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CRIMINOLOGY AND FORENSIC
PSYCHOLOGY
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EVA MARÍA JIMÉNEZ GONZÁLEZ
JOSE LUIS ALBA ROBLES
COORDINATORS
COVER ILLUSTRATION
YOLANDA RODRÍGUEZ
PSYCHOLOGY
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COORDINATORS
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PSYCHOLOGY
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COORDINATOORS
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CONTRIBUTORS
VITOR MIGUEL SILVA

ASSOCIAÇAO PORTUGUESA DE CRIMINOLOGIA
(PORTUGAL)
MARÍA JESÚS LÓPEZ LATORRE

PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT, VALENCIA UNIVERSITY
(SPAIN)
KATIE OWENS
NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
(USA)
GEORGIA ZARA
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF TURIN
(ITALY)
DAVID P. FARRINGTON
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY AND LEVERHULME TRUST EMERITUS FELLOW,INSTITUTE OF
CRIMINOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY
(UK)
GUGLIELMO GULOTTA
FULL PROFESSOR OF JURIDICAL PSYCHOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TURIN, FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY, AND A CRIMINAL
BARRISTER OF THE MILAN COURT
(ITALY)
HUGO A. LUPIAÑEZ
ACONCAGUA UNIVERSITY
(ARGENTINA)
EDUARDO ESCALANTE GÓMEZ

ACONCAGUA UNIVERSITY
(ARGENTINA)
DR. STUART ROSS

UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
(AUSTRALIA)
DR. MONICA PEREZ-TRUJILLO

UNIVERSITY OF LOS ANDES
(COLOMBIA)
ERIC GARCÍA-LÓPEZ
AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF OAXACA
(MÉXICO)
DAVID GONZÁLEZ-TRIJUEQUE
COURT OF JUSTICE, MADRID
(SPAIN)
DR. C. TERESITA GARCÍA PÉREZ

UNIVERSITY OF LA HABANA
(CUBA)
LUIS ALBERTO DISANTO

BUENOS AIRES UNIVERSITY
(ARGENTINA)
SERGE BROCHU
PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY, UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL
(CANADA)
NIKOLAOS STAMATAKIS
PH.D. AT PANTEION UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES, ATHENS
(GREECE)
GRUPO CRIMINOLOGÍA Y JUSTICIA CRIMINOLOGÍA Y JUSTICIA EDITORIAL
July 2014
Criminology and forensic psychology

Eva María Jiménez González
José Luis Alba Robles
(coordinators)
Edited by:
GRUPO CRIMINOLOGÍA Y JUSTICIA
CRIMINOLOGÍA Y JUSTICIA Editorial
La obra y disposición Criminology and forensic psychology son propiedad de los editores. Aparte
de los usos legales relacionados con la investigación, y uso privado, no está permitida la
reproducción total o parcial de este libro, ni su tratamiento informático, ni la transmisión de ninguna
forma o por cualquier medio, ya sea electrónico, mecánico o por fotocopia, por registro u otros
medios, ni su préstamo, alquiler, o cualquier otra forma de cesión o uso del ejemplar sin el permiso
expreso por escrito de los editores.
www.grupo.crimyjust.com
dirección@crimyjust.com
ISBN-13: 978-1482665031
ISBN-10:1482665034
Cover Illustration: Yolanda Rodríguez

Contents
PROLOGUE............................................................................................................................................................11
I.ELABORATION OF CRIMINAL PROFILES IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL DELINQUENTS ............17
II.SERVICE-LEARNING, CULTURE OF PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ..................................................39
III.COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL SKILLS TRAINING IN PREVENTING OFFENDING AND

REDUCING RECIDIVISM ...................................................................................................................................56
IV.EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY ........................................................104
V.CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH: A VIEW FROM THE NOTION OF COMPLEXITY .......................157
VI.RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF OFFENDERS AT COURT .............................................................191
VII.PSYCHOPATHY: CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND LEGAL IMPLICATIONS .......................218
VIII.PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY: A CRIMINAL AND CRIMINOLOGICAL METHOD OF

RESEARCH ......................................................................................................................................................... 236
IV.CRIMINAL SERIALITY AND VICTIMOLOGY ........................................................................................282
X.TREATMENT OF DRUG-ABUSING INMATES .........................................................................................304
XI.MERGING THE CONCEPTS OF RESTORATION AND IMPRISONMENT: A LOVE-HATE

RELATIONSHIP ..................................................................................................................................................331
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Jose Luis Alba Robles-Eva María Jiménez González
“To Mónica Ramírez Cano, for being my partner, for its teachings on human behavior, both, the conventional
and the serial killer one. My great gratitude for your reception in Mexico”
Jose Luis Alba Robles
" For Pepe and María, my real drivers in this project and many others "
Eva María Jiménez González
10
Criminology and Forensic Psychology
PROLOGUE
It is with great honor and pride that I write this "prologue" to the Book of the professors José
Luis Alba and Eva Giménez for which I have a huge consideration and friendship.
Being both Professors defenders of Criminology and its applicability, I will take this chance, to
speak, in a superficial way, about Criminology in Portugal. After that, I will preface the diferent
chapters.
The Criminology in Portugal - The degree in criminology began in 2006/2007, in the Faculty of
Law of the Oporto University, after being approved on 5th of June, 2002 and was subsequently amended
in its curriculum on 25th of March, 2009, as it is published in the Order no . º 1083/2009, DR Series II, n.
º 69, of 8th of April 2009. After being established in the Faculty of Law, of Oporto University, the
degree in Criminology expanded to the University Fernando Pessoa - Porto ( Order No. 20758/2008
D.R., Series II , No. 152 of 7th of August 2008) , to the Instituto Superior da Maia( ISMAI) (Order No.
23 723/2008 DR , 2nd series - No. 182 of 19th of September 2008) and to the University Lusiada do
Porto (Order No. 13469 / 2009, from 1st of June, Published in the Diário da República, 2nd Series , no.
110 of 8th of June , 2009 ) . Therefore, all the degrees are recognized by the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Higher Education.
It is important to notice that there are only four Faculties in Portugal, where Criminology is
taught and all of them are situated in the magnificent city of Oporto, so the APC - Portuguese
Association of Criminology, christened the Oporto city as the Capital of Criminology.
The Criminology is a field of knowledge that is guided by its multidisciplinary nature, and
wishes to analyze and study the criminal phenomenon, by crossing different areas of knowledge and
practice through perspectives and methodologies, such as in the areas of the social sciences, legal
sciences and sciences biomedical, having its grounds particularly in law, sociology, psychology and
medicine.
Curricular programs, through its organization and structure, were developed with the goal of
providing students with training that reaches the following scientific areas in their teaching:
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Criminology, Law, Behavioral Sciences, Human Sciences, Scientific Research Methods, Forensic
Sciences, among others.
Licensees in Criminology in Portugal, are able to conduct various activities as criminological

analysis (accurate identification of problems and their contexts in order to propose more appropriate
practical solutions that reduce the frequency of a particular form of crime or facilitate management
programs), development and planning of criminal policy, design and implementation of prevention
programs, clinical intervention, community intervention, mediation, consultancy in several areas,
designing social and penal policies (including design of special programs for offenders or victims and
the renovation of choice and management of penal measures), criminal investigation, private security,
scientific research, training and / or education systems.
But, however, we cannot forget the Code of Criminal Procedure, in the 159 and 160 articles,
which includes some functions of the criminologists.
Article 159th
Medico-legal and Forensic Skills
1 - The medico-legal and forensic expertise that fall within the remit of the National Institute of
Legal Medicine of the delegations is held by medical and legal offices.
2 – Exceptionally, before manifest impossibility of services, the skills mentioned in the

preceding paragraph may be made by a third party, public or private entities contracted or designated for
the purpose by the Office.
3 - In the countries that are not included in the area of business delegations and medico-legal
offices in operation, medico-legal and forensic expertise can be performed by physicians to be hired by
the Institute.
4 - The medico-legal and forensic expertise requested to the institute where there is a need for
specialized medical training and other areas that cannot be made by the delegations of the Institute or
medico-legal offices, because there are no experts out there with the training required or material
conditions for its realization may be made, by appointment of the Institute by a college service or private
or public service health.
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5 - When necessary, medico-legal and forensic expertise of laboratory nature may be done by a
third party, public or private, hired or appointed by the Institute authorities.
6 - The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall be applied to the corresponding expertise on
psychiatric issues, which may, also, take part experts in psychology and criminology.
7 - The psychiatric expertise can be made at the request of the legal representative of the accused,
spouse not legally separated from persons and property or the person, of another or of the same sex, who
lives with the accused in similar conditions to those of spouses, descendants of and adoptees, adoptive
parents and ascendants, or, failing them, of brothers and their descendants.
Article 160th
Expertise about Personality
1 - For the purpose of evaluation of Personality and dangerousness of the defendant it can be
made an independent expertise on their psychological characteristics of pathological causes, as well as
on the degree of socialization. The expertise may fall, particularly for the decision on revocation of
probation, the culpability of the offender and the determination of the penalty.
2 - The expertise should be granted to specialized services, including the services of probation,
or, when this is not possible or convenient, to experts in criminology, psychology, sociology or
psychiatry.
3 - Experts may request information about the criminal background of the accused, if they need
them.
As we can see, the Criminal Procedure Law provides for and recognizes the criminologist,
attributing functions under the Portuguese Criminal Procedure.
On the other hand the government does not recognize the profession, nor does it appear on the lists of
professions, lists which are used to the opening of public tender.
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When a person with a degree in criminology wants to perform his functions as a liberal worker,
he is forced to enroll in the finances as "others", because he cannot sign up as a criminologist, as for
example to be able to give advice at courts. We all know of the existence of these professionals, but their
profession is not recognized.
When questioned the INE, the Portuguese agency which is responsible for the Classification of
the Professions (CPP 2010) "in preparing statistics, namely, labor, and population Census, and still the
growing usefulness as regards, among others, for the service of vocational training, vocational guidance
and information, placement and employment regulations”. And, because they knew that this list is a
database of professions in the employment center, the Portuguese Association of Criminology,
represented in the person of Miguel Vítor Silva, wrote a letter on the 1st of June, 2012 to the National
Statistics Institute (INE) requiring the insertion of the profession of criminologist in the Portuguese
Classification of Occupations, 2010.
In response, sent on 19th June 2012, the INE said: as these being the professional
Opportunities/Prospects:
 Criminological Analysis - 2632 (sociologists, anthropologists and

specialists related);
 Design and implementation of programs to prevent crime - 2635
(Specialist of Social Work);
 Clinical-intervention if it is psychological evaluation, evaluation of the risk
of recurrence-2634 (psychologist);
 Community Intervention - 2635 (Specialist in Social Work);
 Design of social and penal policies - 2635 (Specialist in Social Work).
 Criminal Investigation - 3555.0 (Inspector and police detective);
 Scientific-Research it may fall into any of the groups mentioned above
basis according to the area of research;
 Teaching- if it is in higher education - 2310 (teacher's college and college).
In response to this situation, the Portuguese Association of Criminology drew up a petition,

which got 4125 signatures and was accepted by the Assembly of the Republic on April 23rd, 2013, so
14
this matter is headquartered in to discussion, having already been given several opinions which give
reason to the Portuguese Association of Criminology.
Official opinions advise its regulation as well as its Portuguese Classification of Occupations
(CPP) and in the Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities by activity sectors (NACE).
At the moment Criminologists are awaiting for the final report of the Committee of Labor, on the
regulation of the profession of criminologist in Portugal.
The Portuguese Association of Criminology is confident, since the opinions have been positive.
In this sense, this book aims to show the importance of Criminology and Forensic Psychology,
which are two areas of knowledge that are united in some points, due to his forensic nature. Pshchology
has been defined in many books all the long of her history and her forensic perspective has already two
centurys. By the way, the Criminolgy is guided by its multidisciplinary nature, and that wants to analyze
and study the criminal phenomenon, by crossing different areas of knowledge and practice through
perspectives and methodologies, including social sciences, legal sciences and biomedical sciences,
having as main grounds the law, sociology, psychology and medicine.
It shows the identity of Criminology, which as a science, should be treated with the respect and
seriousness that reliable sciences deserve. Underlining the fact that should be exercise by duly
accredited professionals in the area, not only by lay people who have, just training through work
experience, not underestimating the importance that this experience may have.
I congratulate both Professors by the courage to deal with such difficult and controversial issues
such as those portrayed in this book. Which are namely: “Elaboration of Criminal Profiles in
Psychopathological Delinquents” - which focuses on the fact that criminal profiles are used to describe
the general type of person who commits a certain crime, without emphasizing one particular individual;
“Service – Learning, Culture of peace and Social Justice” – it has qualities that lends itself to the study
and improvement of peaceful education and social justice, it focuses on building empathy; “Cognitive –
Behavioral Skills Training in Preventing and Reducing Recidivism” - Discusses the existence of a
reliable prediction as to the fact that past behavior is the most reliable predictor for future behavior;
“Evidence Based Research in Juvenile Delinquency” - The purpose of this chapter is to explore the
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research findings on juvenile delinquency; “Criminological Research: A view from the Notion of
Complexity” – It tell us about the search of a methodology to perform research in criminology and the
definition of its particular object; "Responding to the Needs of Offenders at Court"- it discusses the fact
that the appropriate penalty should be chosen for each offense and every offender in particular;
“Psychopathy: Clinical Characteristics and Legal Implications” - The purpose of this chapter is to make
a brief historical review of the concept of psychopathy, from the beginning until the present day;
“Psychological Autopsy: a Criminal and Criminological Method of Research” – It makes a brief history
resume of the subject and talks about suicide prevention, and so on; “ Criminal Seriality and
Victomology” - This text is the analysis of the relationships between the criminal seriality phenomenon
and between several Victimology.
This is a very embracing book, with pressing and always current issues.
To conclude I wish to offer my sincerest thanks to my friend Professor José Luis Robles, and the
Professor Eva Giménez on the invitation to do the prologue of his excellent work as well as the
friendship and trust he places in me.
Vitor Miguel Silva
Presidente da Associação Portuguesa de Criminologia
Let’s think that justice and fairness will prevail and let’s hope for the best.
16
I
ELABORATION OF CRIMINAL PROFILES IN
PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL DELINQUENTS
1
SPAIN
I.INTRODUCTION - II.ORIGINS, DEFINITION AND CATEGORISATION OF THE DELINQUENT -

III.CLASSIFICATION OF THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL-CRIMINAL PERSONALITY - IV.ELABORATION OF
CRIMINAL PROFILES - a.Historic Review - b.Definition - V.TYPES OF CRIMINAL PROFILES - a.Inductive Method -
b.Deductive Method - VI.METHODOLOGY OF THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL PROFILE - a.Crime scene -
b.Geographic profile - i.Cognitive map - c.Modus operandi and hallmark - d.Victimology - VII.LIMITATIONS OF THE
PROFILING TECHNIQUE - VIII.BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. INTRODUCTION
The concept "criminal or psychopathological profiling" is known under various terms and
meanings in the forensic and criminology field, which converge in a clear establishment of individual
traits. Criminal profiles are used to describe the general type of person who can commit an act of crime,
but not to point out a particular individual.
The criminal or forensic profile is generally carried out in cases where the crime-scene indicates
some evidence of psychopathology. These are based on the analysis of the psychological hallmarks that
the perpetrator leaves in his/her crimes; on statistical data gathered from other cases; and the theoretical
data offered by Psychology and Criminology. The people who carry out a criminal profile look for
patterns and try to find probable author’s characteristics, through analytical and logical reasoning.
1
Director of Institute of Forensic Psychology. Forensic-Psychologist for the Justice Administration from Spain. Professor of
Criminology and Forensic Psychology. Vice-President of the International Society of Criminological Psychology.
17
Said profile does not have a unique format, nor a standard protocol, but correctly carrying it out
must obligatorily gather a series of stages that we will expand upon later. Consequently, the elaboration
of criminal profiles must be carried out in the most complete way possible, exhaustively registering, for
its later analysis, as much information as possible about the aggressor. In this way, the design of
criminal profiles is going to facilitate the identification of the author or authors of a criminal act and the
elimination of other suspects for this crime.
Within the main applications of the profiling technique we come across: the determination of
different violent and serial crimes; the identification of different types of criminals; the possible
provocation towards the aggressor through the knowledge of his/her typology; better preparation for the
interrogations based on the peculiarities of each suspect; justification when asking for other forensic
evidence; and the possibility of being able to relate or link various crimes at different times and in
different places.
Therefore, it is essential to know as much as possible about the singularities, idiosyncrasies and
personal characteristics of the aggressor as well as his/her victim in order to be able to establish the
psychological and behavioural analysis of the felony, and, consequently, through this be able to solve it
or, at least, reach a better understanding of it. So, and before expanding upon the profile methodologies,
let’s focus beforehand on a first categorisation of the delinquent in order to later make a classification of
the psychopathological-criminal personality.
II. ORIGINS, DEFINITION AND CATEGORISATION OF THE

DELINQUENT
The born delinquent is manifested in three diverse aspects: the somatic aspect, the pathological
and the psychological. If we look back to the origin of the term coined as psychopathic or criminal
personality we come across the analysis of the born delinquent carried out by Lombroso, in which he
managed to identify thirty physical characteristics, amongst which we can mention: deformed ears,
prognathism or protruding mandibular, prominent cheek-bones, deformation of the cranial vault in
oblique shape and prominent frontal sinus, amongst others.
According to Lombroso, the natural delinquent is born without cerebral organisation. That is
why he describes him/her as a “crazy moral”. Meaning that the description of the psychological aspect,
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according to this author, tells us that a man is born perverse and only through social education will he be
able to dominate his criminal instincts.
In 1930 Krestschmer published his work “Korperbau und Charakter” (Body and Character) with
which he aimed to establish a direct relationship between the constitutional type and criminal behaviour.
Through his studies he managed to classify delinquents into four categories that proved said morpho-
psychological relationship (Glosario de Psiquiatría, 2011):
1. Picnic-cyclothymic type: These are individuals with predominance of transversal and

circular measurements, short, thick and solid neck, short, wide hands, little muscular development and
propensity to obesity. Their mood is cyclothymic, oscillating between joy and sadness. They would be
predisposed to bipolar disorders.
2. Athletic-viscous type: Athletes are individuals with wide, muscular shoulder blades, long,
powerful neck, prominent chin, large, strong hands, with a narrow pelvis and thin legs, which produces a
frontal outline with a trapezoidal shape. Their moods are viscous, tenacious and would move between
explosive and phlegmatic. For this author the athlete would be predisposed to suffering epilepsy.
3. Leptosomatic (or asthenic)-schizothymic type: The name comes from the Greek words
“leptos” (thin) and “soma” (body). Therefore, they are people who are thin, not very muscular, bony,
fine hands, with little thoracic perimeter, narrow shoulders and short. Their mood presents emotion that
would move between indifference and sensitivity. Their psychomotor activity would be rigid, inert.
Krestschmer considered that in this corporal type the schizoid temperament was more frequent and
could lead to schizophrenic psychosis and a post-psychotic personality afterwards.
4. Dysplastic type: With many dysmorphic variations and predisposed, like the athlete, to
epilepsy. He/she would show a tendency towards mental retardation and schizophrenia, generally
between the ages of 18 and 22.
Similarly, the American psychologist and doctor, William Sheldon, established in 1940 three
general constitutional components (endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic) which led to three
basic corporal types: the “endomorph” (the round, bland and fat type), the “mesomorph” (the athletic
and muscular) and the “ectomorph” (the bony, fragile and thin type), and he distinguished three types of
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personalities depending on said typologies: the “viscerotonic”, the “somatotonic” and the “cerebrotonic”
(Sheldon, 1940).
In this way Sheldon tried to correlate personality and conduct with the body type, concluding
that the “mesomorph” is the type most prone to delinquency, as he/she is impulsive, energetic and
nervous; that the “endomorph” is prone to be friendly and self-indulgent and the “ectomorph” is openly
sensitive and a bit indecisive.
At the same time he defined personality as “the organisation of the morphological, physiological,
emotional and cognitive aspects of an individual in the social context depending on the role he plays”
(Sheldon, 1942). This could be considered as the first attempt to unify the constitutional type,
personality and mental illness, even though the relationship is not as clear as the author makes out.
Using this typology, Eleanor and Sheldon Glueck published, in 1956, the results of an
investigation in which they compared five hundred young offenders with five hundred young non-
offenders. The Gluecks found that an important percentage of young delinquents were mesomorphs
(Laub and Sampson, 1991).
Likewise, the study about the relationship between some ranges of chromosomes with deviant
conduct is a research line which, even though its hypothesis has never been definitively proposed, is still
being carried out despite that fact that many convincing efforts have been made over the past few years
to refute this theory. A normal man has an XY chromosome pair and a normal woman generally has an
XX pair of chromosomes. There is disagreement amongst researchers as to whether a “born criminal”
has the chromosome range XYY.
Finally, we can observe how, from Sociology, different approaches have been tested with the aim
of explaining the causes of deviant conduct in terms of inappropriate socialisation. In accordance with
one of these standpoints, the individual who has not been suitably socialised does not incorporate
cultural norms within his/her own personality and, therefore, is not able to differentiate between what is
culturally appropriate and inappropriate conduct. A second perspective supposes, on the other hand, that
a deviant individual, to become one must first learn to be one. Sociologists consider that many forms of
deviant conduct are transmitted from person to person and that this learning process involves the same
mechanisms as any other learning situation. A third point of view explains deviation as the result of
20
tension between the culture and the social structure. Each society does not only set out its goals, through
culture, but it also socially sanctions the means to reach these goals. When an individual does not have
access to these means it is possible that deviant conduct is produced.
From everything stated before we can deduce that the study of the personality comes about just
as much for its vital mechanism as for the consequences of its behavioural differences. This means that
the function of the personality will vary depending on each specific situation. Consequently, if we go
over to the ambit of the most psychopathological or criminological context, we could define a delinquent
as a person just like everyone else with the only difference being a particular attitude towards the
behaviour that expresses a personality structure, denominated criminal or psychopathological
personality.
The criminal personality, therefore, will be described through common psychological

characteristics with some variations, and we cannot strongly affirm that this result is generated by
inheritance, at least not exclusively. In short, the psychopathological personality, determined by the
disturbances located in the emotional sphere and in feelings, would relate the subject’s different ways of
behaving, in accordance with the qualified types that go from problems with the physical, biological and
traumatic constitution to the phenotypic formation that determines the social medium in which it
develops.
There are numerous ways to integrate or classify the different traits that make up the diverse
theories on psychopathological-criminal personalities. The following takes a look at the most well-
known ones.
III. CLASSIFICATION OF THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL-CRIMINAL

