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This paper aims to present a case study analysing the reintegration programs of Malaysian violent extremist detainees and prisoners. It explores the ongoing challenges faced by these individuals as they strive to reintegrate and assimilate into society.

Qualitative data was collected through interviews with 12 violent extremist detainees and prisoners who had successfully reintegrated into society. The life course perspective was used as the analytical framework, and data analysis was conducted using ATLAS.ti.

The study revealed common challenges faced by the participants in gaining societal acceptance, dealing with stigma and achieving economic stability. The results also highlighted the difficulties of sustaining livelihoods due to heightened vigilance in the surrounding environment.

These findings enhance the understanding of factors influencing successful reintegration of people who were involved in violent extremism into mainstream society.

Government bodies, agencies or organisations and non-governmental organisations can implement these successful factors to prevent any issues of recidivism or resentment towards society.

This research contributes unique insights based on data from individuals who have undergone successful or partial successful reintegration. Detailed academic sharing of such information from a Southeast Asian country such as Malaysia is relatively scarce, given the specific procedures required for accessing such data.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect gender has on the public perceptions of offenders with mental health issues. The authors aim to understand how offenders with mental illness are viewed by the public so future information and practices can be implemented to further educate on the topic of mental illness. Research has shown that mental health education can be a pivotal part of reducing risk and crime among the mentally ill population.

This study applies a quantitative design using vignettes. There were four scenarios, two as controls, and two experimental variables to examine how responses differed depending on gender and mental health. Twenty statements then followed each vignette and participants were asked to share how much they aligned their opinions with each statement on a five-point Likert scale. The sample was comprised of 80 participants.

The findings of this study largely support the relevant literature on the topic of gender and mental illness in offenders. Overall, the public was the least supportive of female offenders with mental illness, followed by male offenders with mental illness, then male offenders and lastly the most support was directed towards female offenders. Therefore, the present study’s initial hypotheses are also supported in that female offenders will garner a more sympathetic reaction than their male counterparts. However, if female offenders have mental health issues, they are viewed more negatively than males.

For future replication of this study, the authors consider that a larger and more gender-balanced sample size would increase the ecological validity of the findings. Despite this, the findings of this study do fall in line with the relevant literature. Therefore, suggesting perhaps that the gender of the sample does not affect the overall outcome of the results.

Education regarding mental health for the public should be implemented as research has found this effective in de-stigmatising and helping to create protective factors to reduce offending. More training is needed for professionals within the criminal justice system, including police personnel, to ensure they are better equipped to consider the needs and behaviours of mentally ill individuals. The authors suggest that mental health awareness should be taught as part of the education system in the UK to help de-stigmatise and share helpful resources. The prison system in the UK needs to be able to provide better treatment programmes for inmates with mental health issues as research shows this is the most effective form of treatment at reducing recidivism.

The social implications of this study are that it aims to understand perceptions of mental illness, gender and offending and, therefore, use the conclusions drawn to inform what is needed to improve perceptions if necessary. De-stigmatising and acknowledging mental illness can allow for better access to appropriate treatment. Facilitating reintegration back into society, and, therefore, increasing peer support which has been shown to reduce reoffending rates within the mentally ill population.

There are very few research studies looking at the impact of both gender and mental illness on how offenders are perceived. Most relevant research tends to either pick one or the other and therefore the present study is unique. In addition, most established research looks at the perception of a specific population. Whereas the present study has used a small but broad UK participant sample which is likely to be more generalisable. Finally, the results of this research have been able to both meet the aims of the study and accept the proposed hypotheses.

Reports from 2016 to 2017 suggest that approximately 870 cases of non-familial child abduction (NFA) are recorded in England and Wales per year. Yet, empirical knowledge of the victims, offenders and offence characteristics is limited in comparison to other forms of child victimisation. Furthermore, much of the available knowledge is constrained by a lack of clarity around the differences between acquaintance and stranger abductors. This systematic literature review aims to develop a comprehensive overview of acquaintance and stranger child abductions, focussing on the similarities and differences in offending behaviours.

