"Nothing has convinced me to stop" Young people's perceptions and experiences of persistant offending

Nothing Has Convinced Me To Stop results from the former Scottish Executive tasking the project with consulting young people about persistent offending. The report explores the views and experiences of those living in residential care about how and why they persistently offend, what contributes to their offending behaviour escalating and what helps them to reduce it or indeed stop offending. The consultation focused on areas with high concentrations of 'persistent offenders' in residential care, consulting young people living in various settings - residential units, residential schools, secure units and young offender institutions

Youth transitions : from offending to desistance

This article examines youth transitions and youth offending in tandem. It argues that the transition to adulthood is heavily implicated in the fact that most offending occurs in the youth phase. Drawing on a study of 20 male and 20 female persistent young offenders in Scotland, it explores young people's desire for integration with others in the transition phases - with their families in childhood, with their friends in youth and with the wider society in adulthood. During the youth phase, much of that integration comes from offending itself, whereas when more legitimate opportunities and sources of recognition are offered to them in early adulthood, desistance is more likely to occur

Vehicle-related crime and the gender gap

Although vehicle-related offending and traffic offenders are of interest to some behavioural psychologists, criminologists have been less enthused and their concern has been largely restricted to crime to vehicles rather than crime by drivers or wider society. Both disciplines have, however, largely ignored the contribution of women to vehicle-related offending statistics, mirroring the pattern seen in regard to mainstream offending. This paper attempts to plug the gap by considering the relative contributions of men and women to motoring conviction data and self-report offending studies. To some extent it also does this by age, where evidence for a ‘ladette’ style of driving among young women is examined from the conviction data. In general, a gender gap similar to that in mainstream crime is noted, and key theoretical explanations that could account for this are assembled. Implications for improving road safety and research are then considered given this gap and emerging support for the non-homogeneity of female driving styles

Offenders as Victims of Crime? An Investigation into the Relationship Between Criminal Behaviour and Victimisation

In this paper we consider the association between victimisation and offending behaviour using data from the Youth Lifestyles Survey. We consider the impact of violent, non-violent and persistent offending on the probability of being a victim of violent and non-violent crime and find a positive association between these using univariate probit estimates. However, taking into account the endogenous nature of offending and victimisation via a bivariate probit model, we find that univariate estimates understate the association. We suggest that policy recommendations should only be based on the bivariate analysis of the association between offending and victimisation.

Men with intellectual disabilities with a history of sexual offending: empathy for victims of sexual and non-sexual crimes

Background: The objectives were (a) to compare the general empathy abilities of men with intellectual disabilities (IDs) who had a history of sexual offending to men with IDs who had no known history of illegal behaviour, and (b) to determine whether men with IDs who had a history of sexual offending had different levels of specific victim empathy towards their own victim, in comparison to an unknown victim of sexual crime, and a victim of non-sexual crime, and make comparison to non-offenders. Methods: Men with mild IDs (N = 35) were asked to complete a measure of general empathy and a measure of specific victim empathy. All participants completed the victim empathy measure in relation to a hypothetical victim of a sexual offence, and a non-sexual crime, while additionally, men with a history of sexual offending were asked to complete this measure in relation to their own most recent victim. Results: Men with a history of sexual offending had significantly lower general empathy, and specific victim empathy towards an unknown sexual offence victim, than men with no known history of illegal behaviour. Men with a history of sexual offending had significantly lower victim empathy for their own victim than for an unknown sexual offence victim. Victim empathy towards an unknown victim of a non-sexual crime did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions: The findings suggest that it is important include interventions within treatment programmes that attempt to improve empathy and perspective-taking

More haste, less speed? : an evaluation of fast track policies to tackle persistent youth offending in Scotland

In 2003 the Scottish Executive introduced a new 'Fast Track' policy on a pilot basis, which was intended to speed up the processing of persistent youth offending cases and reduce rates of persistent offending. Additional resources were provided to promote access to dedicated programmes, as well as quicker assessment, report delivery and decision making. This paper, based on a multi-stranded comparative evaluation, describes how the policy was welcomed by a wide range of practitioners, decision makers and managers involved with children's hearings who mostly thought it was a positive innovation consistent with the hearing system's commitment to a welfare-based approach. 'Fast Track' cases were handled more quickly than others. After two years, however, the policy was discontinued, largely because of negative evidence about re-offending

Sex offending in sports: A whole new ball game?

The purpose of my address today is to tell you a little about the policy and prevention work that has developed in the UK in recent years and to explore some of the possible benefits that can be shared between the sport and treatment communities as a result of sex offending research and analysis in sports. Questions of interest today include: Why has sex offending in sports only just arrived on the policy agenda? What, if anything, does research in sports have to offer those of you working in ‘mainstream’ research and treatment work? Are offences in sports characterized by exactly the same dynamics as those in any other settings or is sex offending in sports really a whole new ball game? And what is being done, and can be done, to bring sport organizations and programs into the treatment and prevention fold

Development of a reoffending measure using the Police National Computer database.

This work aims to develop a reoffending score for assessing the likelihood of an offender reoffending within a certain fixed period of time. Currently, OGRS - the Offenders Group Reconviction Score - is a heavily used measure for assessing reconviction scores of a group or set of offenders. However, dates of conviction can be far removed from the reality of offending. The aim in this report is to develop a new approach which focuses on 'offending' rather than 'conviction' and, hence, to provide a 'reoffending measure' rather than a 'reconviction measure'. While OGRS has been remarkably successful, there is a need to develop a new measure. There are various reasons - to make offending behaviour rather than convictions as the primary focus of interest; the existing score is somewhat outdated; to confront the problems with the existing OGRS score; to improve the documentation relating to the construction of a measure; and to make the measure more 'user-friendly' for the practitioners

What’s Sex (Composition) Got to Do with It? The Importance of Sex Composition of Gangs for Female and Male Members’ Offending and Victimization

Sex composition of groups has been theorized in organizational sociology and found in prior work to structure female and male members’ behaviors and experiences. Peer group and gang literature similarly finds that the sex gap in offending varies across groups of differing sex ratios. Drawing on this and other research linking gang membership, offending, and victimization, we examine whether sex composition of gangs is linked to sex differences in offending in this sample, further assess whether sex composition similarly structures females’ and males’ victimization experiences, and if so, why. Self-report data from gang members in a multi-site, longitudinal study of 3,820 youths are employed. Results support previous findings about variations in member delinquency by both sex and sex composition of the gang and also indicate parallel variations in members’ victimization. These results are further considered within the context of facilitating effects such as gender dynamics, gang characteristics, and normative orientation

21st century social work: reducing re-offending - key practice skills

This literature review was commissioned by the Scottish Executive’s Social Work Services Inspectorate in order to support the work of the 21st Century Social Work Review Group. Discussions in relation to the future arrangements for criminal justice social work raised issues about which disciplines might best encompass the requisite skills for reducing re-offending in the community. Rather than starting with what is known or understood about the skills of those professionals currently involved in such interventions, this study sought to start with the research evidence on effective work with offenders to reduce re-offending and then work its way back to the skills required to promote this outcome