PERSONALITY
The murderer is seen as, sometimes, a visionary person and, generally, as psychotic, who hears
voices or has hallucinations that order him/her to kill or that legitimise his/her violent acts. However,
some criminals offend for profit, others as a “mission”, and others for pleasure; some do it in a clearly
conscious way whilst on other occasions the cognitive and/or volatile capacities will be altered,
diminished or even annulled; very often the murderer is a planner, and on other occasions the act surges
from the homicide context itself, and in such a case there was no type of premeditation etc. whatsoever.
21
That’s why modern psychological techniques suggest that if we are aware of the criminal’s motives then
it will be much easier to limit him/her off and narrow the search down.
There are some criminal personality classifications that stress the emotional component. Within
this classification we find the following traits:
• Leptosomatic: who reacts to jealousy.
• Picnic: who reacts to jealousy and revelations.
• Athletic: who reacts coldly and could act out of revenge.
If we concentrate on serial killers, these can be classified in two large categories: organised and
disorganised (Homant y Kennedy, 1998).
• The organised types are lucid murderers, often very intelligent and show methodical
planning in their crimes. I order to maintain this high level of control over the crime they have excellent
knowledge about police methods, intentionally concealing scientific evidence. They closely follow the
investigation’s progress through the media and conceive their murders as high quality projects. These
types of criminals often lead normal lives, have an apparently normal social life, and have friends or
even a family.
• The disorganised type acts impulsively, often killing when the chance comes up, without
any real planning. They frequently have low education levels and/or not very high IQ’s, they are not
methodical and do not usually cover up the clues (although they are sometimes able to escape the
investigations, mainly due to quick action and the fact that they are disorganised). In general this type of
murderer has a poor social and emotional life and, sometimes, may show some type of mental disorder.
Another classification about these types of mass murderers is the following (Ressler, Burgess,
Hartman y Douglas, 1999):
• The classic: the description of this mass murderer is usually one with a metal disorder
whose problems have risen to the point that he/she starts to act against groups of people that have
absolutely no connection with the problem.
22
• The family mass murderer: as the name indicates, this murderer kills the members of
his/her family. If he/she kills more than three members of his/her family and then commits suicide, the
crime is classified as mass murder/suicide, and if there is no suicide and he/she kills more than four
members of the family, it is called family murder.
A simple homicide has just one victim. A double has two, in one incident and in one place. A
triple has three victims who die in the same place during one incident. From three victims and over it is
classified as mass murder, where there must be more than four victims in the same place and in one
incident.
There are two additional types of multiple murderers (Ressler and Shachtman, 2005):
• "spree murders" or “itinerant” murderers and
• serial killers.
An itinerant murderer kills in two or three places and does not have a period of emotional
cooling off. A serial killer commits three or more homicides that are spaced out in time; this allows the
criminal to cool off emotionally between one murder and the next, in both cases he/she usually kills with
predetermination. We should bear in mind that the mass murderer as well as the itinerant murderer do
not care about the identity of their victims; whereas the serial killer does, meaning he/she chooses them
and classifies them (Ressler et al., 2005).
If we focus on the type of motivation that makes them act, therefore, the “why” of their crimes,
we come up against a new classification for criminal personalities (Burgess and Douglas, 1997):
• Visionaries: Contrary to what might be supposed, it is not rare for some serial killers to
serious mental disorders, like schizophrenia. On certain occasions a serial killer could correspond to this
stereotype and, literally, kill "following the instructions from voices in his/her head", or as a result of
such hallucinatory experiences.
• Missionaries: some serial killers conceive their killings as a mission. Often they are
religious or political fanatics and leave a message to vindicate and justify their acts.
23
• Hedonists: This type of serial killer kills with the aim of experiencing pleasure. Some
love the “hunt" more than the killing itself, others torture and rape their victims motivated by sadism.
However, others kill their victims quickly so as to enjoy other activities like necrophilia and
cannibalism. Pleasure for these serial killers is usually of a sexual nature, or has a similar intensity and
tendency.
• Rulers or Domineering: This is the most common type of serial killer. The main objective
in this case is to exercise power over their victims and therefore contribute to strengthening their self-
esteem. This type of behaviour is understood, sometimes, as a compensatory conduct for abuses suffered
in infancy or in adult life. Many murderers who rape their victims do not enter the "hedonist" category
because the pleasure they feel towards this type of violence is secondary (or even absent). For these
criminals violence would be reproduced, faithfully and symbolically, like a mirror of violence
experienced in his/her own past.
• Angels of Death or Mercy: These are serial killers who act in the field of medicine. They
usually commit their murders through injecting lethal substances into the patients under their care and,
despite saying that they are acting to free their victims from suffering, in reality they are motivated by
the desire to decide between the life and death of others, as becomes clear by the fact that most of their
victims do not suffer from any serious health problems at the time of the murders. The victims vary
depending on the work carried out, but very often they are babies, old people or disabled people. In the
majority of these cases women commit these types of crimes and, often, suffer from mental disorders
like Borderline Personality Disorder or the Münchausen Syndrome by Proxy.
• Motivated by winnings: The majority of murderers who act to obtain material benefits
(for example, robbery) are not generally classified as serial killers. However, there are extreme cases in
which they are considered as such.
• Power seekers: This is the murderer who seeks power for power’s sake. He/she shows
great pleasure in controlling and dominating his/her victims.
• Black widows: The majority of serial killings carried out by women fall into this
category. They act in a way that inspired their name: they get married to rich men, take their assets, then
kill them simulating domestic accidents or intoxications. Sometimes they eliminate all of his children.
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However, there are many cases of serial killers that have characteristics from more than one of
these categories and, therefore, could be simultaneously assigned to one or other typology. Likewise,
there are cases of serial killers whose motive varies from one crime to another, or those who do not have
a preferred type of victim typology and, more than likely, seem to be destined to kill for an "interior
need" or a homicidal compulsion that would require a particular revision over and above any typological
consideration. These are, obviously, the most difficult cases to classify for those who study the
phenomena of the psychopathological or criminal personality.
IV. ELABORATION OF CRIMINAL PROFILES
As we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the criminal profile is based on the maxim that
any conduct reflects the personality of its author. Therefore, coincidences in criminal behaviour will
have a lot to do with the offender’s personality.
The psychological hallmark of an aggressor becomes impregnated in all of his/her criminal

conduct, and it will be through the study and analysis of this that we will be able to determine, clarify or
even forecast criminal conduct, and that is what the elaboration of criminal profiles are responsible for.
This analysis is carried out through the inspection of the crime scene, identifying the victim and the
murderer, and the causes, ways and modes of death. In this way we will be able to define the criminal
profiles as the analysis of the crime scene, mainly based on theories coming from Psychology and
Psychiatry, on clinical knowledge and scientific methods with the aim of being able to trace the
psychopathological profile of the author of the crime.
The criminal profile seems to be split between two worlds: the mythical one, related to literature
and cinema, and the real one. Two worlds in which, sometimes, the dividing line does not seem to be
very well defined.
In fact, not only the various existing criminological theories have given their contribution to
determining psychopathological profiles, but literature has also made an important contribution, above
all the detective novels from the end of the XIX Century with Edgar Allan Poe and his work "The
Murders in the Rue Morgue", which could be considered as the first use of the profiling “technique”.
Poe seems to have realised, through his character detective C. Agosto Dupin, about the value of profiles
when proof does not seem to be enough alone to solve especially cruel crimes with no apparent motive.
25
We can also find the same with Arthur Conan Doyle and his famous character Sherlock Holmes.
Through his writings we can see an investigation and/or an evaluation from the deductive/inductive
point of view, leaving room for interpretation, logic and reasoning, which surely opens up new
investigation lines in the field of criminology and the way to establish criminal profiles.
The literary genre has highlighted the dark side that human nature hides, and indeed it is not a
genre that has lost its popularity over time, in fact it could be said that it has even achieved more fame
over the past few years, above all through the influence of cinema and television, just by remembering
some authors like Thomas Harris and his character Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates in the film “Psycho”
by Alfred Hitchcock (character based on the serial killer Ed Gein), Patrick Bateman by Bret Easton Ellis
(recreated in the film “American Psycho”), or Patricia Cornwell and her character Dr. Kay Scarpetta
amongst many others.
a. Historic Review
In 1970 the FBI created a special group of experts to interview serial killers in penitentiary
centres in the USA with the aim of getting to know the secrets of their minds.
The results showed the presence of a wide range of motives and methods, but only some of these
were apparently similar in all of them. Consequently, they reached the conclusion that every murderer
must be considered in his/her specific context. However, the data obtained was used to classify the
behaviour of murderers depending on their common characteristics.
Special agent John Douglas stipulated the famous formula: How + Why = Who. These few
words significantly reveal two hidden factors, the methods and the motives that are to be found at the
bottom of every crime. This means that the analysis of the crime scene does not just offer information
about the methodology, but also about the author’s motives.
In this way we see how one aggressor can change his/her methods over time, becoming ever
more sophisticated in line with the development of his/her criminal behaviour, despite the deep
emotional roots that lead him/her to attack being relatively rigid. This change in crime motivation is of
particular importance as it is going to help profilers to classify the different crimes and to predict the
aggressor’s future behaviour, which could increase the chances of detaining a murderer.
26
Doctor Ronald M. Holmes (professor at the University of Louisville and police department
criminologist for the elaboration of criminal profiles and conduct in the United States), created a
typology based on a careful analysis of the psychological motivations of serial killers and the incidental
proof, and at the end of the 80’s the agents from the FBI unit of behavioural sciences started to work on
the classification of crimes using the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) by the American
Psychiatry Association APA. They classified crimes of murder, arson and sexual abuse, and they set up
the Advisory Committee Representing Federal and Private Association (Holmes and Holmes, 1996).
Three years later Hazelwood described how to elaborate a profile for rapists through their
victims’ reports. To achieve this, three fundamental points were used: an in-depth interview with the
victim about the rapist; an analysis of the offender’s behaviour in order to discover his/her underlying
motives; and an individualised profile of the psychopathological and social characteristics of each rapist.
b. Definition
Many writers have referred to the study of the personality of the author of a crime and its
relationship with the crime using different terms, like: “psychological profiling” Homant et al. (1998),
“criminal personality profiling” McCann (1992), "offender profiling" Jackson and Bekerian (2000),
"criminal profiling" Stanton (1997), "geographic profiling" Rossmo (sf) cited by Homant et al. (1998)
and "criminal investigative analysis" Knight, Warren, Reboussin and Soley (1998).
In order to look for a definition of the term “psychopathological or criminal profile” we can
paraphrase Garrido, in Garrido and López (2006): according to whom, the profile can be defined as an
estimation about the biographical characteristics and the lifestyle of the person responsible for a series of
serious crimes who has still not been identified.
Also, the United States national centre for the analysis of violent crime (1990), cited by Knight et
al. (1998), defines the criminal analytical investigation as an investigation tool that uses data from the
crime scene to generate descriptive and probable information about the offender, reduce the number of
suspects and help in arrest efforts.
Therefore, Ressler et al. (1999), clarify that criminal profiles are useful to describe the general
type of person who can commit a criminal act, not to point out a specific individual.
27
In this way, the design of criminal profiles is going to help us to identify the author of a criminal
act and eliminate other suspects of the same crime.
Once the meaning of the term under study is specified, we pass onto briefly developing its
methodology, protocols, application, typology and even the possible negative connotations or limitations
of said technique.
As we have already seen, the elaboration of the psychopathological profile must condense all the
following stages: 1) the detailed examination of the crime scene; 2) the categorisation of information; 3)
the chronological reconstruction of the act, and the behaviour of the offender and his/her victim/s; 4) the
elaboration of a suspect profile; and finally 5) the use of the elaborated profile in the field.
All these factors to be borne in mind can be grouped into four stages:
a) The stage before profile elaboration: which should contain the information about the
socio-cultural context where the crime took place, and the protection of this place.
b) Reconstruction of the crime itself: an analysis must be carried out on possible victims,
interview all the witnesses and people involved in the case under study, and obtain psychological
remains from the scene or place of the act, so that the information gathered can be classified according
to type and style of crime and the offender’s motive.
c) Description of the psychological profile: as a compute of all the evaluation and the whole
investigation process, the aforementioned forensic or criminal psychological profile will have to be
elaborated, which will help to discover the characteristics and singularities of the offender and
consequently will narrow down the initial hypothesis about his/her identity.
d) Later on, and once carried out the capture, detention, confession and/or prison sentence,
the profiling can be used as feedback to compare with the real data of the case under study
V. TYPES OF CRIMINAL PROFILES
Within criminal investigation there are two ways to elaborate psychopathological profiles: the
“inductive method” or profiles of known offenders, and the “deductive method” or profiles of unknown
offenders.
28
a. Inductive Method
In the elaboration of profiles about known offenders or inductive method, we go from the
specific to the general. This means that our basis is the knowledge of already studied cases and, in
general, solved cases to infer common variables from other crimes of a similar nature. This type of
profiling is also nurtured on the data that comes from judicial files, and on the basis of all these sources,
an inductive profile is built.
Homant et al. (1998) suggested that this profile be used for the interview strategy and individual
statements, determining whether their characteristics paired with the characteristics of a database of a
certain class of specific offenders.
The advantage of this model is that it is a great provider of characteristics as it offers premises
with basic offender specifications that allow us to profile him/her and forecast his/her behaviour.
b. Deductive Method
In carrying out the profile on unknown offenders or deductive method, we go from the general to
the specific. This means that our basis for profiling is psychological, psychiatric and criminological
theories to therefore be able to describe how, why and, subsequently, who committed the crime, with the
greatest chance of success.
The deductive psychopathological profile does not imply a specific individual or a specific
crime. It can be used to suggest a type of individual with specific psychological and emotional
characteristics, as it only describes the evident characteristics in the criminal conduct at hand, as well as
the circumstances of such conduct. Those in charge of making deductive profiles gather information
from the crime scene in order to analyse it and to reveal the type of person who committed it (Turvey,
1998).
29
VI. METHODOLOGY OF THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL PROFILE
To elaborate a forensic psychological profile it is necessary to analyse and evaluate all the
following sources: crime scene, geographical profile, modus operandi and murderer’s seal, and
victimology (Jiménez, 2006). Let’s have a closer look at them.
a. Crime scene
The scene of the offence or the crime is, as the name indicates, the place where the murderer has
decided to abuse or injure his/her victim. The crime scene may not be just one, it may be various places
that have been used in the context of the acts. For example, the place where the victim was overcome
may be different from the place where the crime took place and also the place where the cadaver was
left. The fact that various places are used provides more information about the offender, because the use
of several places implies planning the crime, greater chronological age and more time in the crime
business.
In any case, the main scene is where the death or aggression of most importance took place, and
the rest are secondary. Generally, it is in the first where there is more transfer between the assassin and
his/her victim, so it is usually the place where there is more psychological and physical proof (Jiménez,
2006).
The place or places of the acts tell us about the delinquent’s preferences as they symbolize for
him/ her the areas where he/she feels safe and comfortable, areas that he/she knows and are familiar for
the activities he/she carries out.
Rossmo (1995) describes a series of geographic areas, originated from the Brantingham and
Brantingham model, in which we find the areas of "home", "work" and "storage rooms and
entertainment", given that these make up the areas of comfort that allow the aggressor to commit his/her
crime under the protection of a psychological blanket.
The distance between one place and another allows us to deduce the class and means of transport
used by the aggressor. And the places of the acts also speak about the aggressor’s “mental map”, which
involves the images that he/she has of the space and the surroundings, built up through his/her
30
experiences and daily activities; these are mainly those areas to be found near the criminal’s movement
zone, like home, work, recreational places, amongst others.
b. Geographic profile
We can define the geographic profile as an analysis technique of the spatial or geographical
activity of the delinquents applied to criminal investigation (Garrido, 2007). It does not look at what the
criminal is like but aims to give answers about where he/she acts, get to know how he/she moves
around, what are his/her movements and area of action.
The final goal for the investigation would be to provide the geographical location of the
aggressor’s residence, in addition to offering a hypothesis about future areas of action.
Generally this technique, although it has other applications, is usually used in serial crime
investigations in which the evaluation team does not have psychological clues, or enough forensic
indications that could guide the investigation. In these cases, having a geographic profile reduces the
number of suspects in a specific area, generating a number of them that is easier to handle, in addition to
centralising existing resources in those areas in which it is more probable that the delinquent acts or
lives. Just as the psychological profile, the geographic has some limitations and always talks about
probabilities, meaning that it does not solve the case alone, but it is another investigation tool that may
help the investigation and solve the case (Jiménez, 2006).
In this sense, the geographic profile is not carried out separately from the investigation, rather it
is based on an exhaustive study of all that is known about the case through the victims, forensic
evidence and crime scenes, paying special attention to the geographical factors like the type of place for
the crime, area characteristics or the entry and exit routes.
i. Cognitive map
Amongst the theoretical basis of the geographic profile we find the idea of a “cognitive map” or
mental sketch, which Bell, Fisher, Baum and Green (1996), cited in Godwin and Rosen (2005), define as
the very personal representation of the family environment that we experiment. This means that is a
representation of our personal way of understanding our surroundings. This cognitive sketch allows us
31
to acquire, encode, store, remember and manipulate information about our surroundings (Stangeland and
Garrido, 2004).
Amongst the functions of the cognitive maps we find that of proportioning an environmental
reference framework so that we can move around in our surroundings, the person who is not able to
relate the place where he/she is with its context feels lost and it is therefore a device to generate
decisions about actions of movement within our surroundings, contributing, moreover, to generating a
sensation of emotional security (Canter, 2005).
The mental map is, therefore, a sketch like a diagram or plan that subject has been developing
with the experiences in his/her surroundings and which allow him/her to get along and move around
his/her territory. We all have a metal map of the place where we live, of the city and, in general, of all
the territory in which we move around through our lives.
Delinquents use this mental map to get to specific places, choose determined areas, and access
and escape through specific routes. In short, the relationship that the criminal establishes with his/her
surroundings, to commit his/her acts, is conditioned by his/her cognitive map.
The importance of knowing this mental map lies in the possibility of being able to determine,
through its analysis, the starting point for his/her movements, the place that is generally his/her
residence, although it may also be his/her workplace or previous address. This is generally denominated
as the anchor point.
The geographic knowledge that makes up the mental map, as we have previously seen, is a
personal and self-representation of the person. Different people can have a different mental map even
though they live in the same zone because they start from personal interpretations and the particular
experience each person has of the area where he/she lives and the places he/she goes through. The
offender uses and consults his/her cognitive map to analyse what he/she can do in determined areas, like
how he/she can get in and out of there, what type of victims and obstacles he/she may face, which places
are more comfortable, familiar and favourable to move around, and where he/she will feel safest
(Jiménez, 2006).
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As Garrido (2007) affirms, many serial killers follow a defined logic when deciding where to
commit their crimes, following a cost-profit logic: when we make an important investment in something,
the place where we choose to make this investment must minimise the costs in relation to the profits we
hope to obtain. We should therefore think that murderers go to places where they believe they can find
victims who are more vulnerable, where they can feel more secure and will not be surprised or where
they can escape with greater ease.
Consequently, an aim of the geographic profile would consist of getting a copy of the criminal’s
mental map in order to understand it and use it like he/she would, and therefore detect the next areas of
action and/or as much as possible limit off the operations base from where he/she starts his/her crimes.
c. Modus operandi and hallmark
The modus operandi is the method the aggressor uses to carry out his/her crime. It describes the
techniques and decisions that an assassin has had to take. From this evaluation we get information about
how our murderer kills and what psychological characteristics can be deduced from this method:
planner, intelligent, careless, perfectionist, sadistic, profession he/she has, etc. (Jiménez, 2006).
The modus operandi, as opposed to the hallmark, can vary over time given that like all the other
skills of a human being, the criminal capacities of a person can be developed, learnt, evolved or
degenerated with later crimes.
The modus operandi has a functional nature and contains three goals: to protect the identity of
the delinquent, to perpetrate the aggression successfully and to facilitate the escape (Garrido, 2000).
Regarding the hallmark, this is the motive of the crime, the “why”, and reflects the reason why
the murderer does what he/she does. It gives us more in-depth information as it presents us with what
he/she wants to say with the crime, and more psychological given that it speaks to us about his/her
emotional necessities. The murderer keeps his/her hallmark stable throughout his/her criminal career and
therefore, even though he/she changes his/her modus operandi, we can relate him/her through the
mentioned hallmark (Jiménez, 2006).
This does not mean that physically the conduct or conducts that the delinquent’s hallmark
describes cannot change. The deepest aspect of the hallmark does not change, the rage, the revenge, the
33
sadism, remain unaltered, but the way to express them can evolve, increase, reduce or degenerate
depending on the development of the motive that they represent (Jiménez, 2006).
d. Victimology
The victim is of crucial importance given that he/she is the protagonist of the criminal act, he/she
witness the crime in the first person, on him/her falls the criminal act and they represent the aggressor’s
modus operandi and hallmark. If the victim survives then he/she can offer a lot of first-hand information
about the his/her aggressor and his/ her circumstances, if he/she dies, it will be necessary to carry out a
psychological autopsy. In this autopsy the aim is to gather various personal and social aspects of the
victim. It is necessary to collect a set of information regarding his/her home address, education, marital
status, hobbies, economic situation, fears, habits, illnesses, friendships, work, etc. (Jiménez, 2006).
From all this information firstly we can deduce a classification of the potential victims regarding
the risk they face of being attacked. In this case we speak about low and high risk victims (Ressler et al.,
1999). As is logical, high risk victims have more probabilities of being attacked and, moreover, do not
cause many problems for their attackers.
Also, the study and analysis of victims gives us information about how their murderer relates to
them, which provides us with an important psychological print in order to make the profile. In a crime
there are two protagonists, the aggressor and his/her victim, there is a relationship between them, the
murderer uses the victim to narrate his/her story, to satisfy his/her personal fantasies, but also to leave
proof of his/her relationship with the world. And it is in this relationship where his/her personality is
best reflected (Jiménez, 2006).
VII. LIMITATIONS OF THE PROFILING TECHNIQUE
Even though the elaboration of psychopathological profiles is a useful tool, it is not the result of
magic spells, it is not always reliable and must not be taken literally. This means that the investigation
should not be limited just to those people who have the characteristics indicated in the criminal
profile. This would be useful to discover a generality of people, no to point out a specific individual.
Moreover, we should not forget the fact that all profiling supposes reinforcing some variables over
others, but always in terms of probability and never in an absolute way.
34
Another of the limitations that we can detect in this technique is that, and due to the fact that at
the time of collecting the information about a case under study (victims as well as witnesses) can
become very far off with regards to the criminal act itself, sometimes erroneous data is generated and for
this reason conclusions can be reached that do not shed optimum results. This would make us focus on
distorted variables and we would end up alleging a criminal profile or assuming a suspect who in reality
is not so.
More specifically, and regarding the profiling technique, the most serious impediment to its
empirical approval has been the absence of adequate measurements and standardised, objective
indicators when analysing the crime scene. Some investigators have made efforts to regulate the
operational definitions of the crime scene variables or to regulate the process through which definitions
or measurements are taken in said place, but they still haven’t managed to reach any formal,
institutionalized and internationally accepted agreement.
However, we cannot deny that there is a subjective component that is quite significant in the
investigation of all crime scenes. As in other specialized areas of knowledge, the cognitive skills
acquired here become relevant, but the processes of successful decisions are not always clear, therefore,
special care must be taken when the experts who take the decisions acquire this information, given that
this will have to be carried out in the most neutral and aseptic way possible.
Finally, to comment on some studies (Meehl, 1973, cited by Knight et al., 1998; Hazelwood
and Douglas, 1980; Bedard and Chi, 1992, cited by Knight et al., 1998; and Gudjonsson, 1993, cited by
Jackson et al., 2000) have detected that some professionals in law administration may have certain
prejudices towards determined profile typologies which could influence them to look for certain types of
perpetrators over others. This fact would convert the profiling technique into a form of discrimination or
not of deduction, which is not the correct use or the ultimate goal of elaborating the forensic
psychological profiles, as their finality must only be endorsed in achieving some psycho-socio-
demographical variables and the level of their possibilities within each case under study (Turvey, 1999).
To sum up, in spite of having reached an agreement on the existence of certain characteristic
traits in criminal profiles, by having said specific typology mustn’t lead us to compulsorily act with our
backs to juridical and ethical laws and, consequently, special care must be taken when evaluating and
searching through said characteristics and, as a result of them, determine the “subject actor” who has
35
committed a crime, so as not to offend or hurt those people who, still fulfilling some specific patterns of
a specific profile, are not implicated in any criminal behaviour.
VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Burgess, A. & Douglas, J. (1997). Classifying Homicides and forensic evaluations. Crisis
Intervention, 3, 199 –215.
Canter, D. (2005). Mapping murder. London: Virgin Books.
Garrido, V. (2000). El perfil psicológico aplicado a la captura de asesinos en serie. El caso de
J.F. Anuario de Psicología Jurídica, 10, 25-46.
Garrido, V. (2007). La mente criminal. La ciencia contra los asesinos en serie. Madrid: Temas
de hoy.
Garrido, V. & López, P. (2006). El rastro del asesino. El perfil psicológico de los criminales en
la investigación policial. Barcelona: Ariel.
Glosario de Psiquiatría (2011). Psychiatry - Tipología de Kretschmer. Taken from Word Wide
Web: http://www.psychiatry.es/content/view/
Godwin, M. & Rosen, F. (2005): El rastreador. El perfil psicogeográfico en la investigación de
crímenes en serie. Barcelona: Alba.
Hazelwood, R. & Douglas, J. (1980). The lust murderer. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 76, 28-
39.
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Holmes, R. & Holmes, S. (1996). Profiling Violent Crimes: And Investigative Tool. United States
of America: Sage Publications.
Homant, R. & Kennedy, D. (1998). Psychological Aspects of Crime Scene Profiling. Criminal
Justice and Behavior, 25, 319- 343.
Jackson, J. & Bekerian, D. (2000). Offender Profiling. Theory, Research and Practice. London:
Wiley.
Jiménez. J. (2006). Perfil psicológico criminal. Presentation given at the “VII Curso de
Criminología Psicosocial” at the Complutense University from Madrid. Taken from Word Wide Web:
http://www.psicologia-online.com/articulos/2006/
Knight, R., Warren, J., Reboussin, R. & Soley, B. (1998). Predicting Rapist Type From Crime –
Scene Variables. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 25, 46 – 80.
Laub, J.H. & Sampson. R.J. (1991). The Sutherland-Glueck Debate: On the Sociology of
Criminological Knowledge. American Journal of Sociology, 96, 1402-40.
McCann, J. (1992). Criminal Personality Profiling in the Investigation of Violent Crime: Recent
Advances and Future Directions. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 10, 475 – 481.
Ressler, R., Burgess, A., Hartman, C. & Douglas, J. (1999). La Investigación del Asesinato en
Serie a través del Perfil Criminal y el Análisis de la Escena del Crimen. In R. Ressler (Ed.), Biología y
Sociología de la violencia sobre psicópatas y asesinos en serie (pp.1-21). Madrid: Centro Reina Sofía.
Ressler, R.K. & Shachtman, T. (2005). Asesinos en serie. Barcelona: Ariel.
37
Rossmo, D.K. (1995). Geographic Profiling. Target patterns of serial murderes. Vancouver:
Simon Fraser University.
Sheldon, W.H. (1940). The Varieties of Temperament: A Psychology of Constitutional
Differences. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Sheldon, W.H. (1942). The Varieties of Human Physique: An Introduction to Constitutional
Psychology. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Stangeland, P. & Garrido, M. (2004): El mapa del crimen. Herramientas geográficas para
policías y criminólogos. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch.
Stanton, C. (1997). Taking Your Cue from the Clues. Security Management, 41, 123 – 126.
Turvey, B. (1998). Deductive Criminal Profiling: Comparing Applied Methodologies Between
Inductive and Deductive Criminal Profiling Techniques. San Diego: Academic Press.
Turvey, B. (1999). Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Analysis. San Diego:
Academic Press.
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II
SERVICE-LEARNING, CULTURE OF PEACE AND SOCIAL
JUSTICE
JOSE LUIS ALBA ROBLES2, KATIE OWENS3, CONCEPCIÓN AROCA MONTOLIO4, MARÍA JESÚS LÓPEZ LATORRE5
SPAIN, USA
I. PEACE EDUCATION - II.SERVICE-LEARNING AS PEACE EDUCATION - III. SERVICE-LEARNING FOR

