Delinquency

Approximately one third of U.S. high-school freshmen do not earn their high-school diploma on time. For African-American and Hispanic students, this figure nearly reaches one half. The long-term economic consequences of dropping out of school for both the student and the larger community have been well documented. It has also been argued that school dropouts put themselves at a higher risk for delinquent and criminal behavior when they leave school. Although it seems plausible that dropping out might increase the potential for delinquent conduct, another view states that dropping out is simply the final event in a long, gradual process of disenchantment and disengagement from school. Dropouts show evidence of school failure and developmental problems years in advance. It has been argued, therefore, that the actual event of finally leaving school has no causal effect on criminal or delinquent behavior because it has been so long in coming. In this article, we examine the effect of leaving school early, and the reason for dropping out, on delinquent behavior with the use of panel data models from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort (NLSY97). Through an appeal to identity theory, we hypothesize that the effect of dropping out is not uniform but varies by the reason for leaving school, gender, and time. This conjecture receives only partial empirical support. Implications for future work in the area are discussed.

Despite the growing evidence that perfectionism is associated with adolescent psychological distress, few studies have investigated this relationship prospectively with measures designed for use in adolescent populations. In the present study, within a diathesis-stress framework, we investigated the extent to which perfectionism and acute life stress predict depression, anxiety and self-harm among adolescent school children (n ¼ 515) over a 6 month period (Time 1-Time 2). Socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP), self-oriented perfectionism-critical (SOP-critical) and the associated interactions with acute life stress differentially predicted anxiety, depression and self-harm. Acute life stress was an independent predictor of depression, anxiety and self-harm. SPP predicted depression and interacted with acute life stress to predict self-harm. SOP-critical and the SOP-critical by acute life stress interaction predicted anxiety. Self-oriented perfectionismstriving (SOP-striving) did not predict any of the Time 2 measures of distress. The dimensions of perfectionism are differentially associated with psychological distress. Tailored clinical interventions focused on adolescent perfectionism should offer promise in tackling psychological morbidity in adolescence.

A process known as 'family conferencing' has scarcely been embraced by juvenile justice policymakers in the USA. This creative initiative, alive in Australia, New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Canada, deals with juvenile crime on the basis that it is, first and foremost, a symptom of a breakdown of relationships. It works this way. In selected cases, determined usually by the police, a conference is convened, bringing together offenders, their extended families and advocates (if appropriate), victims and their supporters, the police and an independent facilitator. Conferences are designed to bring about a clear acknowledgment of wrongdoing by offenders, engender a sense of satisfaction to victims, elicit restitution in appropriate cases and foster a desire in offenders to rebuild links with communities of which they may be a part. Conferences attempt to heal relationships by bringing together the community of people most affected by a criminal incident. The experience of those involved with the experiment in South Australia, the first jurisdiction in the world (in 1869) to initiate a juvenile justice system separate from the adult justice system, has been most encouraging. This paper explores the notion of conferencing, its connections with 'restorative justice' paradigms, and reviews the first two years of its implementation in South Australia.

This publication combines three papers on rural and urban youth issues. "Key Issues Facing Rural Youth" (Daniel F. Perkins) notes that rural adolescents share the same concerns and exhibit the same problem behaviors as their urban counterparts. But in addition, geographic isolation presents problems unique to rural areas. A framework is proposed whereby rural communities establish a sense of belonging and connectedness among their youth through community gatherings and programs that are intergenerational. Rural schools can help by including projects that enable students to learn about their community's history, resources, needs, and entrepreneurial opportunities. "Urban Youth" (Anthony J. LaGreca) discusses factors paramount to understanding urban youth, including family life, education, employment, health, suicide, sexual behavior, delinquency, gangs, guns, and substance abuse. It notes that negative generalizations ignore the fact that urban youth can be highly resilient. Still, there is a point at which stress factors can cause even the most resilient of young people to break down emotionally or socially. Young people face many social and psychological stresses, yet our society is still reluctant to place resources into school and community mental health services. "Annotated Bibliography: Youth Issues," compiled by Ronald L. Mullis, offers 104 publications dealing with youth issues such as careers, crime, culture, education, family relations, health peers, risk, teen pregnancy, technology, and other miscellaneous topics. (Contains 75 references.) (TD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

