Forensic Psychology

Non-suicidal self-injury within offender populations: A systematic review

by Katie Dixon-Gordon

Co-authored with Natalie A. Harrison and Ron Roesch

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), defined as deliberate self-directed tissue damage, presents a serious health concern... more Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), defined as deliberate self-directed tissue damage, presents a serious health concern for offender populations. Approximately one-third of offenders report a history of NSSI, and it is the most common reason for mental health treatment within correctional settings. To date, no review exists with a specific focus on NSSI in criminal justice contexts. Therefore, the primary aim of this article is to review research on NSSI within correctional settings. Specifically, we explore the role of risk factors for NSSI. We also examine the functions of NSSI within correctional contexts. In addition, we evaluate the evidence for potential assessment tools and treatments for NSSI. Taken together, our review suggests that risk factors for NSSI must be considered differently in correctional settings, due to the high base rates of these vulnerabilities. Further, although environmental control is a more salient function of NSSI within correctional settings, the primary motive for engaging in this behavior remains emotion regulation. Finally, despite the emergence of several promising treatments for NSSI within correctional settings, larger scale studies are necessary to determine the efficacy of these interventions.

Screening for personality disorder in probationers: validation of the Standardised Assessment of Personality Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS)

by Graham Pluck

Frederick, B. J. & Fradella, H. F. (In press). Leopold and Loeb. SAGE Social History of Crime and Punishment in America (pp.___-___). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

by Brian Jay Frederick

Co-authored with Dr Henry F. Fradella, J.D.

Encyclopedia entry for the "SAGE Social History of Crime and Punishment in America." Article discusses... more Encyclopedia entry for the "SAGE Social History of Crime and Punishment in America." Article discusses Leopold & Loeb, convicted of the murder of a young boy in a wealthy neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

Horvath, M.A.H., Hegarty, P., Tyler, S. & Mansfield, S. (in press). "Lights on at the end of the party": Are lads' mags mainstreaming dangerous sexism? British Journal of Psychology.

by Peter Hegarty

Research has suggested that some magazines targeted at young men –lads’ mags– are normalizing extreme sexist views by... more Research has suggested that some magazines targeted at young men –lads’ mags– are normalizing extreme sexist views by presenting those views in a mainstream context. Consistent with this view, young men in Study 1 (n= 90) identified more with derogatory quotes about women drawn from recent lads’ mags, and from interviews with convicted rapists, when those quotes were attributed to lads’ mags, than when they were attributed to convicted rapists. In Study 2, 40 young women and men could not reliably judge the source of those same quotes. While these participants sometimes voiced the belief that the content of lads’ mags was ‘normal’ while rapists’ talk was ‘extreme’, they categorized quotes from both sources as derogatory with equal frequency. Jointly, the two studies show an overlap in the content of convicted rapists’ talk and the contents of contemporary lads’ mags, and suggest that the framing of such content within lads’ mags may normalize it for young men.

The Magic or Myth of Expertise: A Comparison of Judgment Processes between Forensic Experts and Lay Persons Based on Psychiatric Case Vignettes.

by Cato Grønnerød

Prepublished online version: Grøndahl, P., Grønnerød, C., & Sexton, J. (2011). The Magic or Myth of Expertise: A Comparison of Judgment Processes between Forensic Experts and Lay Persons Based on Psychiatric Case Vignettes. Psychiatry. Psychology and Law, iFirst article, 2011, 1–10. DOI:10.1080/13218719.2011.615812

As a continuation of a previous study (Grøndahl, Grønnerød, & Sexton, 2009), we examined how 120 laypersons and 35... more As a continuation of a previous study (Grøndahl, Grønnerød, & Sexton, 2009), we examined how 120 laypersons and 35 forensic experts (14 psychiatrists and 21 psychologists) differed in their judgment processes of forensic case vignettes. The vignettes contained descriptions of three components, namely social history, psychiatric history and criminal offense. We found important differences in how the groups used information when they rated insanity, risk and need for treatment. The professional groups emphasized all three case components as opposed to laypersons. As for priming, all the groups rated lower on risk and need for treatment when the case started with a positive description. More professional experience was related to lower insanity and treatment ratings and higher risk ratings. The professionals generally rated less confidence in their judgments compared to the laypersons. Professionals and lay persons thus seem to evaluate forensic material differently.

