The Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire–Short Form (BPAQ-SF) is a widely used self-report tool designed to assess aggression. However, evidence on its psychometric properties among Spanish-speaking incarcerated individuals remains limited. This study examines the factor structure and psychometric performance of the Spanish version of the BPAQ-SF among male and female individuals incarcerated in six Spanish prisons. The original four-factor structure (Verbal Aggression, Physical Aggression, Hostility, and Anger) showed acceptable fit according to scaled indices, but poor fit based on robust indices. A three-factor model combining Verbal Aggression and Anger improved internal consistency (α = .80, ω = .82 for the combined factor) and parsimony, although model fit issues persisted. Overall, the findings provide mixed support for the Spanish version of the BPAQ-SF. While the three-factor structure appears more psychometrically defensible, users should be aware of limitations related to item performance and model fit, particularly when relying on robust indices.
Treatment motivation and engagement impact justice system-involved individuals’ ability to benefit from rehabilitative services but are understudied in justice system-involved youth. We examined relationships between treatment motivation, service engagement, and recidivism in 116 Canadian justice system-involved youth probationers. Recidivism risk factors (criminal history, family circumstances, education, peers, substance abuse, leisure, personality/behavior, and antisocial attitudes) and a two-item measure of willingness to participate in services derived from the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) were associated with engagement but age, internalizing, and Corrections Victoria Treatment Readiness Questionnaire (CVTRQ) scores were not. When significant correlates were entered in a linear regression, only criminal history, education, and leisure significantly predicted engagement. Engagement predicted recidivism controlling for risk but did not moderate the risk-recidivism relationship. Findings suggest that service engagement is an important treatment target for justice system-involved youth. Developing a valid motivation measure for youth is a research priority.
Is state-provided legal counsel comparable to private representation? Drawing on organizational sociology and social movements theory, we argue that public defender effectiveness depends on the organizational landscape in which defense operates. Public defenders are more likely to secure favorable outcomes when they have adequate resources, when procedures strengthen defendants’ rights, and when prosecutors have flexibility in case disposition. We evaluate this argument using matching methods and case-level data from a Mexican state transitioning from an inquisitorial to an adversarial criminal justice system. We show that public defenders outperform retained counsel in preventing conviction under the adversarial system but perform worse under the inquisitorial system. Differences in convictions are concentrated in cases involving flagrante delicto detentions, a procedural area explicitly targeted by the reform. Sentencing differences are weaker and less consistent. These findings show that defense effectiveness varies across institutional contexts, contributing to comparative research on legal representation and criminal courts.
Prison staff experience physical and mental health conditions at rates exceeding those in the general population. These adverse health outcomes, alongside poor job satisfaction and burnout, contribute to high rates of absenteeism, turnover, and vacancies among carceral workforces. Yet little is known about how to reduce the occupational strains of prison work. This mixed-methods study describes an intervention, the “Contact Mentor Program,” which adapts the role of Norwegian prison officers to a U.S. prison setting, and trains and inspires prison staff to serve as supportive mentors to assigned incarcerated individuals. Drawing on questionnaire data from staff ( n = 52) and semi-structured interviews ( n = 21), the study compares the experiences of contact mentors to non-mentors and explores the program’s impact on professional identity, job satisfaction, and well-being. Participants reported improved autonomy, organizational support, and purpose. Findings suggest this model may be a promising approach to reducing stress among correctional staff.
Despite evidence of racial disparities in the broader criminal justice system, research on segregation has shown limited support. This study examines disparities in prison discipline by focusing on early decision-making stages before segregation placement. Contrary to the liberation hypothesis, race did not significantly interact with misconduct severity or type in predicting placement. However, severity strongly influenced both placement and length. Path analyses revealed indirect racial effects through charging decisions—such as aggravated charges and multiple infractions—indicating disparities originate early and compound later. When severity was included, indirect effects on placement disappeared, but disparities persisted for segregation length, suggesting Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC) individuals face longer penalties due to charging practices. Findings underscore the need for reforms targeting early decisions, including standardized reporting, oversight, cultural competency training, and alternatives to segregation. Enhancing transparency and procedural justice may further reduce inequities and improve fairness in correctional discipline.
