Criminal Justice and Behavior

This study evaluates the interrater reliability and predictive validity of a relatively new risk assessment tool designed for use in forensic outpatient populations, the Forensic Outpatient Risk Assessment and Evaluation (FORE). Data were collected from two samples: the first comprising 80 outpatients to assess interrater reliability between therapist–student and student–student rater pairs, and the second consisting of N = 1,268 patients for predictive validity analysis. Interrater reliability was generally good for static factors. The dynamic factors displayed more variability, with intraclass correlation coefficient values ranging from poor to good. The results demonstrated a good predictive validity for general recidivism (area under the curve = .72). The overall calibration was good (expected/observed [E/O] index = .98), although the lower predicted risk levels were overestimated and the higher levels underestimated. The overall findings suggest that FORE is a useful tool for forensic risk assessment, though further research into the psychometric qualities of the FORE is required.

The present study examined the psychopathy-substance abuse nexus in a diverse Canadian sample of 420 justice-involved youth. The Psychopathy Checklist Youth: Version (PCL: YV) and a series of clinical and criminogenic substance abuse variables—assembled into a composite score that was corrected for missing indicators—were rated from court and treatment files and community recidivism was captured from criminal records. PCL: YV total, lifestyle, and antisocial facet scores showed strong convergence with clinical and criminogenic substance abuse indicators. Cox regression survival analyses demonstrated that certain indicators and the corrected composite incrementally predicted violent and general recidivism, controlling for PCL: YV total score across gender and ethnoracial groups. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses demonstrated that high psychopathy youth with medium or high substance-related concerns had steeper recidivism trajectories than low psychopathy youth with similar substance concerns. Results underscore the clinical and risk relevance of substance abuse and its intersection with juvenile psychopathy.

This study examines the role of differential reinforcement (DR)—a primary mechanism of social learning theory (SLT)—within intimate family and friendship networks and its impact on recidivism. We hypothesize that kin-based DR is more consequential than friends, and that its influence has a more significant impact on men that are more deeply embedded in the correctional system. To test this, we utilized a life history calendar approach administered to a sample of 249 formerly incarcerated men in Ohio, linked with administrative records to track recidivism over a 3-year follow-up period. Cox regression models reveal a potent conditional effect: direct and anticipated reinforcement from kin networks (though not from non-kin peers) more than tripled the hazard of recidivism among individuals with one or more prior incarcerations, providing conditional support for SLT. We suggest that reentry policies should prioritize family-focused interventions to mitigate these deep-seated social influences.

Although individuals incarcerated in jails make up around one third of the total incarcerated population, jail incarceration remains relatively understudied. Individuals frequently admitted to jail face complex challenges that increase the likelihood of their return. However, there is little research on the prevalence of jail readmissions and the role that extralegal factors play over and above legal indicators. Using 9 years of data from St. Louis County, Missouri (N = 11,977), and Louisville, Kentucky (N = 11,808), we estimate bivariate and negative binomial models to differentiate predictors of frequent jail readmissions. Findings demonstrate essential overlap between the sites where males had a greater likelihood of readmission than females, and prior admissions increased the likelihood of readmission. Despite these convergences, the sites diverge in terms of race and other criminal history characteristics as predictors of readmission. Our study emphasizes the importance of examining predictors of readmission across multiple locales.

Drug treatment courts (DTCs) serve diverse populations with substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions. These conditions may impact recovery capital (RC) and quality of life (QoL); however, limited research has examined how patterns of substance use and mental health symptoms influence these outcomes in DTC settings. Two waves of data were used from DTC participants (N = 165). Latent class analysis (LCA) classified participants based on substance use and mental health symptoms. Four unique classes of DTC participants emerged. These classes were then used to predict RC and QoL. Class membership was able to significantly predict QoL but not RC over time. This study is among the first to use LCA to determine DTC subgroups and predict QoL outcomes. Results further establish the variability of DTC participants’ profiles and emphasize the need for tailored treatment approaches.

The Stalking Risk Profile (SRP) is a structured professional judgment guideline to help practitioners evaluate and respond to risks associated with stalking. Using a sample of 217 Australian adults referred to a community forensic mental health service, this study examined the predictive validity of SRP risk judgments made by assessing clinicians. Discrimination, classification, and prediction statistics were examined at 12-month intervals over a 4-year follow-up using police charges for stalking-related offending. Total scores were positively related to risk judgments. Moderate/high risk judgments generally showed good sensitivity, though weaker specificity. Risk judgments about stalking violence and recurrent stalking of the same victim showed moderate to strong discrimination and predictive benefits over the base rate of reoffending, with minor improvements over time. Judgments about stalking different victims or persistent stalking of the same victim were less effective, possibly due to methodological limitations of the prospective study design.