To determine the comparative levels of violent offending and victimization among regular methamphetamine and heroin users. Design Cross-sectional Setting Sydney, Australia. Participants A total of 400 regular methamphetamine (METH) and heroin (HER) users (118 methamphetamine users: METH; 161 regular heroin users: HER; 121 regular users of both: BOTH). Findings Eighty-two per cent reported a life-time history of committing violent crime, 41% in the past 12 months. There were no group differences in life-time violence, but the METH group were significantly more likely than the HER group to have committed violence in the past 12 months (odds ratio 1.94). Nearly all (95%) reported that they had been a victim of violent crime, 46% in the preceding 12 months, with no group differences. Those who had committed a violent crime in the past 12 months were 13.23 times more likely to have been a victim in that period. The majority believed it unlikely that they would be a victim of (78%), or commit (87%), a violent crime in the next 12 months. Conclusions Regular methamphetamine use appears to be associated with an increased risk of violent offending, but not victimization, compared with heroin use.

In this article, homicides in France are examined and framed within an international context. Homicide, given its association with other forms of criminality and delinquency, is an excellent index to employ in examining rates of increase in violent acts in France. Homicides in France often occur in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, minors are infrequently implicated in homicides. Several factors are proposed to explain the relatively low rate of homicides in France. Finally, France's penal response to homicide is examined in terms of its potential braking effect on the rate of homicides committed. Accounting for the overall pattern of delinquency and criminality within an international context, it could be hypothesized that in France, relative to other nations, forms of violent delinquency have taken the place of homicidal acts.

This article explores the plausibility of the conflicting theoretical assumptions underlying the main criminological perspectives on juvenile delinquents, their peer relations and social skills: the social ability model, represented by Sutherland's theory of differential associations, and the social disability model, represented by Hirschi's control theory. It does so by applying the principles associated with Granovetter's theory of strong and weak ties, drawing out its theoretical implications for the criminological theories and deriving a number of hypotheses. The article uses "strategic research materials" in the form of a data set strongly biased towards the social disability model and containing information on co-offending relations among a population (N = 580) of juveniles in a Swedish town during a three-year period. Results from cross-sectional empirical analyses using, among other things, the Quadratic Assignment Procedure, clearly support the social ability model. The robustness of the initial analyses is checked through longitudinal analyses applying actor-oriented statistical models for network evolution. The article's implications for criminological, as well as multidisciplinary, research are discussed.

The general aim of this study is to analyze diverse aspects relating to the use of coping strategies among prison inmates. The specific objectives are (a) to analyze which type of coping strategies predominate among prisoners, considering both the focus and the method; (b) to relate the use of coping strategies with variables related to the prison environment: time spent in prison, previous convictions (first-time vs. repeat offenders) and custodial status (remand vs. convicted inmates); (c) to relate the coping strategies with the appraisal of the stressing situation previously described by the prisoners; and (d) to relate the cognitive level to the strategies used. The sample is composed of 107 males between 18 and 25 years of age in the Centre Penitenciari de Joves de Barcelona (Spain). The coping strategies were analyzed by means of the Coping Responses Inventory Adult Form (CRI-Adult; Moos, R.H. (1993). Coping Responses Inventory. CRI-Adult Form. Manual. Psychological Assessment, Resources, Inc., Odessa, FL.). The data indicate that the predominant strategies are those of cognitive approach. Likewise, it was found that there was a certain relationship between the appraisal of the problem described and the strategies used. The variables "time spent in prison" and "previous convictions" influenced the use of specific coping strategies. No connection between coping strategies and the intellectual level was found.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among incarcerated juveniles in Mississippi was examined. A total of 482 adolescents completed a diagnostic questionnaire and a subset (N = 317) was assessed with face-to-face semi-structured interview. Most of the study participants met criteria for one mental disorder, 71–85% depending on assessment method, one-third have co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. Gender and placement site differences in rates of some psychiatric disorders were also noted. Routine mental health screening should be performed on all juveniles placed in secure detention facilities to identify those who need treatment services.

In this chapter, we argue for a model of school-based prevention of AIDS that departs sharply from most current school-based prevention efforts. Our model recognizes the increasingly pivotal role that schools play in children's social and moral development. Research and theory reviewed below suggest that experiences of belonging, autonomy, and competence are critical to children's healthy social development, and to their resistance to a variety of problem behaviors at adolescence, including drug abuse, unprotected sexual activity, and other risk factors for AIDS. Can schools fill the void left by the decline of traditional informal sources of socialization, including extended families, cohesive neighborhoods, and local religious organizations ? This chapter explores how children develop-or fail to develop-bonds to parents, peer groups, schools, and other socializing agents, and the implications of these bonds for prevention of health-compromising behavior, expanding on the model we have set forth elsewhere (Schaps and Battistich, in press).