Measuring sexual interest using a pictorial modified Stroop task, a pictorial Implicit Association Test, and a Choice Reaction Time task

by Caoilte Ó Ciardha

Tasks that can successfully measure sexual interest have utility in forensic settings. Prior to use with problematic... more Tasks that can successfully measure sexual interest have utility in forensic settings. Prior to use with problematic sexual interest however, work is needed in validating such tasks. This study focused on the measurement of non-deviant sexual interest. Eleven gay and fourteen straight participants each completed a pictorial Implicit Association Test (IAT), a pictorial modified Stroop task (P-MST) and a Choice Reaction Time (CRT) task. Each task was designed to tap into the sexual interest of participants. Stimuli were of males and females in bathing suits along with control images and sexual and non-sexual words. The IAT was most successful in differentiating between gay and straight participants. The P-MST also performed well, though the task’s position in the battery of tasks seemed to affect the results. The CRT tasks did not successfully show group differences. Theoretical and methodological implications of the effectiveness of the three tasks in tapping into sexual interest are discussed.

Resilience and Successful Community Reintegration among Female Forensic Psychiatric Patients: A Preliminary Investigation

by Simone Viljoen

Research on resiliency and recovery in forensic psychiatric patients is still limited. Information pertaining to... more Research on resiliency and recovery in forensic psychiatric patients is still limited. Information pertaining to factors associated with successful community reintegration would contribute to a more comprehensive assessment of functioning and informed treatment planning that fits within a recovery approach of service provision. Using a retrospective design involving file reviews and a 3-year follow-up period, the authors investigated the rate of successful/unsuccessful community reintegration (defined by the presence or absence of an absolute discharge/readmission to hospital) in female forensic psychiatric patients (N = 48). The study evaluated the extent to which the risk and protective factors captured in the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) predicted a range of positive and negative outcomes in the study sample. Results showed that 47.9% of the women qualified as having successfully reintegrated into the community, with the remaining 52.1% qualifying as still being in recovery. Successful individuals possessed significantly more protective factors and significantly fewer risk factors than individuals still in recovery. Furthermore, both the vulnerability and the strength scale of the START demonstrated good predictive validity, however we did not find evidence of incremental validity of the strength scale. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rethinking the Assessment of Female Offenders

by Laura Caulfield

Time to Reason about Crime: Assessing the Impact of Schizotypal Tendencies on a Crime-Based Reasoning Task

by Laura Caulfield

Viðhorf lögreglumanna til þolenda afbrota og tengsl þeirra við starfsþrot

by Helga Haarde

Prospects of criminal profiling: A critical review of the BRACE Character Profile

by Joan Swart

Encarcelamiento materno y escolarización de los hijos

by Claudia Stella

Patienten mit einer wahnhaften Depression in der Maßregel nach § 63 StGB

by Peter Fromberger

Sollen/Dürfen/Müssen wir forschen? Juristische, ethische und wissenschaftliche Aspekte der Erforschung von forensischrelevanten Störungen

by Peter Fromberger

Effective Counseling Skills: the practical wording of therapeutic statements and processes

by Daniel Keeran MSW

by Daniel Keeran, MSW, RMHC-S

Also used as a counselor training and examination manual, this book gives away the secrets of effective counselors and... more Also used as a counselor training and examination manual, this book gives away the secrets of effective counselors and therapists. The practical skills and concepts distilled in the present form, are the contributions of countless colleagues and clients who over the years have challenged the creative energies of the author. Effective Counseling Skills is designed to achieve the primary purpose of making counseling skills public knowledge in the belief that the health of society is improved when counseling is known to the most people. The style of the manual is conversational with numerous examples of the wording of therapeutic statements.

Major topic areas include an explanation of the client's personal history, suicide prevention, how to begin and deepen the counseling process, helping the client learn healthy ways of relating, moving the client from childhood to maturity, skills for healing grief, and working with couples facing issues of conflict, infidelity, addiction, and other common problems. Practical ways to build and manage a counseling practice are presented. A detailed index and table of contents make the volume easy to use as a guide for both the practitioner as well as people seeking help.

