Criminal Justice and Behavior

This study investigated the effects of psychopathy on homicidal postoffense behavior, denying the charges at court, appealing the lower court conviction, and final sentencing. A sample of 546 offenders prosecuted for a homicide and convicted in Finland during the 1995—2004 period was examined. Their postoffense behavior, self-reported reasons for the killing, charges, sentences, and psychopathic traits, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised, were coded from official file information. Offenders with high scores were more likely than others to leave the crime scene without informing anyone of the killing, to deny the charges, to be convicted for involuntary manslaughter rather than manslaughter or murder, and to receive permission from the Supreme Court to appeal their lower court sentence. Given the risk that psychopathic offenders pose for violent crime, the finding that they are able to manipulate the criminal justice system is cause for concern.

Although male sex offenders have been the focus of numerous empirical investigations, there exists little data examining the characteristics of female sex offenders. This study examined personality profiles of incarcerated male and female sex offenders by utilizing Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to categorize offenders based on their responses on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Building on previous research (see Turner, Miller, Henderson, 2008), the current sample of male and female sex offenders is best described using a 4-class model: Moderate Defensiveness, Elevated Alcohol and Drug Use, Moderate Psychopathology, and Elevated Psychopathology. Analyzing covariates and group membership, results indicated that male sex offenders were more likely to be included in the Elevated Drug and Alcohol group, whereas the female sex offenders were more likely to be included in the Moderate or Elevated Psychopathology group. Additional results of psychopathology and gender difference, as well as treatment implications are discussed.

In this study, formerly incarcerated violent (n = 38) and nonviolent (n = 86) offenders were assessed for their experiences as witnesses to or victims of violent crime during incarceration as well as outside of the prison or jail setting. Participants also provided information on several indicators of their current psychological adjustment. Analyses showed that, after controlling the effects of exposure to violence outside of the prison setting as well as a number of demographic factors, encounters with violence during incarceration were significantly related to aggressive and antisocial behavioral tendencies as well as emotional distress. In general, individuals who were witnesses, as well as victims, of violent crime showed the poorest adjustment post-release. These effects were not modified by violent offender status or by time since release from incarceration. The findings presented here underscore important new directions for research on the effects of exposure to violence.

Adolescents in delinquent gangs are at risk for multiple forms of antisocial behavior and related negative outcomes, including victimization. Theoretical attempts to explain the delinquency-gang nexus include selection, facilitation, and enhancement models, but each has limitations in terms of selection biases. To redress this, the current study used propensity score matching (PSM) to evaluate the effects of gang membership on victimization at two time points using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The most antisocial youths and those with more delinquency victimization were more likely to join gangs, which supports the selection model. In support of the enhancement model, the authors found that after controlling for selection effects using PSM, gang membership maintained a significant predictive relationship with victimization measured contemporaneously and longitudinally. Membership in a gang increases youths' chances of being victimized above and beyond personal characteristics, and the deleterious gang effect does not weaken over time.

Little is known about the characteristics of homicides committed by more than one perpetrator. This study examined the crime, victim, and perpetrator characteristics of individual homicides (n = 84) versus multi-perpetrator homicides (n = 40), according to official file information from two Canadian federal penitentiaries. Compared to multiple perpetrators, individual perpetrators were more likely to be older and to target female victims, and their homicides were more likely to contain reactive, sexual, and sadistic elements. Multi-perpetrator homicides tended to involve younger offenders, male victims, and instrumental motives. Psychopathic offenders were likely to act alone in committing sexual homicides and to involve an accomplice in other types of murders, but they typically committed gratuitous violence against women regardless of whether they acted alone or with a co-perpetrator. The findings indicate that individual and multi-perpetrator homicides have distinctive dynamics and can be differentiated during investigations.

Research has long suggested comorbidity between mental health and poor life course outcomes such as delinquency. The early identification of mental illness in youths is an important goal for researchers examining the relationship between mental disorder and offending. The present study examined the comorbidity of various mental health problems such as anxiety, affective, attention deficit/hyperactivity, somatic, and oppositional defiant problems and their effect on offending in youths participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). Innovative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)—oriented scales that allow for distinctions between normal, borderline, and clinical levels of mental health problems were used in logistic regressions to predict the odds of offending across four stages of development. Findings showed a consistent pattern across the life course of oppositional defiant problems increasing the likelihood of future property and violent offending. Furthermore, the value of using DSM-oriented scales was demonstrated. Implications for future studies and policy are discussed.