Professional decision making and women offenders : containing the chaos?

This article draws on the findings from research undertaken in south-east Scotland in 2008 which sought to identify the characteristics of female offenders and to document the views of policy makers and practitioners regarding the experiences of women involved in the Scottish criminal justice system. Despite Scotland having retained a stronger 'welfare' focus than elsewhere in the UK (e.g. McAra, 2008), this is not reflected in the treatment of women who offend, with the rate of female imprisonment having almost doubled in the last ten years and community based disposals falling short of a welfare-oriented system. This article explores why the treatment that women offenders receive in the criminal justice system may be harsh and disproportionate both in relation to their offending and in relation to the treatment of men. It is argued that interventions with women need to be initiated earlier in their cycle of offending and at an earlier stage in the criminal justice process but also that the wide-ranging health, welfare, financial and behavioural needs of women who offend cannot be met solely within an increasingly risk-averse and punitive criminal justice environment

The utility of the Historical Clinical Risk -20 Scale as a predictor of outcomes in decisions to transfer patients from high to lower levels of security-A UK perspective

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Structured Professional Judgment (SPJ) approaches to violence risk assessment are increasingly being adopted into clinical practice in international forensic settings. The aim of this study was to examine the predictive validity of the Historical Clinical Risk -20 (HCR-20) violence risk assessment scale for outcome following transfers from high to medium security in a United Kingdom setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample was predominately male and mentally ill and the majority of cases were detained under the criminal section of the Mental Health Act (1986). The HCR-20 was rated based on detailed case file information on 72 cases transferred from high to medium security. Outcomes were examined, independent of risk score, and cases were classed as "success or failure" based on established criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean length of follow up was 6 years. The total HCR-20 score was a robust predictor of failure at lower levels of security and return to high security. The Clinical and Risk management items contributed most to predictive accuracy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the HCR-20 was designed as a violence risk prediction tool our findings suggest it has potential utility in decisions to transfer patients from high to lower levels of security.</p

Behind the confession: Relating false confession, interrogative compliance, personality traits, and psychopathy

The present study further supports the established notion that personality traits contribute to the phenomenon of false confessions and compliance in an interrogative setting. Furthermore, the study provides an investigation into the more recent interest in the potential effect of psychopathic traits in this context. A sample of university students (N = 607) completed questionnaires measuring psychopathic traits, interrogative compliance, and the big five personality factors. Of these, only 4.9% (n=30) claimed to have falsely confessed to an academic or criminal offense, with no participant taking the blame for both types of offense. Across measures the big five personality traits were the strongest predictors of compliance. The five personality traits accounted for 17.9 % of the total variance in compliance, with neuroticism being the strongest predictor, followed by openness and agreeableness. Psychopathy accounted for 3.3% of variance, with the lifestyle facet being the only significant predictor. After controlling for the big five personality factors, psychopathy only accounted for a small percentage of interrogative compliance, indicating that interrogators should take into account a person’s personality traits during the interrogation.N/

The 'antisocial' person: an insight in to biology, classification and current evidence on treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This review analyses and summarises the recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of violence and empathy, taxonomical issues on defining personality disorders characterised by disregard for social norms, evidence for efficacy of different treatment modalities and ethical implications in defining 'at-risk' individuals for preventive interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>PubMed was searched with the keywords 'antisocial personality disorder', 'dissocial personality disorder' and 'psychopathy'. The search was limited to articles published in English over the last 10 years (1999 to 2009)</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both diagnostic manuals used in modern psychiatry, the <it>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual </it>published by the American Psychiatric Association and the <it>International Classification of Diseases </it>published by the World Health Organization, identify a personality disorder sharing similar traits. It is termed antisocial personality disorder in the diagnostic and statistical manual and dissocial personality disorder in the <it>International Classification of Diseases</it>. However, some authors query the ability of the existing manuals to identify a special category termed 'psychopathy', which in their opinion deserves special attention. On treatment-related issues, many psychological and behavioural therapies have shown success rates ranging from 25% to 62% in different cohorts. Multisystemic therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy have been proven efficacious in many trials. There is no substantial evidence for the efficacy of pharmacological therapy. Currently, the emphasis is on early identification and prevention of antisocial behaviour despite the ethical implications of defining at-risk children.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Further research is needed in the areas of neuroendocrinological associations of violent behaviour, taxonomic existence of psychopathy and efficacy of treatment modalities.</p

