Crime Recidivism Research Articles

Violent behavior of patients living in psychiatric residential facilities: A comparison of male patients with different violence histories

People with severe mental disorders and a history of violence are often seen as a difficult-to-manage segment of the population. In addition, this group is usually characterized by a high risk of crime recidivism, and poor compliance with community and aftercare programs.To investigate a sample of male patients living in Residential Facilities (RFs) with a history of violent behavior against people and to compare their characteristics with those of never-violent residents; to analyze the associations between aggressive behaviors in the last two years and a history of previous violence; and, to assess the predictors of aggressive behaviors.This study is part of a prospective observational cohort study which involved 23 RFs in Northern Italy. A comprehensive set of sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment-related information was gathered, and standardized assessments were administered to each participant. Also a detailed assessment of aggressive behaviors in the past two years was carried out.The study involved 268 males: 81 violent and 187 never-violent. Compared to never-violent patients, violent patients were younger, with a higher proportion of personality disorders, and have displayed an increased number of aggressive behaviors in the last two years. The presence of a history of violent behavior in the past significantly increases the probability of committing aggressive acts in the future.

Sex Offenders and Sex Crime Recidivism

The relationship between criminal justice sanctions and sex crime recidivism remains largely unexplored. Therefore, using a sample of 8,461 previously incarcerated male sex offenders from 13 states in the United States, we focus on the sentence meted out for the sex crime conviction and the amount of time sex offenders served as a result of their conviction. Sex offenders were grouped into four categories: rapists, sexual assaulters, child molesters, and all sex offenders combined. Recidivism was operationalized as rearrest and reconviction. Findings suggest how recidivism is operationalized matters. When recidivism is measured as rearrest for another sex offense, sentence length and time served are unrelated to sex crime recidivism. On the other hand, when recidivism is operationalized as reconviction for another sex offense, sentence length is positively related to recidivism for rapists, sexual assaulters, child molesters, and all sex offenders combined, while time served is negatively related to recidivism for child molesters and all sex offenders combined.

Preventing sexual violence: Can examination of offense location inform sex crime policy?

Recently, legislative initiatives to prevent sex crime recidivism include the passage of child safety zones (also called loitering zones) that prohibit sex offenders from lingering near places where children congregate. The ability of policies such as these or residence restrictions to curb sexual recidivism depends on the empirical reality of sex offender perpetration patterns. As such, the current study sought to examine locations where sex offenders first come into contact with their victims and whether sex crime locations differ among those who perpetrate offenses against children as compared to those who perpetrate offenses against adults. Further, this study examined actuarial risk scores and recidivism rates among offenders who met victims in child-dense public locations to determine if these offenders are more at risk of re-offense. Descriptive analyses, based on archival sex offender file review ( N = 1557), revealed that offenders primarily cultivated their offenses in private residential locations (67.0%); relatively few offenders (4.4%) met their victims in child-dense public locations. Further, offenders who perpetrated crimes against children were more likely to meet victims within a residence, while those who perpetrate crimes against adults were more likely to encounter victims in a more public type of location (e.g., bar, workplace). Though only 3.7% of all offenders in this sample sexually recidivated, those who recidivated were more likely to have met their victim in a child-dense public location than those who did not recidivate. Current sex crime policies that focus only on where offenders live may fail to focus on where offenders go and, further, may misdirect efforts away from the place where sex crimes most often occur, namely, in the home.

Effects of South Carolina’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Policy on Adult Recidivism

Some sex offender registration and notification (SORN) policies subject all registered sex offenders to Internet notification. The present study examined the effects of one such broad notification policy on sex crime recidivism. Secondary data were analyzed for a sample of 6,064 male offenders convicted of at least one sex crime between 1990 and 2004. Across a mean follow-up of 8.4 years, 490 (8%) offenders had new sex crime charges and 299 (5%) offenders had new sex crime convictions. Cox’s relative risks and competing risks models estimated the influence of registration status on risk of sexual recidivism while controlling for time at risk. Registration status did not predict recidivism in any model. These results cast doubt on the effectiveness of broad SORN policies in preventing repeat sexual assault. Policy implications, particularly with respect to the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which requires broad notification, are discussed.

