Executive function in individuals who are compliant and non-compliant with the conditions of a community-based sentence.

Executive function encompasses multiple processes (e.g. regulating emotions, managing behaviours, problem-solving) essential in daily living. A growing body of neuropsychological research shows a relationship between executive dysfunction and criminal behaviour. However, is executive functioning relevant to sentence management? We examined relationships between self-reported executive functioning and community supervision sentence compliance. Sixty-four individuals serving community-based supervision sentences completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version, and their compliance data for six months were collected from probation officer notes. The sample's mean scores were significantly higher (i.e. poorer executive functioning) than those for the normative sample. Those who complied with sentence conditions had higher mean scores than those who were non-compliant. Subsequent exploratory analyses showed that those with poorer executive functioning received more probation officer support to comply with sentence conditions. Attention to responsivity issues like executive function problems may help avoid entrapping people in the criminal justice system.

Unpacking Multiagency Structured Professional Judgment Risk Assessments for Family Violence.

Assessing the risk for future harm is a crucial task for agencies managing Family Violence (FV) cases. The Integrated Safety Response (ISR) is a multiagency collaboration of such agencies operating in two areas of New Zealand, and one of the first steps in their process is to perform a risk assessment. However, in these assessments, it is unclear whether the factors ISR triage team members select are the basis for their overall risk categorization (low, medium, or high), and if those factors are risk factors (i.e., empirical predictors of outcomes). Therefore, in this study we documented the factors ISR triage teams recorded during their risk assessments for 842 FV cases and examined the relationship of those factors with the risk categories. We then investigated whether those factors and the risk categories were indeed capable of predicting FV-related outcomes (recurrence and physical recurrence). We found most of the triage teams' recorded factors were associated with the risk categories, but fewer than half of the factors were associated with FV-related outcomes. Moreover, the risk categories predicted FV-related outcomes better than chance, but their predictive ability varied across subgroups, performing poorly for aggressors who were Maori or women, and for non-intimate partner cases. We concluded that the ISR triage teams' risk assessment protocol may benefit from increased structure and validation.

The association between self-reported traumatic brain injury, neuropsychological function, and compliance among people serving community sentences.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury is overrepresented in incarcerated samples and has been linked to a number of poor correctional outcomes. Despite this, no research has explored the impact of a recent TBI on compliance outcomes for individuals serving community-based. METHOD: We screened for a history of TBI in 106 adults on community sentences and collected compliance (arrests, sentence violations) and related variables (e.g., risk scores, substance use) over 6 months. Sixty-four participants also completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), the Comprehensive Trail Making Test and Color-Word Inference Test. RESULTS: A TBI in the last year predicted a significantly higher likelihood of arrest, even when controlling for risk of reconviction and current substance use, but was not associated with non-compliance with sentence conditions nor with performance on the neuropsychological tests. In addition, no significant associations were found between performance on neuropsychological tests and measures of non-compliance. CONCLUSIONS: TBI in the last year was an independent predictor of arrest. This result suggests that those with a recent TBI on a community sentence may need additional monitoring or support to reduce the risk of reoffending.

Does Reassessment Enhance the Prediction of Imminent Criminal Recidivism? Replicating Lloyd et al. (2020) With High-Risk Parolees.

Lloyd et al. (2020) proposed and tested a novel three-step framework for examining the extent to which reassessment of dynamic risk and protective factors enhances the prediction of imminent criminal recidivism. We conducted a conceptual replication of Lloyd et al.'s study. We used the same dynamic risk assessment measure in the same jurisdiction but, unlike Lloyd et al., our sample comprised solely high-risk men on parole in New Zealand (N = 966), the individuals who are most frequently reassessed in the community and most likely to imminently reoffend. The results of the previous study were largely reproduced: reassessment consistently enhanced prediction, with the most pronounced effects observed for a scale derived from theoretically acute dynamic risk factors. These findings indicate reassessment effects are robust to sample selection based on a narrower range of risk levels and remain robust across years of practice in applied contexts, despite potential organizational drift from initial training and reassessment fatigue. The findings also provide further support for the practice of ongoing risk reassessment in community supervision and suggest that the method proposed by Lloyd et al. is a replicable approach for testing the essential criteria for defining dynamic risk and protective factors.

Do Triarchic Psychopathy Components of New Zealand High-Risk Parolees Predict Probation Officer Relationship Quality, Quality of Life on Parole, and Recidivism?