Prosecutors, as elected officials, are theoretically responsive to public opinion. Evidence suggests that messaging interventions may impact support for justice system reform. However, despite lengthy and racially disparate criminal sentences in the United States and empirical evidence demonstrating the ability of social norms messaging to shift public opinion, the impact of these interventions on attitudes toward sentencing reform has not been tested. In this paper, we test the impact of a social norms message—namely that most Californians believe the justice system to be biased against Black Americans—via a survey experiment of 2,517 Californians on their attitudes toward Second Look (SL) sentencing and Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing (PIR). Though directionally, we see causal increases in support for SL & PIR, this effect is not statistically significant overall. However, supplementary analyses suggest that exposure to this social norm significantly increased support for SL & PIR among Californian Republicans.

Procedural justice theory has a lengthy history of application in criminological research. Over time, the theory has been applied to police stops, arrests, court procedures, and other aspects of the criminal legal system. However, much of the extant research examines procedural justice generally among minoritized groups and fails to utilize intersectional approaches focusing on race and gender. The current study addresses this limitation by using qualitative data from 336 system-involved women in Michigan to explore White and Black women’s perceptions of procedural justice. The findings revealed that Black women have somewhat more nuanced and unsatisfactory perceptions of procedural justice, but White women’s perceptions were not overwhelmingly positive either. In addition, women in both groups felt that judges were more procedurally just than the police. Both theoretical and practical implications are presented.

This qualitative study explores the gendered dimensions of community- and family-level adversity among justice-involved young people in Northern Ireland. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with boys and girls referred to the Northern Ireland Youth Justice Agency, this research examines how gender shapes experiences of community and family deprivation, instability, and adversity, generally considered to be gender-neutral criminogenic needs. Findings reveal that while socioeconomic and family stressors affect both genders, their impacts on girls, as compared with boys, differ. The lens through which their community was viewed differed according to gender. Street violence and crime were more salient in boys’ lives, while family dysfunction appeared to impact girls more acutely. These insights underscore the need for early, gender-responsive youth offending interventions that meaningfully address relational safety and community marginalization.

Court-involved therapy has emerged as a mechanism for connecting commercially sexually exploited youth to mental health services within juvenile justice systems, yet questions persist about how such models can center survivor autonomy, prevent retraumatization, and engage families meaningfully. This qualitative study examined survivor and multidisciplinary stakeholder perspectives on court-involved therapy for commercially sexually exploited youth in Atlanta, Georgia, where no dedicated specialty court operated at the time of data collection. Data were collected from 31 participants—adult survivors, law enforcement, clinicians, and social workers—across three mixed focus groups and three in-depth survivor interviews. Thematic analysis yielded three findings: survivor engagement through peer mentorship and survivor-led training was foundational to trust; court involvement offered access but raised concerns about coercion and retraumatization; and family involvement was critical but underleveraged. Findings underscore the need for flexible, survivor-centered approaches that distinguish between mandating attendance and mandating participation.

Despite the rise in female offending, we know little about how female offending patterns vary with age and how they compare to those of males. In this study, we used linked administrative data from a 1983 and 1984 Australian birth cohort (N = 83,362) to estimate offending trajectories separately for males and females and to examine how these patterns vary within and across sex. Results indicated that there was significant heterogeneity within sex, with five offending trajectories identified separately for both males and females. Males and females classified in chronic offending trajectories had the highest mean number of offenses than all other groups, and Indigenous females were more likely than non-Indigenous males to populate chronic and early adult-onset trajectory groups. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity of female offending pathways to inform effective, targeted, and timely policies and interventions to reduce female offending.

Perceptions of law enforcement shape a willingness to report crime and are particularly important for sex crimes and among groups oppressed or neglected by the legal system. We examine three types of perceptions of justice—the fairness of outcomes (distributive), procedures (procedural), and victim treatment (interpersonal). We expect each measure of justice perceptions to increase the likelihood of reporting, or recommending a friend report, a hypothetical sexual assault to police. Our survey of 18- to 24-year-old women (N = 1,414) oversampled women of color and stratified the sample by educational attainment. In a series of path analyses, we find full support for our hypotheses about reporting one’s own sexual assault and partial support for encouraging a friend to report based on perceptions of three forms of justice. In addition, we examined indirect effects of sexual identity and race on reporting intentions and discuss how those patterns are partially driven by negative perceptions of justice.

