International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Bosnian and American Students' Attitudes Toward Electronic Monitoring: Is It About What We Know or Where We Come From?
This study finds that while students are largely supportive of electronic monitoring sentences, support is affected by offender type and student nationality. For example, Bosnian students are more supportive of electronic monitoring sentences for drug offenders while American students are more supportive of electronic monitoring sentences for juvenile offenders. Differences were also found across student groups when attitudes toward electronic monitoring and the costs and pains associated with electronic monitoring were assessed. Specifically, American students were less likely to view electronic monitoring as meeting the ...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - May 7, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Muftić, L. R., Payne, B. K., Maljević, A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Adolescent Compensated Dating in Hong Kong: Choice, Script, and Dynamics
This article intends to fill this research gap through semi-structured interviews with 30 young people who have experience in CD in Hong Kong. The current study provides a step-by-step account of the involvement of young people in this illegal/immoral activity from a crime script perspective. Twelve decision-making points in four crime commission stages are identified in this study. The findings of the study will not only advance conceptual understanding of the choice, script, and dynamics of young people’s path to CD but also provide suggestions for formulating stage-specific measures for situational crime preventio...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - May 7, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Li, J. C. M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Does Change in Hostility Predict Sexual Recidivism?
The purpose of the study was to examine whether scores on a widely used measure of hostility—the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI)—and change on this measure predicted sexual recidivism in a sample of 120 adult male incarcerated sexual offenders. Pre- and posttreatment scores, simple difference scores, and clinically significant change were examined. The majority of participants had functional scores on the BDHI prior to treatment. Of those who had dysfunctional pretreatment scores, the majority remained unchanged. Higher posttreatment scores on the Assault and Verbal Hostility subscales significantl...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - May 7, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Pettersen, C., Nunes, K. L., Woods, M., Maimone, S., Hermann, C. A., Looman, J., Spape, J. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Recidivism in Sexual Offenders
(Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - May 7, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Palermo, G. B. Tags: Editorial Source Type: research

A Multi-Site Controlled Trial of the R&R2MHP Cognitive Skills Program for Mentally Disordered Female Offenders
This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of delivering the Reasoning and Rehabilitation Mental Health Program (R&R2MHP) to female mentally disordered offenders detained in medium and low secure hospital settings. Group treatment participants (N = 18) and control participants receiving treatment as usual (N = 20) completed self-report measures pre- and post-group. An informant measure of ward behavior was also completed by staff. Violent attitudes and locus of control were assessed at 3-month follow-up. Program completion was excellent (89%). A conservative intention-to-treat analysis found significan...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Jotangia, A., Rees-Jones, A., Gudjonsson, G. H., Young, S. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Trying to Restore Justice: Bureaucracies, Risk Management, and Disciplinary Boundaries in New Zealand Criminal Justice
New Zealand is well known for its restorative justice conferences in the youth justice system. However, restorative justice has yet to overwhelm the adult criminal justice system. Based on interviews in New Zealand with correctional staff, restorative justice providers, and others, this article explores the reason for the modest inroads that restorative practice has made, and suggests that the general context may explain the limits of restorative justice in other places. The article argues that bureaucratic silos make it challenging to determine if restorative practice might fit within a rehabilitation or reintegration fra...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Fox, K. J. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Commitment Language and Homework Completion in a Behavioral Employment Program for Gang-Affiliated Youth
This study evaluated the relationship between commitment language, treatment engagement (i.e., homework completion), and weekly employment outcomes for six gang-affiliated juvenile offenders participating in an employment counseling intervention. Weekly counseling sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded for commitment language strength. Multilevel models were fit to the data to examine the relationship between commitment language and counseling homework or employment outcomes within participants over time. Commitment language strength predicted subsequent homework completion but not weekly employment. These fi...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Smith, C., Huey, S. J., McDaniel, D. D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

