delinquency. Social bonding, negative temperament, and perceived neighborhood disorganization are found to be important factors associated with general delinquency. Implications of the findings are offered to address the adolescents' criminogenic risk factors and prevent their propensity to engage in violent, nonviolent, and general delinquency.

Adolescent Violence Towards Parents: A Case of Specialisation?

Adolescent violence towards parents (AVTP) is a form of family violence that tests family relationships and the role of parents and can have lasting impacts on all members of families. This study aimed to explore typologies of AVTP offenders based on their criminal justice system involvement, as well as explore differences between groups of AVTP based on their offending. Data were collated by the South Australian Office of Crime, Statistics and Research (OCSAR) in 2017 and included young people who had been apprehended by the South Australian Police between 2008 and 2012 for violence against a parent or step parent. There were a total of 305 young people included in the study, ranging in age from 10 to 17 years. The study found that there were three different groups of AVTP offenders: AVTP offenders, AVTP non-violent offenders who have committed other non-violent crimes and AVTP violent offender who have committed other violent crimes outside of their AVTP offence. Findings suggested that an AVTP offence in isolation is a rarity, and most AVTP offenders commit other non-violent or violent offending. The study concluded that AVTP may be a function of general anti-sociality and occur within the context of a pattern of violent or deviant behaviour, as opposed to a specialist, targeted, isolated incidence of violence.

A life history approach to understanding juvenile offending and aggression

Abstract Life history theory has been used to understand how harsh and unpredictable environments contribute to risk behaviors. The theory suggests that exposure to negative environments leads individuals to adopt a “fast” life strategy, which is hypothesized to make individuals more likely to engage in risky behavior that is associated with immediate rewards. Using data from a sample of 1216 justice-involved male youth, we defined distinct groups of youth with a “fast” versus “slow” life strategy, based on their scores on measures of sensation seeking, impulse control, future orientation, consideration of others, and suppression of aggression. A logistic regression was used to test how different environmental factors predicted LH strategy group membership. Having a fast strategy was associated with greater victimization, higher parental hostility, and lower quality home environments. Growth curve models were used to examine group differences in offending and aggression over five years. Youth with a fast life strategy engaged in more violent and non-violent offending, as well as more relational and physical aggression. Although there were significant decreases in these behaviors within both groups over the five years, these group differences remained consistent over time.

Anger and depression among incarcerated male youth: Predictors of violent and nonviolent offending during adjustment to incarceration.

Anger and depression are associated with a number of psychosocial problems, and their comorbidity may exacerbate maladjustment among incarcerated youth. The present study aims to identify whether anger and its different facets (cognitive, arousal, and behavioral), either independently or when conjoined with depressed mood, affects violent and nonviolent institutional infractions. Male adolescents (14-17 years of age) were recruited within 48 hr of arrival at a juvenile detention facility and were administered psychometric measures of anger (Novaco Anger Scale) and depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale) at baseline, 1 month, and 2 months. Offending within the facility was assessed via self-report and institutional records. Controlling for prior offending and other background factors, individuals having high anger scores were more likely to offend over the 2-month period, compared to those with lower levels of anger. Novaco Anger Scale scores, especially the Behavioral facet, predicted both official- and self-reported (violent and nonviolent) institutional offending. There was evidence for the interaction of depression and anger at baseline predicting self-reported offending at 1 month only. Given that juveniles' self-report of emotional distress, particularly anger, is predictive of their violent and nonviolent infractions, focused intervention programs could reduce behavior problems during incarceration that add to juveniles' maladjustment and continued exposure to adversities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Aberrant brain gray matter in murderers.

Homicide is a significant societal problem with economic costs in the billions of dollars annually and incalculable emotional impact on victims and society. Despite this high burden, we know very little about the neuroscience of individuals who commit homicide. Here we examine brain gray matter differences in incarcerated adult males who have committed homicide (n= 203) compared to other non-homicide offenders (n= 605; total n= 808). Homicide offenders' show reduced gray matter in brain areas critical for behavioral control and social cognition compared with subsets of other violent and non-violent offenders. This demonstrates, for the first time, that unique brain abnormalities may distinguish offenders who kill from other serious violent offenders and non-violent antisocial individuals.