As Far as the Eye Can See: Relationship between Psychopathic Traits and Pupil Response to Affective Stimuli

Psychopathic individuals show a range of affective processing deficits, typically associated with the interpersonal/affective component of psychopathy. However, previous research has been inconsistent as to whether psychopathy, within both offender and community populations, is associated with deficient autonomic responses to the simple presentation of affective stimuli. Changes in pupil diameter occur in response to emotionally arousing stimuli and can be used as an objective indicator of physiological reactivity to emotion. This study used pupillometry to explore whether psychopathic traits within a community sample were associated with hypo-responsivity to the affective content of stimuli. Pupil activity was recorded for 102 adult (52 female) community participants in response to affective (both negative and positive affect) and affectively neutral stimuli, that included images of scenes, static facial expressions, dynamic facial expressions and sound-clips. Psychopathic traits were measured using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Pupil diameter was larger in response to negative stimuli, but comparable pupil size was demonstrated across pleasant and neutral stimuli. A linear relationship between subjective arousal and pupil diameter was found in response to sound-clips, but was not evident in response to scenes. Contrary to predictions, psychopathy was unrelated to emotional modulation of pupil diameter across all stimuli. The findings were the same when participant gender was considered. This suggests that psychopathy within a community sample is not associated with autonomic hypo-responsivity to affective stimuli, and this effect is discussed in relation to later defensive/appetitive mobilisation deficits

Elucidation of impulsivity

Despite the widespread use of the term "impulsivity in virtually every field of psychology, the concept is both poorly defined and misunderstood. Beyond some general reference to reduced impulse control, considerable ambiguity surrounds what exactly is meant by "impulsive. The ambiguity has largely arisen from disagreement concerning the processes that cause this rapid, spontaneous, excessive, and unplanned behaviour. The aims of the present paper are to (a) provide a critical review of the current way in which psychologists conceptualise and measure impulsivity; (b) provide a framework (a three-tiered conceptualisation of impulsivity) for a revised and clarified conceptualisation; and (c) make recommendations, using this framework, for future impulsivity research and practice. It will also be demonstrated that impulsivity, as it is presently conceptualised, is not a construct, rather a behavioural outcome of several distinct constructs. Recommendations for future empirical explorations of impulsivity include a shift toward specific causal explanations presumed to underlie such behaviour, and valid and reliable quantification of impulsive behaviour and its causal mechanisms. Clinical implications of the three-tiered conceptualisation are discussed

Sentencing offenders with impaired mental functioning: R v Verdins, Buckley and Vo [2007] at the clinical coalface

In 2007, the Victoria Supreme Court of Appeal handed down what some describe as Australia's most sophisticated and subtle analysis of the relevance of psychiatric symptomology to sentencing. The court's decision in R v Verdins, Buckley and Vo [2007] radically altered the judicial sentencing landscape in Victoria, and in so doing, reshaped the interface between the criminal justice system and forensic mental health. This article explores the clinical implications of R v Verdins from within a forensic mental health framework, dissecting both the recapitulated "Verdins Principles", and their liberalization of forensic mental health sentencing. By unpacking the often neglected nexus between correctional mental health and sentencing, the article then highlights the widening chasm in correctional mental health service delivery created by Victoria's sentencing reform. Finally, by better informing lawyers about what constitutes best-practice forensic mental health assessments, it is hoped that cogent evidence before the trier of fact may become more objective

Associations between laboratory measures of executive inhibitory control and self-reported impulsivity

Personality measures of maladaptive behavior often target the notion of impulsivity, which broadly refers to rapid and ill-considered conduct. The underlying cause of impulsive behavior, however, is not well understood, and there are many conflicting results. It has been suggested that impulsivity arises from inhibitory dyscontrol, a neuropsychological notion that is assessed via behavioral measures. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the association between a common self-report measure of impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and four behavioral paradigms of inhibitory control (motor inhibition, stop signal, Stroop, and negative priming) in normal adults (n = 31; age range: 19-51). Stroop conflict correlated significantly with non-planning, attentional, motor, and overall self-reported impulsiveness; motor disinhibition correlated significantly with non-planning impulsiveness; and response variability was associated with motor impulsiveness. Thus, there is evidence to suggest that, among normal adults, impulsivity is associated with some specific measures of inhibitory dyscontrol