International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Reentry Programming for High-Risk Offenders: Insights From Participants
This study highlights the importance of providing employment opportunities, social support, and fair and respectful delivery of services to assist incarcerated individuals transitioning to the community. (Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - August 17, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Bender, K. A., Cobbina, J. E., McGarrell, E. F. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Book Review: Crime classification manual: A standard system for investigating and classifying violent crime
(Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - July 15, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Kocsis, R. N. Tags: Book Review Source Type: research

Life Strain, Social Control, Social Learning, and Delinquency: The Effects of Gender, Age, and Family SES Among Chinese Adolescents
This article explores the effects of gender, age, and family socioeconomic status (SES) in an integrated model of strain, social control, social learning, and delinquency among a sample of Chinese adolescents. ANOVA is used to check for significant differences between categories of demographic groups on the variables in the integrated model, and the differential effects of causal factors in the theoretical path models are examined. Further tests of interaction effects are conducted to compare path coefficients between "high-risk" youths (i.e., male, mid-teen, and low family SES adolescents) and other subgroups. The finding...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - July 15, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Bao, W.-N., Haas, A., Xie, Y. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Changing Criminal Attitudes Among Incarcerated Offenders: Initial Examination of a Structured Treatment Program
The present study investigated the effect of a criminal attitude treatment program to changes on measured criminal attitudes and postprogram recidivism. The criminal attitude program (CAP) is a standardized therapeutic curriculum consisting of 15 modules offering 44 hr of therapeutic time. It was delivered by trained facilitators to a total of 113 male offenders incarcerated in one of five state correctional institutions. Pretreatment and posttreatment comparisons were made on standardized measures of criminal attitudes, response bias, and motivation for lifestyle changes. Results found statistically significant lower crim...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - July 15, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Simourd, D. J., Olver, M. E., Brandenburg, B. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Measuring Public Support for Prisoner Reentry Options
Few topics have been discussed more extensively or feverishly within correctional academic and professional circles in the past few decades than prisoner reentry. Although program and policy evaluations have been conducted, a lack of public support for prisoner reentry initiatives could undermine the sustainability of prisoner reentry as a large-scale movement. Interestingly, no multivariate, explanatory analyses of the correlates of support for prisoner reentry policies could be found in the literature. This omission is due in part to the absence of clear psychometric measures to assess support. The current study examines...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - July 15, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Garland, B., Wodahl, E., Cota, L. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

A Review of Questionnaire Measures for Assessing the Social Climate in Prisons and Forensic Psychiatric Hospitals
Significant time and resources are devoted to the monitoring of social climate in secure settings. However, if these efforts are to help (rather than hinder) attempts to improve the functioning of such units, the monitoring of social climate must be based on sound psychometric methods. The aim of this review was to determine what questionnaires exist to measure the social climate in secure settings and what evidence exists regarding their psychometric properties. Twelve questionnaire-based measures of social climate were identified. The Essen Climate Evaluation Schema has received the most consistent empirical support, but...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - July 15, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Tonkin, M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Prison Meditation Movements and Mass Incarceration
By some estimates, more than half of inmates held in jails and prisons in the United States have a substance use disorder. Treatments involving the teaching of meditation and other contemplative practices have been developed for a variety of physical and mental disorders, including drug and alcohol addiction. At the same time, an expanding volunteer movement across the country has been bringing meditation and yoga into jails and prisons. This review first examines the experimental research on one such approach—mindfulness meditation as a treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, as well as the research on mindfulness...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - July 15, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Lyons, T., Cantrell, W. D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Book Review: Offender release and supervision: The role of courts and the use of discretion
(Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: von Mandach, L. Tags: Book Review Source Type: research

New Horizons: The Obstacles to Space Exploration and Disentangling Criminal Profiling
(Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology)
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Kocsis, R. N., Palermo, G. B. Tags: Commentary Source Type: research

Readiness for Independent Living Among Youth on the Verge of Leaving Juvenile Correctional Facilities
A growing body of literature has documented the dismal outcomes of youth placed in juvenile correctional facilities (JCFs) upon their return to the community. However, very little is known as to how well equipped are the youth with the necessary skills for reintegration. In the current study, the authors examine self-reports of readiness for independent living among adolescents in correctional settings on the verge of leaving care, and explore how individual, placement, and social support characteristics predict such perceived readiness. A sample of 116 adolescents (aged 15-20) placed in Israeli JCFs responded to structure...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Melkman, E., Refaeli, T., Bibi, B., Benbenishty, R. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Low Self-Control Among South Korean Adolescents: A Test of Gottfredson and Hirschis Generality Hypothesis
Theoretical propositions and empirical tests of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory continue to permeate the criminological literature. Nevertheless, the vast majority of studies have been conducted in North America and some European countries. Only a handful of empirical works have been conducted in East Asia. To further test the generality assertion of Gottfredson and Hirschi, the current study examines low self-control’s efficacy in predicting the involvement of South Korean adolescents in typical delinquency, drinking, smoking, Internet addiction, and smartphone addiction. The presented findings largel...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Yun, I., Kim, S.-G., Kwon, S. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Effectiveness of Aftercare for Juvenile and Young Adult Offenders
This study examined the New Perspectives Aftercare Program (NPAP) for serious juvenile and young adult offenders in The Netherlands. Participants (n = 127) were randomly assigned to NPAP (n = 66) or existing aftercare services ("treatment as usual" [TAU], n = 61). The aim was to determine whether NPAP was effective in decreasing cognitive distortions and criminal thinking patterns and increasing prosocial skills of the juveniles compared with TAU. No direct intervention effects were found on any of the outcome measures. Moderator analyses, however, showed several interaction effects of ethnicity and coping skills for both ...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: James, C., Asscher, J. J., Stams, G. J. J. M., van der Laan, P. H. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Community Protection Policies and Repeat Sexual Offenses in Florida
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of sexual offender management policies on sex crime repeat arrest rates in Florida. Aggregate data for the period 1990 to 2010 were provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The repeat offense rate was defined as the proportion of arrests each year that were committed by individuals with a previous conviction in the same crime category. The average yearly repeat offense rate for sex crimes was 6.5%, which was consistently and significantly lower than rates for other crimes: 8.3% for non-sex assaults, 15.1% for robbery, 29.8% for drug offenses, and 11.6% f...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Levenson, J. S., Zgoba, K. M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

The Thief With a Thousand Faces and the Victim With None: Identifying Determinants for Online Identity Theft Victimization With Routine Activity Theory
Available evidence suggests that identity theft is a growing problem that has significant consequences for victims, not the least of which is billions of dollars in financial losses. However, very little is known about the correlates or causes of identity theft victimization. Utilizing a nationally representative sample of individuals from the Canadian General Social Survey, the current study attempts to address this deficiency by examining the link between victims’ online routine activities and their online identity theft victimization. It was found that certain routine activities directly influence the likelihood o...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 21, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Reyns, B. W., Henson, B. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Attentional Bias in Psychopathy: An Examination of the Emotional Dot-Probe Task in Male Jail Inmates
Numerous studies have identified differences in the identification of emotional displays between psychopaths and non-psychopaths; however, results have been equivocal regarding the nature of these differences. The present study investigated an alternative approach to examining the association between psychopathy and emotion processing by examining attentional bias to emotional faces; we used a modified dot-probe task to measure attentional bias toward emotional faces in comparison with neutral faces, among a sample of male jail inmates assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R). Results indicated a posi...
Source: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology - June 20, 2016 Category: Criminology Authors: Edalati, H., Walsh, Z., Kosson, D. S. Tags: Articles Source Type: research