Research databases (PsycArticles, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PsycINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, MEDLINE and ERIC) and the Grey Literature (ETHOS and EBSCO) were screened for peer-reviewed research published between 1995 and 2021. Sixteen articles met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised using a modified version of the Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist for Case Reports.

Six key areas within NFA offences and their characteristics were identified as offering potential for differentiating acquaintance and stranger abductors: victim–offender relationship, number of victims and offenders, motives, modus operandi, victim injury, sexual assault and mechanism of death (in fatal cases). The results of this review are discussed with consideration given to investigative implications, limitations and directions for future study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to systematically review the current NFA literature, from which pragmatic recommendations for practice and future academic enquiry are drawn.

Gratitude is an element of positive psychology that has been found effective in improving subjective well-being and decreasing aggression in offenders. However, there is a dearth of studies on gratitude in ex-juvenile offenders. This study aims to explore the gratitude of ex-juvenile offenders using a photovoice technique.

Photos and stories behind pictures were collected from eight ex-juvenile offenders who reside in Kupang, Indonesia.

Thematic analysis resulted in four main themes: family as an oasis of gratitude, difficulty in social reintegration, strong peer support and gratitude and spirituality.

The results of this study indicated that family, peer support and intensive spiritual activities in prisons were influential in forming a sense of gratitude for ex-juvenile offenders. Interventions need to consider these three aspects to improve gratitude and resulting well-being in ex-juvenile offenders.

This preliminary small-scale research aims to achieve an insight into drug use offenders’ rehabilitation experiences both in and out of prison, as well as considering how perceptions of the public may inhibit their successful reintegration into society.

A mixed-methods approach was used, with five semi-structured interviews conducted alongside the distribution of the Attitude towards prisoners questionnaire among the general public (n = 106) in the North-West region of England.

Participants recalled a mixture of experiences, highlighting the presence of contraband in prisons to be an inhibiting factor of successful rehabilitation. Additionally, participants expressed the need for more support when preparing for release such as confirmation of accommodation and possible employment. Questionnaires also indicated the public to perceive offenders negatively (M = 76, SD = 16.99), thus presenting a further challenge in the resettlement of drug use offenders.

Findings highlight that improving practices to decrease the presence of contraband in prisons, monitoring an individual’s use of methadone, preparing an individual for their release from prison and educating the public would reduce some of the obstacles experienced by drug use offenders.

This study outlines some of the obstacles that drug use offenders experience when attempting to end their drug use activity and criminal engagement.

This study aims to examine the scope and contribution of Forensic Clinical Psychology (FCP) advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to criminal investigations in the UK to address the gap in current knowledge and research.

The 36 FCP reports reviewed were written between 2017 and 2021. They were analysed using Toulmin’s (1958) application of pertinent arguments to the evaluation process. The potential utility of the reports was analysed in terms of the advice provided.

Most of the reports involved murder and equivocal death. The reports focused primarily on understanding the offender’s psychopathology, actions, motivation and risk to self and others using a practitioner model of case study methodology. Out of the 539 claims, grounds were provided for 99% of the claims, 91% had designated modality, 62% of the claims were potentially verifiable and 57% of the claims were supported by a warrant and/or backing. Most of the reports provided either moderate or high insight into the offence/offender (92%) and potential for new leads (64%).

The advice provided relied heavily on extensive forensic clinical and investigative experience of offenders, guided by theory and research and was often performed under considerable time pressure. Flexibility, impartiality, rigour and resilience are essential prerequisites for this type of work.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically evaluate forensic clinical psychology reports from the NCA. It shows the pragmatic, dynamic and varied nature of FCP contributions to investigations and its potential utility.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether sexual homicide offenders (SHO) who dispose of the victim’s body naked present with particular crime scene characteristics.