(SDM) and social control theory in delinquency. In particular, this study examines one major aspect of the SDM, social control theory, through an empirical examination of a large (self-report) data set. Results of this study show that attachment and commitment to parents, school, and peers is associated with delinquency for both boys and girls. In terms of gender, parental attachment and commitment play a stronger role in female delinquency, while alienation plays a stronger role in male delinquency.

It reveals that the community policing activities of private commercial banks include loans customer appraisal, collateralized lending, giving creditors reminder notes, credit tracking, developing practical lending and credit protection. This study further shows that the major factors of credit crime are the incorrect choosing of a loan customer, the lack of follow-up, unhealthy banking competitiveness, the lack of a thorough examination of project feasibility, higher interest costs, funding/over funding, inadequate financial circumstances, and insightful asymmetry. This study also showed that the key tactics for enhancing loans can be strict adherence to loan regulation, visitor visits after loan disbursement, sufficient security assessment, regular/temporary distributors, training and advice given to loan customers, loans provided for companies not against conspiracy facilities, post-loan services, lower rate setting and appropriate paperwork before the disbursement. Data are collected through questionnaires in this study. In addition, data has been evaluated for short SPSS using the tools known as Predictive Kit for Social Science. This questionnaire is circulated to 79 bank borrower loans. This study finds that the existence of businesses owned by investor is a factor affecting the refund of loans.

ARLY EDUCATIONAL INTERVENtions during the preschool years are widely touted as an effective way to prevent learning difficulties and to promote healthy development. Preschool programs are central to many human service reforms. State and local expenditures for preschool exceed $15 billion annually, and they are expected to continue to increase. 1 Advances in the neuroscience of brain development have further accelerated interest and investments in the early years of life. 2,3 The main attraction of early childhood programs is their potential for prevention and cost-effectiveness. 4,5 In the past 2 decades, many studies have demonstrated the positive effects of participation in early intervention for school readiness, health status, academic achievement, reduced need for grade retention, and special education services. 6-8 Evidence is emerging for delinquency prevention and higher educational attainment. 9-11 Yet several limitations remain that reduce confidence in the implications of findings for policy making. First, most evidence for the link between preschool participation and its Author Affiliations are listed at the end of this article.

Purpose: Much of the research on peer influence has examined the relationship between peer associations and delinquency. Relatively little empirical research has addressed the effects of delinquent behavior on peer intimacy and time spent with peers. Our research attempts to fill these gaps in the literature as we hypothesize that, net of peer delinquency, delinquents spend more time with their peers but are less closely attached to their peers.

Methods: Using data from two waves of the National Youth Survey (NYS), we present two sets of regression models to account for selection bias resulting from whether respondents reported having friends. To assess the stability of our findings, we supplement our presented findings with extensive use of alternate estimation strategies.

Results: Conclusions regarding our hypotheses do not vary by estimation strategy. Delinquents spend more time with their peers, but delinquents and non-delinquents do not report differences in closeness to their peers.

Conclusions: Given our control variables, our finding introduces complexity in the causal priority between time spent with peers and delinquency. Prior delinquency may be a predictor of more time with peers, but partly as an avenue for opportunities for crime, not for the sake of friendship.

Fifty-five families of chronically offending delinquents were randomly assigned to parent-training treatment or to service traditionally provided by the juvenile court and community. The families in the parent-training group received an average of 44.8 hours of professional contact (23.3 hours of which were phone contacts), and each control group family received treatment estimated at more than 50 hours on the average. Comparisons of police contact data at baseline and subsequent years for the two groups showed that subjects in both groups demonstrated reduced rates of offending during the followup years. The finding most relevant was significant treatment-by-time effect for offense rates, with most of this effect accounted for by a greater reduction in serious crimes for the experimental group during the treatment year, and a similar reduction of the community control group occurring in the first of three followup years. These early decrements in offense rates persisted during followup for both groups. Throughout the study, boys in the experimental group spent significantly less time in institutional settings than did boys in the control group. Parent training had a significant impact, but the reduction in offending was produced at very high emotional cost to staff.

