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The feasibility and prevalence of reciprocal, hierarchical and paternal patterns of family aggression hypothesised by Dixon and Browne (2003) were explored within a sample of maltreating families. The psychological reports of 67 families referred to services for alleged child maltreatment that evidenced concurrent physical intimate partner violence and child maltreatment were investigated. Of these, 29 (43.3%) cases were characterised by hierarchical patterns, 28 (41.8%) by reciprocal patterns and 10 (14.9%) by paternal patterns. Significant differences in the form of child maltreatment perpetrated by mothers and fathers and parent dyads living in different patterns were found. In hierarchical sub‐patterns, fathers were significantly more likely to have been convicted for a violent and/or sexual offence than mothers and were significantly less likely to be biologically related to the child. The findings demonstrate the existence of the different patterns in a sample of families involved in the child care protection process in England and Wales, supporting the utility of a holistic approach to understanding aggression in the family.

This study aims to use pre‐treatment assessment scores to predict the drop out of 103 incarcerated male violent perpetrators undertaking a long‐term aggression programme, namely the Cognitive Self Change Programme (CSCP), in six English prisons. A hierarchy of best predictors of attrition in this sample is developed. Results found eight out of the 46 assessment variables analysed had a significant association with treatment drop out. Further to this, discriminant function analysis predicted group membership with 80% accuracy, successfully distinguishing perpetrators who dropped out of the programme from those who completed it. The findings support the use of identifying risk factors pre‐treatment to predict drop out and offer a practical way to identify group members who are likely to drop out of the CSCP in addition to identifying markers for programme improvement. The need for further research to increase our understanding of the underlying causal explanations that link specific assessment items to treatment dropout is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which risk is addressed in the risk management planning process of those convicted of sexual offending.

Data were collected from a risk assessment and management system called the Offender Assessment System (OASys), used by the National Offender Management Service, in England and Wales. The records of 216 clients were accessed and each risk management plan analysed. The study aimed to understand if first, general and sexual risk factors identified by assessors were recorded and detailed in subsequent plans; second, if specialist sexual offending risk assessment tools were used to inform risk management strategies; and third, if both a balance of control and support mechanisms were in place to tackle identified risk and needs of clients.

Inconsistencies were found in relation to practitioners transposing risks identified, into the subsequent risk management plans. Strategies were therefore deemed, inadequate as there was a significant omission of the use of specialist sexual risk assessment tools to inform and ensure risk assessment to be robust. In addition risk management plans were often overbearing in nature, as assessors tended to utilise control strategies to assist the reintegration process, in contrast to a combination of both control and support.

This sample was taken from only one probation trust in England and Wales. The findings might therefore be unique to this organisation rather than be representative of national practice. This study should therefore, be replicated in a number of other probation areas. In addition, it is important to note that this study only reviewed one electronic tool used by practitioners. Therefore, while it might appear for example that the RM2000 tool was not routinely completed; this cannot be assumed as practitioners might have adopted local custom and practice, recording RM2000 scores elsewhere.

These findings highlight the need for some understanding as to why there is a lack of consistency throughout the risk management planning process. Practitioners should receive ongoing risk management training, development and supportive supervision. In particular, practitioners require supervision that supports and develops their skills when applying RM2000 classifications to their clients’ risk management plans. Likewise initiatives which develop practitioner’s awareness and application of strengths based approaches such as the Good Lives Model should be encouraged. These will help practitioners develop plans that address both the risks while supporting their development of the strengths a client presents.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind, which examines the risk management plans of those convicted of sexual offending, completed by practitioners in England and Wales using the OASys tool.

Weapon use is recognised as a key crime concern in England and Wales but has received relatively little focused research. The purpose of this paper is to examine weapon use by sexual offenders to develop new insights relevant for a police audience. Specifically, to examine the prevalence of weapons within sexual offenders and explore the differences between weapon and non-weapon enabled offenders on a range of characteristics.

A sample of 1,618 single, stranger, solved, serious sexual assaults were provided by the Serious Crime Analysis Section of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. In all, 20 per cent of offenders were weapon enabled.

There were almost no demographic differences between weapon enabled and non-weapon enabled offenders. In terms of the offence itself, there were many significant differences between the groups in terms of precautions used, victim involvement, injury, attack behaviours, victim approach and attack location. Further multivariate analysis revealed aspects of the offence that were associated with weapon use; these are broadly discussed within themes of violence and evidence of planning.

The authors argue that an examination of weapon use is valuable in illustrating how offenders differ in their offence and provide insights for the investigation of such crime.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential biases in research designs used to assess the efficacy of sex offender treatment.