The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) is a self-report scale based on the Triarchic Model that has been little used in research in the criminal justice system. We sought to examine associations between pre-release TriPM components, probation officer relationships, and parolee quality of life, both measured after 2 months in the community, and reconviction 12 months after release. Using data from 234 New Zealand male high-risk prisoners, we tested four multivariate models each across three timepoints. Pre-release, we found Boldness was not predictive, but Meanness predicted poorer relationship quality after 2 months, both from probation officer and parolee perspectives, with the former in turn predicting reconviction within 12 months. Disinhibition predicted 12-month recidivism regardless of relationship quality or external life circumstances. This relationship to recidivism was partially explained in the final model which linked Disinhibition and poorer subjective wellbeing, with the latter in turn predicting recidivism.

Perpetrators' Perspectives on Family Violence: An Event Process Model.

Offense process models are descriptive theories that provide a temporal outline of an offense-including its cognitive, behavioral, contextual, and motivational components-from a perpetrator's perspective. Offense process models have been developed for a wide range of criminal offending (e.g., alcohol-impaired driving, child sexual offending, rape, aggravated robbery, homicide), but remain underdeveloped for family violence. The purpose of this study was to develop an offense process model of family violence. We conducted individual semistructured interviews with 27 participants-14 men and 13 women-completing community-based family violence perpetrator treatment programs, and systematically analyzed participants' narratives of family violence events using grounded theory methods. The resulting event process model of family violence (FVEPM) contains four sections, arranged temporally from the most distal to the most proximal factors in relation to the family violence event: (1) background factors, (2) event build-up, (3) event, and (4) post-event. Each section outlines the cognitive, behavioral, contextual, and motivational factors that contribute to family violence perpetration. The FVEPM is the first attempt to consider whether a single offense process model can account for a broader range of family violence than that used solely by men toward their female intimate partners. Furthermore, the FVEPM highlights the dynamic nature of family violence events (FVEs), and the salient role of situational and interpersonal factors in contributing to family violence perpetration. We argue that the FVEPM has the potential to accommodate a range of types of family violence perpetration, and makes a useful contribution to theory and research on event-based models from a perpetrator perspective.

Pathways to Family Violence: Investigating Patterns in the Event Process of Family Violence Perpetrators.

This study is part of a larger research project that developed the event process model of family violence (FVEPM). The FVEPM was developed by applying grounded theory methods to the event narratives of 14 men and 13 women completing community-based family violence (FV) perpetrator treatment programs. The current study extends this work with the original sample, by examining the routes individual events take through the FVEPM. Three main pathways-comprising 93% of event narratives-were identified: a conflict escalation pathway (n = 14), an automated violence pathway (n = 6), and a compliance pathway (n = 6). Our findings extend existing FV typologies and theories by identifying patterns of features pertaining to the individual, the relationship, and the situation that converge to result in FV perpetration during a FVE. Further validation and development of the pathways may provide FV practitioners with an organizing framework from which to identify more nuanced assessment, treatment planning, and risk management processes for the diverse range of FV perpetrators they are tasked with treating.

Testing the Generalizability of the Event Process Model of Family Violence With an Incarcerated Sample.

The event process model of family violence (FVEPM) presents a descriptive theory of a family violence (FV) event from the perpetrator's perspective. Developed in a community setting, the FVEPM is comprised of four interrelated sections and describes three pathways to FV perpetration (Pathway 1: Conflict escalation, Pathway 2: Automated violence, and Pathway 3: Compliance). This study further developed the FVEPM by testing the generalizability of the model and its pathways with an incarcerated sample of eight men with extensive histories of violent and other offending. Event narratives were gathered during individual semi-structured interviews, and were systematically analyzed using grounded theory methods. Overall, findings suggest that the FVEPM and its pathways can accommodate an incarcerated sample. However, several inconsistencies were found: Event narratives were better represented by splitting Pathway 1 into two sub-types, and no event narratives were assigned to Pathway 3. Implications for FV theories and treatment are discussed.

Life on parole: The quality of experiences soon after release contributes to a conviction-free re-entry.

BACKGROUND: People returning to the community after prison face many challenges, including finding suitable accommodation and employment, and accessing good social support. The prospects are particularly poor for high-risk offenders with up to a third of those released in New Zealand returning to prison within 100 days. AIMS/HYPOTHESES: We developed the Parole Experiences Measure (PEM) to quantify the quality of men's life experiences during the first weeks of re-entry from prison. We aimed to answer the question, can the quality of life experiences differentiate men who survive in the community without reconviction from those who do not? METHODS: Using a longitudinal design, we examined whether PEM scores for 178 men with extensive histories of crime and violence predicted three recidivism indices (breach of parole, reconviction and reimprisonment) over a 12-month follow-up period. RESULTS: We found that PEM scores predicted all three indices of recidivism. Of the two PEM subscales, external circumstances (finances, support, accommodation) were more predictive of recidivism than subjective wellbeing (mental and physical health). CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that meeting basic practical needs in the early months of parole may be more important to avoiding reconviction than attending only to mental and physical health.