This article describes a randomized study to determine the effectiveness of a reentry modified therapeutic community (RMTC) for offenders with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders (co-occurring disorders or COD). Men with COD, approved for community corrections placement postrelease, were recruited from nine Colorado prisons and stratified according to the type of treatment received while incarcerated (i.e., a prison modified therapeutic community [MTC] program or standard care). When released, each offender was randomly assigned either to the experimental RMTC (E-RMTC) condition (n = 71) or to the control parole supervision and case management (PSCM) condition (n = 56). An intent-to-treat analysis 12 months postprison release showed that the E-RMTC participants were significantly less likely to be reincarcerated (19% vs. 38%), with the greatest reduction in recidivism found for participants who received MTC treatment in both settings. These findings support the RMTC as a stand-alone intervention and provide initial evidence for integrated MTC programs in prison and in aftercare for offenders with COD.

The meltdown in residential real-estate prices that commenced in 2006 resulted in unprecedented mortgage delinquency rates. Until mid-2009, lenders and servicers pursued their own individual loss mitigation practices without being significantly influenced by government intervention. Using a unique dataset that precisely identifies loss mitigation actions, we study these methods-liquidation, repayment plans, loan modification, and refinancingand analyze their effectiveness. We show that the majority of delinquent mortgages do not enter any loss mitigation program or become a part of foreclosure proceedings within 6 months of becoming distressed. We also find that it takes longer to complete foreclosures over time, potentially due to congestion. We further document large heterogeneity in practices across servicers, which is not accounted for by differences in borrower population. Consistent with the idea that securitization induces agency conflicts, we confirm that the likelihood of modification of securitized loans is up to 70% lower relative to portfolio loans. Finally, we find evidence that affordability (as opposed to strategic default due to negative equity) is the prime reason for redefault following modifications. While modification terms are more favorable for weaker borrowers, greater reductions in mortgage payments and/or interest rates are associated with lower redefault rates. Our regression estimates suggest that a 1 percentage point decline in mortgage interest rate is associated with a nearly 4 percentage point decline in default probability. This finding is consistent with the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) focus on improving mortgage affordability. § Office of the Comptroller of the Currency 2 delinquent loan undergoing modification, the dataset contains information on specific changes in original loan terms, reduction in interest rate, amount of principal deferred or forgiven, extension of the repayment period, etc. To our knowledge, this is the only comprehensive data source on loss mitigation efforts and mortgage performance.

Les criminologues ont tendance à croire que les amis adoptent des comportements délinquants relativement similaires. Toutefois, on ne comprend pas bien la raison de cette similarité. On ne sait pas si elle provient d'une sélection ou d'un processus d'influence. Dans l'article, on explore ce sujet à l'aide de données longitudinales sur les réseaux d'amitiés entre étudiants et les comportements délinquants observés dans seize écoles secondaires hollandaises (n ¼ 859). Aux fins d'analyse, on s'est servi de SIENA, une technique permettant l'analyse simultanée de la dynamique des réseaux et des comportements. Selon une méta-analyse, l'influence est un processus général qui ne varie pas d'une école à l'autre, tandis que la sélection a joué un rôle dans seulement 4 des 16 écoles.

The relationship between poverty and juvenile involvement in delinquency remains central to the study of adolescent development, but firm conclusions on this relationship have been elusive. The purpose of this study is to address an important limitation of prior research that often has been overlooked. This involves the standard practice of examining the poverty-delinquency relationship with an exclusive focus on the family's level of poverty. This study considers that the effects of family poverty on delinquency may significantly depend upon the level of poverty in the community in which the family lives. Specifically, drawing from a number of poverty-oriented theories of delinquency, we examine the hypothesis that community poverty amplifies the effects of family poverty, such that family poverty's effect becomes greater when community poverty also is high. Using data from a national sample of adolescents that are supplemented with U.S. census data, we find partial support for the idea that family poverty is consequential for delinquency, and that this is especially true for poor families that also live in poor communities.

This study examines the effectiveness of an evidence-based practice, multisystemic therapy (MST), conducted in a real-world mental health setting with juvenile justice involved youth and their families. Importantly, this is the first randomized clinical trial of MST with juvenile offenders in the United States conducted without direct oversight by the model developers. This study reports outcomes achieved for 93 youth randomly assigned to MST or treatment as usual (TAU) services through 18-month follow-up posttreatment for offense data and 6-month follow-up posttreatment for ratings of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS). Outcomes include significant reduction in rearrest and improvement in 4 areas of functioning measured by the CAFAS for youth who received MST. Implications for delivery of empirically supported treatments in real-world settings are discussed.