SOCIAL JUSTICE - IV.CONCLUSION - V.REFERENCES
Service-learning has qualities that naturally lend itself to the study and advancement of peace
education and social justice. It focuses on building empathy, looking for creative solutions for
complicated and long-term problems, and above all, empowering citizens by making them realize their
full capacities as human beings. Service-learning is currently being used in a number of peace studies
courses in higher education and many K-12 teachers are beginning to appreciate its application to social
justice in the classroom. These concepts and more will be discussed in this chapter.
I. PEACE EDUCATION
Before exploring the concept of peace education, it is necessary to first understand what peace is.
Reardon and Cabezudo describe peace as “a dynamic social process in which justice, equity, and respect
for basic human rights are maximized, and violence, both physical and structural, is minimized”
2
Valencia University
3
New York Department of Education
4
Valencia University
5
Psychology Department, Valencia University
39
(Reardon & Cabezudo in Opotow, Gerson & Woodside, 2005, p. 304). Peace is an invariably difficult
subject to define as it is a “concept that motivates the imagination” (Harris & Morrison, 2003, p. 12).
Vincent Martinez Guzman (2005) prefers to describe “peaces” in the plural form, connoting that there
are many different types of peace that exist. This is why the concept of peace education is so very
complex; the lesson plan varies depending on individual circumstances and interpretations. It is not like
teaching math, where the teacher has a set of criteria of what formulas to teach each year, and every
problem has one correct answer—albeit various methods of arriving to the answer. Peace on the other
hand has just as many methods as it has theoretical and practical answers. Peace may not be something
that you can teach with a set of criteria, rather something you must experience. Tricia Jones (2005,
p.346) notes that no typical peace education curriculum exists, although peace education programs
typically include “anti-racism, conflict resolution, multiculturalism, cross-cultural training and the
cultivation of a generally peaceful outlook” Jones (2005, p.346). She also comments on the challenges
of peace education, which “include the breadth of programming, the locus of the work, and the range of
the goals” (Jones, 2005, pp. 345-346). According to Fran Schmidt of Peace Education International,
peace education includes the following skills: communication, listening, understanding, different
perspectives, cooperation, problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, conflict resolution, and
strategies to make nonviolent social change. UNESCO defines peace education as:
the process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about
behavior changes that will enable children, youths and adults to prevent conflict and violence,
both overt and structural; to resolve conflict peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to
peace, whether at an intrapersonal, interpersonal, inter-group, national or international level.
(UNESCO, 2002)
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) intends to
foster a Culture of Peace through education:
by revising the educational curricula to promote qualitative values, attitudes and

behaviors of a culture of peace, including peaceful conflict-resolution, dialogue, consensus-
building and active non-violence. Such an educational approach should be geared also to:
 promote sustainable economic and social development

 promote respect for all human rights
 ensure equality between women and men
 foster democratic participation
 advance understanding, tolerance and solidarity
40
 support participatory communication and the free flow of information and

knowledge
 promote international peace and security
Peace education strives to inform and make students aware of the causes and damages of
violence (individual, structural, cultural, and environmental) and give nonviolent alternatives to conflict.
Peace education can occur in schools, community centers, churches, at home, in after-school programs,
or in higher education. The context of peace education depends whether or not the society is
experiencing a current or recent intractable conflict, such as in Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland or Israel-
Palestine.
There are several important aspects of peace education according to the book Peace Education
by Ian Harris and Mary Lee Morrison (2005). Different knowledge areas exist within the context of
peace education, Human Rights Education being one of these areas. This includes teaching the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and respect and dignity for all humanity. Within a human rights
context, peace education attains to soften hate created between groups based on class or race through
respect and compassion. Environmental education is another facet of peace education. Within this area
the importance of care and respect for the environment is taught, our Earth’s limited resources are
discussed and sustainable development is encouraged (development can be a topic on its own as well).
International Education is an important aspect of peace education so that students learn about the
complex interstate relationships that often lead to war. A worldview is also developed in this area of
peace education, students are encouraged to view themselves in a more broad sense in connection to the
rest of the world, in other words, how to become a global citizen. It is important that each of us are able
contemplate the effect we have on others and vice versa, the effect others have on us. Educating for
Gender Equality is another form of peace education focusing on injustice and violence experienced by
women and girls in interpersonal, community, institutional, and societal contexts (Opotow, Gerson &
Woodsdale, 2005, p. 308). Globalization is a recent phenomenon that has made peace education even
more urgent, as we need to understand the way economic relations work and how they either exploit or
favor certain countries, peoples, and social classes.
One of the most important areas within peace education is conflict resolution education. Conflict
is a part of our daily lives, from the interpersonal to the international level. Without awareness of our
own emotions and ways to deal with conflict peacefully, many conflicts escalate to violence. Conflict
41
resolution education gives students resources to put into practical use when they inevitably confront
conflict. Conflict resolution education includes teaching listening and communication skills and aims to
show students how to put themselves in the others’ shoe (empathy). Conflict resolution also involves
creative problem solving and working cooperatively. This is something that must be implemented on a
school wide level in order for the students to live in an environment where resolving conflicts peacefully
is the norm. Peace education can also be empowering for its students. It fosters self-esteem, love and
cooperation. It teaches that each person has a voice and is worthy of respect, and that cooperation
outweighs the old norm of hierarchal dominance-based relationships. Empowerment is taught through
the process of peace education and its democratic ways of including everyone. It is also taught through
the recognition of fears and emotions, and the knowledge that each of us can control our environment.
A large problem of violence exists in American schools, from bullying to harassment, fights and
flat out gun violence. Schools need to shift from the authoritative manner in which they conduct
themselves to a more democratic model of society, reflecting peace education ideals such the ones
Johnson and Johnson present:
Values reflective of cooperation, controversy, and integrative negotiations, which include

commitment to the common good and to the well-being of others, a sense of responsibility to
contribute one’s fair share of the work, respect for the efforts and viewpoints of others and for
them as people, behaving with integrity, empathy with and caring for the other parties,
compassion when other members are in need, equality, and appreciation of diversity (Johnson &
Johnson, 2005, p. 290).
Using integrated teaching methods to educate students on the importance of moral inclusion and
what it means to include or exclude someone in your scope of justice just because of who they are, is
imperative to try and release tensions between our fractured society. The effects of morally excluding
someone from your group can be damaging both for the individual and society. In fact, students who
felt marginalized and morally excluded by their peers committed several of the recent school shootings
in the United States (Columbine and University of Virginia). Creating a classroom where cooperation
and common goals are present and groups have an opportunity to relate to one another in a positive way
is one way to create a more peaceful society.
Peace education is much more pedagogy or methodology than a single subject. It is just as
important to stress how the material is taught as what is taught. Peace and justice can be weaved into
each subject area, as seen in the examples in Peace Education. History can be taught from a different
42
perspective using Howard Sinn’s The People’s History. Biology and science can be taught the power
(and danger) of nuclear weapons or the effects of global warming (Harris & Morrison, 1999, p. 107).
There are countless ways to infuse peace into each subject, in this case “peace” meaning awareness of
what can create damage or violence in our lives.
To sum up peace education, it is a complex and diverse matter, and there is no one way to
implement a peace into a program or school. What is clear though, is that students should have an
understanding of violence (what causes it and what effects it has), that students are able to question and
critically think about the structure of the world order and its militaristic style, that students learn about
various organizations at the grassroots and international level that are designed to create a culture of
peace (Non-governmental organizations or the UN), that conflict resolution teaches communication and
alternatives to violence and is actively used within the program, and finally that nonviolence is taught as
the only way of life that our human race will survive future generations.
2. SERVICE-LEARNING AS PEACE EDUCATION
Now that peace education has been defined, it is possible to look at service-learning through a
peace education lens. The professor Kathleen Maas Weigert (1999) discusses the roots of service-
learning within the realm of peace, moral good and education. The importance of Paolo Freire’s ideas
on oppression and what he referred to as the “banking model” of education are central to service-
learning (Maas Weigert, 1999). Service-learning challenges the traditional roles of teacher and student
and allows for openness of learning and teaching, in other words, roles can be such as “teacher-as-
student” or “student-as-teacher.” Maas Weigert states:
The idea that is basic to both of these Freirean contributions is that each person has something to
offer others, each something to receive, and the community is better off in the process and in the
product(s) that emerge. This alters the learning context in ways that emphasize the responsibility
of the individual and of the community as a whole to be active participants in the education
process (Maas Weigert, 1999, p. 13).
In order to empower and engage students in service-learning, this step of “teacher-as-student”

and “student-as-teacher” is imperative. It gives students the power to be assertive in the learning
process and take responsibility for education that benefits the collective. Maas Weigert (1999) also cites
bell hooks’ work as being an important step in the development of service-learning pedagogy. Hooks
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speaks of the importance of creating a learning environment where students can take risks and teachers
do not assume absolute authority. Hooks refers to this as a “learning community:”
We can choose to help ‘create’ such a community. And it seems to me, it is in such communities,
building on (and in some cases, yes, rejecting) what we learned first in the family or school or
neighborhood community, that the moral education that is key to the fully human life can take
place (Maas Weigert, 1999, p. 14).
Service-learning has also been referred to as “community-based learning” as the word “service”
at times can have an unintentional hierarchical implication.
I have found it fruitful to use the term community-based learning for this pedagogy, because it
seems to incorporate some of the good envisioned in service-learning while avoiding some of the
difficulties; for example, the idea that “service” connotes noblesse oblige or that service is a one-
way relationship (Maas Weigert, 1999, p. 16).
Especially in a social justice context, Seth Pollack (1999) also advises about the varied meaning
in the word service. “Service can be understood as charity, with the goal of address immediate needs, or
it can focus on resolving deeply embedded social problems and bringing about structural changes in
both social and economic relations” (Pollack in Cruz et al, 1999, p. 18). It is important that the service
not be perceived as charity work in order for service-learning to make the largest impact regarding social
justice and moral good.
Service-learning involves the entire community in education, and resonates with the popular
African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child.” In order for an effective service-learning program to
be executed, the school must seek and develop positive working relationships with community groups,
media, government organizations and businesses. Cooperation, equality and respect among all
stakeholders must be taken seriously, and there must be care taken that the power in the relationships
among the stakeholders do not become unbalanced. In other words, service-learning is not charity work,
where one side has significantly more social power than another side. Maybach (2007) reports that Paulo
Freire, and a number of other authors influenced by his work, cautioned about the potential dangers of
charitable work that did not include a critical examination of the social and political forces that created
the need for charity in the first place. Furthermore, the former director of the National Society for
Experiential Education notes that “a good service-learning program helps participants see their (service)
questions in the larger context of issues of social justice and social policy—rather than in the context of
charity” (Kendall as cited in Cruz et al, 1999, p. 3). Student projects with a social-justice theme aim to
44
create equality. It should be observed that service-learning in a moral or social-justice context is not
value neutral, and thus can have the tendency to become controversial as some may view this teaching
method as a political tool.
Service learning not only gives students a sense of responsibility and duty, but empowerment as
well. The Project on “Education for Democratic Citizenship” report writes: “The ultimate goal of
empowerment is to prepare individuals and communities for civic and political participation” (Birzéa,
2000, p. 55). Noting this, it is also observed that one of the challenges in democracy today is the
distance between citizens and change, as well as civic disengagement (Billig, Root and Jesse, 2005, p.
3). Citizens feel that the problems that face today’s society are beyond their control, and therefore feel
less inclined to initiate or participate in the political process or public policy initiatives that lead to more
democratic communities (Lisman, 1998, p. 89). Bos, Williamson, Sullivan, Gonzales, and Avery, (2007)
found a correlation between U.S. high school students intention to vote or participate in civic activities
and the proportion of civic and government textbook entries on rights versus civic duty and
responsibility.
If we, as a society, consider the democratic involvement of our youth as citizens as an important
pedagogical goal of civics instruction, we also might consider teaching them more about political
obligations and participation—and less about rights—as a more plausible method of reaching
that goal (Bos, Williamson, Sullivan, Gonzales, and Avery, 2007, p. 1278).
The over-emphasis on teaching rights without focus on responsibilities lead students to entitled,
individualistic attitudes versus a more collective and dutiful attitude. David Lisman (1998) argues that it
is the educator’s role to empower students in the classroom by helping them understand the role they
play in democracy and then provide opportunities to decide on a democratic basis what community
projects to support (Lisman, 1998, p. 109). Ed Schwerin (1999) writes “…free democratic communities
depend on mutual responsibility and that rights without obligations are ultimately not sustainable
(Schwerin, 1999, p. 215). Aside from promoting active democratic participation, service-learning can be
considered a type of peace education, as it encourages students to take on an empathetic approach in
situations and environments they might not have been exposed to before. Succinctly put, service-
learning is a “promising approach to the challenge of civic engagement” (Billig, Root, Jesse, 2005, p. 3).
In the Service-Learning for Civic Engagement series: Race, Poverty and Social Justice (2007)
“The Day Labor Project” is described as a social-justice service-learning project taken on by the Ethnic
45
Immigration class at California State Polytechnic University-Paloma. The students first learned material
that would help them understand the plight of immigrant workers at a day labor center and then began
meeting with them at weekly meetings to discuss new employment opportunities or how they might deal
with employers that refused to pay the immigrant workers. The first major project the students set up
involved various community-based organizations and also representatives from the Mexican
Government in order to provide a day and location for 1,000 immigrants to apply for a matricula card,
which gave them access to open bank accounts, defend their human rights, and send remittances abroad
(Cadena and Calderón, 2007, pp. 63-80). “The Day Labor Project” continued all semester ultimately
held a “day laborer” parade in order to recognize the immigrant workers as part of the community,
resulting in increased job offers for them. This is just one example of how social justice can be improved
through service-learning. Social justice is one of the key themes in service-learning, as shown in the
following section.
3. SERVICE-LEARNING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
A socially just society is one where all members have their basic needs met and are physically
and psychologically safe and secure to be able to develop to their full capacities and capable of
interacting democratically with others (Adams, Bell and Griffin in Wade, 2007, pp.156). When the
ideals of social justice are applied to service-learning the end goal is to “develop their (the students’)
democratic capacities: to question, to challenge, to make real decisions, to collectively solve problems”
(Bigelow et al. in Wade, 2007, pp. 157). A socially just society is void of all kinds of discrimination
based on race, class, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or any other factor. Both service-
learning and social justice education share many similar characteristics, the largest being that they are
both “aimed at ameliorating societal problems and both involve students working collectively with
others to effect change” (Wade, 2000, p. 157). However, where social justice education differs from
service-learning is in its explicit goal of creating social change and questioning the societal norms and
practices that have lead to unjust situations from the root cause.
According to Wade (2001) there are certain characteristics that lead to service-learning projects
having a larger focus on social justice, as seen below:
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Principles of Social Justice-Oriented Service-Learning
Social Justice Education Examples in Service-learning Practice
Student-centered
Students are involved in choosing the issue of concern for their service-learning project. Students are
asked to explain how this issue connects with their own lives.
Collaborative
Students collaborate with their classmates, others in the school, and most importantly, the recipients of
the service, in the design and conduct of the service-learning project.
Experiential
Students are actively engaged in community needs assessment, research, and project development as
well as service activities in the school and/or community.
Intellectual
Students seek out a variety of sources with multiple perspectives as they study and analyze the issue
they have chosen. They also use subject matter skills and knowledge to plan and carry out their service-
learning project.
Analytical
Students examine the root causes of the problem they are addressing. They consider whose voices have
been excluded and what their own role is in relation to the problem.
Multicultural
Students adopt an inclusive approach to the problem they are addressing, in terms of understanding the
issue from diverse perspectives and also in terms of whom they involve and how they work together on
the problem.
Value-based
Students acknowledge the controversial nature of aspects of the problem they are addressing. They
examine and discuss the values involved.
Activist
Students engage in direct and/or indirect service as well as advocacy aimed at creating a more socially
just society. (Wade, 2001).
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Many of these practices have been discussed very often, including having students research the
root causes of the problem being addressed, applying diverse and multicultural perspectives in each
project and having students participate in community needs assessments. Social justice-oriented
service-learning encourages students to question the status quo and look deep into social issues to find
what social forces created them. “Paulo Freire, and a number of authors influenced by his work,
cautioned about the potential dangers of charitable work that did not include a critical examination of the
social and political forces that created the need for charity in the first place” (Maybach in Wade, 2007,
pp. 158). Attaining social justice is by no means an easy feat, quite the contrary. Because seeking
social justice often means disturbing the powers that be, it is a long and complicated process requiring a
dedicated citizenry committed to living in a socially just society.
Wade (2007) also suggests introducing social justice issues early in education in order to
acclimate children to thinking about what it means to live in a socially just society. Wade makes the
point:
The complexity of social justice issues might lead one to think that such topics should be
relegated to higher education or political “think tanks.” Yet it is precisely because of these
problems are so persuasive and persistent that service-learning for social justice should begin in
the early years of schooling. If students are to develop a commitment to social justice ideals, this
work should begin in the elementary years when children are concerned with “fairness” and
when their empathy and perspective taking abilities are developing” (Wade, 2007, p. 158).
While many educators might think introducing social justice issues to elementary school students
is not age-appropriate, there are teachers that have success with their elementary students.
While some may think elementary students are too young to be introduced to such complex ideas
such as social justice, there are age-appropriate projects and activities that elementary students are
capable of handling. Wade (2007) interviewed 40 elementary school teachers about their experiences
with social justice in the classroom. She found that teachers used a variety of methods to introduce
social justice, including: encouraging students’ questions, using multiple perspectives for letter writing
and modeling activism. One method used by teachers is maintaining an open classroom, one where the
students know they can ask and discuss questions. One 4th grade teacher told about how her students felt
a schoolyard rule was unfair and petitioned to have it changed. Because the students knew they could
raise questions and discuss issues in class, they expressed concern about a rule dividing the playground
into sports space for boys and jump ropes and jacks for girls; they could not play together. The students
48
felt this was unfair and by discussing the issue in class they came up with the idea to get signatures from
other students at the school and present it to school administration, effectively changing the playtime
rule. Another teacher spoke about how her 1st and 2nd grade students were upset over the wastefulness at
lunchtime due to the lunches being served on Styrofoam trays. The students worked with parents and
school employees to collect evidence about the waste, and then arranged a meeting with the district
director of food services. The young students had no problem in confronting the director and asking him
questions about the use of Styrofoam, which is harmful to the environment. The students were not able
to ban Styrofoam from the lunchroom, but it was still a very empowering situation for them to be in.
Many teachers interviewed by Wade (2007) about their social justice/service-learning practices
used letter writing as a way to introduce multiple perspectives in social issues. One teacher gave the
example of how his fifth- and sixth-grade students were upset over a recreation center that was to be
built in their city, but was being put aside in order to build a golf course first. The students felt it was
unfair that a lucrative golf course be built before a recreation center, so they wrote letters the city
newspaper and their teacher was able to arrange a meeting with the mayor, council members, and other
interested parties from both the golf course and recreation center. This introduced the students to the
various sides of the issue, and in the end the recreation center was built before the golf course.
Wade (2007) tells other stories of how teachers model activism for students by advocating their
own personal passions, and although students may not have the same passions, they are able to inspire
students to advocate for what they believe is important. One of Wade’s observations from the teacher
interviews was that “while students were usually (though not always) introduced to multiple-
perspectives, it appeared that often students were persuaded to adopt the teacher’s perspective on the
issue at hand” and adding “it is important that teachers do not completely plan or guide the students’
activism work in the direction that the teacher thinks Is appropriate” (Wade, 2007, p. 162). Many
teachers voiced struggles with their intentions to introduce social justice to their students, one of the
main challenges being time—as state standards and standardized tests usually take the forefront on
classroom time. Other teachers complained about the required curriculum that some teachers felt was
socially unjust in itself, for example one science lesson that had students tape weights to a living
organism to make observations. The teacher felt that this was in contrary to the lessons about respecting
living organisms that she teaches her students. Some teachers did not feel supported by their colleagues
or by school administration, as the types of lessons they were teaching were “alternative” or hippie-like.
49
In order to improve social justice service-learning in the classroom Wade suggests “1) honoring
students’ concerns and supporting their questions and initiative 2) including multi perspectives and
advocacy through letter writing and 3) modeling activism and concern for social justice issues” (Wade,
2007, p. 164). The elementary classroom is a perfect place for students to begin exploring how they feel
about social justice issues and experimenting with advocacy for their own passions.
IV. CONCLUSION
As seen through the examples in this chapter, service-learning can be a form of peace education.
Because service-learning provides students with personal experience in empathy, multiple perspectives
and especially social justice, it encourages them to put themselves in the others shoe and to critically
think about what is “fair” in society. Many issues important to peace education such as conflict
resolution, gender equality, sustainability, human rights and non-violence can be explored through
service-learning projects, and although students might not be away that they are explicitly studying
peace, the lessons learned and results achieved would certainly make a peace educator content.
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55
III
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL SKILLS TRAINING IN
PREVENTING OFFENDING AND REDUCING RECIDIVISM
GEORGIA ZARA6, DAVID P. FARRINGTON7
ITALY, UK
I.INTRODUCTION - II.THE COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE - a.Reasoning and Rehabilitation - b.Moral

Reconation Therapy - c.Aggression Replacement Training - d.Thinking for a Change - e.Relapse Prevention Therapy -
III.KEY PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE TREATMENT IN PRACTICE - a.Characteristics of the offenders in the
treatment program - b.Responsivity - c.Multi-modal nature of treatment - IV.EARLY INTERVENTIONS TO PREVENT
CHILD BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS AND ANTISOCIALITY - a.Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study - b.Seattle
Social Development Project - c.Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies Curriculum - d.Fast Track - a.The SNAP Under
12 Outreach Project - V.“WHAT WORKS” WITH JUVENILES: SOME SUGGESTIONS FROM META-ANALYSES -
VI.INTERVENTIONS FOR ADULTS: SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING NEW -
a.Evaluation studies in corrections - VII.SOMETHING WORKS, SOMETHING DOESN’T, SOMETHING IS PROMISING
- VIII.ARE SEX OFFENDERS AMIABLE TO TREATMENT? – IX. CONCLUSION - X.BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. INTRODUCTION
There is, it seems, a reliable human prediction: past behavior is the most robust and significant
predictor of future behavior. However, reducing the risk of future offending by intervening with past
criminogenic behavior is not straightforward. Efforts towards an understanding of what is effective in
preventing offending and reducing recidivism, and with whom, have been hampered by rhetoric and
ideology, rather than being driven by evidence-based research (Visher & Weisburd, 1998).
6 Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Department of Psychology,University of Turin, Italy

7 Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology and Leverhulme Trust emeritus Fellow,Institute of Criminology,
Cambridge University, UK
56
With doubts about the effectiveness of intervention as a result of Martinson’s (1974) declaration
that most rehabilitation programs up to that time did not have any appreciable effect on recidivism, it has
become clear that crime interventions ought to be guided by evidence-based research. Numerous studies
have been interested in readdressing the issue of nothing works (Martinson, 1974) by unveiling the
findings of the ‘what works?’ approach (McGuire, 1995). Some even argue that any intervention may be
better than no intervention. Some, however, may cautiously propose that the magnitude of the specific
effects of different crime prevention programs should be strictly scrutinized and methodologically
guided so as to avoid the Dodo Bird verdict8 that all crime prevention programs are about equal in
efficacy because any intervention breaks the pessimistic spell of nothing can be done to reform
offenders.
Addressing the issue of “what works?” in preventing crime, in reducing reoffending and in
rehabilitating offenders, is not only a scientific challenge, but it has become a professional responsibility
for researchers, criminologists, practitioners, policy makers, and politicians involved in the task of
protecting and enhancing the well-being of individuals and their community. Crime prevention is a
result of effective intervention programs and it “is therefore defined not by its intentions, but by its
consequences” (Sherman, Farrington, Welsh, & MacKenzie, 2002, p. 3). Effective treatment should lead
to the reduction of criminal events within a high-risk population, the prevention of criminal recidivism,
the lessening of criminal harm, and the prevention of antisocial and criminal onsets in problematic and
vulnerable children.
Research has shown that punishment and formal variations in punishment or diversion,
deterrence, boot camps, and “Scared Straight” have been ineffective in reducing crime (Lösel, 2001;
McGuire, 2002, Petrosino, Petrosino, Hollis-Peel, & Lavenberg, 2013; Wilson & MacKenzie, 2006).
Classical psychotherapy, low-structured milieu therapy, psychodynamic and counselling approaches,
and self-enhancement interventions such as fostering positive self-regard, self-actualization and self-
esteem, have had little or no desirable effects on recidivism rates, even though they may be effective in
improving other aspects of the psychological wellbeing of offenders.
The message emerging from many studies carried out in Canada, the United States and the
United Kingdom since the 1990s is that treatment with offenders can have a significant effect in
8
This is named after the Dodo Bird in Alice and Wonderland who argued that “all have won and all must have prizes”
(Shadish & Sweeney, 1991).
57
reducing recidivism, even though this effect can at times be small. When certain treatment factors are
combined it seems that the impact upon reoffending is considerably enhanced. Meta-analytic studies
(e.g. Allen, MacKenzie, & Hickman, 2001; Lipsey & Landenberger, 2006; Lipsey & Wilson, 1998)
suggest that there are high impact program features that are significant and effective in addressing
offenders’ needs and their criminal behavior:
 a cognitive-behavioral theoretical perspective;

 a focus on high-risk offenders;
 a focus on criminogenic needs that are psychological dynamic factors that can facilitate
change in the offenders’ lifestyle, thinking, and behavior;
 a structured intervention with clear aims and objectives;
 a team of professionals trained and qualified to deliver the treatment;
 an organization that supports, manages, and monitors the implementation of the
intervention and its adequacy;
 an evidence-based approach to evaluate the integrity of the program.
The aim of this chapter is to review the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral and cognitive skills
training programs in preventing offending and reducing recidivism.
II. THE COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE
The ability to recognize, understand, interpret, and adequately respond to interpersonal and social
cues is central to social behavior and adaptation (Argyle, 1983). The critical issue is how individuals
assess specific situations or problems, and this was summarized by the first century Greek philosopher
Epictetus, who recognized that people are disturbed not by things or situations per se, but by the views
they have of them.
Individuals tend to misinterpret situations, events, or symptoms in ways that are likely to
undermine their coping and their ability to respond functionally to their social world. In many cases their
behavior exacerbates these problems. Other biases in information processing and problem-solving
attitudes also act to consolidate a behavioral pattern that is often maladjusted and socially unacceptable.
The onset and subsequent development of criminal behavior is based on a process in which the
individual fails to stop and think before responding to events and situations.
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Evidence-based research in criminological psychology has shown that Cognitive- Behavioral