A cross-sectional study on expression of anger and factors associated with criminal recidivism in prisoners with prior offences

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine demographical characteristics leading to crime recidivism and define anger levels and anger expression manners for those who re-commit crime. Method: All the literate inmates in İzmit Closed Penitentiary were included in this cross-sectional study. The prisoners were asked to respond to State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. Their socio-demographic data were collected and a questionnaire was given to them to determine their state of imprisonment, sentence, nature of the crime in which they were involved, their criminal history, their relationship with inmates and prison staff and substance and alcohol use. Results: Of the 438 prisoners, 302 (68.9%) responded to the questionnaires. Crime recidivism among the study cohort was observed to be 37.4%. Mean trait anger, anger out and anger in scores were significantly higher in prisoners with criminal recidivism in comparison with those who did not have prior criminal records. However, mean anger control scores for prisoners with or without criminal recidivism were similar. Unemployment, education level completed at secondary school or below, having committed a crime under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, having been involved in prison fights, having resisted police officers, caused damage in their vicinity when angry and violent crimes were all found to be possible causes of criminal recidivism. Educational level completed at secondary school or below, getting into fights with other prisoners, unemployment and resisting police officers were determined to be the strongest indicators to predict criminal recidivism when all variables were considered according to a logistic regression model. Conclusion: It can be proposed that those who have problems with officials or hostile towards others constitute a risk group for criminal recidivism. If prisoners with criminal recidivism can be helped to identify and control their anger, their risk of committing a new crime can be minimised.

Recidivism Among Serious Violent Crime Offenders in Finland

Abstract The recidivism of violent crimes among released offenders is an important issue, which must be taken into account when both the appropriate length of a prison sentence and release on parole are considered. We studied recidivism among high-risk violent offenders during their incarceration, parole, and freedom. The sample consisted of 99 Finnish men who were evaluated by a special prison court between July 1, 1971, and December 31, 1995. Forty-two of the men were sentenced to the special security section by the prison court (PDDR) and served their entire sentence. The remaining 57 convicts served their terms among the normal prison population (NPS) and were released on parole after having served, on average, 75% of their sentence (duration of parole was the remaining 25% of the original sentence). During parole, the probability of committing a serious violent offence among habitually violent male offenders was extremely high: 214-fold (Risk Ratio 214, 95% Confidence Interval 152-302) when compared ...

The epidemiology of forcible rape.

Problems of measurement of the incidence of rape are considered, and empirical findings are summarized regarding prevalence, demographic and psychiatric characteristics of offenders, spatial and temporal distribution of offenses, victim-offender relationships, and evidence about recidivism and progression of crimes. Findings are discussed in the framework of blame models and their implications for treatment and prevention.

Doing Good with a Hard Nose

The stress on Management By Objectives, particularly the emphasis on achieving the unattainable goal of reducing the crime rates or recidivism, has led to several ineffectual administrative styles in criminal justice. The author describes these phenomena and traces their causes. In all cases, the suggested remedy is to shift from the struggle to reduce crime rates or recidivism and to focus on effective performance of necessary immediate tasks.

Crime seriousness, recidivism risk, and causal attributions in judgments of prison term by students and experts.

Crime seriousness, recidivism risk, and causal attributions in judgments of prison term by students and experts.

The Economic Return to Preventive Social Work

Considerable effort has been made in estimating the economic return to various kinds of preventive exercise in the human resources field. The return to prevention or control of selected diseases has been estimated, as has the return to investment in birth control. Attempts have also been made to assess the pay‐off from programmes designed to prevent homelessness, extended redundancy, crime, and criminal recidivism.

System Rates: An Approach to Comprehensive Criminal Justice Planning

It has proven far easier to describe the need for a systems approach to criminal justice planning than to design such an approach. This paper describes a planning design, an outline of procedures that will prepare a criminal justice system to deter mine what actions to undertake and how to evaluate the impact of such actions. This design requires a very broad conception of the criminal justice system and a conception of impact far broader than such notions as crime rates or recidivism.