Prior research on the monetary costs of criminal careers has neglected to focus on homicide offenders and tended to minimize the public costs associated with crime. Drawing on expanded monetization estimates produced by Cohen and Piquero, this study assessed the monetary costs for five crimes (murder, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and burglary) imposed by a sample of (n ¼ 654) convicted and incarcerated murderers. The average cost per murder exceeded $17.25 million and the average murderer in the current sample posed costs approaching $24 million. The most violent and prolific offenders singly produced costs greater than $150-160 million in terms of victim costs, criminal justice costs, lost offender productivity, and public willingness-to-pay costs.

All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 13 12 11 10 This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgement on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

This paper aims to explore relationship between childhood maltreatment histories and denial of male adolescent offenders who are imprisoned for violent criminal behaviors. The study group consists of 235 male adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 in stanbul Bayrampa a H Type Prison affiliated to the Ministry of Justice. According to the results, one hundred and thirty-seven children have child abuse and neglect (CAN) histories and there is no significant relationship between violent criminal behavior and being exposed to CAN. However, responses of adolescents indicate that they tend to deny CAN histories when being asked direct questions regarding violence compared to indirect questions. Additionally, the results of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ)'s Minimization/Denial subscale show that 71% of the study group has sufficient scores for possible underreporting of maltreatment. This study can provide guidance to clinicians, who are going to conduct a study on adolescents with maltreatment histories, regarding possible tendency of denial.

The lack of adequate, prompt and comprehensive post-institutional care of juvenile perpetrators of criminal offences after the execution of custodial educational measures or juvenile prison sentence is a serious obstacle for the accomplishment of their essential goal-re-education of juveniles and prevention of their recidivism. Therefore, the authors of this paper analyse legal provisions that regulate the imposing and enforcement of custodial educational measures and juvenile prison sentence as well as those that are relevant to the application of post-institutional care in the Republic of Serbia. Moreover, current state in our country in this field is presented from the standpoint of experts working with juveniles who have left institutions for the enforcement of custodial sanctions. The examples of successful social reintegration of juveniles who have been included in post-institutional care but also numerous practical problems regarding post-institutional care of juveniles are also highlighted. Finally, the steps that need to be made at normative and practical level in order to facilitate the application of postinstitutional treatment of juveniles are suggested.

This article introduces a new SAS procedure written by the authors that analyzes longitudinal data (developmental trajectories) by fitting a mixture model. The TRAJ procedure fits semiparametric (discrete) mixtures of censored normal, Poisson, zero-inflated Poisson, and Bernoulli distributions to longitudinal data. Applications to psychometric scale data, offense counts, and a dichotomous prevalence measure in violence research are illustrated. In addition, the use of the Bayesian information criterion to address the problem of model selection, including the estimation of the number of components in the mixture, is demonstrated. demonstrates a new SAS procedure, called TRAJ, developed by the authors for estimating developmental trajectories. The procedure is based on a semiparametric, group-based modeling strategy. Technically, the model is a mixture of probability distributions that are suitably specified to describe the data to be analyzed. The approach is intended to complement two well-established methods for analyzing developmental trajectories-hierarchical modeling Raudenbush 1987, 1992; and latent growth curve modeling . In hierarchical modeling, individual variation in developmental trajectories, which are commonly called growth curves, are captured by a random coefficients modeling strategy.

Testosterone (T) has been found to have a stimulating effect on aggressive behavior in a wide range of vertebrate species. There is also some evidence of a positive relationship in humans, albeit less consistently. In the present study we investigated the relationship between T and aggression, dominance and delinquency over time, covering a period from early adolescence to adulthood. From a large population-based sample (n = 1.161) a subgroup of 96 boys was selected whose behavior had been assessed repeatedly by different informants from age 12 to 21 years, and who had provided multiple T samples over these years of assessment. On the whole, a decrease in aggressive and delinquent behavior was observed in a period in which T rises dramatically. Boys who developed a criminal record, had higher T levels at age 16. In addition, positive associations were observed between T and proactive and reactive aggression and self-reported delinquent behavior. Over the pubertal years different forms of aggressive and delinquent behavior were positively related to T, which may indicate that specific positive links are dependent on the social setting in which this relationship is assessed.

Latent class analysis was conducted on the psychosocial problems experienced by truant youths. Data were obtained from baseline interviews completed on 131 youths and their parents/guardians involved in a NIDA-funded, Brief Intervention Project. Results identified two classes of youths: Class 1(n=9) -youths with low levels of delinquency, mental health and substance abuse issues; and Class 2(n=37) -youths with high levels of these problems. Comparison of these two classes on their urine analysis test results and parent/guardian reports of traumatic events found significant (p<.05) differences between them that were consistent with their problem group classification. Our results have important implications for research and practice.

