Forensic Psychology Offenders

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Forensic Psychology - Offenders

• Charlotte Bilby, Lecturer in Forensic Psychology
• Course Convenor for Assessment and Treatment of
  Sex Offenders
• Overheads on the course website

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Lecture outline

• Who are forensic psychologists?
• What do we do? Task
• History of forensic psychology
• Treating offenders in England and Wales today

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Who is this woman?

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Most of us dont do this
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or this
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What 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

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What 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)

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The definition we like is

• any application of psychological knowledge or
  methods to a task faced by the legal system.
• Wrightsman (2001, p.2)

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Forensic psychology includes

• Applied
• Police Psychology
• Investigative
• Clinical
• Prison
• Linguistic
• Howitt, 2002

• Academic
• Biological
• Developmental
• Cognitive
• Social

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The history of forensic psychology

• Linked to criminology and sociology
• 1700s Beccaria - punishment
• 19th C Lombroso biology
• Wundt and Munsterberg
• 1970s onwards

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My research

• National evaluation of Offending Behaviour
  Pathfinder Programmes
• Systematic reviews of psychological treatments
  for adult and juvenile sex offenders
• Evidence based policies
• Community penalties

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Pathfinder 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

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Offending 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

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Offending 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

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Aggression 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

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Aggression 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

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ART Process Evaluations Findings

• 65 75 percent completion rate
• Suspension
• Shift patterns
• Selection of offenders initially a problem
• Only 60 percent viewed as appropriate

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What 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

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How 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

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Descriptive 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.
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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.
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Outcome 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

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NOMS

• National Offender Management Service
• Set up in 2004
• End to end offender management
• Dealing with ¼ million offenders per year
• See how it works