Criminal Justice and Behavior

Despite societal perception that sex offenders will repeat their crimes, research indicates these offenders are more likely to be generalists than sex offense–specific offenders. Sex offender–specific legislation has reinforced this erroneous perception while contributing to the excessive labeling of sex offenders as sexual recidivists. Additionally troubling is the lack of research on the efficacy of generalized risk/needs assessments for sex offenders. The present study fills this void by evaluating the adequacy of the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) for use with a sexual offending population. The predictive accuracy of the LSI-R for sexual and nonsexual recidivism outcomes was explored using a sample of 21,298 individuals released from New Jersey correctional facilities from 2004 to 2006. Results indicate that while the LSI-R does not have predictive utility for sexual offenses, it has utility for sex offenders overall. Policy implications of the usefulness of the LSI-R for this offending population are discussed.

The emotional Stroop task has been used to assess deviant sexual interests of sexual abusers. Two limitations noted in the literature are difficulties surrounding the choice of word stimuli and the task’s inability to elicit significant differences between offender subtypes thus far. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in emotional Stroop bias between three adult groups using new, empirically derived word stimuli intended to reflect sexual interests more specific to sexual abusers. Significant differences were found between sexual abusers and nonoffending controls for affective and sexual word stimuli. The results further support differential processing biases between sexual offenders and nonoffenders; however, difficulties in differentiating between offender groups are still evident. Implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

While research conducted in Western nations suggests that religiosity and spirituality protect against delinquent behavior, few studies have examined these relationships in developing world contexts. Using a community sample of 290 high-risk and gang-involved adolescents (11-17 years) and young adults (18-25 years) in San Salvador, El Salvador, structural equation modeling and logistic regression are used to examine the relationships between religious coping, spirituality, social developmental factors, and delinquency. Results suggest that spirituality and, to a lesser extent, religious coping, protect Salvadoran youth at risk for involvement in delinquent behavior. The relationship between spirituality and delinquency was completely mediated by social developmental factors as no direct association was identified between spirituality and delinquency. Spirituality and religious coping are both relevant protective factors among Salvadoran youth; however, spirituality is more consistently protective against delinquency in terms of its relationship to social developmental mediating factors and its direct associations to particular delinquent behaviors.

Youth-perpetrated homicide has considerable impact on our society and justice system. Unfortunately, youth-perpetrated homicide is an understudied crime and even less research has been conducted specific to a Canadian population. Two decades ago, Meloff and Silverman published the most thorough examination of youth-perpetrated homicide in Canada. Since that time, it has been proposed that the motivations and characteristics of youth violence have changed in a number of important ways. The present study expands on previous limited empirical studies and investigation into features of youth homicides using a sample of 105 Canadian youth homicide offenders. A number of important differences were observed. For instance, there were substantially more multiple-perpetrator, stranger, and instrumental homicides. Results are considered in relation to trends observed in Canada and the United States.

Prior studies have reported correlations between childhood abuse and antisocial behavior and psychopathy, which suggest that exposure to violence may be a risk factor for the development of psychopathy. However, prior studies are largely limited to retrospective studies of adult samples and studies of violence within the home environment. To increase our understanding of risk factors relevant to the development of psychopathy, we investigated associations between self-reports of exposure to violence within the home and community and psychopathic traits in adolescents. A total of 147 adolescents at an Illinois detention center completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Community Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV). CEQ and CTQ total scores were associated with psychopathy scores. Moreover, exposure to violence within the community correlated uniquely with scores on the interpersonal, behavioral, and antisocial factor of psychopathy, and exposure to home violence was uniquely related to behavioral factor scores. Results highlight the potential contribution of environmental factors to core components of psychopathy.

Little research has examined offenders’ understanding of the factors that increase their likelihood of future criminal activity. Although social-psychological research has described many ways in which individuals have overly positive views of themselves and their performance, a more limited body of literature has demonstrated that offenders exhibit an unrealistically optimistic perception of their success upon release from incarceration. A survey designed to assess offender understanding of general risk factors and their own risk factors was administered to male offenders (N = 88) returning to the community from prison incarceration. Results suggest that these individuals have an appreciation for the factors that generally increase the risk of future offending, but do not perceive these factors as personally relevant. In addition, the concordance between offender-identified and Level of Service/Case Management Inventory–identified risk factors was limited. Implications of this lack of understanding, and ways to improve upon this knowledge, are discussed.