Self-control is an important concept in the recent criminological theory with consistent empirical support as a predictor of criminality. Although the empirical studies consistently supported the self-control-criminality relation as proposed by the general theory of crime (GTC), there is a developing body of literature concerning the formation of self-control. Testing the propositions of the GTC on the formation of self-control, criminological theory literature as well as other disciplines provided several important insights regarding how self-control is generated. This paper systematically reviews the findings of the studies from several fields (n = 44) and provides an overview of their findings. In conclusion, this review process indicated that the formation of self-control is far more complex than the propositions of the GTC. In addition to the parental socialization processes as discussed by the GTC, several studies indicated that there are other factors, such as social context, education process, biological and neurological factors, affecting the generation of self-control. Other disciplines, along with criminology, contributed significantly to direct future research on this concept and provided important guidelines for public policy makers as discussed within this study.

This study examines gender similarities and differences in background characteristics, the effectiveness of treatment, and the predictors of post-release outcomes among incarcerated drug-using offenders. The sample of 1,842 male and 473 female treatment and comparison subjects came from a multi-site evaluation of prison-based substance abuse treatment programs. Three-year follow-up data for recidivism and post-release drug use were analyzed using survival analysis methods. Despite the greater number of life problems among women than men, women had lower three-year recidivism rates and rates of post-release drug use than did men. For both men and women, treated subjects had longer survival times than those who were not treated. There were both similarities and differences with respect to gender and the other predictors of the two post-release outcomes. Differences in background characteristics and in factors related to post-release outcomes for men and women suggest the plausibility of gender-specific paths in the recovery process.

A sample of 46 men was evaluated with the DAPP (Questionnaire of Domestic Aggressor Psychological Profile). All were inmates convicted for various degrees of violence against their wives in different prisons. The sample was divided into three groups: homicides without previous violence against their wives (H) (n=11), homicides with previous violence (VH) (n=9) and domestic batterers without previous homicide attempts against their partners (B) (n=26). The aim of the study was to analyze the possible existence of three different kinds of profiles and more specifically if it&#39;s possible to obtain an independent profile for domestic homicides with previous episodes of violence against their wives. The results neither confirm the hypothesis as whole nor for the violent homicides. However, differences between groups were obtained in the admission and description of the facts, in the risk of future violence, in some sociodemographical characteristics (i.e., level of education, social s...

Murderers pleading not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) are thought to have brain dysfunction, but there have been no previous studies reporting direct measures of both cortical and subcortical brain functioning in this specific group. Positron emission tomography brain imaging using a continuous performance challenge task was conducted on 41 murderer's pleading not guilty by reason of insanity and 41 age-and sex-matched controls. Murderer's were characterized by reduced glucose metabolism in the prefrontal cortex, superior parietal gyrus, left angular gyrus, and the corpus callosum, while abnormal asymmetries of activity (left hemisphere lower than right) were also found in the amygdala, thalamus, and medial temporal lobe. These preliminary ftndings provide initial indications of a network of abnormal cortical and subcortical brain processes that may predispose to violence in murderer's pleading NGRI.

The literature on profiling homicide offenders was examined with regard to its underlying assumptions of offender consistency and specificity. While only moderate evidence for the behavioral consistency hypothesis was found, research did support the hypothesis of stable relationships between offense behaviors and offender characteristics (specificity hypothesis). When considering the specificity assumption, special attention has been given to the underlying concepts relating offense and offender characteristics. These underlying concepts were compared with offender profiling theories and a new model was proposed that can account for the current criticisms on offender profiling. This new model of offense pathways provides an overview of the psychological processes the offender experienced during his or her offense, emphasizes the importance of a contextualized perspective, and is consistent with the view that the homicide offense is a process that develops over time. The authors conclude that in order to derive offender profiles, offense pathways in homicide offenders should be investigated as a collection of underlying psychological concepts between offense and offender characteristics.

This study reviews several empirical researches which highlight the effect of post-divorce parental conflict as one of the most important factors on adolescents' delinquency in divorced families. Research consistently shows that parental conflict affects parental relationship and this poor parental quality may transfer into poor parent-child relationship that may negatively influence adolescent functions and behaviors. Research showed that adolescents who are exposed to post-divorce parental conflict are at increased risk for high level of delinquency. Positive associations between parental conflict and adolescent delinquency have been accounted for by parental rejection or withdrawal, parental hostility toward adolescents, lack of parental warmth, and corporal punishment and parent-adolescent conflict.