See this news release entitled "Mental Health News: Library Acquisitions Add Counseling Text To Collections" http://prlog.org/11741730

The title is also available through interlibrary loan in the US and Canada from major public and university libraries including : Howard University, University of Hawaii at Hilo, University of Manitoba, Vancouver Public Library (Canada), Dallas Theological Seminary, Bogazici Univ Library – Istanbul (Turkey), San Diego Public Library, Dixie State College of Utah, University of Louisville, University of Southern California, Texas A&M University, University of Missouri--Columbia, University of Wisconsin-Madison General Library System, Columbia University Libraries, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Hunter College Wexler Library – New York, NY, Trinity International University, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis.

View text at http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Counseling-Skills-therapeutic-statements/dp/1442177993

View article here http://ezinearticles.com/?Effective-Counseling-Skills---The-Practical-Wording-of-Therapeutic-Statements-and-Processes&id=4878216

Go here for a video presentation from the author http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aodrYDAo9xk

Adli psikologlar için etik ilkeler ve standartlar [Ethical principles and standards for forensic psychologists]

by Mithat Durak

Psychometric Properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale among Turkish University Students, Correctional Officers, and Elderly Adults

by Mithat Durak

Key Words: Satisfaction with Life Scale, SWLS, university students, elderly, correctional officers, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability, concurrent validity, discriminant validity, multi-group comparison

This study aims to extensively examine the psychometric properties of adapted version of the Satisfaction with Life... more This study aims to extensively examine the psychometric properties of adapted version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) in different Turkish samples. In order to test the psychometric properties of the SWLS three separate and independent samples are utilized in this study, namely university students (n = 547), correctional officers (n = 166), and elderly adults (n = 123). Concerning the reliability of the scale, internal consistency and item-total correlation coefficients are found to be satisfactory for all three samples. As for the validity studies, concurrent validity of the scale is supported in all three samples by revealing the association of SWLS with conceptually related measures, which included depression, self-esteem, positive affect and negative affect, work stress, and monthly income measures. Discriminant validity is examined only in the sample of university students, and SWLS revealed a non-significant correlation with a conceptually unrelated construct (i.e., willingness to self-censor). Consistent with the original scale, a single-factor solution model reveals an adequate fit in all three different samples. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analysis with multi-group comparisons performed demonstrates that SWLS has the same theoretical structure for three different groups on the basis of a single-factor solution model. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

The Personality Paradox in Offender Profiling

by Craig Bennell

Schizophrenia and Violent Offending: The importance of co-morbid diagnoses

by Alexander Richards

Submitted in part fulfillment of the MSc Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, June 2011. Unpublished.

Patients with schizophrenia have long been associated with having increased rates of violent offending behaviour in... more Patients with schizophrenia have long been associated with having increased rates of violent offending behaviour in comparison to control groups. With a large number of studies documenting increased risk of violent offending behaviour and lower risk levels in committing other types of crime, this paper intends to evaluate the wider context that a diagnosis of schizophrenia may have on criminal and offending behaviour. An appraisal of studies both supporting and opposing the view that schizophrenic patients are more violent than control groups will be followed by the dissection of the studies that deconstruct the diagnosis of ‘schizophrenia’ as being the headline for a condition that can include a number of other co-morbid diagnoses.

This paper will conclude that the inflated rate of violent offending behaviour by schizophrenic patients with drug/alcohol abuse problems, who began offending prior to the onset of any schizophrenic symptoms are massively out of proportion to the offending behaviours of schizophrenic patients with no co-morbid diagnoses or dependencies, who began offending after experiencing the symptoms of schizophrenia. Criticisms of studies evaluating criminal activity in schizophrenic patients are pointed at their seeming unwillingness to deconstruct ‘schizophrenia’ and the tendency to make blanket statements about violence levels across schizophrenic groups with varying drug/alcohol problems and histories of childhood offending.

It is asserted that future studies looking to evaluate whether schizophrenic patients are more likely to commit violent crime should take into account co-morbid diagnoses and dependencies and whether the patients had a criminal history prior to experiencing schizophrenic symptoms.

Understanding the Sexual Fantasies of Sex Offenders and their Correlates

by Ross Bartels