Treatment (CBT) is not only a promising rehabilitative treatment for criminal offenders (Lipsey &
Landenberger, 2006) but it is also one of the most effective methods of preventing offending and
reducing recidivism. Many offenders respond better to behavioral and cognitive-behavioral
interventions than to other therapies that do not rely on concrete thinking and behavioral techniques, and
most disordered children respond better to behavioral than to non-behavioral therapies. CBT is inspired
by two approaches in bringing about change: cognitive restructuring and social and interpersonal skills
training. These approaches are built on two forms of reinforcement: (a) encouraging cognitive processes
that are adaptive, and strengthening the thoughts that lead to positive behavioral choices; and (b)
reinforcing behaviors that involve positive consequences.
At the basis of cognitive skills training is the aim of challenging the set of cognitive distortions
and impulsive, rigid, and egocentric thinking that exert a general and, often, increasingly pervasive
influence over a person’s daily functioning. Cullen and Gendreau (2000) recognize that effective
cognitive programs attempt to assist offenders to redefine and control the problems that led them to
break the law; to identify new goals in their life; to reflect on alternative prosocial solutions; and to
apply these solutions.
Apart from cognitive distortions, some difficulties at an emotional level seem to influence
aggressive behavior and offending. Various studies (e.g. Carr & Lutjemeier, 2005; Plattner et al., 2007)
show that offenders tend to misinterpret other people’s emotions and have difficulties in reading their
facial expressions. A study carried out in two correctional facilities in Japan, which involved 24
incarcerated male adolescent and young adult delinquents (Sato, Uono, Matsuura, & Toichi, 2009),
suggests that delinquency may be underpinned by impaired emotional recognition of facial expressions,
with a specific bias to misinterpret disgusted expressions as hostile anger. Misperception of people’s
intents often leads to hostile, aggressive, and threatening behavior. Thus, the way in which a social or
interpersonal encounter is perceived influences how a person responds to and behaves in that social
situation.
While accurate identification of facial expressions of fear seems to promote prosocial behavior
(Marsh, Kozak, & Ambady, 2007), struggling in selecting and interpreting social signals is likely to
reinforce aggressive behavior (Dodge, Price, Bachorowski, & Newman, 1990). Further, Farris, Treat,
59
Viken and McFall (2008) have explored the extent to which misperceiving female affability as sexual
interest is likely to lead to sexual coercion. It seems that there is a gender difference in reading
interpersonal and sexual cues. Compared to women, men consistently perceive a greater degree of
sexual intent in women’s behavior and make more perceptual errors in reading interpersonal cues.
Research findings (Malamuth & Brown, 1994) suggest that sexually aggressive men are prone to
misperception of facial cues and to non-verbal communication biases. Male sexual offenders are likely
to misinterpret female friendliness and openness to social interaction as sexual interest (Abbey, 1987;
Lipton, McDonel, & McFall, 1987).
Despite outcome evaluations showing that there are differences among CBT interventions
employed within the criminal justice system in the method of programming, contents, principles, and
outcomes, the unified proposition of cognitive-behavioral treatment or therapy is that psychological and
behavioral problems arise as a consequence of faulty patterns of thinking, misperceptions, and
misattribution of intents that affect and direct behavior. The prototypical models of CBT programs are:
 Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R) (Ross & Fabiano, 1985);

 Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) (Little & Robinson, 1986);
 Aggression Replacement Training (ART) (Goldstein & Glick, 1987);
 Thinking for a change (T4C) (Bush, Glick, & Taymans, 1997);
 Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT) (Parks & Marlatt, 2000).
a. Reasoning and Rehabilitation
Ross and Fabiano (1991) devised a program that trains people to stop and think before acting, to
consider the consequences of their actions, to conceptualize alternative ways of solving interpersonal
problems, and to consider the effects of their behavior upon other people. Reasoning and Rehabilitation
(R&R) is a cognitive-behavioral training program for offenders, accredited by the Home Office for use
with offenders in prison and on custodial sentences in England and Wales (McGuire, 2001). In a
randomized experiment, the R & R program in Ottawa led to a significant reduction in reoffending by a
small sample of adult offenders in a follow-up period of nine months (Roso, Fabiano, & Ewles, 1988).
This program has been implemented in several different countries, including Spain (Redondo, Martinez-
Catena, & Andres-Pueyo, 2012), and in community and clinic settings (Emilsson et al., 2011; McGuire
et al., 2008).
60
The aim of R & R is to change the criminogenic thinking of offenders (Tong & Farrington,
2008). R & R is comprised of 35 sequential modules that are delivered to small groups of offenders. It
includes social skills training, lateral and critical thinking, creative problem solving, social competence,
negotiation skills, social perspective thinking, management of emotions, value enhancement, critical
thinking and cognitive exercises, role-playing and modelling.
A shorter version of R&R was specifically developed for adults in 1996 (Ross & Hilborn, 1996),
and it is called R&R2. It is a specialized 15-session version that targets behavior leading to involvement
with criminal justice agencies. It aims to increase prosocial competence among participants by
developing new pathways that will encourage prosocial feelings, thoughts and behavior. It is based on
four key principles: motivational interviewing, prosocial modelling, relapse prevention, and desistance
from a criminal career. Ross and Hilborn (2008) believe that long-term interventions are not always
appropriate with certain offenders, because they can tax their motivation, and trigger conflicting
reactions in the offenders that lead to noncompletion of the program. The authors put emphasis on the
risk principle by recognizing that different risk factors affect people’s vulnerability to offending
opportunities at different points in their lives, which make it difficult to progress towards desistance. R
& R2 programs are designed to foster prosocial competence and also focus on promoting prosocial
neurological development.
R & R2 programs are part of Ross and Hilborn’s (2008) neurocriminology model in which they
suggest that it is time to think again and to promote new interventions to prevent crime. Executive
functions exert significant control over thoughts and actions and foster self-regulation, planning,
cognitive flexibility and response inhibition. Thus, the development of cognitive skills enables important
top-down control of behavior and emotions. However, cognitive neuroscience research has shown that
human beings do not always operate in a deliberative manner, but often function in an automatic mode
that is neither deliberative nor conscious. Antisocial behaviors such as aggression and violence are often
associated with heightened activity deep in the brain, with the consequence that such behavior may not
be amenable to cognitive-behavioral treatments alone. A multi-structured intervention may be necessary
to undo the automatic antisocial thoughts and emotions that are triggered in brain areas deeper than the
prefrontal cortex. The aim is to develop new neural pathways that will enhance prosocial feelings,
thoughts and behaviors (Ross & Hilborn, 2008). The neural correlates of skills addressed in CBT
programs have been reviewed by Vaske, Galyean, and Cullen (2011).
61
b. Moral Reconation Therapy
Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)9 is a cognitive-behavioral treatment approach that has been
employed since 1985. It is based on the moral development theory of Kohlberg (1963) and it includes
some aspects of the ego and identity theory of Erikson (1959). The term conation refers to the
connection of knowledge and affect on behavior and is associated with how an individual consciously
makes decisions. It is a critical component for successfully engaging in self-direction and self-
regulation. The central tenets of MRT are that attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts are the main determinants
of behavior and that by modifying the way people build up their theories of themselves and their lives it
is possible to alter the way that they behave. MRT is designed to facilitate change in an offender’s
process of conscious decision-making and to enhance and reinforce appropriate and responsible
behavior through high moral reasoning (Little, 2000, 2001). It was developed and implemented in a
prison drug offender therapeutic community in 1985 in Memphis (Tennessee) by Little and Robinson
(1986) and since then has been used with other high-risk populations, including juvenile offenders. It is
a systematic treatment that is designed to develop and reinforce moral, social and positive behavior
through a 12 or 16 step program, depending on the particular population involved.
Armstrong (2003) evaluated MRT in a randomized experiment with 256 youth offenders
incarcerated in a county jail in Maryland. A survival analysis showed that the risk of recidivism for
those who received MRT was not significantly different from the control group. However, Ferguson
and Wormith (2013) carried out a meta-analysis of MRT and concluded that it was effective in reducing
recidivism (r = .16). MRT was more successful with adults than with juveniles and in institutional
settings compared with the community.
c. Aggression Replacement Training
Aggression Replacement Training (ART)10 is a multimodal approach to work with aggressive

offenders. It was first developed in 1980 by Goldstein and Glick, who completed their first publication
on ART in 1987. The key element from which ART starts is aggression. Research shows that aggression
is a difficult behavior to change (Goldstein, Glick, & Gibbs, 1998). It is learned by repetition,
9
Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) was awarded its first federal trademark in 1995.
10
Aggression Replacement Training (ART) was awarded trademarks in 2004 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that
protected printed matter and training seminars, training programs, and their variants.
62
observation, imitation, direct experience, and rehearsal. Generally, aggression is used by those who lack
prosocial skills and often arises from cognitive misperceptions of situations and of other people’s
intentions. Different contexts (home, school, neighborhoods, media, and videogames) are the places
where children and adolescents learn how to be aggressive. What seems to encourage its manifestation is
that aggression is frequently rewarded and has few punishments. It is a behavior that seems to receive
short-lived energy and sustenance from the emotional arousal of anger that these cognitions generate.
ART is based on the principle that aggressive behavior can be unlearned and replaced by a more
constructive, socially competent and efficient attitude and consequent behavior. Three main
components constitute ART: skillstreaming, anger control training, and moral reasoning training
(Goldstein, Glick, & Gibbs, 1998). Skillstreaming involves a step-by-step approach that teaches people
how to replace destructive and out-of-control behavior with constructive and prosocial acts. The basis
of this task is modeling, so that social skills are introduced by group leaders and then practiced by
offenders. Anger control training is implemented using the antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C)
progression and the aim is to enhance self-awareness in order to be able to recognize internal anger cues
and to understand what elicits them. Moral reasoning training focuses on moral reasoning and
egocentric biases. The aim is to boost moral reasoning skills and broaden social perspective taking.
d. Thinking for a Change

It has become widely recognized that criminal behavior is amenable to prosocial change when
offenders use the tools from both cognitive restructuring and cognitive skills programs (Bush, Glick, &
Taymans, 1997). Offenders can change; we just need to understand how. Thinking for a change (T4C)
was developed by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to address the cognitive, social, and
emotional needs of the offending population. It is designed for both adults and juveniles, and has been
delivered in prisons, jails, community corrections, probation, and parole supervision settings. T4C uses a
combination of techniques to increase the offender’s awareness of self and others, and to deepen
attentiveness to one’s own beliefs, attitudes, and thinking patterns that are relevant to one’s present and
future needs. The program curriculum consists of 22 lessons and includes self-assessment at the end of
each lesson, which addresses the importance of self-insight and interpersonal skills that offenders should
develop during the program. The program’s goal is to affect change in thinking so that behavior is
positively and constructively impacted.
63
e. Relapse Prevention Therapy
In its original design, Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT) (Parks & Marlatt, 2000) was a
maintenance program to prevent and address the treatment of addictive behaviors. RPT is a behavioral
self-control program that teaches individuals how to maintain and enhance changes in their behavior. In
clinical psychology, relapse refers to a breakdown or failure in maintaining change in any set of
behaviors. In line with the rationale of cognitive-behavioral therapies, RPT combines cognitive and
behavioral interventions in an overall approach that emphasizes self-management and encourages a
detachment from what the individual did so as to enhance the development of a changed sense of self.
Therefore, RPT rejects labeling an individual as alcoholic or drug addict or criminal (Parks & Marlatt,
2000). The principle is simple: the longer the period of successful abstinence or controlled use, the
greater the individual’s perception of self-efficacy.
RPT interventions include three strategic categories: coping skills training, cognitive therapy, and
lifestyle modification. Coping skills training strategies involve cognitive and behavioral techniques.
Cognitive therapy procedures provide the individuals with ways to sustain the change process.
Achieving change is introduced as a learning experience with errors, failures, and impediments that can
nurture the development of a sense of self-mastery. Offenders are taught to understand that relapse is a
process and not an event. Hence, RPT begins to identify those high risk situations that could endanger
the individual’s recovery and where relapse could occur. It also assesses the individual’s capability of
coping with those situations and aims to enhance the belief that she/he can do it. Finally, lifestyle
modification strategies are designed to strengthen the individual’s overall coping capacity in order to
create a more balanced self to uphold the cognitive and behavioral changes.
III. KEY PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE TREATMENT IN PRACTICE
The applicability of these cognitive-behavioral methods to prevent offending and reduce

recidivism is broadly recognized, for both adults (males and females) (Lipsey, Landenberger, & Wilson,
2007; Wilson, Bouffard, & MacKenzie, 2005) and juveniles (Redondo, Garrido, & Sanchez-Meca,
1999). This is also supported by numerous meta-analyses (Andrews, Zinger, Hoge, Bonta, Gendreau, &
Cullen, 1990; Lipsey & Wilson, 1998; Lösel, 1995). However, scientific work has its own limitations;
no conclusion is permanent and constant updating is required depending on new research findings. This
is so in criminological psychology as well, where generalizations are often limited and uncertain, and
64
when multiple causes affect behavior. Everyday practice in crime prevention and intervention requires a
clear understanding of what works and what does not, what may be promising, and what may have
harmful or iatrogenic effects (Sherman et al., 2002).
The underlying thread of the various findings of the cognitive-behavioral studies is that the
success of treatment depends directly on whether or not the programs are evidence-based. Empirical
studies in criminological psychology recognize that moving towards a more defined territory of
intervention, shaped by sound methodology, ethical integrity, and the key scientific principles of risk,
need, and responsivity (Andrews & Dowden, 2006), can help to achieve encouraging and effective
results. Lipsey and Wilson (1998) asserted that there are some central variables associated with reduced
recidivism that should inspire the planning and the structure of every intervention:
 characteristics of the offenders in the treatment program;

 responsivity;
 the multi-modal nature (structure, type, amount, and intensity) of treatment.
a. Characteristics of the offenders in the treatment program
It is plausible to consider that the characteristics of the offenders are relevant not in an abstract
psychological sense but in terms of the level of risk, the type of needs, and their responsivity level. The
risk principle states that recidivism can be reduced if the level of treatment provided to the offender is
proportional to the offender’s risk of reoffending. The need principle calls for the focus of treatment to
be on criminogenic needs.
Criminogenic risks or dynamic (psychological) risk factors are those factors that, when present,
increase the risk of reoffending, and on the other hand, when they are directly addressed, reduce the
likelihood of reoffending. Criminogenic needs (e.g. antisocial personality patterns, pro-criminal
attitudes, social supports for crime, substance abuse, family/marital relationships, school/work, prosocial
recreational activities) are dynamic as opposed to static risk factors (such as age of onset). Offenders
have many needs deserving of treatment but not all of these needs are associated with their criminal
behavior. Non-criminogenic needs may include, for instance, self-esteem, vague feelings of personal
distress, major mental disorders such as schizophrenia or manic-depression, and physical health
problems.
65
Higher risk offenders are likely to have a broader range of needs and problems than lower risk
offenders, and generally the former respond more successfully to treatment (Andrews & Dowden, 2006).
What is important is to match treatment to risk and to address those criminogenic needs which are
directly linked to offending. Treatments focussing on non-criminogenic needs appear to slightly increase
offending rates. More studies are certainly necessary to investigate the mechanisms which, although
they may increase the psychological wellbeing or mental health of the offenders, may not however
reduce their reoffending.
b. Responsivity
Research evidence indicates that treatment should be delivered responsively. This means that the
general structure of the program should be explicit and that it should be delivered in adherence to its
rationale according to its design. Good monitoring systems and professional training of staff help to
ensure the maintenance of the integrity of the program. What is also important is to match the type of
treatment to the ability, cognitive and emotional resources, and learning style of the offenders, and to
deliver it responsively. The general responsivity principle states that cognitive-behavioral and social
learning methods work best with offenders, and that they are the most effective way of teaching people
new behaviors.
Effective cognitive social learning strategies operate according to the following two principles:
the relationship principle (establishing a warm, respectful, and collaborative working alliance with the
offender) and the structuring principle (influencing the direction of change towards prosocial attitudes
which can be addressed through modelling, reinforcement, problem-solving, etc.). The specific
responsivity principle states that interventions should take into account people’s different cognitive and
learning styles, personality, biosocial (e.g., gender, race) characteristics, motivation, and background
experiences.
c. Multi-modal nature of treatment
The multi-modal nature of treatment mirrors the well established finding that criminal behavior
is multi-determined and that, for crime prevention to be effective, it needs to impact simultaneously on
the different settings that influence crime. Conditional prevention in criminological psychology claims
that intervention at one level (e.g. individual) should be supported by preventive practices applied in
66
other settings as well (e.g. family, school, community, labor market, police agencies, courts, correction
systems, etc.). A multimodal combination of interventions is usually more effective than a single
method (Wasserman & Miller, 1998). Just as exercise can only work properly on a fit body, crime
prevention of all kinds may only be effective when the institutional, familial and social context are
structured and prepared to support and encourage it (Sherman et al., 2002, p. 5).
After reviewing 13 meta-analytic studies, Lösel (1995) concluded that the best effects in
reducing reoffending are mostly achieved by cognitive-behavioral skills training and multi-modal
programs. Multi-modal programs have most effective results on aggressive and generalized antisocial
behavior. They also contain structured guidelines that might facilitate tailoring of the program’s
delivery to the reality of the populations involved. Unfortunately, purely cognitive or behavioral child
skills programs have shown no significant effects (Lösel & Beelmann, 2006). In their meta-analysis,
Pearson, Lipton, Cleland, & Yee (2002) included 69 research studies that covered both behavioral and
cognitive-behavioral programs. They found that the cognitive-behavioral programs were more effective
in reducing recidivism than the behavioral ones, with a mean recidivism reduction for the treated groups
of about 30%.
These principles fit the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model insofar as they join together the
psychology of crime with the requirement of clinical relevance (Andrews & Bonta, 2010b). Although
programs may be planned and implemented in the best interests of the target populations, some
interventions produce results that are worse in the treated groups than in the untreated ones. For
example, some studies have found that programs that include less than two of these RNR aspects may
slightly increase reoffending rates (Andrews et al., 1990). According to Andrews and Bonta (2010b),
programs that adhere to all three principles can anticipate a 26% reduction in the recidivism rate, those
following two principles an 18% reduction, and those following only one principle a 2% reduction.
Bonta and Andrews (2007) found that those programs that followed the three key principles reduced
recidivism by an average of 17% if delivered in residential or custodial settings but by 35% if delivered
in community settings. Even though Lipsey’s (1995) findings mostly referred to juvenile offenders, they
can still be generalized, and he concluded that the best treatments seem to be those that adhered to the
RNR model (see e.g. Andrews, 2006; Andrews & Bonta, 2010a).
67
IV. EARLY INTERVENTIONS TO PREVENT CHILD BEHAVIOR

PROBLEMS AND ANTISOCIALITY
There are three protective dimensions that are associated with children’s resilience: positive and
nurturing parenting, social skills and emotional stability, and teacher behavior. Interventions that involve
strengthening parent-child relationships, and reducing harsh parenting, promoting child competence, and
enhancing proactive teaching strategies and fair discipline, can play an extremely crucial role in the
development of children’s emotional and social competencies, and their cognitive and scholastic
abilities. These contribute to curtailing behavioral problems and antisociality.
Parenting that is positive and emotionally rich and that reinforces prosocial behavior encourages
self-regulation and conflict control skills. Programs that aim at enhancing effective parenting also
promote collaborative home-school relationships (Webster-Stratton & Taylor, 2001). Programs that
focus on building up socio-emotional regulatory skills can provide children with coping skills to help
counteract various life stressors. These programs involve implementing social skills curricula and
parent workshops that invest in emotional literacy, self-regulatory skills, problem solving and social
skills (Coie & Dodge, 1998).
a. Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study
Tremblay, Masse, Pagani, and Vitaro (1996) in Montreal (Quebec) implemented a training
program to build self-control, prosocial skills, and problem-solving in high-risk boys. The Montreal
Longitudinal-Experimental Study (MLES) was designed to reduce antisocial behavior among elementary
school boys exhibiting disruptive behaviors. The treatment was intended to prevent the onset of
subsequent antisocial behaviors and offset the effects that such behaviors may have on school
achievement. MLES is a school-based manualized prevention program that includes classroom social-
cognitive training and a home-based parent training program, and its duration is two years. During this
time, parents and children meet in a series of sessions with caseworkers, who assess each family
individually and determine the number of sessions based on the severity of behavior.
In an evaluation of the program (Tremblay, Vitaro, Nagin, Pagani, & Séguin, 2003), 366
aggressive and hyperactive boys were randomly allocated to experimental and control groups. Between
ages 7 and 9, the experimental boys received a school-based, small group social skills training program
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using coaching, peer modelling, role playing, and reinforcement contingencies. Positive reinforcement
methods were used to teach anger management and peer-problem solving. Parents received home-based
parent training once every three weeks over a two-year period. The findings show that experimental
boys committed less delinquency (less burglary and theft) between ages 10 and 15, were less likely to
get drunk, and reported higher school achievement. These effects increased as the follow-up period
lengthened. A later follow-up showed that fewer experimental boys had a criminal record by age 24
(Boisjoli, Vitaro, Lacourse, Barker, & Tremblay, 2007).
b. Seattle Social Development Project
The Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) offered a preventive intervention to all families
through the public schools. Hawkins and his colleagues (1992, 1999) in Seattle organized a multiple
component program that included parent training, teacher training, and child skills training. About 500
children aged 6 were randomly assigned in 1981 to experimental or control school classes. Teachers
were trained in classroom management, to provide clear instructions to children, to reward children for
participation in desirable behaviors, and to teach children prosocial methods of solving problems. The
findings suggest that experimental children were less violent, showed less alcohol abuse, and had fewer
sexual partners by age 18.
Hawkins, Kosterman, Catalano, Hill, and Abbott (2008) conducted a non-randomized controlled
study to examine the long-term effects of the SSDP in 15 elementary schools. They studied its effects in
promoting positive functioning in school, work and community, and in preventing risky sexual
behaviors, substance abuse, crime and mental health problems at ages 24 and 27, 12 and 15 years after
the intervention ended. Schools were assigned non-randomly to four intervention or control conditions
in 1985:
1. the full-intervention group consisted of those who received at least one semester of
intervention in grade 1 through grade 4, and then at least one semester of intervention in grade 5 through
grade 6;
2. the late-intervention group consisted of those who received intervention only in grades 5
and 6;
3. the control group received no intervention;
4. the parent-training group was only offered parent training during grades 5 and 6.
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The follow-up sample was composed of 598 participants, aged 24 and 27 years, and was
balanced for variables such as gender, race and ethnic background. The interventions were multi-modal,
involving teacher training for classroom instruction and management, child social and emotional skill
development, and parent workshops. The outcome measures employed were self-reports.
The results showed that participants in the full-intervention regime were significantly more likely
than the controls to report higher SES achievements such as educational success and high incomes,
mental well-being and sexual health by age 27. No intervention effects on either substance abuse or
crime indices were found in young adulthood; surprisingly, some results ran counter to the study’s
hypothesis, revealing that on the last-year crime index there was a higher prevalence of full-intervention
27 year-olds who offended in comparison with the controls. The late-intervention group reported better
results in areas such as school, work, mental and sexual health in comparison with controls, but worse
than the full-intervention group.
The overall findings were encouraging. It was concluded that universal interventions during the
elementary grades that address instructional and management skills in the public classrooms, strengthen
parental competence in multiracial urban families, and develop children’s skills to participate actively in
the social and academic life of their school, can positively and significantly influence attainment,
functioning and well-being in young adulthood (Hawkins Smith, Hill, Kosterman, Catalano, & Abbott,
2007; Hawkins et al., 2008).
c. Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies Curriculum
Domitrovich, Cortes and Greenberg (2007) conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate an
adaptation of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies Curriculum (PATHS) (Kusché &
Greenberg, 1994) for pre-school children in Head Start settings PATHS is a universal, teacher-taught,
social emotional curriculum that is designed to improve children’s social competence, promote
emotional competence and reduce problem behavior (Greenberg, Kusché, Cook, & Quamma, 1995).
Head Start is “the largest provider of early childhood education for disadvantaged children and is
required to serve all children who are eligible for the program including those with identified
disabilities, which include emotional and behavioral disorders” (Domitrovich et al., 2007, p. 68). The
basic premise of PATHS which inspired the project is that children’s adaptation is a function of both
their own skills and the psychosocial context where they live.
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The sample was composed of 246 children (120 boys and 126 girls), of which 47% were
African-American, 38% European-American and 10% Hispanic. The mean age of the children was 54
months. One of the strengths of the study was that multiple reporters were included (direct assessments
by professionals, parents and teachers). Child assessments and teacher and parent reports were collected
at the beginning and at the end of the school year. The findings suggest that, after exposure to PATHS,
children involved in the intervention program showed more emotional knowledge and emotional skills,
and were rated by parents and teachers as more socially competent and more involved in interpersonal
interactions than their peers. Intervention children also made gains in their ability to correctly identify
situations that required differentiated emotions, even though the difference from the controlled children
was only marginal. Moreover, the treated children were rated by teachers as less socially withdrawn at
the end of the year in comparison with the control children. This last finding is particularly interesting
to the extent that it is in line with recent studies showing that children who are inhibited, nervous, and
withdrawn at age 8-10 are more likely to have late onset offending (Zara & Farrington, 2009, 2010).
The neurocognitive pathways influenced by the PATHS curriculum have been reviewed by Riggs,
Greenberg, Kusche, and Pentz (2006).
d. Fast Track
Fast track is an intervention program which was initiated in 1990 to evaluate the feasibility and
effectiveness of a comprehensive, long-term prevention program targeting children at risk for conduct
disorders (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2002, 2004). It is inspired by the work of
Tremblay et al. (1996) and Hawkins et al. (1992) and it includes academic tutoring and classroom
interventions in the program. It employs the PATHS skills training curriculum that includes teaching
friendship skills, self-control skills, social problem solving skills, and parent training. PATHS focuses on
self-control, emotional awareness and understanding, peer-related social skills, and social problem
solving to increase social competence. The parent program addresses discipline issues and parental
failures to support constructive behavior.
The aim of Fast Track was to promote parental involvement in the activities of the child at
school and to provide consistent monitoring in the child’s life. The targeted population were children
aged 6, prior to grade 1, who exhibited conduct problems. The study involved 54 schools in 4 different
sites and randomly assigned children to experimental or control schools. Group meetings on skills
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development were held separately with children and parents, who then worked together on issues such
as parent-child relationships. Home visits with parents were also organized and these helped to
consolidate the changes promoted in the program components.
Fast Track had immediate desirable effects which tended to decrease over time. In the first
evaluation in first grade, the desirable effects on child behavior were large (Conduct Problems
Prevention Research Group, 1999). They were lower but still significant in the second evaluation in
third grade (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2002), and lower still in fifth grade
(Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2004). By sixth grade, there was no effect on
disruptive behavior (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2007), but in ninth grade there was
a significant desirable effect on self-reported antisocial behavior (Conduct Problems Prevention
Research Group, 2007). In the twelfth grade follow-up, there seem to be a desirable effect on juvenile
arrests (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2010).
e. The SNAP Under 12 Outreach Project
The SNAP Under 12 Outreach Project (SNAP ORP) is a specialized and family-focused
intervention that served both boys and girls between 1985 and 1996 who displayed aggressive and
antisocial behaviors. In 1996 research findings showed that more specific gender factors were related to
these behavioral problems and since then girls have been served by the SNAP Girls Connection which
was launched in October 1996 (Pepler et al., 2010). SNAP was developed in 1985 by the former
Earlscourt Child and Family Centre, now called the Child Development Institute, in conjunction with the
Toronto Police Service. ORP is a fully manualized mental health program for children under age 12 with
antisocial problems, and their families.
The program is theoretically grounded, embracing social learning, cognitive-behavioral,

