Socio-psychological characteristics of convicted persons who have committed violent and self-serving violent crimes

The problem of studying the socio-psychological characteristics of criminals who have committed violent and self-serving violent crimes is extremely relevant. This is due to its insufficient study, the high prevalence of convicts of this category in the population of convicts, the ability to understand the causes and origins of their criminal behavior. The aim of the research is to study the sociopsychological characteristics of convicts who have committed violent and self-serving violent crimes. According to the results obtained, the acceptance of responsibility for the committed crime is associated with the age of the offender (young convicts are more likely to attribute the blame for the committed criminal act to external circumstances). First-time convicts tend to deny the need for social support and show less desire for social contacts; their perception of life goals is less conscious, life is less meaningful compared to repeat offenders. The greater orientation of repeat offenders to social interaction and the perception of their own life as meaningful are considered as associated with the conscious acceptance of criminal values and the commission of criminal acts. The features of the relations of convicts in the parental family are related to the parameters of their further life: constructive employment at the time of detention, the level of education, the available family status, the severity of the crime committed.

Lived Experiences of Repeat Offenders: A Phenomenological Untold Stories

Recidivism is an offense committed by a person who at the time of his trial for one crime has been previously convicted by a final judgment of another crime. From this perspective, the researchers are interested to explore the lived experiences and untold stories of repeat offenders. The study focuses on three parts; the informants’ experiences in the pillars of the criminal justice system; the impacts of incarceration on the lives of the offender; and the reasons for reoffending. A qualitative research design using a phenomenological approach was used in the conduct of the study through an in-depth interview with the informants. The sample informants which comprises of ten recidivists and inmates of selected city jails Negros Occidental, Philippines participated in the interview through purposive sampling using the inclusion criteria set by the researchers. The data was collected using audiotaping of interviews. Audiotapes were then transcribed where data from transcriptions were analyzed to describe the richness of the informants’ experiences. Out of the transcribed and analyzed data, six major themes emerged. The Cry of the Suspect, Light within the Darkness, You Reap what you Sow, Blessing in Disguise, Many are Bad Associates But Few are Good Mentors, and Corruption of the Mind. Key findings from the study suggest coordination and cooperation among the pillars of the criminal justice system come up with a very comprehensive and sustainable rehabilitation program with proper and effective implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Thereby, recommendations for change are provided in the emerging themes to address the phenomenon.

Combating Recidivism in Leningrad and the Leningrad Region in the Early 1960s to the 1990s: The Status and Results

The article analyzes the historical and legal aspects of the fight against the increasing influence of repeat offenders on the criminal situation in the region in the early 1960s — 1990s. The reasons for the increase in recidivism are investigated, associated both with the imperfection of the work of law enforcement agencies in Leningrad and the region, and with the processes taking place in the structure of regional crime in these years. Some issues of coordination of activities in the field of prevention of recidivism in the region are discussed, the experience of the implementation of criminal-legal approaches in the fight against it is summarized.

Police Supervision: In search for the origins

The article analyzes the formation of personalized police supervision. The author concludes that the foundations of police supervision were laid in France. With the development of the theory of rights and freedoms, the introduction of a number of changes in legislation concerning the search for improving administrative supervision, the French Republic abandoned personalized police supervision in favor of resettlement of repeat offenders to the overseas territories of the metropolis.

Sentencing multiple conviction offenders

Sentenced offenders who re-offend prior to serving their previously imposed sentence (multiple conviction offenders) are situated between multiple and repeat offenders. This article examines how they should be sentenced based on censure, consequentialist and desert theories. I conclude that these aims cannot be achieved if they are treated as repeat offenders, and neither can the requirement of proportionality. Censure is, similarly, communicated primarily via hard treatment not via sentence pronouncement. I further analyse all continental European penal codes; half of them do not have any provision governing the sentencing of multiple conviction offenders (tacitly treating them as repeat offenders) and only two countries provide detailed sentencing guidance. I conclude by offering recommendations for the principled sentencing of multiple conviction offenders.

Repeat Traffic Offenders Improve Their Performance in Risky Driving Situations and Have Fewer Accidents Following a Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Risky decision-making is highly influenced by emotions and can lead to fatal consequences. Attempts to reduce risk-taking include the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI), which have shown promising results for both emotion regulation (ER) and risk-taking. However, it is still unclear whether improved emotion regulation is the mechanism responsible for reduced risk-taking. In the present study, we explore the effect of a 5-week MBI on risky driving in a group of repeat traffic offenders by comparing them with non-repeat offenders and repeat offenders without training. We evaluated the driving behavior of the participants through a driving simulation, and self-reported emotion regulation, both before and after the intervention. At baseline, poor emotion regulation was related to a more unstable driving behavior, and speeding. The group that received mindfulness training showed improved performance during risky driving situations and had fewer accidents, although their overall driving behavior remained largely unchanged. The observed trend toward improved emotion regulation was not significant. We discuss whether other effects of MBI – such as self-regulation of attention – could underlie the observed reduction in risky driving in the initial stages. Nonetheless, our findings still confirm the close relationship between emotion regulation skills and risky driving.

Socio-Psychological Determinants of Recidivism

This article examines the socio-psychological determinants of recidivism. At the socio-psychological level, the determinants of crime are manifested in the criminogenic impact on the individual from small social groups. The closest environment has the most serious influence on the formation of personality. This environment is represented by such small social groups as the family, educational and work teams, everyday and informal milieu. Repeat offenders have no family connection and contacts with educational and work teams. Most repeat offenders are unmarried, they do not work or study. Family desocialization of criminals, their negative attitude towards educational and work activities lead to alienation from the main social institutions and positive microgroups, which is accompanied by joining an informal antisocial environment and establishing strong ties with it. In the course of the study, the author generalized criminological views on the determination of recidivism, analyzed information on the characteristics of repeat criminals, and studied the data on the level of recidivism among those convicted to various measures of criminal liability and the statistics of convictions. The author also surveyed the staff of penitentiary institutions about the causes and conditions of recidivism, and convicts who committed a repeat crime and were serving imprisonment. When studying the determinants of crime recurrence, it is necessary to take into account the criminogenic influence of the factors that determined the primary crime, including at the level of small social groups. After conviction, criminals, as a rule, do not change their immediate environment and contacts, and continue to lead the same way of life. Deficiencies in the punishment system also play a criminogenic role in the determination of recidivism. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that, at the socio-psychological level, the repeated commission of crimes is due to the absence of positive changes in the convicts' microenvironment with a negative immediate environment retaining its influence and also due to the ineffectiveness of the current punishment system, which is unable to ensure the correction of convicts and prevent recidivism.