Criminal Justice and Behavior

A sample of 396 cases of nonfamily abduction was extracted from police records in a national survey of law enforcement agencies. Incidents that fit the public stereotype of a kidnapping (children who were taken by strangers and kept for an extended period of time or moved a long distance) were much less prevalent than incidents that simply met legal definitions for abduction. The former—stereotypical abductions—also tended to involve more Caucasian preteen victims who were taken but not sexually assaulted. The majority of legal-definition abductions, in contrast, was characterized by the forcible sexual assault of teenage girls. Legal-definition abductions that did not involve sexual assault occurred in the context of a diverse range of other crimes, including robbery attempts, hijackings, acts of revenge, intimidation and terrorizing, and dating violence. The findings support the idea of distinguishing between stereotypical and legal-definition abducations and highlight the need to orient efforts aimed at the prevention of nonfamily abduction toward those at risk for sexual assault.

This study examined whether the Megargee MMPI typology had differential validity for African American and Caucasian forensic psychiatric inpatients. We compared 516 African American and Caucasian patients in our four most common Megargee types across demographic, clinical, and forensic variables. Our findings indicate that the profile descriptions of types Charlie, Delta, How, and Item cannot be applied with equal confidence to African American and Caucasian forensic patients. Although certain demographic factors did not differ across ethnic groups, there were differences in clinical/forensic and hospital assault variables. In addition, the Caucasian sample showed the expected pattern of associations, whereas the African American sample did not.

This study sought to determine whether a cluster analysis of juvenile offender cases, based on the judgments of juvenile court professionals, would produce a typology similar to Quay's. The data consisted of juvenile court professionals' descriptions of 1,423 juvenile cases on 93 variables. A cluster analytic method and statistical stopping rules created three well-separated clusters of juvenile offenders, differing on demographic and offense variables. A number of hypotheses are offered for research aimed at better understanding how juvenile court professionals process case information and classify juvenile offenders.

Women's resistance strategies to rape were examined using police reports and the court testimonies of 147 women who either had avoided rape or were raped by subsequently incarcerated rapists. Analyses examined whether particular resistance strategies used by women were differentially effective in response to attacks by different types of rapists. The results provided little evidence that the type of rapist influenced the efficacy of women's resistance strategies for avoiding rape and physical injury. This overall lack of significance suggests that previous findings showing that women's use of forceful resistance strategies enhances their ability to avoid rape without increasing their physical injury are accurate and do not need to be qualified based on the type of rapist committing the assault.

The concept of “fixed emotional propensity” was explored by evaluating 62 sexual offenses committed by 23 male repeat offenders. Two general clusters of sex offenders were discerned, that is, more aggressive versus less aggressive offenders. In addition, sexual offenses committed by the same offender were much more similar than those committed by different offenders. The more similar the offense pattern, the greater the number of alleged offenses. In general, the results indicated that fixed emotional propensity is a useful concept in forensic evaluation.

An anonymous self-report survey was completed by 335 sexually active, incarcerated adolescents in a southern rural state. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify correlates of condom use during sexual intercourse. Four variables were identified as associated with frequent condom use: nonuse of marijuana, nonuse of beer, asking sexual partners about their sexual history, and feeling worried about friends contracting AIDS. This four-variable model was highly significant, correctly classifying 70% of the adolescents in their condom-use categories. The intersecting nature of substance use and the HIV epidemic is discussed, as well as the importance of teaching substance refusal skills and sexual communication and negotiation skills to incarcerated adolescents.

This article describes the evolution, standardization, and preliminary validation of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), an instrument designed to measure thinking styles believed to be associated with serious patterns of criminal conduct. Responses obtained from 450 federal prison inmates were used to establish norms for the PICTS, assess the reliability of the various PICTS scales, and investigate preliminary validity issues. The results indicate that maximum-security subjects attained significantly higher scores on the PICTS thinking scales than minimum- and medium-security subjects and that the PICTS possesses sufficient reliability and initial validity to warrant continued investigation.

Rank may affect police attitudes because the occupational role and day-to-day experiences of police constables, their direct supervisors, and police managers vary considerably. This study compared a sample of constables (n = 123) and a sample of their immediate supervisors (n = 36) on measures of authoritarianism, perceived stress, job satisfactioin, and social nearness to several clearly defined groups. Although constables and their supervisors did not differ on perceived stress, supervisors reported significantly higher levels of authoritarianism, job satisfaction, and social nearness to certain groups. Lower levels of social nearness in the constable sample accompanied by lower levels of authoritarianism suggest that feelings of social nearness may result from situational factors. Explanations for these differences are proposed, and implications for the psychological well-being of police officers and for police-community relations are discussed.