developmental, ecological, and attachment perspectives. The rationale is that development is shaped by
the continuous interactions between the child, the family, and their environment. Therefore, any
intervention aimed at reducing the risk of antisocial involvement in young people should take into
account the psychosocial reality in which the juvenile is embedded. The pragmatic keystone of ORP is a
cognitive-behavioral and problem solving technique called SNAP (Stop Now and Plan) (Augimeri,
Farrington, Koegl, & Day, 2007), that helps children and their caregivers to stop their disruptive and
negative behavioral patterns and substitute thoughtful and constructive alternatives. The curriculum of
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the program is organized in conducted discussions and role-playing sections, and practical modules, in
which participants acquire new problem-solving skills to distance themselves from provoking and
disruptive situations, such as aggression and delinquency for children, and harsh and inconsistent
training practices for parents.
The program consists of a 12-week treatment for children and parents and is delivered in
community-based settings. The primary components are the SNAP children’s group and the SNAP parent
group, attended separately. In addition to these components, and depending on the needs of the child and
family, there are also “one-on-one family counseling based on Stop Now and Plan Parenting (SNAPP)
(Levene, 1998), individual befriending sessions for children in need of additional social support, and
academic tutoring for children who are underperforming academically” (Koegl, Farrington, Augimeri, &
Day, 2008, p. 422).
Several evaluation studies (Augimeri et al., 2007; Koegl et al. 2008) suggest that the ORP is
effective in reducing the likelihood of police involvement and antisocial behavior in children at risk.
Koegl and his colleagues (2008) tested the effectiveness of SNAP with 59 boys and 21 girls aged 6-11,
who were clinically referred. These children included 16 experimentals, who received an enhanced
version of the ORP, 14 controls, who did not receive the ORP, .and 50 matched, who received the ORP.
The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was administered as a measure of delinquency and aggression.
The results indicated that there were significant pre-post CBCL changes for the experimental and
matched children. The magnitude of these changes was higher for the former group who received
comparatively more family counseling sections, individual befriending encounters, and academic
tutorials over the three months. No improvements were found in the controls. Moreover, it was
suggested that there was a positive relationship between the number of individual CBT sessions which
children attended and the additional clinical benefits (e.g. a decrease in delinquent and minor aggressive
behaviors). Children who received eight sessions or less had almost double the level of delinquent
involvement as children who attended nine or more sessions. It was particularly interesting that this
relationship held after controlling for pre-program levels of CBCL-delinquency, which suggests that
SNAP children’s group exercises have a protective impact against aggression and delinquent and
antisocial involvement.
There have been two independent evaluations of the SNAP-ORP program. In Hamilton, Ontario,
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Lipman and her colleagues (2008) compared 132 boys who received the program with 77 boys who
were in a waiting-list comparison condition. They found that the program was effective in reducing
externalizing (antisocial) behavior scores (d = .41). In Pittsburgh, Burke and Loeber (2013) compared
130 boys who were randomly assigned to receive the SNAP-ORP program with 122 boys who received
standard children’s services. Again, the program significantly reduced externalizing scores (d = .37).
V. “WHAT WORKS” WITH JUVENILES: SOME SUGGESTIONS

FROM META-ANALYSES
Meta-analysis is a statistical technique to combine the effect sizes of different independent

studies (Lipsey & Wilson, 2001). Meta-analytic reviews have many merits: they offer a quantitative
summary of effect sizes and standardize the evaluation results across studies; they summarize what
components of intervention programs correlate with large effect sizes; they establish in what
circumstances, with what people, the programs work best; and they play a significant role in designing
new research.
Lösel and Beelman (2006) carried out a meta-analysis of child skills training as a measure for
preventing antisocial behavior in children and youth. The results of this synthesis of research are based
on a large data set of 55 research reports (randomized experiments) and 89 treatment-control comparison
studies, involving 9,109 juveniles, half of whom were assigned to a program. 46 of the studies included
follow-up data, of which 46% reported desirable effects, 39% close to zero effects and 15% undesirable
effects. The weighted mean effect size was d = .29 for post-treatment outcome and d = .21 for follow-up
data. Unspecific measures of antisocial behavior showed the highest post-intervention effect; delinquent
behavior had the smallest effect size, but this was a significant follow-up effect.
Cognitive-behavioral programs were the most successful, having significant effects in all areas of
antisocial behavior: for aggressive behavior (d = .39; n = 20 comparisons); for oppositional defiant
disorder (d = .73; n = 5 comparisons); for delinquency (d = .37; n = 5 comparisons); and for unspecified
antisocial behavior (d = .54; n = 17 comparisons). Counselling, care and therapy programs were also
successful, with a significant effect on aggressive behavior (d = .53; n = 8 comparisons) and unspecified
antisocial behavior (d = .50; n = 7 comparisons). While unimodal cognitive or behavioral programs had
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no significant effects either at post-treatment or follow-up, cognitive-behavioral programs were the only
ones to report significant follow-up effects (d = .50; n = 7).
These findings showed an overall desirable effect of social competence training on the antisocial
behavior of juveniles. Cognitive-behavioral programs worked best at reducing recidivism, and worked
better with older children aged 13 or older. Regarding child skills training as an approach to crime
prevention, the follow-up analysis revealed a significant effect size of d = .19 on delinquency which is
quite encouraging. As Lösel and Beelman (2006, p.45) suggest “[a] d coefficient of approximately .20 is
equivalent to a correlation of r = .10, which indicates approximately a 10 percentage point more positive
outcome in treated groups than in control groups”.
VI. INTERVENTIONS FOR ADULTS: SOMETHING OLD,

SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING NEW
Intervention, to rehabilitate offenders, is something that continues to consume the energy and
resources of academics, governments, policy makers, and practitioners. As Hollin (2002) suggested, in
the last twenty years rehabilitation has been dominated by a research-based approach (something old). It
has also been influenced by cognitive-behavioral sciences and interpersonal and social psychology on
the basis of their theoretical hegemony and effectiveness in criminal justice contexts (something
borrowed). It has also started to pay attention to program design and to the quality of professional
implementation, delivery, and integrity (something new).
Cognitive-behavioral and cognitive skills programs began to be employed in prison settings and
probation services around 1990, when it clearly emerged that other forms of treatments and counselling
did not work with adult offenders. Numerous meta-analyses carried out between the 1980s and 1990s
revealed that cognitive-behavioral treatment of offenders generally had a significant effect in reducing
recidivism (McGuire, 1995). The mean effect size is .10 but there are considerable differences between
forms of treatment (Lösel, 1995). Some reviews have shown that CBT programs seem to have a
desirable impact in reducing risk taking and oppositional behavior in juveniles (Lösel & Beelmann,
2006), and in enhancing health attitudes and sex protection behavior, even though their impact upon
drug misuse and crime seems small.
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In a meta-analysis, Lipsey and Landenberger (2006) reviewed 14 randomized experiments to

assess the effects of cognitive-behavioral treatment on recidivism in general. The overall results
confirmed the previous meta-analytic findings: cognitive- behavioral interventions reduced the
recidivism rate by 27%. What is interesting about this meta-analysis is that the desirable results shown
were mainly the product of research and demonstration (R&D) projects that were not fully integrated
into routine correctional practice. The explanations of these findings may be that R&D programs include
smaller sample sizes, involve professionals with a mental health expertise, begin with a preliminary
evaluation of risks and criminogenic needs, provide greater monitoring of quality control, and greater
monitoring of offender attendance, and adherence to treatment.
Lipsey and Landenberger (2006) found that the average recidivism reduction following CBT in
practice projects was 11%, compared with 49% in the R&D projects. Further results should be
emphasized. First, CBT applied in the community was followed by a larger recidivism reduction than
CBT provided in prison settings. Second, larger desirable effects emerged when CBT interventions were
directed at high risk and serious offenders. More studies are certainly necessary to allow for
identification of the most critical factors for effective practical implementation of CBT programs. What
the research impressively indicates is that “R&D projects produced impressively large reductions in
recidivism and that many characteristics of the implementation of CBT in those projects should be
replicable in routine practice” (Lipsey and Landenberger, 2006, p. 69). These findings raise the question
of how to integrate and then optimize the impact of CBT in routine correctional practice. Welsh,
Sullivan, and Olds (2010) have discussed how to maintain effectiveness in going from a small-scale
demonstration project to large-scale routine implementation.
a. Evaluation studies in corrections
In the correctional field in England and Wales, program accreditation has become an
indispensable step in delivering treatment or preventive interventions. This has encouraged a new ethos
in treatment and reveals the impact of an evidence-based practice that has influenced not only academic
scientific research but “real world” intervention.
In 1996 the provision of programs designed to reduce recidivism were required to meet the Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the prison accreditation panel was set up. In 1999 accreditated
probation programs started to be specifically designed and now there exists a joint prison/probation
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accreditation panel. Lipton, Thornton, McGuire, Porporino, and Hollin (2000) have documented how the
Prison Service in England and Wales has, in a few years, accelerated the effectiveness of correctional
treatment programming, established a platform for program integrity, obtained acceptance by the
institutional leadership, and increased pride and morale among prison officers.
Friendship, Blud, Erikson and Travers (2002) compared reconviction rates of 670 offenders,
serving a custodial sentence of two years or more, who were on two CBT programs run by HM Prison
Service, between 1992 and 1996, with a matched control group of 1,801 male offenders. The treatment
sample included 66 offenders who did not finish treatment. They also explored the impact on the CBT
intervention of other variables such as sentence length and risk of reoffending score. The two CBT
programs were Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R) and Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS). The
probability of reconviction was generated using the revised Offender Group Reconviction Scale (OGRS)
(Taylor, 1999).
On the basis of the two-year observed reconviction rate, a significant difference was found for
low-medium offenders (14% reduction) and for medium-high offenders (11% reduction). Adjusting the
analysis to the number of prisoners expected to complete the CBT program in 2002-2003, this reduction
was equal to the prevention of almost 21,000 offenses (Friendship et al., 2002). The result of logistic
regression analyses showed that both R&R and ETS produced a robust reduction in the likelihood of
reconviction, while controlling for other variables. Studies like this set the basis for cost-effective
treatment that, while reducing the risk of reoffending, can contribute to human and monetary benefits.
As mentioned before in this chapter, results on the effectiveness of CBT treatments are however
not always consistent, and this leaves space for further investigations to analyse why. A further
evaluation by Falshaw, Friendship, Travers, and Nugent (2003) found no difference between the two-
year reconviction rates of a sample of 649 adult male prisoners who had participated in a CBT program
between 1996 and 1998 and a matched control group of 1,947 adult males; 10% of the treated sample
did not complete the treatment program. This result contrasts with the previous evaluation of cognitive
skills programs for prisoners in 1992-1996.
Explanations for the findings are diverse and may reflect a lower level of motivation of the
delivering staff and participants in the program in comparison with those involved in the earlier CBT
program (Friendship et al., 2002). Once cognitive skills programs were a Key Performance Indicator,
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there were financial incentives for prisons to treat as many offenders as possible, irrespective of their
suitability for the program. The later finding may also reflect a decreased standard in the quality of
program delivery in a period which witnessed a rapid expansion of programs. There was a shift towards
selecting lower risk offenders for treatment. While low-risk offenders may be easier to engage with
professionals and correctional staff, and may even be more collaborative to participate in and amenable
to treatment programs, they may not be necessarily responsive, as RNR research has systematically
shown.
Another investigation on understanding “what works” with 1,534 young and 2,195 adult male
offenders also produced disappointing results (Cann, Falshaw, Nugent, & Friendship, 2003). ETS and
R&R programs were assessed, between 1998 and 2000, for these separate samples of offenders. One-
and two-year reconviction rates for young and adult male offenders were compared with matched
control groups. The findings did not show any significant differences between those receiving in CBT
and the controls, nor between young and adult offenders. However, when program dropouts (9% of the
sample) were excluded from the analysis the one-year reconviction rates for both young and adult
completers were significantly lower than for the control groups. In numerical terms, this difference can
be translated to a 2.5% difference in reconviction rates for adult offenders and a 4.1% reduction for
young offenders who completed the treatment. These differences however were not maintained after
two years release from prison. Adult high-risk program completers also had a statistically significant
lower rate of reconviction (a 6.9% difference). The differences between the low and medium-high
completers for both adult and juvenile offenders and their matched groups were not significant.
Another aspect was the differential impact of ETS and R&R on reconviction. This study showed
that ETS had an impact in reducing reconviction but R&R did not. It may be significant to say that ETS
was specifically designed for the offender population in England and Wales, and is a shorter program
than R&R (22 two-hour sessions vs. 38 for R&R), which may help to maintain the average level of
motivation and attention of offenders during the program. It is important to note that this study was
limited in that the comparison groups were matched to the participant groups on only a small number of
demographic variables and criminal history. As Cann and her colleagues (2003) indicated, it may be
possible that the groups differed in other and more relevant aspects related to dynamic risk factors,
psychological needs, cognitive deficits, or motivation to change, but these dimensions were not
measured.
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More recently, Sadlier (2010) used propensity score matching to match 257 prisoners who had
attended an ETS course with 2,514 prisoners who had not. He concluded that ETS had caused a
significant 6% decrease in reconviction one year after release. He also found that reconviction rates
were significantly lower for those prisoners who met the suitability criteria for ETS compared to those
who had been inappropriately allocated to the program.
The effectiveness of accredited and pre-accredited prison-based cognitive programs (ETS and
R&R) was also explored between 1996 and 2000 to assess their impact upon female prisoners (Cann,
2006). The program participants were 180 female offenders, of whom 14 (8%) did not complete the
program. The comparison group was composed of 540 female offenders who did not take part in the
program during their custodial sentence and were matched to program participants on the basis of their
reconviction prediction score. All offenders were discharged from prisons in England and Wales during
1996-2000 and spent al least one year in the community. No statistically significant differences were
found either overall or within risk groups in the effect of to the ETS intervention, but statistically
significant differences were found between the R&R participants and the controls. The R&R
participants fared worse than the controls, with a reconviction rate of 19.7% compared with the rate of
10.1% of the latter (p = 0.038).
There is no clear evidence that the cognitive deficits characterizing female offenders are causally
linked to their offending (Cann, 2006), so no one can be sure whether involving female offenders in a
cognitive-behavioral program is likely to affect their future criminal career. Further, although ETS and
R&R are aimed at high risk offenders, only one-third of the women involved in this study were medium-
high or high risk. These results can be encouraging if their face value is not misinterpreted. They shed
some light on the importance of individualizing intervention and on recognizing and addressing the
criminogenic needs of different types of offenders.
Female offenders may have different criminogenic needs from male offenders or some
criminogenic needs may impact differently upon female offenders in comparison to other offender
populations. Hollin and Palmer (2006) suggested that the causal role or the importance of family and
interpersonal relationships, alcohol and drug misuse, and mental health may differ for men and women.
Some events, such as physical and sexual abuse in childhood and adult relationships, and low levels of
self-esteem, are arguably specific risk factors for offending by women, insofar as they co-occur with
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other criminogenic needs. These differences ought to be taken into account in programs aimed at
reducing the risk of reoffending and at rehabilitating female offenders.
VII. SOMETHING WORKS, SOMETHING DOESN’T, SOMETHING IS

PROMISING
Tong and Farrington (2008) carried out a review of the effectiveness of R&R programs in
reducing recidivism. The first systematic review of this topic, using meta-analytic techniques, was also
published by Tong and Farrington (2006). Tong and Farrington (2008) found 19 evaluations (involving
32 separate comparisons) in which experimental and control groups were compared. Their meta-analysis
showed that, overall, there was a significant 7% decrease in recidivism for program participants
compared to controls. This result, however, was smaller than in an older study in which the effect size
(weighted mean r = .147) was converted to a 26% decrease in recidivism for R&R participants in
comparison with controls (Pearson et al., 2002). Certainly, newer studies, based on larger samples, have
obtained smaller effect sizes.
Overall, R&R programs seem to be effective. The meta-analytic findings of Tong and Farrington
(2008) showed that R&R programs were effective in Canada and the United Kingdom, but not in the
United States. These programs were effective in both institutional and community settings, whether
given on a voluntary basis or not. Most evaluations conducted in institutional settings had voluntary
participants, while participants in many of the community evaluations were usually compulsorily
assigned to the R&R program as part of a probation or parole order. R&R programs benefited both low
and high risk offenders, but the effect size was greater with low risk offenders. Tong and Farrington
(2008) suggested that this was possibly because of the greater likelihood of high risk offenders dropping
out of the program and faring worse than those who had never participated in the program (see e.g.
Porporino & Robinson, 1995; Van Voorhis, Spruance, Ritchey, Listwan, & Seabrook, 2004).
Some reviews carried out in Europe have doubted the effectiveness of R&R interventions in
reducing recidivism. In London, Wilkinson (2005) identified a sample of male probationers who were
suitable to participate in the R&R program as part of their sentence. They were assigned to either the
experimental (n = 105) or control (n = 100) groups. No statistically significant differences were found
between participants and controls in reconviction rates in a two-year follow-up.
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In Sweden, Berman (2004) conducted a study of 276 male offenders from prisons and probation
who voluntarily participated in a R&R program. Selection criteria for the program were based on
educational level, learning capacity, existing mastery of cognitive skills, motivation, and interest in the
program. The control group was composed of 451 offenders matched to program participants on
criminal characteristics (crime type, sentence length, number of previous adjudications). Nearly a
quarter (23%) of program participants did not complete the program. Reconviction up to 36 months was
the outcome measure. Differences between program completers, dropouts and controls, and between
controls and dropouts were statistically significant. However, program participants (including
completers and dropouts) did not differ significantly from controls.
Other authors reach a very positive evaluation of R&R programs but consider that one of the
reasons for the inconsistent findings may be because they fail to take into account the economic and
psychosocial contexts of the individual (Martín, Hernandez, Hernández-Fernaud, Arregui, & Hernández,
2010; McGuire, 2001; Tong & Farrington, 2006). This problem may be resolved by looking for the
criminogenic specificity of the offender, as RNR suggests, and also by investigating more closely the
resources of the individual to desist from crime. For instance, Martín and her colleagues (2010)
conducted a study in Spain to assess the extent to which social and employment integration (SEI) may
enhance the efficacy of social-cognitive training carried out in prison through a Spanish adaptation of
the R&R program, entitled the Prosocial Thinking Program or PTP (Ross, Fabiano, Garrido, & Gómez,
1996).
A quasi-experimental design was employed to compare a group of inmates who received only
social-cognitive training with a group who also received social and employment integration, and with a
comparison control group who received neither of these interventions. The results show that social-
cognitive skills training with the PTP had a desirable effect in delaying offenders’ recidivism. This
effect was strengthened when the PTP program was combined with the SEI intervention. Recidivism
was reduced by 18% in the PTP group and by 27% in the PTP + SEI group, even though these
reductions were not significantly different. Nevertheless, these results obtained through a survival
analysis after a 6-year follow-up are quite encouraging, indicating that both treatment groups were
significantly different from the control group in their recidivism rates.
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VIII. ARE SEX OFFENDERS AMIABLE TO TREATMENT?
There has been some debate over whether programs specifically designed to treat sex offenders
are effective in reducing sexual recidivism. Researchers (Hood, Shute, Feilzer, & Wilcox, 2002;
Ireland, Ireland, & Beech, 2009) suggest that the general effect sizes of sex offending treatment are not
particularly large, but not necessarily smaller than the effect sizes obtained from other types of
intervention with other types of offenders. Research reviews (Craig, Browne, & Beech, 2008; Mann &
Marshall, 2009) indicate that cognitive-behavioral approaches seem to be the most promising insofar as
these encourage sex offenders to change their internal (cognitive and emotional) functioning as well as
well as their overt behavior. A meta-analysis conducted by Hanson and colleagues (2002), which
included few truly randomized studies, involved a vast range of treatment programs and included a total
of over 9,000 sexual offenders. The findings indicated that the rate of sex recidivism was lower for
treated offenders (12.3%) in comparison with the untreated groups (16.8%). Significantly, those studies
that employed a cognitive-behavioral or systemic treatment approach had a reduction in recidivism
ranging from 9.9% to 17.4%.
More recent meta-analyses also conclude that psychological treatment is effective with sex
offenders. Lösel and Schmucker (2005) reviewed 80 comparisons in 69 studies and found that the
weighted mean odds ratio for sexual recidivism was 1.70, with 11% of treated offenders and 18% of
control offenders reoffending. They concluded that cognitive-behavioral psychological treatments were
the best. Hanson, Bourgon, Helmus, and Hodgson (2009) reviewed 23 evaluations of psychological
treatment of sex offenders and found that the weighted mean odds ratio for sexual recidivism was 1.52,
with 11% of treated offenders and 19% of control offenders reoffending. The effects were similar in
community and institutional settings.
Cognitive-behavioral approaches consist mostly of teaching sex offenders to reorganize their