Disrupting the link between maltreatment and delinquency: how school, family, and community factors can be protective

BackgroundPast experiences of childhood maltreatment are common for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. This paper explores potential protective factors at the peer, family, school, and neighborhood levels that disrupt the relationship between maltreatment and later non-violent and violent offending behavior and how these protective effects vary by a number of different sociodemographics.MethodsWe used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative longitudinal study of adolescents who were in grades 7–12 in the 1994–95 school year. Pulling data from Add Health respondents from ages 13 to 30, we used linear mixed effects modeling to create growth curves of predicted violent and non-violent offending frequency from adolescence into young adulthood, with maltreatment frequency as a predictor. Next, we tested whether potential protective factors including time with friends, a high-quality relationship with a parent figure, school connection, or neighborhood collective efficacy moderated the intercept or slope of the growth curves. Finally, we tested if sex, race/ethnicity, or sexual orientation moderated these protective effects.ResultsFor violent offending, school connection, high-quality relationships with mother or father figures, and neighborhood collective efficacy were all generally protective, meaning they were associated with lower levels and shallower slopes of predicted violent offending, but they were not more or less protective for those who experienced maltreatment. For non-violent offending, the same was true of school connection, high-quality relationships with a mother figure, and neighborhood collective efficacy, which were all generally protective. We found no evidence of a protective effect for time spent with friends, though this is likely due to measurement constraints, as simply measuring time spent with friends may have heterogeneous effects on delinquent behaviors. We found no evidence that any of these protective effects varied by sociodemographics.ConclusionsThis paper identifies factors that teachers, juvenile corrections officers, policymakers and others can intervene on to prevent engagement (or re-engagement) in delinquency and offending among youth and young adults who experienced maltreatment. As they are also protective for youth who have not experienced maltreatment they also inform general delinquency prevention efforts.

THE IOWA GAMBLING TASK IN VIOLENT AND NONVIOLENT INCARCERATED MALE ADOLESCENTS.

Previous studies have found impaired affective decision-making, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), in various antisocial populations. This is the first study to compare the IGT in violent and nonviolent incarcerated American youth. The IGT was administered to 185 incarcerated adolescent male offenders charged with either nonviolent (38.4%) or violent (61.6%) crimes. General linear mixed models and t tests were used to assess differences between the groups. The full sample performed worse than if they had selected from the decks at random. The violent offenders performed more poorly than the nonviolent offenders overall, primarily because they preferred "disadvantageous" Deck B to a greater degree; however, they did demonstrate some degree of learning by the final block of the task. Adolescent offenders demonstrate impaired affective decision-making. Behavior suggested preferential attention to frequency of loss and amount of gain and inattention to amount of loss.

A Longitudinal Assessment of Head Injuries as a Source of Acquired Neuropsychological Deficits and the Implications for Criminal Persistence

Few studies have identified factors that may promote criminal persistence. One such influence may be acquired neuropsychological deficits, or subtle changes to brain structure or functioning stemming from detrimental experiences. Head injuries represent one source of acquired neuropsychological deficits that have been linked to increased levels of offending and are differentially concentrated within justice involved populations. Making use of the Pathways to Desistance study (1,336 individuals across 84 months), this study examines the impact of head injuries on criminal persistence. The results of multilevel longitudinal models revealed that within-individual changes in head injury were associated with increases in self-reported offending, and violent offending in particular. A less consistent pattern was observed for arrest and nonviolent offending, indicating that head injury may differentially impact specific forms of criminal persistence. These results provide preliminary evidence suggesting acquired neuropsychological deficits, and head injuries more directly, result in prolonged periods of criminal persistence.

The Sources of Violent and Nonviolent Offending among Women in Prison

This study involved an assessment of the relevance of women’s background characteristics for predicting their offending in prison. Data were collected from over 650 women confined in a large prison for women in a Midwestern state, and the relative effects of these factors were examined. Findings revealed that background characteristics reflecting social demographics (e.g. race, sexual orientation) and women’s life experiences (e.g. abuse as a child) were relevant for predicting women’s violent and nonviolent misbehavior in prison.

