Investigating the heterogeneity of violent crimes: A descriptive analysis of offence characteristics

<p>Informed by theories on offending behaviour, violent offender rehabilitation programmes aim to provide treatment to a group of individuals who have committed a diverse range of offences, from assault to aggravated robbery to murder. Yet despite progress with specific offence types (e.g., homicide, robbery, assault), there is no research describing the offence chain characteristics of such a heterogeneous sample of violent offences. This exploratory study uses the structured approach of the Pathways Model of Assault (PMA; Chambers, 2006) to code and catalogue similarities and differences in the offence characteristics of an archival heterogeneous sample of violent offences. Cluster analysis was also utilised to investigate whether it was possible to construct a parsimonious series of pathways to represent the offence process for this diverse sample. The resultant model, the Pathways Model of Violent Offences (PMVO) was constructed and 12 pathways were revealed. The results suggest that upon initial investigation, there appear to be common, shared characteristics among a heterogeneous sample of violent offences.</p>

Investigating the heterogeneity of violent crimes: A descriptive analysis of offence characteristics

<p>Informed by theories on offending behaviour, violent offender rehabilitation programmes aim to provide treatment to a group of individuals who have committed a diverse range of offences, from assault to aggravated robbery to murder. Yet despite progress with specific offence types (e.g., homicide, robbery, assault), there is no research describing the offence chain characteristics of such a heterogeneous sample of violent offences. This exploratory study uses the structured approach of the Pathways Model of Assault (PMA; Chambers, 2006) to code and catalogue similarities and differences in the offence characteristics of an archival heterogeneous sample of violent offences. Cluster analysis was also utilised to investigate whether it was possible to construct a parsimonious series of pathways to represent the offence process for this diverse sample. The resultant model, the Pathways Model of Violent Offences (PMVO) was constructed and 12 pathways were revealed. The results suggest that upon initial investigation, there appear to be common, shared characteristics among a heterogeneous sample of violent offences.</p>

Bringing narrative victimology to transitional justice: Blame, victimhood and life stories of wrongful conviction

This article applies a narrative victimological lens of inquiry to the memoirs of those wrongfully convicted of high profile politically violent offences arising from the conflict in the North of Ireland. Using these life stories of wrongful conviction, the article critically examines how nuanced and complex understandings of victimhood and blame emerge from within victims’ own testimony. While on the one hand, victims can ‘story’ victimhood and blame in simplistic ways that echo dominant paradigms found within the criminological literature, at the same time they can ‘story’ victimhood and blame in more sophisticated ways that reflect complex debates found within the transitional justice literature. The ability to take both a more generous approach to victimhood that recognises the harm experienced by others and a more critically self-reflective approach of one's own culpability, it is submitted, shows the potential value that proposed oral history mechanisms have in allowing different perspectives on victimhood and blame to emerge from the testimony of those who suffered harms like wrongful conviction.

Providing Treatment in a Prison-Based Therapeutic Community for Those Who Have Committed Sexual Offences

This article explores some of the difficulties inherent in managing risk in those who have committed sexual or other violent offences and how this may impact on their ability to re-integrate into the community. It discusses the work undertaken at HMP Grendon, a prison-based therapeutic community (TC), to address these difficulties and help residents develop a pro-social lifestyle starting in custody and continuing on release. The article aims to describe how the TC model offers a containing and adaptive environment, and how this can provide opportunities to address offence-related behaviour, which is not always possible in other prison settings. Furthermore, it describes some of the difficulties inherent in undertaking work of this nature, in the need for an accurate understanding of the relevant areas of risk, and the tensions developing a therapeutic relationship with individuals with complex needs. Methods of assessment of risk and need are discussed, and how they are used in a collaborative manner to have the most accurate picture of what will help residents to maintain their pro-social lifestyle on release.

Outcome of serious violent offenders with psychotic illness and cognitive disorder dealt with by the New South Wales criminal justice system

Background: The few studies of the recidivism by people with psychotic illness and cognitive disorder who are convicted of serious violent offences and sentenced by the courts. Method: Re-imprisonment data were obtained for 661 individuals convicted of serious non-lethal violent offences in the District Courts of New South Wales in the years 2006 and 2007. Rates of re-imprisonment of offenders known to psychotic illness or cognitive disorder (intellectual disability or acquired brain injury) was compared to those not known to have those conditions. A survival analysis was performed controlling for the effects of male sex, having a report by a mental health professional at the initial sentencing and receiving a custodial sentence for the initial offence. Results: There was no significant difference in the overall likelihood of further imprisonment between those with psychotic disorder (53.7%), those with cognitive disorder (50.7%) or among those with neither condition (45.2%; χ2 = 2.22, p = 0.33). A Kaplan–Meier analysis found that people with a psychotic disorder were returned to custody earlier than those not known to have psychosis ( p = 0.002). People with psychosis spent a non-significantly greater time in custody (mean 477 days) than those with a cognitive disorder (mean 334 days) or among those with neither condition (mean 348 days) (Mann–Whitney Z-score = 1.5, η2 = 0.003, p value = 0.13). For the entire sample of 661 offenders, those who received non-custodial sentences for their initial offences had a lower likelihood of spending any time in custody in the follow-up period. Conclusion: The likelihood of returning to custody of sentenced violent offenders with psychotic illness or cognitive disorder is higher than that of released forensic patients in New South Wales followed up for a similar period. The results suggest an opportunity to improve the outcome of offenders with psychosis by better treatment and rehabilitation.