In all, 50 treatment studies (n=13,886) were examined using a random effects meta-analysis model.

Results indicated a positive effect of treatment for both sexual (OR=0.58, 95%, CI 0.45-0.74, p < 0.0001), and general recidivism (OR=0.54, 95%, CI 0.42-0.69, p < 0.0001), indicating that the likelihood of being reconvicted after treatment was around half compared to no treatment. RCTs showed no significant effect for sexual or general, recidivism. Significant effects were found for non-RCT designs (i.e. incidental cohort, completers vs non-completers designs). Assignment based on need (i.e. giving treatment to those who were high-risk) indicated a negative effect of treatment.

The results highlight the importance of considering study design when considering treatment efficacy.

The current research reports studies identified up until 2009, and examined both published, and unpublished, research originating from a variety of samples employing a random effects model. Consequently, it can be argued that the results are both original and are reflective not only of identified studies, but are also representative of a random set of observations drawn from the common population distribution (Fleiss, 1993). The results of the study suggest that what is required in future research is methodological rigour, and consistency, in the way in which researchers measure the effectiveness of sexual offender treatment.

Effective treatments for juvenile sexual offenders are needed to reduce the societal impact of sexual crimes. The purpose of this paper is to review the empirical literature on treatments for this clinical population.

The authors searched PsycInfo and MEDLINE (via PubMed) for studies that evaluated outcomes of treatments with juvenile sexual offenders.

There are a small but growing number of treatment studies (n=10) with juvenile sexual offenders, and all of these studies evaluated cognitive-behavioral therapy or multisystemic therapy for problem sexual behaviors. The results of these studies are promising, although conclusions about treatment effectiveness have been frequently limited by methodological problems.

The authors provide recommendations for treatment providers and policymakers to consider in their decisions about interventions for juvenile sexual offenders. Furthermore, the authors offer suggestions for researchers who seek to develop effective interventions targeting this clinical population.

The classification of criminal acts as violent or nonviolent should be a keystone of actuarial predictors of violent recidivism, as it affects their outcome measure and scoring of criminal history, thus influencing many decisions about sentencing, release and treatment allocation. Examination of existing actuarial and clinical violence risk assessment tools and research studies reveals considerable variation in the classifications used. This paper aims to use large samples to develop an alternative, empirically grounded classification that can be used to improve actuarial predictive scores within the offender assessment system (OASys), the tool used by the National Offender Management Service of England and Wales to assess static and dynamic risk.

Two analytical steps are implemented. First, to identify offences that frequently involve violent acts, 230,334 OASys cases are analyzed for indicators of violent content. Second, the ability of dynamic and static risk factors to predict reoffending for various offence types is investigated, analyzing 26,619 OASys cases that have official recidivism data.

The resulting empirical classification of violent offences adds public order, criminal damage, threats/harassment, robbery/aggravated burglary and weapon possession offences to the central group of homicide and assault offences. The need to assess risk of sexual recidivism separately is discussed.

This study has successfully produced an offence classification for use in a new predictor of violent recidivism. The use of empirical methods to select these offences helps to maximise predictive validity.

Sex Offenders with a Major Mental Illness (SOMMI) are doubly stigmatized, as these individuals are members of two highly marginalized social groups (Guidry and Saleh, 2004). Within each of these groups SOMMI only represent a small minority. For professionals seeking to base their practice in empirical research this has led to a significant problem since the literature related specifically to this group is both limited and hard to locate. Additionally, intensity of psychological risk factors varies as a function of psychiatric decompensation for some SOMMI making it hard to apply certain procedures that work with ordinary sexual offenders. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the relevant literature and recommendations for clinical practice that are responsive to the particular challenges posed by this unusual group of sexual offenders.

The current paper provides a review of literature on risk factors for sexual recidivism and validity of current risk tools as it pertains to SOMMI. Recommendations for risk assessment with SOMMI are provided.

The static actuarial tools appear to be useful with SOMMI. However, risk assessments measuring dynamic risk factors have poorer predictive validity. Additional factors that will need to be considered involve a possible higher recidivism rate for SOMMI and a variable relationship between major mental illness and sex offending with it sometimes predisposing, sometimes exacerbating existing risk factors, and sometimes mitigating risk.

There is a paucity of research and guidance in assessment and risk management of SOMMI. The current paper is the first to thoroughly explore the efficacy of current sex offender risk assessment tools with SOMMI and provide structured guidance for making decisions about risk and risk management needs for this challenging population.