While individual and contextual characteristics of drug use predict punishment and treatment support, research has not explored whether perceived harm and blame operate as mediators. Using a survey experiment given to a Lucid Theorem sample ( n = 844) of U.S. adults, we test whether perceptions of harm and blame assigned to people who use drugs, their friends, family, community, and society mediate the relationship between drug characteristics and drug policy preferences. Utilizing linear regression models, we find that beliefs of harm and blame predict both punishment and treatment support. However, bootstrapped mediation analysis reveals that only harm to the user is a significant mediator. Our results show that concerns about individual harm, rather than individual blame, partially mediate the relationship between drug type and policy preferences. Policymakers looking to understand public support for drug-related policies should know the public prioritizes reducing harm rather than morally blaming people who use drugs.
The present study examined the psychopathy-substance abuse nexus in a diverse Canadian sample of 420 justice-involved youth. The Psychopathy Checklist Youth: Version (PCL: YV) and a series of clinical and criminogenic substance abuse variables-assembled into a composite score that was corrected for missing indicators-were rated from court and treatment files and community recidivism was captured from criminal records. PCL: YV total, lifestyle, and antisocial facet scores showed strong convergence with clinical and criminogenic substance abuse indicators. Cox regression survival analyses demonstrated that certain indicators and the corrected composite incrementally predicted violent and general recidivism, controlling for PCL: YV total score across gender and ethnoracial groups. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses demonstrated that high psychopathy youth with medium or high substance-related concerns had steeper recidivism trajectories than low psychopathy youth with similar substance concerns. Results underscore the clinical and risk relevance of substance abuse and its intersection with juvenile psychopathy.
This study examines the role of differential reinforcement (DR)—a primary mechanism of social learning theory (SLT)—within intimate family and friendship networks and its impact on recidivism. We hypothesize that kin-based DR is more consequential than friends, and that its influence has a more significant impact on men that are more deeply embedded in the correctional system. To test this, we utilized a life history calendar approach administered to a sample of 249 formerly incarcerated men in Ohio, linked with administrative records to track recidivism over a 3-year follow-up period. Cox regression models reveal a potent conditional effect: direct and anticipated reinforcement from kin networks (though not from non-kin peers) more than tripled the hazard of recidivism among individuals with one or more prior incarcerations, providing conditional support for SLT. We suggest that reentry policies should prioritize family-focused interventions to mitigate these deep-seated social influences.
Court-involved therapy has emerged as a mechanism for connecting commercially sexually exploited youth to mental health services within juvenile justice systems, yet questions persist about how such models can center survivor autonomy, prevent retraumatization, and engage families meaningfully. This qualitative study examined survivor and multidisciplinary stakeholder perspectives on court-involved therapy for commercially sexually exploited youth in Atlanta, Georgia, where no dedicated specialty court operated at the time of data collection. Data were collected from 31 participants—adult survivors, law enforcement, clinicians, and social workers—across three mixed focus groups and three in-depth survivor interviews. Thematic analysis yielded three findings: survivor engagement through peer mentorship and survivor-led training was foundational to trust; court involvement offered access but raised concerns about coercion and retraumatization; and family involvement was critical but underleveraged. Findings underscore the need for flexible, survivor-centered approaches that distinguish between mandating attendance and mandating participation.
Drug treatment courts (DTCs) serve diverse populations with substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions. These conditions may impact recovery capital (RC) and quality of life (QoL); however, limited research has examined how patterns of substance use and mental health symptoms influence these outcomes in DTC settings. Two waves of data were used from DTC participants ( N = 165). Latent class analysis (LCA) classified participants based on substance use and mental health symptoms. Four unique classes of DTC participants emerged. These classes were then used to predict RC and QoL. Class membership was able to significantly predict QoL but not RC over time. This study is among the first to use LCA to determine DTC subgroups and predict QoL outcomes. Results further establish the variability of DTC participants’ profiles and emphasize the need for tailored treatment approaches.
