Title: Forensic Psychology Offenders
1Forensic Psychology - Offenders
- Charlotte Bilby, Lecturer in Forensic Psychology
- Course Convenor for Assessment and Treatment of
Sex Offenders - Overheads on the course website
2Lecture outline
- Who are forensic psychologists?
- What do we do? Task
- History of forensic psychology
- Treating offenders in England and Wales today
3Who is this woman?
4Most of us dont do this
5or this
6What are our roles?
- Trial Consultants
- Expert witnesses
- Evaluators
- Prison psychologists
- Probation
- Police
- Profiler
- Health service
- Victim support
- Researchers
- One who studies psychology as it applies to legal
matters in a court of law - Courttv.com
7What is forensic psychology?
- that branch of applied psychology which is
concerned with the collection, examination and
presentation of evidence for judicial purposes. - Gudjonsson and Haward (1998, p.1)
- the provision of psychological information for
the purpose of facilitating a legal decision. - Blackburn (1996, p. 7)
8The definition we like is
- any application of psychological knowledge or
methods to a task faced by the legal system. - Wrightsman (2001, p.2)
9Forensic psychology includes
- Applied
- Police Psychology
- Investigative
- Clinical
- Prison
- Linguistic
- Howitt, 2002
- Academic
- Biological
- Developmental
- Cognitive
- Social
10The history of forensic psychology
- Linked to criminology and sociology
- 1700s Beccaria - punishment
- 19th C Lombroso biology
- Wundt and Munsterberg
- 1970s onwards
11My research
- National evaluation of Offending Behaviour
Pathfinder Programmes - Systematic reviews of psychological treatments
for adult and juvenile sex offenders - Evidence based policies
- Community penalties
12Pathfinder Programmes
- Home Office funded
- Reduction in crime rate of 5
- Interventions with offenders in the community
- Probation orders (Community Rehabilitation Order)
- Community Service or combination orders
(Community Punishment Order and CPRO) - Resettlement of short-term prisoners
- Basic Skills
13Offending Behaviour Programmes
- Assessment of risk level
- OGRS II
- Evaluation and monitoring form OASys
- Psychometric testing
- Cognitive-behavioural programmes
- Seek to alter thinking patterns
- Change behaviour
- Developed by forensic psychologists
14Offending Behaviour Programmes
- Four General Offending Behaviour Programmes
- Two Substance Use Programmes
- Two Violent Offending Programmes
- Two Sex Offender Programmes
- One Drink Impaired Drivers Programme
- One Domestic Violence Programme
- One Cognitive Booster Programme
15Aggression Replacement Training (ART)
- Accredited status gained in 2001
- Based on cognitive behavioural programme
developed by Arnold Goldstein for youth
offenders. Adapted by Wiltshire Probation Service
area. - Aim
- reduce incidents of assault, public order or
criminal damage - Increase public protection
- Challenge offender to accept responsibility for
crime and consequences
16Aggression Replacement Training (ART)
- 16 weekly sessions
- 2 hour sessions
- Three Elements
- Structured Learning
- Anger Control Training
- Moral Reasoning Training
- Women and Men are allocated to the programme
17ART Process Evaluations Findings
- 65 75 percent completion rate
- Suspension
- Shift patterns
- Selection of offenders initially a problem
- Only 60 percent viewed as appropriate
18What else do we want to find out?
- Changes in rates of re-offending
- Comparisons of programmes
- Comparison between programmes and standard care
- Changes in severity of re-offending
- Changes in psychometric scores
19How do we find this out?
- Data collection
- Retrospective 9,000 from 25 probation areas
- data gathered on offenders completing a programme
between 2000 and 2001(finish 2002) - Prospective 5,000 from 20 probation areas
- data gathered on offenders gaining an order in
2002 (2003 finish) - Comparison groups
20Descriptive characteristics
Table 1. Experimental and Comparison Groups
a Categorical variables where the number in
parentheses is a percentage in other cases the
figure is a mean with standard deviation in
parentheses. b Time at risk is measured in days
from the Date of Sentence to the end point of the
study.
21Table 1. Experimental and Comparison Groups
a Categorical variables where the number in
parentheses is a percentage in other cases the
figure is a mean with standard deviation in
parentheses. b Time at risk is measured in days
from the Date of Sentence to the end point of the
study.
22Outcome Evaluation
- Prospective What are the results?
- 91.4 male
- Mean age 29
- Sex offenders mean age 40
- What the papers say
- 2/3rds failing to complete
- Offenders dont like American style therapy
- Drop out after psychometric testing
23NOMS
- National Offender Management Service
- Set up in 2004
- End to end offender management
- Dealing with ¼ million offenders per year
- See how it works