The construct validity of attitudes toward sex offenders (ATS) scale: ATS is more strongly linked to the acceptance of sex offenders than other offenders or non-offenders.

Negative attitudes toward offenders may hinder the rehabilitation process. The present study examines the relationship between attitudes toward sex offenders and stated acceptance of offenders and non-offenders into various aspects of daily life. Sixty female members of the public (18-50 years old, UK residents, recruited by word of mouth and via social media) completed an attitudes towards sex offenders (ATS) scale and indicated for each of eight vignettes describing ex-offenders and non-offenders whether they would accept them in various situations (housing, employment, day-to-day activities). Results indicate that in this group of female participants, harsher attitudes toward sex offenders are associated with lower acceptance of sex offenders (around 50% less acceptance) and other offenders (around 25% less acceptance), but not non-offenders, suggesting a tight coupling between attitudes and acceptance. The observed coupling between attitudes toward sex offenders and acceptance of offenders suggests that it will be difficult to change one without changing the other.

Development of a 21-item short form of the Attitudes to Sexual Offenders (ATS) Scale.

The Attitudes to Sexual Offenders scale (ATS; Hogue, 1993) is one of the most widely used measurement instruments for assessing views about sexual offenders. The ATS has been used in a variety of contexts, most commonly in comparing forensic professionals and nonprofessionals in relation to their views about this population. This article offers a review of the methods used to examine attitudes toward sexual offenders currently available, before systematically outlining the validation of a 21-item shortened version of the ATS measure (the ATS-21). First, we analyzed the ATS with regards to its underlying factor structure using a general community sample (Study 1; n = 188). This identified three factors: trust, intent, and social distance. We subsequently supported this structure through confirmatory factor analysis in a new community sample (Study 2; n = 335) and Hogue's (1993) original ATS development data (Study 3; n = 170) in order to provide further evidence of its reliability. We also offer preliminary evidence of the ATS-21's test-retest reliability, consistency across multiple testing contexts, resistance to social desirability, and independence from related measures (Study 4; n = 59). We close by recommending the use of the ATS-21 for researchers examining attitudes toward sexual offenders and offer suggestions for a new unified research design to incorporate the ATS-21 into emerging research into the psychological underpinnings of attitudes and responses to sexual offenders. We offer open data at https://osf.io/ymhsw/ and open scoring resources for the ATS-21 at https://osf.io/34hsx/. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Reducing Stigma and Punitive Attitudes Toward Pedophiles Through Narrative Humanization.

Stigmatization and societal punitiveness about pedophilia have a range of potential consequences, such as the social isolation of people with sexual interest in children, and the formation of policies that are not consistent with empirical research findings. Previous research has shown that people with pedophilic sexual interests use societal thinking to self-stigmatize, which in turn may actually serve to increase their risk of committing a sexual offense. In this study, we compared two attitudinal interventions (first-person narrative vs. expert opinion) using a student sample ( N = 100). It was hypothesized that both interventions would lead to reductions in stigmatization and punitive attitudes about pedophiles on an explicit (self-report) level but that only the narrative intervention would lead to reductions of these constructs at the implicit level. Our findings supported both hypotheses. We further discuss the role of narrative humanization in this area and offer suggestions for further research based upon the theoretical and methodological implications of the findings.

An Assessment of Scientific Evidence Relating to the Effect of Early Experience on the Risk of Human-Directed Aggression by Adult Dogs.