A Fresh Start or the Devil You Know? Examining Relationships Between Release Location Choices, Community Experiences, and Recidivism for High-Risk Parolees.

This study investigated the effects of residential relocation in a sample of 282 high-risk male offenders paroled from New Zealand prisons. Initially we compared those returning to their old neighborhoods (devil you know) and those released to a new location (fresh start). This second category was then further divided: those released to a new location voluntarily (fresh start-voluntary) versus those forced to start anew at the behest of the parole board that was releasing them (fresh start-duress). All three categories were then compared on the quality of their community experiences and recidivism. Results indicated that parolees returning by choice to either their old neighborhood or a new location each were reconvicted in the first year after release at approximately the same rate; however, parolees relocating to a new area at the direction of the parole board (under duress) were reconvicted at a higher rate than those in either of the voluntary location categories. Significant group differences in ratings of community life quality were few, but there were some indications that compared with those choosing to return to a familiar location, making a voluntary residential relocation may lead to better parole experiences, particularly in terms of avoiding criminal peers, and that making a residential relocation under duress may lead to poorer parole experiences than for those returning to a familiar location.

How Does Offender Rehabilitation Actually Work? Exploring Mechanisms of Change in High-Risk Treated Parolees.

Offender rehabilitation is typically thought to have been successful if a higher proportion of a sample of treatment completers avoids being reconvicted for an offence than a comparison sample. Yet, this type of evaluation design tells us little about what brings about these outcomes. In this study, we test whether change in dynamic risk factors during treatment is a recidivism-reducing mechanism in a sample of high-risk offenders. We also examine the extent to which change after treatment-in the period of reentry from prison to the community-mediates this relationship. We found that although individuals made statistically significant change during treatment, this change was not significantly related to recidivism. We did, however, find tentative support for an indirect relationship between treatment change and recidivism, through change that occurred during reentry. These findings signal the importance of the reentry period for understanding how change in treatment is related to long-term outcomes.

An exploration of the symmetry between crime-causing and crime-reducing factors: Implications for delivery of offender services.

Both the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) and Structured Professional Judgment (SPJ) risk assessment approaches assume that a strong relationship exists between crime-causing and crime reducing factors. Using a probation sample, the present article examines whether crime-causing and crime-reducing factors correspond. Probationers completed questionnaires where they were asked what factors were crime-causing and what factors were crime-reducing. Overall, the relationship between the crime-causing and crime-reducing factors was very weak-even after ruling out potential measurement and methodological artifacts (i.e., internal consistency, item stability, and acquiescent responding). Applied to an individual offender, the results suggest that conducting assessments and recommending interventions need not be bound by assumptions that risk factors for past crime must be targeted to reduce crime. New endeavors to develop causal and idiographic crime-reducing strategies warrant consideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Do High-risk Prisoners Entering Treatment Have Clinically Impaired Cognitive Impulse Control?

Moffitt's (1993) developmental theory suggests that offenders on the life-course persistent (LCP) trajectory inherit or acquire neuropsychological deficits that compromise impulse control, and ultimately contribute to criminality. Empirical tests of this notion with adult LCP offenders are rare; the expected degree of impairment and which mechanisms are unclear. This research adopted a neurocognitive framework that proposes three cognitive mechanisms of impulse control: decision-making, perceptual control, and motor impulse control. Participants were 77 adult males, predominantly LCP prisoners completed five assessment tasks during pre-treatment assessment. Overall, proportions of impairment were unexpectedly low within and across cognitive impulse control domains. The highest proportions of impairment were observed on tasks requiring cognitive flexibility and sustained attention, and only cognitive flexibility uniquely predicted estimated pre-treatment violence risk. Results suggest the need to disaggregate cognitive from personality and behavioural variants of impulsivity and to further investigate how impaired cognitive flexibility affects progress during and following treatment.

Using information from the violence risk scale to understand different patterns of change: an exploratory investigation of intensively treated life-sentenced prisoners.

Research rarely has shown that in-program change in correctional rehabilitation is related to long-term outcome (i.e., recidivism), and surprisingly little is known about what happens to progress after treatment, especially for "lifers" whose release may not be imminent. This study investigated patterns of treatment response for 35 life-sentenced treatment completers of an intensive cognitive-behavioral program for high-risk male violent prisoners. Using Violence Risk Scale (VRS) ratings at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6 to 12 months following the program, we found that prisoners' mean treatment response was positive both at program end and follow-up. However, a fine-grained analysis identified five distinct change patterns within the sample. Importantly, the direction and volume of in-program change did not necessarily predict post-program change, and the highest risk prisoners did not benefit as much as those at medium-high risk. The findings suggest that (a) a better understanding of the effects of treatment may be gained by examining change beyond the end of interventions, including a focus on the individual and contextual factors that promote and inhibit generalization and (b) more therapeutic attention may be warranted for monitoring treatment change to maximize conditions for continued gain beyond the end of the program.

