Recidivism and characteristics of highly dangerous offenders being released from retrospectively imposed preventive detention: an empirical study.

This study examines the recidivism of offenders who are considered to be highly dangerous but who, as a result of a decision of the German Federal High Court, have not been in preventive detention because it was imposed retrospectively (Group II preventive detention cases; § 66b StGB). Taking into consideration the restrictions imposed by the study, the data were evaluated regarding their usefulness for predicting the likelihood of reoffending. The results of this study suggest that it could be useful to describe criteria for the not very severe reoffending group.

[Legal probation after deferred retrospective preventive detention: implications for the amended regulations on preventive detention]. / Legalbewährung nach nicht angeordneter nachträglicher Sicherungsverwahrung : Implikationen für die Neuregelung der Sicherungsverwahrung.

The study examines the legal probation of offenders who are considered to be highly dangerous but due to the decision of the Federal High Court were not in retrospective preventive detention (§ 66b StGB). In view of the current discussion, in anticipation of a detailed presentation of the study results the relevant criteria "probation behavior", "personality characteristics" and "prognosis quality" are picked out. The results are evaluated with respect to knowledge of the restrictions conditioned by the study regarding the usefulness for the prognosis of reoffending. The results of this study suggest that it might be useful to describe psychological criteria for the not seriously reoffending group of probands.