Does Trauma Exacerbate Criminal Behavior? An Exploratory Study of Child Maltreatment and Chronic Offending in a Sample of Chinese Juvenile Offenders

(1) Background: Maltreated children are at increased risk for juvenile delinquency. Extant research has explored the effect of child maltreatment on either the initial risk of juvenile delinquency or general juvenile recidivism. However, little is known regarding the effect of child maltreatment on chronic offending. (2) Methods: Using a sample of 695 male juvenile offenders incarcerated in a centralized juvenile reformatory of the province X located in Southwest China, this study investigates both the prevalence of child maltreatment and the effect of child maltreatment on chronic offending among the juvenile offenders. Descriptive statistical analyses and multinomial logistic regression were utilized to conduct the analyses. (3) Results: A vast majority of the juvenile offenders experienced at least one type of child maltreatment. Moreover, maltreatment was generally found to be more prevalent in chronic offenders than in one-time offenders and recidivists. Results from a series of logistic regression analyses revealed that among five specific maltreatment types, only physical abuse exerted a statistically significant and positive impact on chronic offending. (4) Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of providing early prevention and intervention programs to juvenile offenders who were physically abused in order to reduce general chronic offending as well as chronic violent offending

Do in-group and out-group forms of trust matter in predicting confidence in the order institutions? A study of three culturally distinct countries

This study brings trust into the study of confidence in the police and in the courts – two order institutions – and tests the utility of a statistical model developed in the West in two other culturally distinct countries (Taiwan and Turkey). The conceptual model is tested using structural equation modeling techniques. Results show that the data fit well with theory-based predictions for the US and Turkey. In-group trust is found to be associated with confidence in all three societies. Those who score high in in-group trust and those who believe in democracy have higher confidence in the order institutions. The findings cast doubt on the tendency to laud the positive effects of out-group trust while neglecting the study of in-group trust. The same model, however, does not fit well with data from Taiwan – a Confucian society. The implication of these results is discussed within the limitations of the study. </jats:p

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Prisons: An Examination of Psychological Staff, Teachers, and Unit Management Personnel

Staff are the most valuable and expensive resources in prisons. Although correctional officers have received considerable academic attention, we know very little about their noncustody counterparts. This study examines and compares the predictors of job satisfaction, institutional commitment, and commitment to a prison system among three noncustody groups: psychological staff, teachers, and unit management personnel. Data are taken from the 2005 Prison Social Climate Survey, a questionnaire sent annually to a stratified random sample of federal prison staff. Results of Hierarchical Linear Modeling analyses indicate that supervision and perceived effectiveness with inmates had a significant and positive impact on all dependent variables for each noncustody group. The amount of time spent working in a prison was also a common predictor of institutional commitment for all groups. Some differences in significant predictors were found across noncustody groups for several independent variables including security level, amount of inmate contact, and months in current institution