Adolescent criminality: multiple adverse health outcomes and mortality pattern in Swedish men

BackgroundTo investigate the impact of adolescent violent and non-violent criminality and subsequent risk of morbidity and mortality in adulthood in a large Swedish cohort of young men conscripted for military service in 1969/70.MethodsThe cohort consisted of 49,398 18-year-old Swedish conscripts followed up for morbidity and mortality up to the age of 55 years in Swedish national registers. Information about convictions for crime before conscription was obtained from national crime registers. Data from a survey at conscription were scrutinized to get information on potential confounders.ResultsHospitalization due to alcohol and drug related diagnoses and attempted suicide were significantly more evident in the violent group compared to non-violent criminals and non-criminals. More than one fifth (21.13%) of the young violent offenders, 12.90% of the non-violent offenders and 4.96% of the non-criminals had died during the follow-up period. In Cox proportional multivariate analyses, young violent offenders had twice the hazard (HR = 4.29) of all-cause mortality than the non-violent offenders (HR = 2.16) during the follow-up period. Alcohol and drug related mortality, suicide and fatal accidents were most evident in both violent and non-violent offenders.ConclusionsMen with adolescent criminality received more inpatient care due to alcohol and drug related diagnoses and attempted suicide as adults. Mortality due to unnatural causes, alcohol, and drug related diagnoses, suicide and accidents was most evident in violent offenders, while these causes of death were much lower in non-criminals. Men with adolescent criminality are a high-risk group for multiple adverse health outcomes and for early death. Efforts for detection of substance use and psychiatric disorders in this group is important for the prevention work in both local- and community levels as well as national prevention programs.

Youth Who Kill in Turkey: A Study on Juvenile Homicide Offenders, Their Offenses, and Their Differences From Violent and Nonviolent Juvenile Delinquents.

This study aims to answer two major research questions: (a) What are the characteristics of the juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) and their offenses in Turkey? (b) How do different risk factors vary across the JHOs and other violent and nonviolent juvenile offenders? The data set was derived from the court records of a group of adjudicated youth (n = 546) in Turkey. These records were coded to include information on both the offense characteristics of the homicides committed by juveniles (i.e., motivation, weapon of choice, victims' characteristics, etc.) and the individual and family-level risk factors available in JHOs and two other delinquent groups. Our findings indicated that most of the homicide cases committed by juveniles were motivated by a fight/argument and did not involve any criminal premeditation. The victims were mostly strangers and close in age to the offenders. JHOs were significantly different from other juvenile offenders in a number of aspects, such as age, number of siblings, effectiveness of intrafamilial communication, social mobility, having risky friends, being school dropouts, and working at a paid job. However, JHOs and other juvenile offenders were not significantly different in a majority of the assessed risk factors. The findings pointed out that the risks existing at JHOs were not reflecting the stereotypical perspectives about violent delinquents. For instance, JHOs had the lowest rate of having risky friends compared with other two groups of juvenile offenders. In addition, we found that a typical homicide committed by a juvenile in Turkey was not criminally motivated, in most instances, but the outcome of an instantly escalating personal conflict between youth. In light of the study findings, we proposed several policy implications such as keeping youth in a formal education system to prevent their exposure to culturally inherent adverse social values that promote violent and revengeful reactions to a personal conflict.