This study aims to answer this question through the use of a sequential logistic regression to test the individual effects of each set of crime scene variables against the manner of disposal using a sample of 662 solved cases of extrafamilial sexual homicide from an international database.

Results demonstrated that the modus operandi behaviors of sexual penetration, asphyxiation, dismemberment and overkill were significantly associated with the body being disposed of naked. In addition, removing or destroying evidence from the scene was also significantly associated with a naked victim. In contrast, the body was more likely to be dumped clothed if the contact scene was deserted and the victim was a stranger. These results suggest that SHOs who dispose of the body naked are more in line with the sadistic sexual murderer, while clothed victims are often disposed of by angry offenders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the particular manner of disposing the victim’s body naked in cases of sexual homicide.

There are limited risk assessment tools validated for use with the internet child abuse material (I/CAM) offender cohort. Developed through a multi-stage process, the purpose of this paper is to present the “Estimated Risk for Internet Child Sexual Offending” (ERICSO), a new tool for I/CAM offender assessment, including demographic, collection, nature of engagement and social domains, plus a structured professional judgement section. Validation studies remain ongoing.

This paper presents a case series analysis of six Australian men, including two Aboriginal men, convicted of I/CAM offences to pilot proposed ERICSO domains and commence validation against the short self-esteem scale, University of California Los Angles loneliness scale, internet sex screening test and the sexual violence risk-20 V2.

Participants of all ages generally reported histories of mental health diagnosis and/or treatment and substance abuse. Two participants reported prior sexual offending, one for I/CAM offences. Participants expressed sexual preferences for female child victims and were convicted of possessing thousands of I/CAM files. Two participants reported accessing I/CAM for over six and 10 years, respectively, before detection by law enforcement.

Preliminary implications indicate ERICSO higher scores are consistent with I/CAM offenders having more online sexual behaviour diversity and more areas of risk/treatment need. For example, participants with problematic self-esteem and loneliness in our data set have higher ERICSO scores. Social connectedness may be a relevant factor though definitive conclusions cannot be drawn from the small sample size.

The ERICSO presents novel assessment of factors in considering treatment targets in addressing both illegal I/CAM and problematic legal sexual behaviours.

Mothers – The Silent supporters focus on the potential role of the mother in the restorative justice (RJ) process. This chapter provides a contextual framework for the research highlighting debates pertaining to RJ and parents, especially mothers. This was made possible with a grant from the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants. The research provided a holistic understanding of social backgrounds and links between theory and the practice of RJ. The workshop provided a multi-perspective analysis of the interactions within significant relationships between mothers and sons. The author’s focus was on the role of the mother prior to the RJ process. The workshops were held in a safe space in a northern region. The mothers were from different economic and social backgrounds.

This paper aims to report on the results of a global search to identify the characteristics of successful sexual offender treatment programs, with a view to providing guidance for program development.

A keyword search was conducted of criminology and social science databases. Successful programs were selected on evaluations that used standard scientific designs.

This study identified 18 evaluations of 16 programs showing significant reductions in reconvictions. Most programs used cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), with both group and individual sessions; and many evidenced multisystemic therapy (MST) approaches involving families and/or local communities. CBT-based approaches were also common in the 20 unsuccessful programs identified in the study, although fewer MST-oriented features were in evidence. Noncustodial settings, and combined custodial-noncustodial settings, were also more prominent in the successful programs.

There is a shortage of studies focused on the specific components of successful treatment programs for sexual offenders, including for subsets of offenders, such as ethnic minority groups and women.

The findings demonstrate the need for more investment in treatment programs with strict evaluation processes. New and modified programs are likely to benefit from the application of CBT, MST and a community-based reintegration component. More research is needed on effective elements of sexual offender treatment programs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this appears to be the first study that examines features of successful sexual offender treatment programs, compared to unsuccessful programs, using a case-study approach. The findings reinforce the known value of CBT and systemic approaches as core features of programs but raise important questions about what other components are key to activating success.