attitudes towards their sexual behavior, to develop an ability to empathize with their victims, and to
learn how to control their sexual obsessiveness and their sexual needs in order to avoid further
offending. Sex offenders are not seen as victims of external factors outside their control (as in the
medical model), but as persons who are able to make choices (Marshall, Anderson, & Fernandez, 1999).
Given the assumption of cognitive programs that the way a person thinks affects the way that person
behaves, the aim is to increase self-control over offending and to build up a set of strategies to readdress
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an offender’s needs. This requires a complete understanding of the antecedents of sexual offenses, to
identify the mechanisms that make people choose sexual offending, and to reframe their sexually
deviant fantasies into sexual but not abusive desires.
Beech, Erikson, Friendship and Ditchfield (2001) examined the sexual reconvictions of 52 child
molesters who were involved in community treatment for sex offending and who had been in the
community for six years, and another six men who were seen before but either dropped out of treatment
or refused to be seen at the post-treatment stage. The risk of sexual reconviction was calculated using
Static 99, an instrument developed by Hanson and Thornton (2000). This covers four dimensions
thought to be relevant to sexual recidivism: sexual deviance, the range of potential victims, persistence
in sexual offending, and antisociality. It is a 10-item instrument that assesses the past criminal career
and demographic variables to predict sexual recidivism. The results indicated that, for the men who
were involved in the six-year follow-up, the overall sexual recidivism rate was 15% (8 out of 53 men).
Beech and his colleagues (2001) found a clear treatment effect: only 10% of the men classified as
“benefiting from treatment” were reconvicted, in comparison with 23% of men classified as “not
responsive to treatment”. It is important to note that the average length of time before the next
conviction was 1.85 years for the “unresponsive offenders” compared to 3 years for the “responsive
offenders”. Less deviant men responded better to treatment. However a third of high deviance
offenders reoffended regardless of how well they responded to treatment. Beech and his colleagues
(2001) suggest that both high and low deviance abusers showed a poor understanding of the impact that
their sexual behavior had on their victims.
Friendship, Mann, and Beech (2003) examined the effectiveness of the national Sex Offender
Treatment Program (SOTP) run in English and Welsh prisons. SOTP is based on a cognitive-behavioral
model and targets patterns of minimization and justification of offending behavior, the victim’s
culpability, and the development of plans to manage personally relevant risk factors and criminogenic
needs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the SOTP prior to 1996 in terms of recidivism, using
reconviction as the outcome measure. Two-year-reconviction rates were compared for a group of 647
adult male sexual offenders who participated in the SOTP program and a control group composed of
1,910 male sex offenders who were matched to the treatment group according to year of discharge. All
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were serving sentences of at least four years. The risk of reconviction in the two groups was assessed
using Static-99 (Hanson & Thornton, 2000).
The two-year reconviction rates for sexual offenses were low in both treatment and comparison
groups, although the rates were higher for high-risk offenders. Those in the treatment group had slightly
lower sexual reconvictions than the comparison group, but this difference was not statistically
significant. However, the findings suggested some significant differences between groups when sexual
and violent reconvictions within a two-year period were combined, with the treatment group showing
lower reconviction rates compared to untreated offenders. Two-year reconviction rates for general
recidivism (any type of offense) were also calculated, but no significant differences were found.
In England and Wales, the rate of sexual reconviction is very low (less than 5% in two years) for
untreated offenders (Friendship & Thornton, 2001), and any reduction in this rate as a result of treatment
would consequently be very small and difficult to detect statistically. Supplementing sexual
reconviction data with unofficial information has been recommended (Friendship et al., 2003, p.754)
and adopted in various studies (e.g. Marques, Day, Nelson, & West, 1994; Marshall & Barbaree, 1988).
It seems that the SOTP Core program has a significant impact in reducing reconviction rates for low risk
offenders, even though it may not be sufficiently effective in reducing reconviction rates of high risk
sexual offenders, whose criminogenic needs may, in fact, not be targeted directly by this program.
Marques, Wiederanders, Day, Nelson, and Van Ommeren (2005) carried out a longitudinal
investigation – California’s Sex Offender Treatment and Evaluation Project (SOTEP) – to assess the
effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatment with sexual offenders. The study was a randomized
clinical trial that compared the reoffending rates of voluntarily treated offenders with the rates of
untreated offenders in prison control groups. The treated group was randomly assigned to an inpatient
relapse prevention (RP) program at Atascadero State Hospital in California. One control group was
composed of sex offenders who volunteered but were randomly selected for no treatment (VC) while the
other was composed of inmates who were qualified to participate but chose not to (NVC). The aim of
this study was to provide some answers to the question “what kind of treatment works for what kinds of
offenders under which circumstances?” (Marques et al., 2005, pp. 80-81).
The final sample consisted of 704 offenders: 259 were assigned to the treatment (RP) condition,
225 to the CV group, and 220 to the NVC group. SOTEP was designed to provide a structured
84
cognitive-behavioral treatment and, in this study, was based on an adaptation of the relapse prevention
(RP) model of Marlatt and Gordon (1985). It included components such as sexual arousal modification,
cognitive restructuring, social skills training, victim empathy, and stress and anger management. These
program components were organized around a core RP treatment group. In addition, RP participants
were involved in activities that addressed their sexual offending. Participants also completed a pre-
release individual class, designed to prepare them for re-entry into the community and for the “life on
the streets” (Marques et al., 2005, p. 86). A set of aftercare components was organized to help
participants to maintain treatment gains after discharge from the hospital.
The results suggested that no statistically significant differences were found among the three
groups in their sexual and violent reoffending rates over an 8-year follow-up period. Sexual offenders
who were randomly assigned to the hospital RP program did not reoffend at a lower rate than those who
were randomly assigned to the in-prison control groups. This result was found even when child
molesters and rapists were compared. It was also confirmed when time to reoffending was used as an
outcome variable, and also when controlling for static risk differences in the groups. However a more
in-depth analysis revealed that those individuals in the RP group who derived benefit from the
treatments in terms of RP skills or less deviant sexual response were less likely to sexually reoffend
(13%) than those who did not (27%).
Many explanations have been put forward to explain these rather disappointing results. First of
all, the living regime of the groups may have played a significant role. The RP group lived in hospital
and were surrounded by other individuals who were sexually deviant and who were encouraged by
therapeutic staff to be open about their deviant sexual fantasies and needs, and about their sexual crimes.
The other groups lived in prison, where sex offenders were mostly despised and where the climate was
intolerant towards them, and who were almost forced to hide the nature of their criminal career. Hence
“SOTEP cannot be viewed as a ‘pure’ test of treatment but rather as a more complex comparison of
treatment in state hospital settings versus confinement in prison settings” (Marques et al., 2005, p. 99).
The main conclusion is that it is not sufficient to offer any cognitive-behavioral program to any
group of offenders who manifest cognitive deficits or incompetence. The design and delivery of the
treatment play a crucial role in its effectiveness, as well as the careful assessment of offenders.
Targeting appropriate criminogenic needs, investing in the resources of the offenders involved in the
85
program, using structured social learning and cognitive-behavioral strategies adequate to the learning
style of the offenders (males, females, juveniles, sex offenders, and violent offenders), operating within
settings of high quality interpersonal relationships, and full adherence to the principle of responsivity
(Andrews, 2006), are topics which may explain some of the inconsistencies in these findings.
As Andrews (2006) stated, implementation of effective interventions and human services is not
just a matter of selecting the best evidence–based program off the shelf. Even well researched and
blueprint programs may fail to achieve the expected and desired results if the above aspects are not
considered. Further investigations have suggested that the success of cognitive-behavioral programs
may be related to their adherence to the psychosocial reality of offending populations. Andrews, Bonta,
and Hoge (1990, p.20) suggested that, for treatments to be effective in reducing recidivism they have
also to be clinically relevant, that is “to maintain respect for and attention to diversity in both people and
programming”. Researchers should study differences between programs and identify which ones have
significant criminogenic and clinical impacts, and seek to explain why some are efficacious but others
are not.
IX. CONCLUSION
Cognitive-behavioral interventions are overall the most effective in preventing reoffending and
reducing recidivism with a variety of offending populations. And yet, as Hollin (2004) suggests, it
would be premature to conclude that the case for treatment is proven. Many more issues need to be
addressed, clarified, and modified. Especially because treatment is not an option but a professional
responsibility towards offenders and the community, now - more than ever – high quality evaluation
studies are necessary to address its effectiveness with the specific needs of offenders, in the short- and
long- term, in detention and in the community, and in other Western countries too. Many studies have
used North American and UK data, and at this stage no-one can be sure that these results are completely
generalizable, despite the fact that many studies have produced similar results (Lipsey & Cullen, 2007).
Whatever are the positive results of the CBT interventions in correctional or in community
settings, policy makers, practitioners and professionals need to help offenders to maintain change once
they are out in the community. While attitudinal change and unbiased thinking about one’s own
behavior are important responses to treatment, the real test in a criminal justice context and in the
community is what impact treatment has on offending or on desistance from crime.
86
It is clear that randomized experiments are superior to quasi-experimental matching techniques

(such as those used by the Home Office in evaluating ETS and R&R) in producing valid conclusions.
More randomized experiments should be carried out in all countries. It is also clear that systematic
reviews and meta-analyses are superior to one-off studies in drawing valid conclusions about
effectiveness. Happily, systematic reviews and meta-analyses agree that cognitive-behavioral
techniques are effective in preventing offending and reducing recidivism. The effect sizes (typically
between d = .10 and d = .30) are sometimes considered to be low, but they translate into reductions of
between 10% (from .50 to .45) and 30% (from .50 to .35) in recidivism rates. They also translate into
savings of many thousands of crimes and a great deal of money, and the prevention of a great deal of
human distress and social harm. Therefore, we urge that the use of, and research on, cognitive-
behavioral methods should be greatly increased.
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IV
EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH IN JUVENILE
DELINQUENCY
GEORGIA ZARA11, GUGLIELMO GULOTTA12
ITALY
I. INTRODUCTION - II.COSTS OF JUVENILE CRIME - III.DELINQUENCY IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS OF

INVESTIGATION - IV.CRIMINAL CAREERS - V.INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN DELINQUENCY - VI.BETWEEN
AND WITHIN OFFENDING DIFFERENCES - a.Delinquency in adolescence - i.Delinquent abstainers - b.Late onset
offending - c.Persistent offending - VII.RISK PROCESSES INFLUENCING A DELINQUENT DEVELOPMENT -
VIII.THE NATURE AND NURTURE VARIABLES - IX.CONCLUDING REMARKS ON DIFFERENTIATED
PREVENTIVE PERSPECTIVES - X.TAKING HOME MESSAGE - XI.LIST OF REFERENCES
The aim of this chapter is to explore research findings on juvenile delinquency. It starts with a
brief description of what delinquency is considered to be and the costs involved for society. It then
focuses on the risk processes implicated in the development of a delinquent path, looking at the
heterogeneity that characterizes delinquent behavior and the offending population.
Why do some individuals offend and others not?
Why do some individuals persist in their offending along their life-course and others not?
11 Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Department of Psychology,University of Turin, Italy

12
Full Professor of Juridical Psychology at the University of Turin, Faculty of Psychology, and a criminal barrister of the
Milan Court
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I. INTRODUCTION
The English concept of juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial and illegal behavior acted out by
young people under the age of 18, and it includes the so-called status offences, i.e. acts committed by
juveniles which constitutes a crime but otherwise would be legal if they were committed by adults. The
reality of delinquent behavior reveals that many young people are also involved in serious and violent
acts which are criminal, independent of the age of their perpetrators. Epidemiological studies suggest
that “child delinquents, who commit delinquent acts at ages 7 and 12 years, have a two- to three-fold
increased risk of becoming tomorrow’s serious, violent and chronic offenders” (Loeber & Farrington,
2001b, p. xix). Delinquency becomes an even more serious threat to society the longer the involvement
in it.
Many theories hold different explanations for juvenile delinquency. Some sound more
paternalistic and justificatory looking at delinquency as an occasional misbehavior that is going to
regress to pro-sociality with maturity; some seem more empirically based and look at delinquency as a
maturity gap conflict and as a crises for establishing oneself and one’s own autonomy; some look at
those aspects of delinquency which are different in kind (e.g. serious and violent acts) and in degree
(e.g. persistent and frequent antisocial manifestations).
Juvenile delinquency has always been a concern of governments, communities, policy makers
and professionals. The cost related to juvenile crimes is great both in human and monetary terms, even
though it is quite difficult to calculate the extent of its damage because of its dark number: many
offences go undiscovered and many others go unreported not least because of the reticence of some in
reporting a minor to the Police.
The interest in intervening before delinquency becomes pervasive and serious, is paramount.
Some scholars advocate that the best intervention would however be primary prevention so as to impede
children becoming tomorrow’s criminals (Loeber, Slot, van der Laan, & Hoeve, 2008). Nipping
delinquency in the bud is not a slogan, though it may sound like one; it is indeed the only and necessary
practice to adopt so as to render prevention effective (Sutton, Utting, & Farrington, 2006).
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II. COSTS OF JUVENILE CRIME
The monetary costs of crime are terribly high. According to a report published by Sickmund and
colleagues (2008), approximately 93,000 young people were held in juvenile justice facilities across the
United States. Seventy percent of these juveniles were held in state-funded, post-adjudication,
residential facilities, at an average cost of $240.99 per youth per day. America spent $5.7 billion on
incarcerating 64,558 juveniles placed in residential centers in 2007 (Sickmund, Sladky, Kang, &
Puzzanchera 2008). The daily costs of locking up one young person in a juvenile institution ranged from
$24 in Wyoming to $726 in Connecticut, but the American Correctional Association (2008) estimates
that, on average, it costs States around $88,000 a year, for every young person in a juvenile
establishment. Reporting States spent an average of $7.1 million per day locking up youths in residential
facilities.
Comprehensive estimates of the costs of crime in Great Britain, both in total and by type of
offence, were first published by the Home Office in 2000 (Brand & Price, 2000) and by Dubourg and
colleagues in 2005. The data showed, for example, that the total cost of crime in England and Wales in
1999-2000 was around £60 billion. This includes both the costs falling on the criminal justice system
and the costs falling on the victims of crime, not least in the imputed value of the emotional and physical
impact of crime on victims, which is intangible and difficult to estimate. A broad update of the Home
Office figures indicates that the total cost of crime in England and Wales is currently about £75 billion a
year.
According to a report by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2009), most crime is
committed by a relatively small group of prolific or chronic offenders who typically start offending at an
early age and continue to do so. The lifetime cost of crime committed by a single prolific offender is
around £1.5 million. The total cost of crime attributable to people who had conduct problems in
childhood is estimated at about £60 billion a year in England and Wales, including £22.5 billion a year
attributable to conduct disorder, £37.5 billion a year to sub-threshold (moderate or mild) conduct
problems. A published report by the Audit Commission (1999) indicated that the cost of youth crime in
Great Britain was approximately £1 billion per annum. Another report published in December 2010 by
the Prince’s Trust (supported by Royal Bank of Scotland, RBS) showed that more young people have
been jailed in the last years, and that the estimated cost of youth crime in Britain has risen sharply to
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£1.2 billion a year due to more youngsters being involved in crime and being consequently
imprisoned13. This represents a cost of £1.2 million a week. The report also indicates that the rate of re-
offending after prison, for young people, is extremely high, about 75 per cent re-offending within two
years.
Comparisons between countries that are based on their individual juvenile crime statistics require
caution since these statistics are produced differently in different countries. European trends in crime are
very difficult to gather especially because of the difficulties in comparing criminal data from countries
that often vary in the offence definitions, age of criminal responsibility, and, most of all, in having
different criminal justice systems (European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics, 2010).
These aspects make it even more difficult to calculate the monetary cost of juvenile crime in Europe.
According to Junger-Tas and colleagues (2010), for most European countries, general levels of juvenile
crime appear to have been quite stable over the last decade. Disaggregating the data, it was, however,
possible to observe an increase in drug and violent offences, while property offences that peaked at the
beginning of the 1990s, decreased subsequently (Aebi, 2004). In some countries, like France
(Mucchielli, 2004, 2010), Germany (Federal Ministry of Justice and Federal Ministry of the Interior,
2006), Italy (Zara, 2005), Slovenia (Mesko & Bučar-Ručman, 2005), official statistics measured rises in
violent crimes. These increasing rates were not always supported by victimisation or self-reported data.
For example, Germany, unlike many other Western states, does not yet conduct periodic victim surveys
to supplement the statistics (Federal Ministry of Justice and Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2006).
Juvenile delinquency is costly especially because it involves young people who hypothetically,
after the first offence, are left with a long residual criminal career and with a wide margin for it to
escalate in gravity and seriousness. The costs, briefly described above, are general, and not differentiated
on the basis of which juveniles will continue offending, as those who will desistshould involve a lower
expense in the estimate of future crime costs.
As Mucchielli (2010) points out, “the question - ‘Is violence increasing or declining?’- is
meaningless, and cannot admit any simplistic, yes–no answer” (p. 808). It cannot be answered because
of the lack of homogeneity of violence as a specific category, and of delinquency as a general one. This
13
This cost has been calculated using the average cost associated with each crime committed, together with
information on the total number of convictions. The sum takes into account the cost of imprisoning children and young
people, which is estimated at £587 million for 2009. See The Cost of Exclusion (2010), chapter 2 by Prince’s Trust.
107
lack of homogeneity is extremely evident when one attempts to investigate violence perpetrate by
youths, leaving room for the proliferation of doubts. Can slaps, punches, stone-throwing, school
bullying, school shooting, and violence perpetrated during thefts, be lumped together with rape dating,
incest, sexual abusive acts, parricide, matricide, infanticide, as well as with verbal and psychological
violence of all sorts, and so forth? The immediate answer is (perhaps) no (Mucchielli, 2010). However,
a more realistic response may need to investigate to what extent a youth’s aggressive behavior is
reactive and specifically contextualized, or is pervasive of his or her adjustment to life, and constitutes a
stepping-stone for continuing and escalating in a pattern of antisociality and violence.
Delinquency and violence are just but two dimensions of a more complex syndrome of
antisociality (Farrington, 1997) that emerges in childhood and tends to persist throughout adulthood
(West & Farrington, 1973). The focus on this wide-ranging syndrome has the advantage of looking at
the continuity between criminal, antisocial and non-criminal behaviors that includes many different
conducts along the life course and their aggravation over time. They spread from disruptive conduct,
disinterest in scholastic activities and early abandonment of school, bullying, unprotected sex,
consumption of alcohol and drugs, in childhood and adolescence, to irresponsible working ethos, abuse
of alcohol or drugs, gambling, abusive behavior at home, towards one’s own partners and/or children, in
adulthood.
III. DELINQUENCY IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS OF INVESTIGATION
Delinquent and violent behavior is scientifically, juridically and socially meaningful only within
the specific given context of investigation. Scientifically, it is researched on the basis of its perpetrators
(adolescence-limited offenders and life-course persistent offenders; juvenile and adult offenders)
(Moffitt, 1993; McGee & Farrington, 2010), on the time of onset and on the development stage, by
comparing early vs. medium vs. late onsets (Krohn, Thornberry, Rivera, & Le Blanc, 2001). When the
focus is on serious and violent delinquency, researchers look at persistent and chronic vs. occasional and
intermittent behaviors (Loeber & Farrington, 1998a). When the focus is on criminal development,
researchers explore the patterns of continuity and discontinuity (Tracy & Kempf-Leonard, 1996), and
work at identifying different antisocial trajectories in crime (Huizinga, Esbensen, & Weiher, 1994).
Antisocial and violent behavior implicates the concept of age of criminal liability and the
philosophy of responses adopted by a country towards juvenile delinquency. Western societies
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recognize a diminished responsibility for juveniles involved in crimes. The minimal age of criminal
liability varies across countries, so States differ greatly on their enactments of alternative bases for court
jurisdictions (Gulotta, 2001; Scott & Grisso, 1997). The differential treatment for children involved with
the law, which is guaranteed by different laws and courts for juveniles (Gulotta & Cesaro, 2002), is
based upon the perspective that children are not yet socially competent and mature to behave
responsibly, and are not fully equipped, cognitively and emotionally, to make mature decisions.
Therefore an individualized assessment by specialized professionals is required by the court in order to
understand the psychological, psychopathological, familial and social variables behind their antisocial
behavior.
A review of good practice to prevent juvenile delinquency in Europe (Stevens, Kessler, &
Gladstone, 2006) reveals that the East-West discrepancies in Europe occur less with regard to the extent
and quality of youth delinquency, but have become apparent with the response to youth crime. While in
the West, the large number of suspects is considerably reduced during later stages of selection to a much
smaller number (sentenced and/or imprisoned) (the funnel system), in the East, a smaller number of
suspected offenders enters the selection process, but tends to remain in it and get sentenced (the cylinder
model) (Neubacher, 1999). In either case the cost involved in administering juvenile justice is high, and
high too are the direct and indirect costs involved in any crime allegedly attributed to a minor. In
principle, the European Union policy is to invest in prevention and to develop programs that can address
youth delinquency and violence at the start.
Even though one accepts that all teenagers who commit crimes have diminished responsibility
due, for instance, to the psychological and social immaturity gap, or to their ‘immature brain’, one needs
to explain why only a small proportion of juveniles engage in violence and very serious criminal
behavior, and why only some persist. If delinquency is a manifestation of the maturity gap, so making it
a physiological manifestation of the growing up process, then interventions should attempt to simply
control and reduce the consequences of it. If delinquency is a manifestation of maladjustment and
difficulties in psychological and social functioning that impairs the quality of life of the children and
their family, then intervention should aim at preventing it. Whatever the perspectives held, scientific
research aims at measuring the delinquent development along the life-course. This can be achieved by
longitudinal investigations.
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IV. CRIMINAL CAREERS
A criminal career constitues a sequence of antisocial, delinquent, criminal and violent behaviors
committed by an individual in the life-course (Blumstein, Cohen, Roth, & Visher, 1986). The antisocial
onset is the beginning of a criminal career. Longitudinal studies (Farrington 2003) show that the earlier
the onset the higher the likelihood of a longer and more serious criminal career. Criminology research
aims to explore offending within-individuals, and to analyze risk processes, continuity and change in
criminal careers. Prediction studies shows that risk factors and mechanisms at a certain point in life,
such as pre-adolescence, may differ from those involved in crime at another life period, such as
adulthood (Moffitt & Caspi, 2003). Risk factors that lead to an early onset of antisocial behavior may
differ from those responsible for its persistence, aggravation or desistence (Farrington, 1995; Loeber,
Farrington, & Petechuk, 2003). Factors associated with antisocial onset may vary from sample to
sample, from condition to condition, from individual to individual. Also the impact that certain factors
or events have upon individual development might have risk or protective effects depending on which
dimensions of life is going to be modified, reinforced or prevented, and when and for how long (Loeber,
Slot, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2006).
Not all offenders begin their antisocial involvement at the same age; not all offenders follow the
same pathways to antisociality. Not all adolescents are delinquents; not all continue in a criminal career.
Some desist earlier than others, and some more successfully re-establish themselves in a pro-social life
than others.
The study of delinquent development focuses on within-individual changes in criminal activity

over time, and according to Piquero, Blumstein and Farrington (2007), this permits aggregating
delinquent information for groups of offenders.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1986) criticized the criminal career paradigm and argued that offenders
are different in degree, not kind. Their hypothesis was that a latent trait, which they identified in low
self-control, could account for onset and duration as well as the other parameters of the career paradigm.
Hence no longitudinal studies were necessary. While the general theory of crime (Gottfredson &
Hirschi, 1990) suggests that the same fundamental causes apply to all persons, and the differences lie in
the diverse degree of exposure to risks, the criminal career paradigm claims that offending cannot be
reduced to a single causal process. This assumption is also based on the criticism advanced by Lykken
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(1995, p. 180) that there seems to be an alluring tendency for criminologists to disregard complexity and
oversimplify the causes of crime. The principal findings14 about the development of offending can be
synthetized by reviewing the significant dimensions of a criminal career: its beginning, its duration, its
escalation and aggravation.
Age of onset of offending. Onset is the beginning of offending behavior and is central to criminal
career research. It is most typically between ages 8 and 14, earlier with self-report data and later with
official records. Researchers differentiate onsets by the ages at which individuals begin a criminal
career: early onset is considered an antisocial beginning in childhood between ages 10-14; medium onset
is an adolescent antisocial beginning between ages 15-20; late onset is considered an adult antisocial
beginning at age 21 and thereafter (Zara & Farrington, 2006). Criminal onset is not a discrete event that
just happens in the life of an individual, but it is a process that has its roots in early development,
sometimes as early as childhood. Studies have explored the predictors of onset (Loeber, et al., 2008),
others have focused on the impact of early onset on later features of criminal careers (Fergusson,
Horwood, & Ridder, 2005). Age of onset is the best and most robust predictor of length and intensity of
the criminal career. Onset also affects the crime distribution curve in differentiating analyses by crime
types. The age-crime curve is not the same for every type of offence, but differs depending on offense
types, in so far as the age of onset may vary from one offense category to another. Farrington (1997) has
explained that onset sequences are not only age-appropriate, but there exists a gradual progression from
minor offenses to more serious forms of offending, because certain types of behavior may promote,
facilitate or act as a kind of stepping stone to another (Farrington, 1995). Thus between-individual
stability in antisocial ordering is perfectly compatible with within-individual change in behavior over
time (Farrington, 1988). This sort of progression is such that shoplifting tends to be committed before
burglary, burglary before robbery, and violence being more likely to take place following a process of
escalation and aggravation in a criminal career (Le Blanc & Fréchette, 1989).
Prevalence of offending. Prevalence provides a measure of the proportion of how many

individuals participate in criminal behavior versus those who do not, in any given period. Criminologists
14
This synthesis does not have any pretentiousness of exhaustiveness, and for a more comprehensive analysis the authors
refer to the specialized literature: Farrington, 2003; Farrington, 2005a; Farrington, 2005d; Farrington, Coid, Harnett, Jolliffe,
Soteriou, Turner, & West, 2006; Farrington, Coid, & West, 2009; Farrington & Welsh, 2007; Flannery, Vazsonyi, & Waldman,
2007; Loeber, Farrington, Stouthamer-Loeber, & White, 2008; Loeber, Farrington, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Van Kammen,
1998; Thornberry & Krohn, 2003; Wikström & Sampson, 2006a.
111
are generally concordant upon the shape of the age-crime curve for prevalence (Farrington, 1986).
Aggression and violence are overwhelmingly a male affair. Males are significantly over-represented in
criminal statistics, and this male proportion in offending is higher in numbers and in frequency of
involvement, in comparison with female offenders; their criminal careers tend also to be longer and
more serious. Within the male offending group, young males represent the great majority. Some studies
have tried to explain these differences via hormone factors (Book, Starzky, & Quinsey, 2001), focusing
their attention especially on testosterone levels and aggressiveness. To explore further matters such as
sexual selection, competitiveness and risk behavior between young men, some researchers have found,
in the syndrome of the young male (Wilson & Daly, 1985), what they think to be a possible key factor in
explaining the variance in offending types and frequency by males in the life course. The taste for risk
(Wilson & Daly, 1985) also includes, apart from antisocial and criminal behavior, daredevilry, fighting,
drunk driving, and gambling (Gulotta, 2005). The evidence suggests that such a taste is primarily a
masculine attribute, and is socially facilitated by the presence of peers in pursuit of the same goals.
Antisocial continuity. The stability of antisocial behaviour along the life-course depends on
multiple factors. Antisocial behavior in the early years has been shown to have the highest continuity
into adulthood of all measured human traits except intelligence (Scott, 2004). Numerous studies have
emphasized the role played by childhood characteristics in differentiating between antisocial pathways
among males and females (Moffitt & Caspi, 2001; Odgers, Moffitt, Broadbent, Dickson, Hancox,
Harrington, Poulton, Sears, Murray Thomson, & Caspi, 2008), in affecting the development of
delinquency (Loeber & Farrington, 2001a), in behavioral activation and inhibition (Coplan, Wilson,
Frohlick, & Zelenski, 2006), and in rooting future antisocial behavior in early life conditions and
experiences (Simonoff, Elander, Holmshaw, Pickles, Murray, & Rutter, 2004). Empirical evidence,
across different longitudinal findings, suggests that children with early behavioral problems, who,
between ages 8-10, have been rated as troublesome, dishonest, difficult to discipline, and aggressive,
and who come from a vulnerable background which includes convicted parents, delinquent siblings,
family poverty (low family income and poor housing) and poor-parental child-rearing behaviour (harsh
and inconsistent discipline), were more likely to report convictions between ages 10 and 16 (Farrington,
1995).
Continuity of offending. There is relative stability of the ordering of people on some measures of
antisocial behavior over time, and people who commit relatively many offenses during one age range
112
have a high probability of also committing relatively many offenses during another age range
(Farrington, 2007). However there is also absolute change in behavioral manifestations over time, as
individual abilities, opportunities and social contexts can change. Two processes are responsible for
continuity and discontinuity in behavior: persistent heterogeneity and state dependence (Nagin &
Paternoster, 2000).
Persistent heterogeneity refers to the differences between individuals in an initial potential to