Exploring the overlap between victimization and offending among Hong Kong adolescents

PurposeClaims of a victim-offender overlap have been substantiated in the literature. However, little is known about the joint occurrence of victimization and offending in the Asian context. MethodsUsing a sample of 892 secondary school students, this study aims to explore the phenomenon of overlap between offending and victimization among Hong Kong adolescents. Grounded by theoretical propositions of criminological theories (i.e., social learning, self-control, social control, general strain, and routine activity), the adolescents' prevalence of general, violent, and nonviolent offending perpetration and victimization are examined. ResultsFindings reveal that different types of offending perpetration and victimization are positively correlated, and multivariate analyses confirmed the link between these two experiences. Logistic regressions indicate that offending perpetration significantly predicted victimization, regardless of the type of offending behavior (general, violent, and nonviolent), with an increase likelihood between 337% and 792%. Bivariate probit models demonstrate a considerable degree of overlap between different types of offending perpetration and victimization. The rho correlations from the unadjusted bivariate probit models suggest the significant overlapping categories of general (80%), violent (75%), and nonviolent (85%) offending. ConclusionsHaving high levels of pro-violence attitudes and of a deviant peer influence are found to be a general risk of engaging in offending behavior and of falling prey to victimization. Specifically, deviant peer influence is the only significant risk factor for the joint occurrence of violent offending and violent victimization, while social bonding and deviant peer influence are significant risk factors for the joint occurrence of nonviolent offending and nonviolent victimization. Implications for practice are discussed.

Further Evidence of Racial Disparities in Drug Court Outcomes: Enhancing Service-Delivery to Reduce Criminal Recidivism Rates for Non-White Participants

The first drug court began in 1989, and since their inception, they have expanded to over 3,000 in the United States and United States territories. The long-term goal of drug courts is to reduce criminal recidivism rates for nonviolent offenders who have substance use disorders. This study adds to the literature by using secondary data to compare criminal recidivism rates between drug court participants (n = 163) and probationers who had diagnosed substance use disorders and arrests that were eligible for drug court but they did probation instead (n = 185). Criminal recidivism was measured up to 36 months post drug court/probation discharge, which provides a more accurate assessment of the long-term effectiveness of drug court. Furthermore, this study identified which drug court participants were most likely to recidivate. Drug court participants were less likely to recidivate than the probation group. However, differences between the two groups may have contributed to the difference in criminal recidivism rates and also suggest that screening criteria may exclude some non-White participants from drug court. Non-white participants were more likely to recidivate than their White counterparts. Implications for future research and drug court practice are discussed, focusing on enhancing the service-delivery of education and employment opportunities to non-White drug court participants.

The Role of Poverty and Income in the Differential Etiology of Violence: An Empirical Test

ABSTRACTPoverty has been linked with criminal behavior in theory and empirical research. The authors test the differential etiology of violence thesis using a sample of teenagers from the Add Health data set. Employing a three-pronged test and conservative models, the authors find that income is associated with variability in violent offending, even controlling for nonviolent offending. The family incomes of nonviolent-only offenders were comparable to those of nonoffenders. The findings call into question general theories of criminality that do not distinguish between violent and other forms of offending and support the proposal that poverty is differentially associated with violent crime.

Psychiatric morbidity in violent and nonviolent offenders: A cross-sectional comparative study

Background: Several studies have found that mental illnesses are very commonly seen in the prison population when compared to the normal population and they are a major public health concern. In most of the cases, it is very difficult to differentiate between abnormal personality and criminal behavior and their influence on psychopathology. In the literature, there were many studies done on the entire prison population. However, there were very few studies that compared the characteristics and psychopathology of both violent and nonviolent offenders which are distinct in many ways. Hence, the current study focussed on how the violent differ from the non-violent offenders. Aim: This study aims to study the various sociodemographic factors, crime characteristics, and psychiatric morbidity in violent offenders and nonviolent offenders. Study Design: It is a cross-sectional comparative study conducted at central prison Cherlapalli, Hyderabad. Materials and Methods: Study sample includes 61 violent offenders involved in serious crimes like murder (IPC SEC 302), attempt to murder (IPC SEC 307) and 34 nonviolent offenders (involved in other crimes like theft, check bounce, etc.) The characteristics are analyzed using semi-structured intake pro forma, and psychopathology is analyzed using International Classification of Diseases 10 criteria and MINI scale. Results and Conclusions: In our study, significant differences between the two groups were found in domicile, employment status, marital status, and duration of stay in prison. History of psychiatric illness before and after the crime is most commonly seen in violent offenders when compared to nonviolent offenders. Significant previous incarcerations were high in nonviolent offenders when compared to nonviolent offenders. In both the groups, more than half of the individuals had either alcohol abuse or dependence pattern, and high rates of substance intoxication at the time of the commission of the crime were found in violent offenders. Less than one-fourth of both groups were found to have psychiatric illness apart from alcohol. Hence, more awareness programs and campaigns regarding the influence of alcohol on the crimes can be conducted with the help of police, government, private organizations, and media, especially directed at vulnerable and at-risk population for crime, would indirectly decrease crime rate by decreasing alcohol consumption. There are a lot of studies in Indian literature regarding the psychopathology in the whole of the prison population and also in violent offenders; but, there are very few studies comparing both violent and nonviolent offenders which are a distinct population.