This qualitative study explores the gendered dimensions of community- and family-level adversity among justice-involved young people in Northern Ireland. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with boys and girls referred to the Northern Ireland Youth Justice Agency, this research examines how gender shapes experiences of community and family deprivation, instability, and adversity, generally considered to be gender-neutral criminogenic needs. Findings reveal that while socioeconomic and family stressors affect both genders, their impacts on girls, as compared with boys, differ. The lens through which their community was viewed differed according to gender. Street violence and crime were more salient in boys’ lives, while family dysfunction appeared to impact girls more acutely. These insights underscore the need for early, gender-responsive youth offending interventions that meaningfully address relational safety and community marginalization.
This cross-national study examined the structure of oppressive attitudes among criminal justice majors in the United States and South Korea. Using survey data from 697 students across four universities in each country, eight attitudinal domains—prison rape myths, male and female rape myths, anti-incarcerated persons, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-sex work, anti-racial diversity, and anti-women’s equity—were analyzed through multivariate and cluster techniques. Results revealed consistent gender disparities and culturally patterned configurations of bias. Female students in both countries predominantly formed minimal explicit oppression clusters, while male students displayed greater polarization, with substantial proportions in high explicit oppression profiles marked by broad prejudicial endorsement. Cross-nationally, selective and single-issue clusters reflected distinct cultural and institutional norms. These findings suggest oppressive attitudes co-occur in patterned, context-specific configurations rather than as isolated beliefs, offering comparative evidence on how explicitly expressed oppressive attitudes are structured among criminal justice students and informing bias-awareness efforts in criminal justice education.
Although individuals incarcerated in jails make up around one third of the total incarcerated population, jail incarceration remains relatively understudied. Individuals frequently admitted to jail face complex challenges that increase the likelihood of their return. However, there is little research on the prevalence of jail readmissions and the role that extralegal factors play over and above legal indicators. Using 9 years of data from St. Louis County, Missouri ( N = 11,977), and Louisville, Kentucky ( N = 11,808), we estimate bivariate and negative binomial models to differentiate predictors of frequent jail readmissions. Findings demonstrate essential overlap between the sites where males had a greater likelihood of readmission than females, and prior admissions increased the likelihood of readmission. Despite these convergences, the sites diverge in terms of race and other criminal history characteristics as predictors of readmission. Our study emphasizes the importance of examining predictors of readmission across multiple locales.
Understanding fear of crime requires attention to the interplay of identity, social context, and institutional trust. This study applies the vulnerability perspective to examine fear of hate crime—specifically crimes motivated by race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and sexuality—as a distinct dimension of fear of crime during a period of heightened public awareness of identity-based violence. Using nationally collected data from the COVID-19 era, the study assesses how social and physical vulnerabilities and perceived neighborhood social cohesion shape fear of hate crime in comparison with fear of overall crime. Extending prior work that relies on identity-based proxies, this research incorporates measures of perceived social cohesion and direct experiences of hate-motivated victimization. Findings highlight both distinct and overlapping predictors of general and hate crime-specific fear, offering insight into how vulnerability and community context shape fear through partially divergent processes.
Prosecutors, as elected officials, are theoretically responsive to public opinion. Evidence suggests that messaging interventions may impact support for justice system reform. However, despite lengthy and racially disparate criminal sentences in the United States and empirical evidence demonstrating the ability of social norms messaging to shift public opinion, the impact of these interventions on attitudes toward sentencing reform has not been tested. In this paper, we test the impact of a social norms message—namely that most Californians believe the justice system to be biased against Black Americans—via a survey experiment of 2,517 Californians on their attitudes toward Second Look (SL) sentencing and Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing (PIR). Though directionally, we see causal increases in support for SL & PIR, this effect is not statistically significant overall. However, supplementary analyses suggest that exposure to this social norm significantly increased support for SL & PIR among Californian Republicans.
