Search results

This study examines the cost-effectiveness of reintegrating ex-combatants from armed groups in Colombia. After an ethnographic exploration of the challenges of reintegration that ex-combatants face, I evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the reintegration program operated by the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (Agencia para la Reincorporación y la Normalización, ARN), the government agency that handles the reintegration of ex-combatants from all armed groups in Colombia. I analyze the agency's approaches (past, current, and proposed) toward reintegrating ex-combatants from various armed groups, comparing the financial costs against outcomes. The ARN has been successful at achieving two of its primary goals: minimizing recidivism and maximizing employment of ex-combatants. Only 10% of ARN program participants rejoin criminal groups and 93% find employment across both the formal and informal sectors (informal employment is widespread in Colombia and Latin America). The ARN has been unsuccessful at providing adequate security for ex-combatants. Approximately 6% of ex-combatants enrolled in the ARN program have been murdered since 2001: approximately 3,000 program participants have been assassinated. Next, I evaluate the cost-effectiveness of both the ARN's overall program and its outcome across different regions and demographics of the participant population. Finally, I suggest ways that other countries facing the challenge of reintegrating populations of ex-combatants can learn from the Colombian experience, as well as ways that Colombia can improve its own reintegration cost-effectiveness.

This paper aims to review the available evidence on the role of stable accommodation in reducing the risk of recidivism. It seeks to answer questions about the nature and extent of such a role, whether stable accommodation on its own plays a role or as part of an overall programme, and what the implications arising from the current evidence are for policy makers and practitioners.

The research strategy consisted of a number of steps. First, existing systematic reviews in the field were reviewed to identity relevant evidence. Following this, a standard search of the literature was undertaken to identity potential research for further consideration. Articles and books identified were subject to a three part test to determine relevance and robustness of method.

The paper suggests that the evidence base is less than clear about the role of stable accommodation in reducing risk of recidivism. The extant literature can be classified as two types; the first utilises robust methods but fails to single out accommodation as a single intervention. The second often focuses on stable accommodation but fails to use Randomised Controlled Trial or quasi‐experimental methods.

Taken as a whole, it is clear that stable accommodation has a potential role in programmes aimed at reducing recidivism. The nature of that role, the causal mechanisms underlying that role and the methods used to increase stability of accommodation are not clear from the literature.

The paper provides a means of classifying the extant literature and assesses this literature in terms of its methodological robustness.

The purpose of this paper is to gain understanding about the effectiveness of a forensic peer support program’s impact on reducing criminal recidivism. People with histories of mental illness returning to the community following incarceration face tremendous challenges in jails and prisons and in successful reentry to community. Transitioning from jails and prisons is fraught with additional challenges such as reconnecting or connecting with mental health and substance abuse treatment, finding adequate housing, finding employment, reuniting with family and friends, etc. Unfortunately, recidivism remains high, principally because of these challenges. Many state and local authorities have supported the development of the forensic peer specialist.

Kaplan–Meier survival analyses were conducted to examine time to re-incarceration.

The population served was determined to be a particularly high risk of re-incarceration population, when released from prison. All had a mental illness diagnosis, with 80 percent diagnosed with at least one serious mental illness, and more than 50 percent had three or more anterior incarcerations. Utilizing Kaplan–Meyer survival analysis, the chance of re-incarceration for participants after one year was of 21.7 percent. Surprisingly, in the first year after release from prison, participants did much better than those in the general US prison population when in terms of re-incarceration rates (21.7 percent vs 43.4 percent).

While preliminary findings of this approach, this study reaffirms the idea that forensic peer support programs are beneficial in reducing recidivism rates for people diagnosed with a mental illness coming out of prison, offering individuals supports to maintain their lives in the community.

In intervening to prevent recidivism by adult firesetters, there is a dearth of standardised interventions and relatedly of controlled outcome evaluations. Although education is a common firesetter intervention, it is unclear if this changes behaviour of adults; a research situation the current study aimed to address.

The rate of actual fire recidivism of participants of a standardised educational programme was compared using Cooke’s (1989) equation to expected rates based on the firesetting history of 93 referrals.

Results indicated a significant large effect for the difference between the frequencies of expected and actual firesetting re-offences.

Limitations of the one-group pretest–posttest design are discussed with respect to potential confounds.

This paper adds to the literature on adult firesetter interventions and lends support to the use of fire education to prevent fire recidivism. It provides the first empirically validated example of a structured education programme for adult firesetters. Of interest to services piloting new intervention programmes, it reports an operationally efficient methodology for preliminary evaluation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported outcome study of a fire safety education programme for adults. The methodology adopted represents a means of preliminary evaluation in safety-critical areas where traditional evaluation designs are infeasible.

The legal system’s use of risk assessment has grown exponentially over the past several decades. Empirically validated risk measures are commonly implemented in parole, bail, civil commitment, and presentence proceedings. Despite their growing popularity, both policy-makers and legal scholars question their moral and legal acceptability, particularly in presentence proceedings. The purpose of this paper is to assess the current role of risk assessment in sentencing through an examination of the instrument currently under construction in the state of Pennsylvania.