commit crime, and affects the probability of future antisocial conduct. Thus the continuity of offending
would then depend on stable differences between individuals that impact criminal behavior. These stable
characteristics have been identified with self-control, which is based on initial socialization experiences
(Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990), personality traits and neuropsychological deficits (Caspi, Lynam,
Moffitt, & Silva, 1994), or biological mechanisms (Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985).
State dependence considers how individual actions have a causal effect on the probability of
subsequent behavior. Any correlation between past and future offending is based on the fact that
previous behavior can dynamically increase or decrease the probability of crime by opening up new
opportunities for antisocial behavior, by closing off new chances for other criminal activities, or by the
consequences of offending (e.g. labeling).
Chronic offenders. A small fraction of the population commit a large portion of all crimes
(Snyder, 1998). Is the amount of crimes committed a sufficient criterion for speaking about chronic
offenders? Or should researchers also consider the frequency of involvement in criminal activities
marked by seriousness in offending? In assessing chronicity should researchers consider a more defined
criterion such as the number of convictions in a specified period of time? The definition of chronic
offenders is not consistent between studies. The concept of chronicity was first established by Wolfgang
and colleagues (1972) and applied to offenders committing five or more offenses prior to age 18. In their
1945 Philadelphia Birth Cohort, 50 percent of the criminal acts were committed by a small proportion of
people (6 percent of the sample). Their parameter to measure chronicity (5 or plus offences committed
by age 17) was found to be arbitrary and likely to create a sort of truncation in the offending group
(Piquero, et al., 2007). Chronicity may be better evaluated by considering other aspects of the criminal
career, like an early antisocial onset, high seriousness over time, and variation with age in the
externalization of their acts. For instance, the involvement of juveniles in homicide, assault, robbery is
113
expected to be quite low, but it is hypothesized that as children approach adolescence and then enter into
adulthood, there should be, in escalation, more acts of assault, violence and robbery (Nagin & Tremblay,
1999; Tremblay, 2001). However, it is likely that some psychopathological factors play a significant role
in the stabilization of antisociality as a pervasive pattern of maladjustment. It was Farrington (2005b)
who recognized chronic offenders as those individuals who have a high antisocial potential, and who
persistently translate this potential into behavior. It seems that “the ordering of people along the
antisocial continuum (low to high) remains relatively constant over time” (Zara, 2010, p. 316).
According to Freilone (2011) an analysis of the relationship between personality traits, serious
personality disorders, and chronic criminal and violent behavior is essential in the understanding of the
“psychological map of offenders, in so far as the psychological traits that are an expression of a
particular psychopathology may act as triggers of criminal behavior, along with mental and emotional
processes” (Freilone, 2011, p. 10).
Co-offending. If adolescent offending is seen as a recreational activity it is likely that it is

committed with significant others. Most offenses up to the late teenage years are committed with others,
whereas most offenses from age 20 onwards are committed alone (Reiss & Farrington, 1991). It appears
that, as people enter adulthood, they change from group to lone offending (Klein, 1984). This aggregate
change is not caused by dropping-out processes or by group offenders desisting earlier than lone
offenders. Instead, there is a change within individuals; people change from group offending to lone
offending as they get older. Co-offending appears more common for some crimes (e.g. burglary,
robbery) than others (e.g. sexual assaults).
V. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN DELINQUENCY
What emerges clearly and consistently from research findings is the marked heterogeneity of
individuals involved in offending and the stability of antisocial behavior. Some critical aspects arise
from this emphasis. The concept of individual differences is related to the diversity in human attitudes
that is manifested in behaviors. Individuals respond to life experiences and cope with stressful events
depending on their dispositions, needs, attitudes and idiosyncrasies. Differences between individuals
arise during development and are determined by a multiplicity of factors. According to Cicchetti (2006),
there are multiple components in adaptive and maladaptive adjustments to life. The factors and their
relative contributions vary among individuals, and there exist several pathways to any particular
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manifestation of adaptive and antisocial behavior. Applying this analysis to juvenile delinquency, it is
evident that there is heterogeneity among juveniles who get involved in antisocial and delinquent
behavior. The heterogeneity can be explored by looking at the risk factors and processes involved, at the
age of onset, at the duration or aggravation of the antisocial pattern. Start offending is precipitated by
between-individual differences in the development of a criminal potential (the potential to commit
crimes). Continue offending is reinforced by within-individual differences in the systematization in time,
duration, escalation and aggravation of an antisocial potential and its translation into antisocial and
criminal behavior. In outlining these distinct and yet interrelated aspects, it is unavoidable to refer to the
principles of equifinality and multifinality (Cicchetti & Rogosh, 1996; Gulotta, 1995), and to the
interface between nature and nurture. Although it is generally agreed that antisocial behavior is affected
by psychological, neuropsychological, genetic, psychopathological, familial, and social factors, much
less attention has been paid to what this means in terms of causal pathways and of confounding effects
(e.g. person effects on the environment and environmental effects on the person) (Rutter, 2003).
Equifinality refers to the fact that there is more than one developmental pathway to a given
outcome, and that there is diversity in what leads various individuals to manifest the same behavior.
Research shows that individuals who manifest severe levels of antisocial conduct or delinquency have
been found to be quite heterogeneous in the developmental course leading up to such behavior (Broidy,
Tremblay, Brame, Fergusson, Horwood, Laird, Moffitt, Nagin, Bates, Dodge, Loeber, Lynam, & Pettit,
2003; Schaffner, 2006). Thus relevant causal risk factors may operate in different combinations to
produce identical results.
Multifinality indicates that identical early experiences do not necessarily lead to the same
outcome (Cicchetti & Cohen, 1995). Heterogeneity seems to be the rule of human development and
adjustment to life. Stated differently, a particular adverse condition or experience should not be
necessarily seen as leading to maladjustment in every individual. A way of starting to disentangle this
complexity is to explore individual differences in offending or avoiding it. The concept of resilience
(Luthar, 2003) permits an explanation of the phenomenon of relatively good functioning and adaptation
to life despite the influence and the experience of major risk factors. Even though little is still known
about the specific mechanisms involved in the individual differences in response to adversity, it is
believed that that resilience does not exists statically “in the psychological chemistry of the moment”
(Rutter, 2000, p. 210). As such resilience should not be conceptualized as a static characteristic of a
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person, but as a dynamic process, in which genetic, biological, psychological and social processes play a
crucial part in how individuals are influenced and respond to adversity. The emphasis is then shifted to a
“person-centered observation” (Cicchetti, 2006, p. 13).
Thus both equifinality and multifinality present a very different but integrated perspective for
seeing what and how antecedents are tied to outcomes, not simply in one-to-one but in a multiple
correspondence.
VI. BETWEEN AND WITHIN OFFENDING DIFFERENCES
Delinquent development research has shown that individuals can commit crimes at any time in
their lives, given the presence of certain facilitating conditions; not all offenders begin their criminal
career by following the same onsetting path (Loeber et al., 2003). While there are juveniles who behave
antisocially, and their antisocial behaviour is situational, occasional, and short-term, there are others
whose delinquency is pervasive, persistent, and long-term. The dual taxonomy introduced by Moffitt
(1993) identified two distinct pathways to antisocial behaviour, and divided the offending population
into two significant groups: adolescence-limited and life-course persistent offenders. These groups are
recognized to be different not only in their offending behavior, but in many neuropsychological,
psychopathological, and emotional aspects, and in their familial and social functioning. One group of
youth shows antisocial behavior that begins in adolescence, and it is likely to conclude smoothly as soon
the individual reaches adulthood, and without any legal and social complication. The other group shows
antisocial behavior that begins in childhood but differs with the presence or absence of callous-
unemotional traits, and of neuropsychological impairments, and it is likely to continue along the life
development up to late adulthood. This heterogeneity is reflected in the stability of delinquency.
However, the original dual taxonomy was too restrictive to embrace the heterogeneity of antisocial
behaviour, even when the aim was simply trying to analyse offending by looking at the different
antisocial onsets.
Significant attempts have been made to update this taxonomy (Moffitt, 2006), and efforts at
subtyping the diverse manifestations of antisocial behavior are in progress, but are far from being
completed. Several studies have shown that different groups of offenders can be identified. The
recognition of the diversity in the offending population should not be interpreted as a way of classifying
or categorizing offenders in “a literal sense” (Skardhamar, 2009, p. 866), neither in absolute discrete
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groups nor in terms of returning to Lombrosian criminal types. To test the hypothesis of offending
heterogeneity, numerous researchers have contributed significantly to the debate. Some argued that it
was not necessary to create categories (Osgood, 2005; Skardhamar, 2010) and that a continuous latent
pattern could account for the differences (Greenberg, 1991; Rowe, Osgood, & Nicewander, 1990). Some
amplified the necessity of distinguishing offenders by patterns of risks, and employed longitudinal data
to measure them. The findings of many of these studies have furthered the criminological understanding:
on developmental offending trajectories by using objective statistical criteria (e.g. semi-parametric
group-based modelling) (Jones & Nagin, 2007; Nagin, 2005); on conduct disorder developmental
pathways (Frick, 2004); on multi-dimensional developmental models of serious delinquency (Loeber, et
al., 2006); on offending groups who displayed a similar offending pattern over time (Moffitt, 2006;
Piquero & White, 2003); on offender types in the life course (Nagin, Farrington, & Moffitt, 1995). The
common scope has been to scientifically and systematically studying individuals in delinquent
development. The shared aims were and still are to improve classification of offending groups for
research purposes, to guide timing and intervention strategies, and to organize prevention programmes.
Early antisocial onset is associated with an early onset of substance abuse (Le Blanc & Lober,
1998), with a long and serious criminal career (Loeber & Farrington, 1998a), with psychopathology
(Frick & Viding, 2009), with violence and life failure (Farrington, Coid, Harnett, Jolliffe, Soteriou,
Turner, & West, 2006). However, onset is not destiny and there are offending realities characterized by
successful desistance even though the antisocial onset was precocious, and there are other situations in
which the first offence in adolescence coincides with a very violent one and marks the continuation in a
criminal path, threatening the hypothesis that adolescent delinquency is a normative reaction to the
immaturity gap. We can also witness individuals who start their criminal career late in life, at age 21 or
thereafter, and who can get involved in serious offending, even though their residual criminal career is
likely to be shorter than those who started earlier. The crucial points of research are to explore how early
future criminality can be predicted and which risk factors and processes should be targeted so as to
prevent the beginning of antisocial behavior or its continuation and escalation into a serious criminal
career. For exemplification reasons, four offending groups will be introduced by briefly outlining their
risk patterns and characteristics:
1. Early starters, who display a stable pattern of antisocial behavior from childhood and
continue to do so in adulthood.
2. Adolescent starters, who are involved in delinquency only during adolescence.
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3. Late starters, who begin offending only later in their life.

4. Irregular starters, who start committing crimes at different times in their lives, are
discontinuous in their offending, following a zig-zag criminal career characterized by unstable intervals
of criminal latency (abstinence from offending) and variables periods of criminal relapse. Their
discontinuity characterizes not only the timing of their onset but especially their delinquent
development. Their criminal career is occasional, contingent and opportunistic.
The next section of this chapter will focus on the first three subtypes of antisocial onsetters.
a. Delinquency in adolescence
It is world-wide accepted that adolescent delinquency is almost “physiological”, a sort of

normative break with conventions of family rules, scholastic commitments, and social discipline, that
adolescents feel them as impediments of their ‘feral’ activities. It is quite common that young people get
involved in antisocial, risky and mischief activities in order to gain a space in their socio-psychological
world.
Official statistics and self-reported data show that the distribution of offending follows a
Gaussian curve, with a high prevalence of delinquency at around ages 15-19, followed by a decline. The
hallmark of adolescence-limited delinquency is discontinuity. Adolescents involved in transgressive and
illegal activities are likely to do it with others, for recreational reasons, for instrumental purposes, and
when led into specific situations by peers or significant others. The same adolescents may otherwise be
respectful of rules at home or at school. An adolescent may decide to engage in antisocial activities
when he or she perceives them as profitable both financially and socially among their significant others.
The reasons given for offending up to the late teenage years are quite variable including excitement,
enjoyment, boredom, emotional and utilitarian. From age 20 onwards, utilitarian motives become
increasingly dominant. The same adolescent may disengage from delinquency when pro-social
opportunities become more appealing and rewarding.
Adolescence is that period of life which is characterized by crises of excess (Bara & Mattei,
1996): an excess of possibilities, choices, opportunities, doubts, uncertainties, and fears. It is that period
in which the sense of self, something that is peculiarly one’s own, and that corresponds to Allport’s
(1954) notion of the ‘proprium’ (belonging to oneself), has not yet been developed. Hence it is not
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unlikely that delinquent experiences become a way of finding one’s own self. Adolescent delinquency
then becomes normative and somehow characterised by an exploratory pattern, a search for one’s own
sense of identity and self-possibilities (Markus & Oyserman, 1990; Oyserman & Markus, 1990;
Oyserman & Salts, 1993), and a recognition of one’s own reputation among the peer group (Emler &
Reicher, 1995). If delinquency is a social and recreational activity in adolescence, it is also relevant to
consider the impact that personal reputation and self-image plays among peers who constitute the
relational milieu of personal and social identity development. Within this perspective, social mimicry
explains why adolescent-limited offenders imitate the antisocial behavior of their life-course persistent
peers. It seems that they see in delinquency a breakthrough towards desirable goals, that may include
reputation, status and group acceptance. Delinquent adolescents will shift up the social ladder by
enhancing their behavior to the one of their life-course persistent peers, who serve as role magnets for
them, because they are sexually experienced, possess those empowering goods such as cars, cloths, and
who smoke and use drugs and alcohol, running their own life without committing to any rules or
authorities (Piquero & Moffitt 2005). This style of living is likely to be perceived in terms of freedom
and gratification. It is within this perception of themselves, that many adolescents look at antisocial and
delinquent behavior as a way of knifing-off the roots to their childhood, and facing up to the challenges
of adulthood.
The twentieth century has allowed some significant improvements in health and social care and
the quality of life has improved considerably. The age of biological maturity has decreased, while
participation in the labor-force has been postponed until later in life. Modernization of society has
brought with it some contradictory aspects: some young people are biologically able to have a sexually
fulfilled life but they are asked to postponed some aspects of adult life. They can be considered
responsible for their social behavior, given that in many Western countries the minimal age of criminal
liability is between 10 and 16, and yet they may not be allowed to drive or get married or buy alcohol
before age 18.
“Contemporary adolescents are thus trapped in a maturity gap, chronological hostages of a time
warp between biological age and social age” (Moffitt, 1993, p. 687, emphasis as in the original)
The immaturity gap that adolescents experience cannot disregard the concept of immaturity brain
that seems to integrate quite well with what has been advanced so far. Developmental neuropsychology
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studies show concordant findings related to human brain maturity (Amodio, & Frith, 2006; Gulotta &
Zara, 2009; Kandel & Schwartz, 1981; Luna & Sweeney, 2001; Samango-Sprouse, 1999).
Neuroscientific contributions in the understanding of human brain suggests that during the
adolescent years the brain is still a work in process, with significant on-going changes into early
adulthood (20-25 years of age) (Giedd, 2004), contrary to previous thoughts that the brain was fully
formed in childhood. The developing brain may help explain why adolescents are more likely to act on
the spur of the moment in, at times, a quite risky fashion that may lead to unsafe or unhealthy
consequences. Consistent research findings support the assumption that adolescent impulsive and risky
behavior may partially reflect changing neuropsychological and neurophysiological development. For
example, findings suggest that the frontal lobe region is still immature in adolescents and young adults
(Casey, Getz, & Galvan, 2008). This brain maturation tends to occur from back-to-front, so that the
prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functions, reasoning, planning, analysing, decision
processing, problem-solving, does not become fully mature until around the early to mid 20s.
Furthermore, during childhood, the brain grows an excessive number of connections between brain cells.
At around age 11-12, a person begins to lose (prune back) a substantial fraction of these connections
(Giedd, Blumenthal, Jeffries, Castellanos, Liu, Zijdenbos, Paus, Evans, & Rapoport, 1999). Edelman
(2007) has described this pruning process as “neural Darwinism”, survival of the fittest (or most used)
synapses. This loss, that follows the principle of use-it or lose-it is healthy because it clears out
unneeded wiring to make way for more efficient and faster information-processing as adolescents
become adults. Those neural connections or circuitry that get exercised are retained, while the
connections that are not activated or used, get pruned away (Giedd, 2004).
Steinberg (2007) in his work on adolescence maturity and responsibility, states that the
adolescent brain works as if turning on the engine of a car without a skilled driver at the wheel15. It is
likely that in adolescence it is the emotional brain in charge (Steinberg & Scott, 2003), given that “youth
is more than a chronological fact; […] it is a time and condition of life when a person may be most
susceptible to influence and to psychological damage” (cf. Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 115
(1982), quoted in Williams, 2005, p. 1128). While most psychosocial variables seem relatively stable
beyond age 18, the emotional temperance improves through the mid to late twenties (Modecki, 2008,
15
Supreme Court of the United States, Syllabus. Roper, Superintendent, Potosi Correctional Center v. Simmons. Certiorari
to The Supreme Court of Missouri. No. 03-633. Argued October 13, 2004-Decided March 1, 2005.
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2009). Adolescents and young adults may process certain decisions, by proxy, within the amygdala, a
brain region that is frequently associated with emotions (Giedd, Vaituzis, Hamburger, Lange, Rajapakse,
Kaysen, Vauss, & Rapaport, 1996). In addition, while the adolescent limbic system may lead to
amplified emotional arousal, adolescents may be less able to regulate their emotions than older
individuals (Damasio, Grabowski, Bechara, Damasio, Ponto, Parvizi, & Hichwa, 2000). Multiple
research findings show that adolescents and young adults, compared with adults, are likely to be higher
on sensation seeking (Arnett, 1994) and lower on risk perception (Gardner & Steinberg, 2005), more
susceptible to psychosocial influences in their decision making (Reyna & Farley, 2006), including anger
(Steinberg, 2008), peer pressure (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007) and immediate gratifications and
decreased future time perspective (Fong & Hall, 2003; Green, Fry, & Myerson, 1994; Shamosh,
DeYoung, Green, Reis, Johnson, Conway, Engle, Braver, & Gray, 2008).
Even though, as Modecki (2009, p. 184) emphasizes, caution must be taken in relating biological
underpinnings to questions of adolescent criminal responsibility and culpability (Aronson, 2007), it
would be reductionist and naive not to integrate neuroscience advancements in the study of social and
antisocial behavior. Certainly what remains to be explored is whether adolescent brain development is
predictive of changes in behavioural control, decision making and social behavior. By definition,
adolescent-limited delinquency is restrained within the developmental window of adolescent, which
reduces the likelihood of cumulative risk. This is so because before being involved in delinquent
activities, these youths developed a wide repertoire of social skills and attitudes which constitutes an
asset for a successful adaptation to life. Moreover, these are youths who are likely to be brought up in
families with supportive parents and family members, and involved in a college education or in a job
force, that can facilitate the path towards desistance and positive social adjustment. As they grow up and
as they adapt functionally to the changing conditions around them, such as completing high school,
entering university, or approaching the working world, their perception of costs and benefits is weighed
differently, placing much more concerns on long-term consequences of their behavior.
i. Delinquent abstainers
Another aspect which seems relevant in the attempt to consolidate an offending taxonomy is
considering those juveniles who never get involved in delinquency. Following the specialized literature,
it seems that most adolescent or young person will engage in delinquency: some may commit less
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delinquency than others, a small minority may be frequently involved in it, and another very small
proportion may even abstain completely. Little is known about the characteristics of delinquent
abstainers. Some studies have reached the conclusion that the avoidance of delinquency in adolescence
is not always a sign of good and functional development (Elander, Rutter, Simonoff, & Pickles, 2000;
Klevens, Restrepo, Roca, & Martinez, 2000). These teenagers who commit no antisocial behavior, the
never offenders or abstainers in Moffitt’s (2003) terms, may nevertheless be at risk of manifesting later
in life some other kinds of maladjustment and psychopathological problems. In the Dunedin Study
(Moffitt, Caspi, Harrington, & Milne, 2002) the abstainers, youths who refrained from delinquency, and
the drug experimentation abstainers in the study of Shedler and Block (1990), were described as
emotionally constricted, anxious, overcontrolled, not open to new experiences, unpopular and
unattractive among peers, and lacking in social competence.
In an examination of the Cambridge Study, Farrington and colleagues (1988) investigated a

sample of boys from vulnerable backgrounds. These vulnerable boys had, at ages 8-9, three out of five
adverse features (low family income, large family size, convicted parents, poor parental child-rearing
behavior, low intelligence). Not all of them offended, but three-quarters (73 per cent) of them were
convicted for a criminal offence up to age 32. Interestingly, those who remained unconvicted tended to
have internalizing problems at age 8, displayed low daring, and had no siblings with behavioral
problems, and unconvicted parents. However, following their lives for 24 years revealed that remaining
unconvicted did not necessarily lead to life success and well-being. The unconvicted vulnerable men
were worse than the convicted men in aspects such as living in dirty home conditions, having poor job
records, and having a poor family life. While convicted men were the most socially deviant at age 32 in
aspects such as smoking, fighting, drinking and committing offences, they were not necessarily the most
unsuccessful in their lives16.
Other researchers (Kagan, Reznick, & Gibbons, 1989; Kosterman, Hawkins, Mason, Herrenkohl,
Lengua, & McCauley, 2009) found that while social isolation in childhood and adolescence can lead to
16
A measure of social success was based on nine criteria: successful accommodation; successful employment; successful
cohabitation; successful with children; not involved in fights in the last five years; not a substance abuser; no self-reported
offences in the last five years (other than theft from work or tax evasion); GHQ score of four or less; no convictions for
offences committed in the last five years. For more details see Farrington, Coid, Harnett, Jolliffe, Soteriou, Turner, & West,
2006; Farrington, Gallagher, Morley, St Ledger, & West, 1988.. GHQ = General Health Questionnaire, designed to detect
non-psychotic psychiatric illness (anxiety/depression) (see Goldberg, 1978).
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personal insecurity, anxiety and depression in adulthood, it could also have some protective or
moderating effects in so far as it reduces the likelihood of getting involved with antisocial peers, which
is recognized as one of the most robust predictors of juvenile delinquency. However, as abstainers make
their move towards being independent adults, by leaving home, finding new accommodation,
establishing themselves in a job, they find adult life particularly demanding and difficult to manage.
Understanding the reasons behind delinquent abstention or avoidance, at the time in which it is supposed
to be normative (i.e. in adolescence), may also help prevent the emerging of adult maladjustments and
life failure.
b. Late onset offending
Late onset offenders are a neglected area in criminological research (Eggleston & Laub, 2002).
Literature is not homogenous in defining who a late offender is. A variety of definitions have been used
to describe late onset and late starters (Zara & Farrington, 2006, 2007). Gomez-Smith and Piquero
(2005) defined late onset offenders as those individuals who officially start to commit crimes after the
age of 18. Zara and Farrington (2009) define a late criminal career as “a pattern of antisociality and
criminal behavior whose official onset (i.e. age of first conviction) occurs only in adult life, at the age of
21 or later” (p. 288). In this chapter this last definition of a late criminal career will be employed. The
concept of a delayed criminal career introduces the hypothesis that the external manifestation of
criminal problems is more likely to occur late in time. It is as though the translation from antisocial
potential to antisocial behaviour has taken a longer temporal route. Zara and Farrington (2010) found
that in the CSDD sample, those individuals who reported certain psychological features such as
nervousness, inhibition, and social isolation at ages 8-10, anxiety and nervousness at ages 12-14, and
neuroticism at ages 16-18, lacked experience in sexual intercourse, were socially incompetent at age 18,
and were more likely to have experienced an apparent normative social development measured by
absence of both an early and an adolescent official and self-reported antisocial onset. However, they
reported an adult antisocial onset at age 21 or thereafter. In their study, internalizing problems, lack of
concentration, anxiety, depression, and social isolation played a temporary protective role, and sustained
the avoidance of antisocial involvement, yet these characteristics also hampered the development of
psychological resilience. There was no emotional and cognitive control, and the reduced behavioural
activity of adult onset offenders, with their avoidance of risky, daring and delinquent acts, was more
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likely to be a feature of their personality and psychological make-up than of a general process of
acquiring better coping skills (Zara & Farrington, in press).
Thus, psychological and relational characteristics may contribute to keep a juvenile away from
risk-taking and bravado activities, but later the shielding effect is likely to fade away and to leave the
individual unprepared and vulnerable to the challenging experiences of adulthood. Abstainers and late
offenders may have the psychological characteristics that exclude them from networking with their
peers, or they may be driven by rational choices or high moral standards that encourage them to bypass
the adolescent delinquency thrill (Brezina & Piquero, 2007). They may also face social and structural
barriers that prevent them learning about delinquency or experiencing the maturity gap, either because
they are delayed in their biological and sexual development or because they have undertaken adult roles
early. It may be also because of social reasons, so that in certain cultures young people may access adult
status very early in life.
Whatever the reasons behind an abstention from delinquency or a delay in criminal onset, these
subgroups deserve some empirical attention so as to enlighten our understanding of the diversity behind
functional and problematic adjustment to adult life.
c. Persistent offending
Life-course-persistent offenders begin their antisocial activity early in childhood, tend to be

active offenders, are involved in varied sorts of crime, including serious and violent offences, and do not
desist from criminal activity easily, and before adulthood. These offenders, oftentimes referred to as
‘lone offenders’, tend to be committed without the involvement of others (Piquero & Moffitt, 2005).
According to longitudinal studies, the risk for continuity in offending emerges from inherited or
acquired neuro-psychological impairments, initially manifested as subtle cognitive deficits, difficult
temperament, or hyperactivity (Raine, Moffitt, Caspi, Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Lynam, 2005). It is
recognized that the environment in which the child is reared exercises a significant contributory
influence: antisocial children come from large, low-income families, poor housing, and father
unemployment. Disrupted family bonds, family conflict, coercive, harsh and neglectful discipline are
likely to compromise parenting efforts, and in many cases exacerbate individual differences (Moffitt,
2006a). The quality of parenting is a consistent influence on the emotional and behavioral development
of a child, and advances have also been made in better understanding those dimensions of parenting that
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predispose to antisocial behavior. Capaldi and Patterson (1991) have demonstrated that the relationship
between parenting and child behavior is in fact bidirectional, and that child temperament and reactivity
are likely to affect the quality of parenting, which in turns poses some risk on how the child behaves.
Moreover, environmental risks expand beyond the family boundary, to include schools, sporting centers
and recreational environments, and the social setting of life-course persistent offenders is likely to be
characterized by poor relations with teachers and peers (Moffitt, 1997). Thus antisocial behavior will
permeate multiple adult life domains including illegal activities, employment, marriage, and intimate
victimization, not least because of being ensnared by the negative consequences of their delinquent life
style. As expected, this infiltration diminishes the possibility of adjustment to life and opportunities for
change, so that life-course-persistent offenders are likely to report a high level of life failure as measured
by Farrington and colleagues (2006) and Piquero and colleagues (2010). Moffitt (1993) anticipated that
this persistent group of offenders is quite small, averaging about 5-8% of the population across
representative research samples. Despite the small numbers, this type of offender is likely to be
responsible for a great proportion of offences committed, and for a high frequency and continuity of
offending along the life course.
VII. RISK PROCESSES INFLUENCING A DELINQUENT