Human-directed aggression by domestic dogs is a major worldwide public health problem. The causes of aggression are complex, and research in this area often has to balance ecological validity with pragmatic controls; accordingly, it often does not meet the thresholds for quality typically used in reviews applying a classical "evidence-based" approach. Here, we propose a method of literature assessment that makes the "best use" of available evidence to identify and synthesise evidence relating to the most likely risk factors reported in the scientific literature. We used a systematic review process to initially identify relevant literature relating to potential early life experience (i.e., in the first six months of life) risk factors in the dog for human-directed aggression in the adult animal. Fourteen papers met our initial screening process and were subsequently analysed in detail, with data extracted and effect sizes calculated where possible. This highlighted the potential importance of the source of the animal, the age at which it was rehomed, the reason for the acquisition, the experience level of the owner, the animal's socialisation experiences, the consistent husbandry and management practices, the training, the sex ratio of the litter and the history of dogs that display aggression in the pedigree as risk factors. Taken together, it seems that early experiences which limit the ability to develop effective coping strategies and routines may be particularly important. We provide guidance for the future standardised reporting of risk related to human-directed aggression by dogs to allow greater synthesis of the literature in the future.

Ambulance attendance for substance and/or alcohol use in a pandemic: Interrupted time series analysis of incidents.

INTRODUCTION: The ambulance attendance for substance and/or alcohol use in a pandemic (ASAP) study explores incidents during the COVID-19 lockdown in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom (23 March-4 July 2020). METHOD: Retrospective cross-sectional count per day of ambulance attendances from the East Midlands Ambulance Service Trust. Ambulance attendances relating to alcohol or other drug use in the year prior, during lockdown and weeks following, were examined using interrupted time series analysis by patient demographics and geographical location. RESULTS: A total of 36 104 records were identified (53.7% male, 84.5% ethnicity classified as White, mean age 38.4 years). A significant drop in the number of attendances per day at the start of lockdown (-25.24, confidence interval - 38.16, -12.32) was observed, followed by a gradual increase during the ongoing lockdown period (0.36, confidence interval 0.23, 0.46). Similar patterns were found across genders, age groups 16-64 and urban/rural locations. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The pattern of ambulance attendances for alcohol or other drug use changed during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Lockdown significantly affected the use of ambulances for incidents involving alcohol or other drug use, impacting on health-care services. Further research into hazardous use of alcohol or other drugs during the lockdown periods is needed to inform policy, planning and public health initiatives.

Sexual reconviction rates in the United Kingdom and actuarial risk estimates.

OBJECTIVE: Assessing the risk of further offending behavior by adult sexual perpetrators of children is highly relevant and important to professionals involved in child protection. Recent progress in assessing risk in sexual offenders has established the validity of actuarial measures, although there continues to be some debate about the application of these instruments. This paper summarizes the debate between clinical and actuarial approaches and reviews the "base rate" for United Kingdom sexual offense reconviction. METHOD: A review of the literature revealed 16 UK sexual reconviction studies, 8 using incarcerated samples (N=5,915) and 8 using non-incarcerated samples (N=1,274). UK estimates of sexual reconviction rates are compared with European and North American studies. RESULTS: The mean sexual reconviction rates for the incarcerated sample at 2 years (6.0%), 4 years (7.8%) and 6 years or more (19.5%) were higher than that of the comparative non-incarcerated sample at 2 years (5.7%), up to 4 years (5.9%), and 6 years or more (15.5%). The overall sexual reconviction rate for both samples combined was 5.8% at 2 years, and 17.5% at 6 years or more. CONCLUSIONS: The sexual reconviction rate for incarcerated sexual offenders is higher than that of non-incarcerated sexual offenders. The UK sexual reconviction rates were comparable with European and North American studies.

Risk assessment in offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison across three levels of security.

In mainstream offender samples, several risk assessments have been evaluated for predictive validity. This study extends this work to male offenders with intellectual disabilities. Participants from high-, medium-, and low-security settings, as well as community settings, were compared on a range of risk assessments. The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, HCR-20-Historical Scale, the Risk Matrix 2000-C (combined risk), and the Emotional Problems Scales-Internalising discriminated between groups, with participants from high security having higher scores than those in medium security, who had higher scores than those in the community. The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, all HCR-20 scales, the Short Dynamic Risk Scale, and the Emotional Problems Scales (Internalising and Externalising) showed significant areas under the curve for the prediction of violence. The Static-99 showed a significant area under the curve for the prediction of sexual incidents. The discussion reviews the value of these various scales to intellectual disability services.