Prison Reform: The Cost of Prison for Inmates, Families, and Society

Prison Reform is front-and-center in America today. The cost of prison is higher than ever - but not just in economic terms. More and more Americans are being incarcerated every day when there are so many other options that could take its place. The cost of prison is taking its toll on the quality of the family unit, the quality of society, and on the quality of the perceived self-worth of the individual incarcerated. Most incarcerated Americans are forgotten and unloved. They are treated, many times, worse than animals. Extensive sentencing and unnecessary incarceration for first-time, non-violent offenders must stop. Please join me in the fight to change policy in America’s prison system by sharing this with your Senators, Congressman, or any others who may appreciate it, may benefit from it, or who can otherwise help instigate change.

Animal maltreatment from ancient times to the 21st century: Foundation for a call to action now

Animal maltreatment from ancient times to the 21st century: Foundation for a call to action now

Contextual variability in biopsychosocial pathways to violent offending

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use data from the Longitudinal Study of Violent Criminal Behavior in the USA to examine case configurations of violent behavior using a biopsychosocial framework. Specifically, the theory posits that arguably all behavior is the result of specific combinations of biopsychological (individual) and sociocultural (environmental) characteristics that are interacting within the individual. With regard to criminal and violent behavior, the theoretical assumption is that this maladaptive behavior is the result of a negative interaction between the biopsychological and sociocultural factors.Design/methodology/approachThe study design consists of secondary data analysis. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations was performed using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Violent Criminal Behavior to formally explore the tenets of Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory.FindingsThe results suggest that there are main effects for ego strength, family problems, family incohesiveness and underachievement as they relate to offending. A possible six-way interaction was also identified within the case configurations that provides empirical support for Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory of deviance.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the existing biopsychosocial literature by providing insight on the contextual variability in pathways to violent offending. Specifically, the evidence provided indicates that Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory of deviance can be extended to comparing violent and non-violent offenders. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.

Academic Achievement, School Attachment, and School Problems in the Differential Etiology of Violence

In the present paper, we test whether academic factors differentially predict violent offending, based on “differential etiology of violence” hypothesis as proposed by Savage and Wozniak (Thugs and Thieves: The Differential Etiology of Violence, [58]). We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. We used a three-tier statistical approach to test the differential etiology of violence thesis. First, we compared the slopes of coefficients generated by ordinary least squares regression models. Second, we examined negative binomial regression partial coefficients estimating the association between academic achievement and violent offending, controlling for nonviolent offending. Finally we used binary logistic regression to compare “any violent” to “nonviolent-only” offenders. The findings suggest that academic achievement, but not school attachment, is differentially associated with violent behavior in longitudinal, conservative models. Grade average is lower and several indicators of school problems are higher among violent offenders than nonviolent-only offenders, and GPA distinguishes violent from chronic, nonviolent-only offenders in models that control for a host of social factors as well as intelligence (measured with a picture vocabulary test), ADHD, alcohol, and drug use. The findings are consistent with the differential etiology of violence thesis, challenging the adequacy of general theories of offending and calling into question the assumption that the causes of violent offending are identical to those of nonviolent offending. Policy implications of these findings include the possibility that academic measures and programs might be used to target and address violent behavior problems; theoretical implications include a call for criminological theories specific to violence and appropriate tests of those theories.