An Integrative Approach to Apprehend Desistance
This article seeks to introduce several core concepts of Archer’s morphogenic approach to study how people desist from crime. At first, it discusses the primary existing theories of desistance. Then, this article demonstrates the usefulness of this approach by presenting empirical evidence drawn from semistructured interviews collected with 29 men who desisted from crime in an eastern province of Canada. The study demonstrates how this alternative approach allows for the consolidation of existing knowledge on desistance. Then implication of these findings for both theory and practice are discussed. (Source: Internati...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: F.-Dufour, I., Brassard, R., Martel, J. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Are Parental Attitudes Related to Adolescent Juvenile Offenders' Readiness to Change?
This study has important implications for practitioners developing effective treatments for adjudicated adolescents. (Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Snyder, B. D. H., Glaser, B. A., Calhoun, G. B. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Treating High-Risk Offenders in the Community: The Potential of Drug Courts
The drug court model, which integrates drug treatment with community supervision and uses the authority of the court to facilitate compliance and behavioral change, provides an innovative alternative to processing as usual. While drug courts have enjoyed considerable empirical support, research suggests that they could increase their effectiveness through further refining their target population. In particular, it is hypothesized that drug courts are particularly well suited to treat drug offenders who have a high risk for recidivism. The purpose of the current study is to compare recidivism rates of high-risk drug court p...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Koetzle, D., Listwan, S. J., Guastaferro, W. P., Kobus, K. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Drug Courts as an Alternative to Probation for Highly Recidivistic Drug Offenders
(Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - April 8, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Palermo, G. B. Tags: Editorial Source Type: research

Sexual Offender Recidivism Among a Population-Based Prison Sample
The present study examines recidivism rates in sexual offenders using officially registered reconvictions in a representative data set of N = 1,115 male sexual offenders from Austria. In general, results indicate that most sexual offenders do not reoffend sexually after release from prison. More detailed, within the first 5 years after release, the sexual recidivism rate was 6% for the total sample, 4% for the rapist subgroup, and 8% for the child molester subgroup. The findings confirmed previous studies about sex offender recidivism which have shown that first-time sexual offenders are significantly less likely to sexual...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - March 9, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Rettenberger, M., Briken, P., Turner, D., Eher, R. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Impact of Relaxing Music on Prisoners' Levels of Anxiety and Anger
Listening to relaxing music was found to reduce state anxiety and state anger among various populations. Nonetheless, the impact of relaxing music in prisons has not yet been studied. The current study examines the impact of relaxing music on levels of state anxiety and state anger among a random sample of 48 criminal prisoners. Main findings are as follows: (a) level of state anxiety decreased among the treatment group compared with the comparison group and (b) level of state anger decreased among the treatment group compared with the comparison group. Findings are discussed in light of other studies that have shown posit...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - March 9, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Bensimon, M., Einat, T., Gilboa, A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

An Outcome Evaluation of a Prison-Based Life-Skills Program: The Power of People
This study examined PoP’s effect on four different types of recidivism: rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration, and technical violation revocation. The results of the analyses revealed that PoP does not have a significant effect on any of the four measures of recidivism. Following established principles of effective correctional treatment, we make several recommendations that could improve PoP’s effectiveness on recidivism outcomes. Overall, this study provides guidance on how to make programs not originally designed for correctional systems into effective recidivism-reducing tools. (Source: International Jour...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - March 9, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Clark, V. A., Duwe, G. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Ways of Coping and Involvement in Prison Violence
This study examined whether prisoners’ ways of coping affected their involvement in violence. The study also examined traditional personal predictors of violence. The research used a mixed methods approach and included self-report surveys administered to a stratified random sample of 312 prisoners in medium and maximum security facilities, data from the prison system’s database, and in-depth interviews conducted with 51 staff members and prisoners. In the full model with the control variables, three of the eight ways of coping studied were directly related to violence. Prisoners who elicited both emotional and ...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - March 9, 2015 Category: Criminology Authors: Rocheleau, A. M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research