Personality traits as predictors of inpatient aggression in a high-security forensic psychiatric setting: prospective evaluation of the PCL-R and IPDE dimension ratings.

The Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) initiative in England and Wales provides specialized care to high-risk offenders with mental disorders. This study investigated the predictive utility of personality traits, assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and the International Personality Disorder Examination, with 44 consecutive admissions to the DSPD unit at a high-security forensic psychiatric hospital. Incidents of interpersonal physical aggression (IPA) were observed for 39% of the sample over an average 1.5-year period following admission. Histrionic personality disorder (PD) predicted IPA, and Histrionic, Borderline, and Antisocial PDs all predicted repetitive (2+ incidents of) IPA. PCL-R Factor 1 and Facets 1 and 2 were also significant predictors of IPA. PCL-R Factor 1 and Histrionic PD scores were significantly associated with imminence of IPA. Results were discussed in terms of the utility of personality traits in risk assessment and treatment of specially selected high-risk forensic psychiatric patients in secure settings.

Predictive validity of the PCL-R for offenders with intellectual disability in a high security hospital: treatment progress.

BACKGROUND: Among mainstream offenders, the severe personality disorder of psychopathy has considerable importance as a construct. The disorder has long been associated with failure to make treatment progress. Previous work has identified that psychopathy as a disorder occurs in samples of offenders with intellectual disability (ID), and suggests that the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R: Hare, 1991, 2003) as a measure of the disorder has adequate reliability and validity (Morrissey et al., 2005). The present study aimed to compare the predictive power of the PCL-R in relation to treatment progress with a more general assessment of violence risk, the HCR-20 (Webster, Douglas, Eaves, & Hart, 1997). METHOD: A sample of 73 residents in a high security intellectual disability service, who had previously been assessed using the PCL-R and the HCR-20, were followed up at 2 years post-assessment, and their outcome determined in terms of two distinct dichotomous variables reflecting definite positive treatment progress and definite negative treatment progress respectively. RESULTS: In line with predictions, the PCL-R Total score and Factor 1 score (Interpersonal and Affective aspects of psychopathy) and the HCR-20 Total score were significantly inversely associated with a positive move from high to medium security hospital conditions within 2 years of assessment. However against prediction, the PCL-R Total score had incremental validity over the HCR-20. The PCL-R Total and Factor 1, but not the HCR-20 Total score, were also significantly associated with negative treatment progress in terms of a move to more restricted treatment conditions. CONCLUSION: Psychopathy, and in particular its interpersonal and affective manifestations, is a construct which appears to be associated with indirect measures of treatment progress in this high security ID group. However, caution should be applied in the use of a construct with potentially negative connotations in an already devalued population.

Internal consistency and factor structure of personality disorders in a forensic intellectual disability sample.

BACKGROUND: The publication of the DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 1980) prompted a significant increase in interest and research on personality disorder (PD), and the concept has subsequently been incorporated into mental health legislation in the developed world. Despite this, such research on people with intellectual disability (ID) has been sporadic, with widely varying results. The present study addresses a number of criticisms directed at previous research. METHOD: DSM-IV (APA, 2000) diagnoses of PD were made on 164 participants with ID on the basis of four independent sources of classification. RESULTS: Reliability data for each PD was acceptable and alpha was .74 or above, with the exception of schizotypal PD (.63). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, with the former revealing a 4-factor solution accounting for 58.9% of the variance, and a 2-factor solution accounting for 37.2% of the variance emerging for the latter. The factors were orthogonal, and we called the first factor "avoidant/rumination/inhibited" and the second factor "acting out". DISCUSSION: We review these findings in relation to previous research on PD and alternative frameworks for the understanding of personality. We hypothesise consistencies between these findings and previous work on personality and ID. A number of drawbacks to the research are discussed, including a caution on the pejorative nature of a diagnosis of PD in an already devalued population.