Planning to avoid risk or planning for a positive life: the relationship between release plan valence and reoffending.

Following release from prison, offenders face a variety of challenges reintegrating back into the community. As a result, many high-risk offenders fail quickly. Research has shown that good quality release plans-plans to address offenders' basic needs in the community-are related to reduced rates of recidivism during this risky time. But what makes a good plan? The current study examines release plan valence: whether plans are approach-oriented or avoidance-oriented. Although it was hypothesized that approach plans would be related to better outcomes, the results showed no relationship between release plan valence and reoffending rates. These results indicate that planning for a positive life and plans for risk management are equally important in reducing risk in the community.

Shifting perspectives: a confirmatory factor analysis of the working alliance inventory (short form) with high-risk violent offenders.

The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is the most widely used measure of the therapeutic alliance. However, previous studies of the factor structure of the WAI have obtained disparate results. This study examined ratings from three rater perspectives (therapists, clients, and observers) in a rehabilitation program for high-risk violent prisoners with high PCL-psychopathy scores. The authors used confirmatory factor analysis with a short version of the WAI and examined one-, two-, and three-factor models. It was hypothesized that the context and client characteristics could alter the factor structure of the ratings. However, no differences were found in factor structure by perspective; the results from all rater perspectives suggested that a two-factor structure was the best fit for the data. Thus, we concluded that therapists, observers, and prisoners all saw the goals and task aspects of the therapeutic alliance as distinct from the bond component.

High-intensity rehabilitation for violent offenders in New Zealand: reconviction outcomes for high- and medium-risk prisoners.

As the empirical evidence accumulates, so does confidence that carefully designed and delivered rehabilitation approaches can reduce risk. Yet little is known about how to rehabilitate some specialized groups, such as high-risk violent offenders: career criminals with an extensive history of violent behavior. Since 1998, New Zealand's Rimutaka Violence Prevention Unit (RPVU) has provided intensive cognitive-behavioral rehabilitation to violent men. In this evaluation, 112 medium- and high-risk prisoners who entered the program after 1998 are case matched to 112 untreated men. Reconviction outcome data over an average of 3.5 years postrelease show that 10% to 12% fewer program completers were reconvicted for violence compared to their untreated controls. High-risk completers also are less likely to be reconvicted for any offense. Those men who opted out of the study are a slightly higher-risk group than those who completed it, but noncompletion does not further increase their risk. Given the lack of program theory, and formidable practical challenges involved in working with such a high-risk group, these results are very promising.

Do early therapeutic alliance, motivation, and stages of change predict therapy change for high-risk, psychopathic violent prisoners?

BACKGROUND: Examination of the extent of offenders' engagement in change, and in rehabilitation programmes, is important to understanding success or failure following rehabilitation. In treatment programmes, the alliance between therapist and offender, and the therapy process itself appear central to progress offenders make that may reduce their criminal risk. But research with offenders seldom has measured therapeutic alliance and clinical writing suggests that it is difficult to form an alliance with those not ready to change their behaviour; especially with higher risk and psychopathic offenders. AIMS AND METHODS: This study outlines the course of the therapeutic alliance in an 8-month treatment programme for high-risk, PCL-psychopathic violent prisoners. It examines relationships between early-treatment therapeutic alliance, therapists' global ratings of motivation to change, and initial stage of change on dynamic risk factors. In addition, it investigates which factors best predict who will complete treatment and change behaviourally during treatment. CONCLUSION: In this challenging, high-needs client group, early-programme stage of change, therapists' perceptions of motivation, therapeutic alliance and psychopathy did not predict how much change prisoners made. Regardless of initial levels, prisoners whose alliance increased the most over the course of treatment made the most change.

Linking violent thinking: implicit theory-based research with violent offenders.

Violent offenders often articulate offense-supportive cognitions during rehabilitation, yet these statements have received little theoretical attention, and intervention approaches have targeted each type of statement individually, as if they were unrelated. An implicit theory approach to cognitions has proved fruitful for research and intervention. The authors apply it to violent offenders. The first study presents a grounded theory investigation of offense-supportive cognition in prisoners attending an intensive rehabilitation program for violent offenders. Analysis of offense transcripts enabled the identification of several implicit theories. These results were refined with a second sample and trialed in the rehabilitation program. Findings suggest that several implicit theories held by violent offenders are linked to each other through the widespread normalization of violence. Few offenders experienced their violent behavior as abnormal, or completely outside of their control, once initiated. The authors make suggestions for enhancing the empirical status of this research domain, particularly through experimental investigations.