The Stalking Risk Profile (SRP) is a structured professional judgment guideline to help practitioners evaluate and respond to risks associated with stalking. Using a sample of 217 Australian adults referred to a community forensic mental health service, this study examined the predictive validity of SRP risk judgments made by assessing clinicians. Discrimination, classification, and prediction statistics were examined at 12-month intervals over a 4-year follow-up using police charges for stalking-related offending. Total scores were positively related to risk judgments. Moderate/high risk judgments generally showed good sensitivity, though weaker specificity. Risk judgments about stalking violence and recurrent stalking of the same victim showed moderate to strong discrimination and predictive benefits over the base rate of reoffending, with minor improvements over time. Judgments about stalking different victims or persistent stalking of the same victim were less effective, possibly due to methodological limitations of the prospective study design.
Procedural justice theory has a lengthy history of application in criminological research. Over time, the theory has been applied to police stops, arrests, court procedures, and other aspects of the criminal legal system. However, much of the extant research examines procedural justice generally among minoritized groups and fails to utilize intersectional approaches focusing on race and gender. The current study addresses this limitation by using qualitative data from 336 system-involved women in Michigan to explore White and Black women’s perceptions of procedural justice. The findings revealed that Black women have somewhat more nuanced and unsatisfactory perceptions of procedural justice, but White women’s perceptions were not overwhelmingly positive either. In addition, women in both groups felt that judges were more procedurally just than the police. Both theoretical and practical implications are presented.
Prior research highlights the importance of developmental domains-community, family, school, peer, and individual-in shaping youth problem behaviors such as delinquency, drug use, and violence. However, few instruments measuring risk and protective factors have been psychometrically evaluated in developing countries, particularly in Central America. This study examines the psychometric properties of the Instrumento de Medicion de Comportamientos (IMC), a prevention-oriented survey assessing risk and protective factors, using a sample of Honduran youth. We evaluated the IMC's internal consistency, construct validity, concurrent validity, and measurement invariance. Findings indicate the IMC demonstrates acceptable reliability and validity in measuring key risk and protective constructs in Honduras. These findings support the IMC as a tool for identifying at-risk youth, informing prevention and early intervention efforts, and extending the psychometric evaluation of youth risk and protective factor instruments to Latin America, highlighting the importance of locally developed instruments for evidence-based crime prevention and youth violence interventions.
This study examined the discrimination and calibration properties of Violence Risk Appraisal Guide-Revised (VRAG-R) scores and risk bins in a sample of 124 forensic psychiatric inpatients found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD) or Unfit to Stand Trial (UST), admitted under Saskatchewan Review Board jurisdiction during a 38-year catchment period. The VRAG-R was scored on all NCR and UST individuals from file, and recidivism data were obtained via official criminal records. The VRAG-R demonstrated strong discrimination properties for general and violent recidivism over 3-year, 5-year, and overall follow-ups. Calibration analyses revealed that VRAG-R recidivism norms tended to estimate higher rates of recidivism than actually observed. Overall, the results supported the use of the VRAG-R for psychological risk assessments with a population of persons found NCRMD; however, it should be a multi-measure process that involves other empirically validated tools.
Correctional officers (COs) in Canada experience a high prevalence of mental disorders, suicidal behaviors, and trauma exposure. However, recruits entering the Correctional Service of Canada tend to show lower prevalence than the general population, likely influenced by mandatory pre-employment mental health screening. We report self-report survey data from 792 CO recruits between 2018 and 2024, assessing mental health, suicidal behaviors, and trauma exposure before training. Recruits appeared generally mentally healthy: 7.2% screened positive for any disorder (1.6% posttraumatic stress disorder, 1.6% major depressive disorder, 1.8% GAD), and suicidal behaviors were rare (1.0% ideation, 0.2% attempts). Although most recruits reported multiple potentially traumatic events, specific high-impact trauma types, rather than cumulative trauma, were more strongly associated with positive screens. Recruits from certain occupational backgrounds showed elevated risk. Findings suggest robust baseline mental health despite trauma exposure and highlight the need for longitudinal research to understand how trauma type and preservice experiences shape mental health over time.