The number of crimes related to child-to-parent violence (CPV) has increased in recent years. Most cases are undetected. This is the first study to compare CPV-justice involved youth (CPV-JI/detected CPV) and CPV non-justice involved youth (CPV non-JI/undetected CPV), with the aim of examining differences in risk factors and pattern of violence. The sample included 306 Spanish youth (229 males, 77 females) aged 14 to 19 years: 83 CPV-JI, 105 CPV non-JI, and 115 non-CPV. The results show a worse individual, family, and social profile in CPV-JI youth compared with CPV non-JI youth, and in the latter compared with non-CPV youth. Undetected aggressors were more similar to detected aggressors than to non-aggressors. In addition, CPV-JI youth had higher scores in CPV-Q than CPV non-JI youth. The CPV-Q score that best classified detected versus undetected aggressors is 16 to 17 points, proving to be a useful instrument in classifying different types of CPV aggressors.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, community supervision agencies were forced to incorporate drastic changes to traditional supervision techniques, which shifted the daily roles of probation officers (POs). Research on the pandemic identifies rapid adaptations to supervision strategies and increased demands on POs during the pandemic. Using qualitative data from interviews with POs across the United States, the goal of this study was to examine the experiences of POs working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results suggest POs had to alter their supervision approach, both physically and ideologically. POs discussed shifts to both remote supervision in place of in-person work coupled with a need to use an “agent of change” approach given limited access to formal, punitive responses to noncompliance, with a priority on the highest risk/need clients. Findings suggest several implications for practice, including factors to consider regarding community correction reform efforts in a post-pandemic world.

In this exploratory study, we identify the spatial risk factors associated with gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand using social disorganization as a theoretical framework. Gang membership data from the Gang Intelligence Center and gang crime data from New Zealand Police are included in spatial regression models to identify risk factors. Overall marginal support was found for the use of social disorganization constructs to explain gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand. Higher deprivation and higher diversity were both found to be associated with gang membership and gang crime, respectively. Some similarities and notable differences were observed between our results and the mainly U.S.-centric results of past spatial gang research. This study allows for a greater understanding of the generalizability of the social disorganization theory to explain gang membership and gang crime in areas with markedly different cultural perspectives and ethnocentricities to the United States.

Procedural justice refers to unbiased, caring, respectful, and participative treatment by decision makers. It positively associates with employees’ citizenship behavior, an expression of motivation and commitment that consists of voluntary helpful acts toward the organization or fellow employees. In view of scarce research on these variables in correctional facilities, we conducted two studies among Israeli correctional officers. In a survey (N = 336), procedural justice by the commander moderately associated with organization- and individual-targeted citizenship behavior. In addition, commander procedural justice predicted perceiving organization procedural justice, which in turn strongly associated with organization-targeted citizenship. In an experiment (N = 311), commander procedural justice enhanced organization- but not individual-targeted citizenship behavior. These studies provide new statistical and causal evidence for procedural justice effects on correctional officers, which can inform prison administrations’ practices. They also generalize justice effects to the Israeli prison culture and provide knowledge on Israeli officers, hitherto notably understudied.

Given the increasing literature on forensic assertive community treatment (FACT), we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the effectiveness of FACT among justice-involved individuals with severe mental illness. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Sixteen studies were included in the systematic review, six of which were included in the meta-analyses for a total of 1,246 participants. Mixed results regarding health-related outcomes were found. The pre-post FACT analysis and comparison with control groups did not yield significant results other than increased outpatient service use. Results on forensic outcomes were more compelling. Both the narrative review and the meta-analysis highlighted that FACT programs may improve justice outcomes such as the number of days spent in jail. More high quality and multisite randomized controlled trials are needed to consolidate findings. Further research is needed to examine other psychosocial factors related to FACT program success.

Although the global diffusion of e-mental health has increased in recent years, research on the use of technologies in criminal justice settings is limited. To bridge this knowledge gap, we conducted an international online survey (N = 555) of forensic and correctional mental health professionals from Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and 20 additional countries. Telecommunication technologies and mental health platforms had the highest numbers of users, the broadest scope, and the largest increase in use due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In contrast, the use of social media and advanced technologies was lower, narrower in scope, and remained the same or decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents’ age, professional discipline, country, and clinical setting significantly predicted total technology use in clinical practice. The study findings provide an overview of the current patterns of technology use and point to opportunities for research and development.