Drawing on the current state of the literature, this paper evaluates the current use of risk assessment in criminal sentencing and discusses its consequences, both positive and negative.

Four areas for improvement in the use of risk assessment in sentencing were identified. Recommendations for change are proposed.

While the use of risk assessment within the legal system has significantly increased over the past several decades, the incorporation of risk assessment in presentence proceedings is a relatively new practice. This paper provides readers with insight on the appropriateness of using risk assessment in this context and provides suggestions for reducing ethical concerns. Recommendations for increasing the validity and clinical utility of these instruments are also discussed.

Although the literature on the use of risk assessment in legal proceedings is dense, relatively little is written about their use in criminal sentencing. This paper introduces readers to this concept by examining a risk measure proposed for use in the state of Pennsylvania’s presentence proceedings. The authors discuss concerns and propose recommendations for the future use of risk assessment in this setting.

In the year 2001, the Risk Assessment Pilot Program was implemented in Argentina with the aims of establishing a systematic manner of assessing risk for violent recidivism in conditional release candidates and contributing to the design of intervention programs that help to reduce the criminal recidivism rate. The baseline assessment showed that conditional release candidates had a high-risk profile: 72.5% had severe or moderate substance abuse problems; 62% had failed in previous probation, conditional release or discharge from a mental institution; 85% had serious or moderate employment problems before incarceration. Individuals who were substance abusers were incorporated to the Drug Abuse Biochemical Control Program. Variations in dynamic factors were assessed with conditionally released subjects. Some encouraging results were obtained through December 2003 and their initial impact on judicial and penitentiary institutions is already seen.

Studies evaluating the external validity of theoretically informed (risk-need-responsivity [RNR]) cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs have not systematically assessed antisocial personality traits as a source of variability in outcomes. The purpose of this brief report is to examine antisocial traits as a potential source of variability in outcomes.

Using longitudinal, program-evaluation data (a sample of incarcerated men who were exposed to RNR-informed CBT), the authors examined how antisocial personality traits, attitudes toward treatment and dosage impacted treatment outcomes. A linear regression assessed the relationship between antisocial personality traits and attitudes toward treatment. A latent profile analysis identified participants with elevated antisocial traits and negative attitudes toward treatment. Treatment dosage groups (0, 5, 10 and 15 weeks) were used to assess treatment response per pro-criminal attitudes, skills and rates of recidivism.

Antisocial traits predicted negative attitudes toward treatment. Elevated antisocial traits and negative treatment attitudes predicted less change in criminal attitudes among those who completed 15 weeks of treatment; higher dosage did not significantly improve rates of recidivism. Variable-centered post hoc analyses largely corroborated these findings. These results suggest RNR-informed CBT may need to be modified for justice-involved persons with elevated antisocial traits.

Few studies have empirically examined the sources of variability in treatment effects for justice-involved persons with antisocial personality traits. This brief report provides a structured examination of factors that may impact treatment outcomes in this population, and therefore aims to inform future research on the effectiveness of empirically supported interventions for people in the legal system.

Adolescents with harmful sexual behaviors (AHSB) who drop out of treatment are more likely to continue offending than are those who complete treatment; therefore, it is important to identify factors that heighten the risk of dropout, so they can be detected early. The purpose of this paper is to present the predictors of treatment dropout derived from a community sample of AHSB in New Zealand.

Pretreatment data on 100 males (aged 12–16) in community-based treatment for harmful sexual behavior were analyzed. Data on 50 adolescents who dropped out were matched by age and ethnicity to 50 adolescents who completed treatment. Pretreatment variables were identified using the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism. The degree to which these variables influenced treatment dropout was tested using logistic regression.

Compared to those who completed treatment, adolescents who dropped out were more likely to have a prior history of personal victimization, to deny or minimize their behavior, to have been mandated to attend treatment and to have engaged in noncontact offences.

Screening for a prior history of personal victimization, denial or minimization, mandated treatment and noncontact offences may facilitate the prediction of dropout risk more confidently. Addressing these pretreatment risk variables has the potential to improve treatment completion rates.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to highlight treatment dropout predictors in a New Zealand community sample.

Risk assessment studies involving recidivism in sex offenders with intellectual disabilities (SOIDs) continue to be scarce, limited and producing mixed results. This study aims (to test the ability ...) to test the ability of one such instrument (the Static-99R) to predict intramural sexual and violent incidents involving members of this group.

The Static-99R was prospectively scored for 38 SOIDs. Occurrences of any violent or sexual incident and/or illegal sexual behaviour were recorded during a minimum period of six months. Predictive accuracy was analysed using several performance indicators.

The Static-99R significantly predicted sexual incidents (area under the curve = 0.70) but failed to predict violent and illegal sexual incidents. Regarding illegal sexual incidents, the instrument was better at detecting low-risk individuals than high-risk offenders.

Risk assessment studies, both in offenders with and without an intellectual disability (ID), rarely use multiple accuracy estimates. The current study used both discrimination and calibration indicators to evaluate the ability of the Static-99R to detect low- and high-risk offenders.