DEVELOPMENT
Longitudinal studies have consistently shown that a constellation of early risk factors predict
antisocial behavior and criminal persistence. Current criminological theories (Pollard, Hawkins, &
Arthur, 1999) have explained that a more comprehensive and accurate way of assessing risk for future
criminality is likely to benefit from knowledge of the exposure to risk and protective factors. Risk is a
probability (Kraemer, Lowe, & Kupfer, 2005), and a risk factor is a variable or a situation, which
increases the probability of an antisocial outcome, and it is shown to precede the outcome (Zara, 2010).
The types of risk factors operating may not be as important as the total number of then operating
together at one point in a person’s developmental time. A protective factor is a variable, which interacts
with a risk factor in order to buffer its effect. Protective factors are associated with the likelihood of
reduced antisocial or delinquent behavior and/or increased positive adjustments. For Rutter (1985)
“protective factors are those influences that alter a person’s response to some environmental hazard that
predispose to a maladaptive outcome” (p. 600, quoted in Farrington, 1988, p. 165). For instance, if
increase of school failure leads to an increase of delinquent behavior only among those children from
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low-income backgrounds, and not for those from high-income families, higher income would be a
protective factor. A factor that predicts a positive outcome and is “associated with the likelihood of
reduced antisocial behavior/delinquency” is defined as a promotive factor (Loeber, Slot, & Stouthamer-
Loeber, 2006, p. 173).
Risk and protective factors can be distinguished according to the different domains and contexts
in which they operate, and can be individual, familial and social-economic (Farrington, Loeber, Jolliffe,
& Pardini, 2008; Stouthamer-Loeber, Loeber, Farrington, Zhang, van Kammen, & Maguin, 1993). They
are not absolute in their risk and protective influence: they depend both on the susceptibility of people
exposed to their impact, and the interval length of the exposure to them. Their influence increases until a
certain plateau and then stabilizes, and their impact is not always direct and could affect the individual
after a certain time interval (sleeper effects).
Evidence-based research (Loeber, Pardini, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Raine, 2007; Loeber, Pardini,
Homish, Wei, Crawford, Farrington et al., 2005; Loeber, Slot, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2006; Tremblay &
LeMarquand, 2001) has shown that historical factors, especially behavioral ones, are the most robust
predictors of future crime and violence. Behavioral problems in childhood cast a long shadow.
Fergusson, Horwood, and Ridder (2005) in the Christchurch longitudinal study found that if children in
the most disturbed 5% of the cohort displayed serious conduct problems at age seven, the chance of
future involvement in criminal behavior was increased by 1.5 to 19 times by age 26.
The early years of life are an important time of active development, foundation building, and
reorganization (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000), and if human development is seen as a continuous process it
is unlikely that events that occur in childhood stop playing a part in orientating, directing or affecting
adolescence and adulthood. The extensive psychological literature provides evidence that early risk
factors and experiences affect life development and long-term behavior. They often emerge in multi-
problematic families and in high-risk environments. It is likely that these factors have a pervasive effect
over the life of a child, influencing his or her present and often limiting the prospects for a different
future. This may be so because of the stability of some of these factors over time. These risk factors tend
to have a cumulative effect, and the likelihood of an early antisocial onset rises progressively as an
individual undergoes an increasing number of adverse influences in childhood (Koegl, Farrington, &
Augimeri, 2009). It is also suggested that many of these risk factors interact, and may have different
126
effects along life development. This means that between-individual differences may control their
sensitivity to a specific risk or to a constellation of risk factors. Recent studies have also studied the
interplay between nature and nurture (Reif, Rösler, Freitag, Schneider, Eujen, Kissling, et al., 2007) and
by disentangling the influences of genetic, parenting and emotional climate, especially maltreatment
(Belsky & Pluess, 2009), recent findings suggest that rearing practice and family environment plays a
strong role especially upon particular genotypes (Caspi, McClay, Moffitt, Mill, Martin, Craig, et al.
2002; Huizinga, Haberstick, Smolen, Menard, Young, Corley, et al., 2006).
When studying antisocial behavior it is quite difficult to disentangle the effects of the different
variables, and to pinpoint which of them directly, indirectly, or moderately, influence the behavioral
outcome. Longitudinal prospective studies could help to solve this problem because only what occurs
before an outcome offers evidence about the possible causes of the outcome (Farrington, 2006). Ideally
interventions should target risk factors that are causes, those which are promotive factors and those
which are correlates.
VIII. THE NATURE AND NURTURE VARIABLES
Behaviors that are phenotypically identical may be heterogeneous from the standpoint of
underlying neurobiology or psychology. The appropriate conjunction between the word nature and the
word nurture is not versus but and (Plomin & Asbury, 2005, p. 86). Nature is nurture (Volavka, 1999, p.
313) in the sense that the discovery of how genes influence behavior, and how human behavior
influences genes is contributing to reshuffling the dispute entirely. According to Ridley (2003) the
nature versus nurture dichotomy is false or, as Pinker (2002, 2004) stated, nature and nurture are not
alternatives: nature is likely to be “living” and manifesting itself via nurture (Ridley, 2003).
Sociological perspectives have always assumed that variables such as socio-economic status,
father unemployment or parental divorce will make children from the same family respond to their
influences likewise. For so many years, theories of socialization have also explained that family and
social environment that children share will affect their functioning in life in a similar way. However
research has constantly shown a different pattern of responses by people. That is, environments that
affect behavioral development, work by accentuating individual idiosyncrasies, and making children
from the same family different (Plomin & Asbury, 2005; Plomin & Daniels, 1987).
127
Non-shared environment is a kind of environmental influence that refers to the environmental

factors that engender behavioral differences among siblings reared in the same home (Asbury, Dunn,
Pike, & Plomin, 2003; Turkheimer & Waldron, 2000). Research has attempted to identify specific
sources of non-shared environments i.e. how the environment works to influence behavior, exploring
differential parental attachments, peer relationships, scholastic achievements, health, and chance
experiences, in relation to various social functionings and adaptations to life. Research findings have
shown that many environments and life experiences account for significant, and yet small amounts, of
variance (Rowe, 1994). Nonetheless these results did not imply that family-wide influences such as
parental disharmony, poor housing, or social disadvantages were unimportant (Rutter, Moffitt, & Caspi,
2006). Studies have in fact emphasized that individual psychological and biological dispositions,
idiosyncrasies, chance experiences and the temporal occurrence of them in the concatenation of events,
and the interplay of all these variables, contribute to non-shared environments (Harris, 1998),
accentuating individual differences. Twin and adoption studies have identified that genetic and
biological factors can influence behaviorally relevant environments such as upbringing, stress, or social
support (Plomin, 1994).
What the research findings actually mean is that family and social variables are likely to impinge
to a different degree and in different ways on children from and in the same family. This is what is
called the nature of nurture (Plomin, 1994; Plomin & Bergeman, 1991). Within the gene-environment
interplay, there exist epigenetic mechanisms (Jaenisch & Bird, 2003) by which environmental influences
alter the effects and the manifestations of genes, what can be defined as the nurture of nature. Individual
differences are accentuated in those critical, dramatic, ambiguous, and stressful moments in which the
pressure to behave is very high but there is not time to reflect upon and plan the most appropriate
behavioral answer (Caspi & Moffitt, 1993). Thus in such situations individuals are likely to employ
previous behavioural patterns. Identifying the factors responsible for non-shared environments still
remains a big challenge of future research. Almost all variables and risk factors, genetic or
environmental, and the combination of them, involve “probabilistic rather than deterministic effects”
(Rutter, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2006, p. 227). Accordingly, it has been recognized that risk effects extend
throughout the normal distribution and not just at the extreme ends (Zara & Farrington, in press).
128
“Mother Nature has plainly not entrusted the determination of our intellectual capacities to the
blind fate of a gene or genes; she gave us parents, learning, language, culture and education to program
ourselves with” (Ridley, 1999, p. 77).
Research has gathered a growing acceptance of the roles of both genes and the environment in
the aetiology of individual differences in behavior (Moffitt, 2006b), and it is working to build up a
constructive bridge between genetic research and traditional areas of psychological and criminological
research.
“Integration has assumed a central role in criminological discourse. […] Despite this […] it is
hard to identify concrete new discoveries or significant breakthroughs in criminology that have been
made in the name of integration” (Wikström & Sampson, 2006b, p.1).
Human behavior can be understood by considering the whole and different dimensions that
contribute to its nature and its manifestations. Dismissing this may lead to reductionism. Emerging
evidence about gene-environment interactions will come from converging findings, from longitudinal
natural experiments showing within-individual change (Moffitt & Caspi, 2006), and from the integration
of disciplines, methods, and levels of analysis. The fundamental and shared challenge for scientists will
be then to translate the research findings into prevention, intervention, and treatment (Volavka, 1999, p.
312).
IX. CONCLUDING REMARKS ON DIFFERENTIATED PREVENTIVE

PERSPECTIVES
Preventing the development of delinquency may be more possible now as scientific evidence is
available about the factors that cause, maintain and aggravate criminal behavior or protect against its
beginning or continuation. The prevention, at an early stage, of delinquent development is made feasible
by current knowledge about the developmental progression of a criminal career, and about the
intertwined influences of childhood and adolescent factors upon adult life. One of the keys to
developmental prevention (Jonkman, van Yperen, & Prinsen, 2008) is to design programs aimed to
target, eliminate or at least control risk factors that, in the long run, increase the probability of children
becoming adult criminals, and to promote and enhance those protective factors that serve as a
counterbalance to compensate for more stable risk factors.
129
Primary prevention concentrates its efforts on reducing early risk factors and targeting the causes
of delinquent and criminal behaviors before any signs of them become evident. As Welsh (2003) puts it,
“primary prevention is an economically efficient strategy to reducing delinquency and later criminal
offending and improving the life course development of at-risk children and young persons and their
families” (p. 350).
Secondary intervention targets older children and adolescent who have already shown signs of
antisociality and other related risky behaviors (e.g. substance abuse, reckless and disruptive school
conduct, school violence, bullying), and who have started getting involved in a criminal career.
Secondary intervention is efficient to the extent that it breaks the continuity of antisociality and prevent
criminal relapse (Farrington, 2005c).
Tertiary intervention focuses on high-risk individuals, generally adults, who have established an
antisocial life style (e.g. unprotected sex life, abusive attitude towards children and partners, negligent
job ethic and erratic job records, etc.), apart from their criminal records. Tertiary intervention is effective
to the extent that it successfully targets the, criminogenic needs of high-risk individuals.
“An […] advantage of targeted prevention is that it is appropriate to the individual and avoids
any interference with those not at risk. […]. Any ‘high risk’ strategy will depend on the success of its
screening programme. If screening is sufficiently accurate, the strategy can be closely matched to the
needs of the individuals” (Coid, 2003, p. 53).
X. TAKING HOME MESSAGE
Criminal behavior affects everyone indistinctively, and no government can any more afford to
intervene only when criminal behaviour has already occurred. Criminal persistent and recidivism impose
extreme costs upon society as a whole, on each taxpaying citizen, and especially on each single
individual who has been a direct or indirect victim of continuous criminality. Epidemiological and
longitudinal studies have emphasised the role of early precursors for crime (Farrington, 2005a;
Farrington & Coid, 2003): the earlier the individual gets involved in an antisocial pattern the higher the
risk for a serious, escalating and persistent criminal career. Hence, it is important to consider why and
how future antisocial behaviour could be predicted.
130
Policy practices should then respond to this necessity by planning intervention differently
depending on the level of criminogenic risk involved. These interventions are a call both for renewing
efforts to improve children’s and family’s lives from the start and also for employing public policies for
people have already entered the tunnel of delinquency. In either situation it is never too early or never
too late to intervene (Loeber & Farrington, 1998b).
Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the scientific review and analysis of the
research material was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could
be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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DOI: 10.1037/a0029050
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CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH: A VIEW FROM THE

NOTION OF COMPLEXITY
HUGO A. LUPIAÑEZ17, EDUARDO ESCALANTE GÓMEZ18
ARGENTINA
I.INTRODUCTION - II.CURRENT DEBATE ON THE CRITERIA OF SCIENCE - III.CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

ON CRITERIA OF REFUTATION OF CRIMINAL SCIENCES - IV. THE PARADIGMATIC PROBLEM OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES - V. OTHER DIFFICULTIES OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN CRIMINAL SCIENCES - VI.OBJECT AND
METHOD OF CRIMINOLOGY - VII.CURRENT COMPLEXITY OF CRIME CAUSATION THEORIES - VIII. AN
APPROACH TO CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH FROM A COMPLEXITY STANDPOINT - a.Hypothesis -
b.Assumptions on Complexity - c. First Assumption: No agreement exists regarding the interpretation of the term
“complexity” - d.Second Assumption: New ways of thinking - e.Third Assumption: Theory and methods - IX.RESEARCH
IN CRIMINOLOGY USING A COMPLEX PERSPECTIVE - a.Multidimentional Analysis - b.Clustering - c.Clusters of
Variables - d.Group I H - e.Group II H - f. Group I R - g.Group II R - XI.NETWORK DISCOURSE ANALYSIS - XII.TO
CONCLUDE - XIII.BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the current difficulties in Criminological research is the determination of its standing as
scientific knowledge or, in other words, the pursuit of a methodology of its own and a the definition of
17
Aconcagua University (Argentina)
18
Aconcagua University (Argentina)
157
its particular object. Present and future challenges of research on this field are related to an increasingly
complex panorama.
The resolution of these issues are hindered by two current aspects: firstly, the enriching debate on
the criteria for determining what is considered a science, and the standing of Criminology in this
context; and secondly, the increasing theoretical complexity in the comprehension of criminal behavior.
Nowadays it is impossible to disregard the connection between individual, social and situational factors,
either in the development of a personality prone to perform and maintain socially disruptive behavior or
in the happening of criminal behavior. The most recent theories on criminality conceive it as a
consequence of an evolutional transactional sequence between these factors.
This is a complex subject for a manual and we have tried to be as explicit as possible despite the
impossibility of simplifying any arguments. In addition, Social Sciences, and Criminology as well, are
flooded by concepts such as systems theory, chaos theory, autopoiesis, and complex systems, among
others. We have tried to identify the argumentative structure in the notion of complexity and its
contribution to the study of Criminology.
II. CURRENT DEBATE ON THE CRITERIA OF SCIENCE
Present and future challenges in Criminological research are intimately related to the definition
of paradigm in social sciences. In their beginnings at the end of the XIX century, social sciences were
submitted to the practices of physical and natural sciences. Thus, phenomena were regarded from the
allegedly precise and objective perspective of the predominant science model. However, authors such as
Kuhn (1971) have proved that "objective” sciences also bear dissimilar assumptions, although these
remain unnoticed because they do not occur simultaneously but in sequence. Different interpretations of
the same phenomena at different points of time arise from this fact. Kuhn and Popper introduce the issue
of empirical certainty. Inductivism is then challenged by a new array of concepts and hypotheses.
There are successive interpretations, which imply an agreement between the scientific
community and consequently involve a set of assumptions, principles, methodologies, and so forth, as
"paradigms". They are agreements whereupon new issues are dealt with. They involve theories,
methodologies, relevant topics, and methods of proof accepted and shared by the members of a scientific
community at a given time. Paradigms are a way of understanding a field of work. They are considered
158
broader than the theory, concern agreements on work procedures, submit to previously successful
research regarded as model, and are always circumscribed to a scientific community. They constitute a
mold for the discipline, a group of shared assumptions, theoretical aspects, methodologies, etc. A
paradigm is integrated at the level of practice and stands unchallenged.
Kuhn (1971) argues that there exist long periods of “normal science”, where scientific efforts are
applied to the resolution of new issues under frameworks and rules that are known and accepted
implicitly or explicitly. When a finding challenges an existing paradigm, the latter tends to remain, and
the scientific community is shown doubtful of the researcher. With the arrival of a new paradigm,
previous and current issues are solved. As those who share a paradigm perceive reality under such
principles, there is great difficulty in two communities with different paradigms reaching an agreement
on the reality that is perceived. It is impossible to hold two different paradigms argumentatively.
Consequently, an agreement on two different premises, as on a dynamic model and a cognitive model in
Psychology, is unreachable.
Regarding the description of a sound scientific theory, Kuhn (1971) states that a priori, an outline
of a sound scientific theory does not exist because they change along with paradigms. This author leads
to a relativist interpretation of science by introducing the notion of paradigm shift as a process of
persuasion and transformation in the absence of independent rules of opposing paradigms that allow an
objective opinion. Dependence on observable facts and on the questioning of theories, an approach
upheld by Kuhn, creates dependence on paradigms and relativizes the standards for regarding theories,
as these standards are also dependent on opposing paradigms. Lakatos (1999) attempts to safeguard an
objective criterion on scientific change and rejects incommensurability. However, his view is
undefended against relativeness and irrationality due to the presence of arbitrarity and the opinion of the
scientist in some areas, and to his premise of scientific rationality, only applicable retrospectively and
lacking rules and guidelines for the current scientific activity.
The premise of relativism usually bears considerable popular appeal, although this line of
thought may easily conduct to undefendable scenarios. Relativism implies that experiences, thoughts
and beliefs rely on -are related to- a standpoint or frame of reference, either in language, culture,
sociology, psychology, and so forth. Consequently, relativism comprises a wide spectrum of areas that
go beyond the domains of philosophy.
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Some of the contributions of Kuhn are undeniable, as stated by Follari (2000) in his article Sobre
la existencia de paradigmas sociales (On the Existence of Paradigms in Social Sciences) (2000).
Nonetheless, not intending to echo criticism by authors such as Sokal and Bricmont (1999), as Follari
(n/a) remarks, nowadays there exist varied critical views, some superficial and some more accurate, on
the work of Kuhn. It is possible to challenge his view on research, which argues that research in any
field does not evolve only from the acquisition of data, facts or new information, but also and specially
from the interpretation of such data and the establishment of relationships between these elements, by
raising daring questions and hypotheses (in reality, new facts are discovered by venturing at an early
stage; venturing results, proposing conventional lines and speculating play an important role in this. For
example, the conception of scientific progress held by Kuhn is entirely different to the conception of
Popper. If the choosing of a particular research methodology implies a particular Epistemology, the
significant contrast between an Epistemology based on Kuhn and the one based on Popper should be
considered. This work is not the proper context to elaborate on the historicism of science and relativism.
The debate is profound and well-documented, but bears significant importance when defining research
strategies and tools.
It is important to examine the point of view of incommensurability (absence of a common or

standard frame of reference). The meaning of theoretical and observational terms is determined by the
theoretical context of their application. Hence, words and terms used in substantially different theories
cannot be the same, and should they be so, their meanings are different. If revolutionary changes in
science are conceived in this manner, new languages and worlds, unintelligible to each other,
incommensurable, are created.
In 1930 Popper demonstrated that scientific evidence is not absolute, as new findings may rectify
or refute previous theories. Thus, it is only possible to reach partial confirmation, at times probabilistic,
and the conviction that physical and natural sciences be “proven” is relativized. As a consequence, the
belief that there are objective sciences and sciences that do not fit into this category is hard to maintain.
When referring to the objectivity of scientific knowledge, one must not forget in social sciences
the importance of the immersion of the researcher into the observed phenomenon, since the object of
analysis is the same as the person who performs the analysis. In addition, it should be remembered that
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current research fields of the so-called objective sciences, as for example those involving AIDS or
cloning, bear such ethical implications that the involvement of the researcher is impossible to avoid.
If at the level of science it is possible to establish a distinction between natural and social
sciences, at the level of their construction all sciences are social; they are a social construction, a product
of social action.
The reality that circumscribes the scientific activity is conditioned by a series of social
parameters: investment mechanics, selection and relevance of subjects, usefulness of findings,
conditions of political power, freedom of speech, etc. Only by means of social sciences is it possible to
study the conditions of the production, spreading and application of sciences.
According to Popper (1990), a scientific system consists of a group of interrelated hypotheses

that may submit to validation by observation of facts. A system is scientific when there exist empirical
observations that challenge said system or a hypothesis that stem from there.
The principle of refutation entails constructing theories, deriving hypotheses from these theories
by deduction and subjecting them to refutation.
Refutability is an adjustable quality, thus it is possible to select theories by means of the same
theory evaluation criteria.
Popper (1990) states that as long as instances are not exhausted, a theory can always meet a
future counterexample. A theory may be deemed false, but proving its truthfulness is impossible.
Consequently, subjecting theories to empirical validation is undoubtedly necessary, but a theory that
endures this test cannot be considered valid. What is more, several theories can positively endure the
same empirical validation, be coherent to each other, and not be equivalent or coextensive. This would
lead to the coexistence of “more than one true theory on the same object”, and the failure of empirical
validation in fulfilling the role of a so-called defining “crucial experiment”, as it was believed in the
Vienna Circle (founders of logical positivism).
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III. CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CRITERIA OF REFUTATION

OF CRIMINAL SCIENCES
 Faulty observations are nearly common, thus it is uncertain whether a theory has been
effectively refuted.
 Replication or repetition of observations is difficult to perform.
 Should an observation contradict a theory, reformulating it ad hoc to comply with the
theory is legitimate.
 There have been few instances of refutation and subsequent abandonment of a theory in
the history of criminology.
IV. THE PARADIGMATIC PROBLEM OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
For a paradigm to exist there must be agreement on fundamental issues, which does not occur in
social sciences. The existence of opposing and alternative schools is constant, with obvious
epistemological exclusion. The absence of agreements in social sciences led Kuhn (1971) to consider
them pre-paradigmatic as they have not reached a stage where they could form paradigms.
However, there is understanding among the members of the same historic or theoretical tradition,
thus a scientific community that adheres this tradition or theory may be considered in agreement. In such
case, there would be agreement in the scientific community, but the scientific community would not be
in agreement.
Follari (2009) argues that the theoretical dissension of social sciences is not an issue of maturity;
it is the unavoidable consequence of the very nature of social knowledge, which is not empirical-
cumulative but stems from theories involving conflicting or -if nothing else- alternative interpretations.
The particularity of social issues is that transitory agreements cannot be reached. In physical and natural
sciences, dissension -or at least the most significant type- comes successively, whereas in social sciences
it is permanently simultaneous (Follari, 2009).
What is more, in the latter, ideologies comprise social knowledge. As they retrieve a model of
what is desirable for society, they are rooted in the varying social-material conditions surrounding
individuals, hence the differences in the understanding of social factors.
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Consequently, ideologies are forms of representation of existing social conflict. Said conflict,
either undisclosed or open, is a necessary consequence of society. Considering the assumption that
ideologies comprise theoretical standpoints, the existence of different beliefs may imply the
unattainableness of intertheoretical agreement (Follari, 2009).
The dividing line between natural and social sciences is the absence of accepted shared
knowledge. As a result, the paradigm effect, namely the existence of a normal science, a science that
does not challenge assumptions because its sole purpose is to solve empirical problems under shared,
naturalized principles, does not take place in social sciences (Follari, 2009).
All in all, social sciences should be considered non-paradigmatic given the impossibility of
reaching an agreement on their basic assumptions due to their epistemological characteristics.
Follari (2009) mentions that science is a creative process, a construction, not a simple
confirmation of something pre-assembled. Thus, science is the result of invigorating trends distinctive of
the western thought brought forth by the Greek, and its precision and alleged certainty correspond to the
close denial of fallibility, the impossibility of assurance, and the contingent nature of human knowledge
-and action.
From the perspective of the previous analysis, and now in the field of criminology, it should be
considered that the different criminological theories also imply dissimilar analysis categories for "the
same" objects in the world (in reality, by categorizing them differently, no longer is it possible to simply
regard them as "the same"). For example, antisocial behavior, deviant behaviour, and resocialization or
rehabilitation of criminals embody constructs belonging to a given theoretical framework that is
influenced by historical development and the distinctive features of the encompassing social context.
Criminology through research is an effort of "objectivisation" rather than "objectivity", as argued

by Follari (2009), who states:
"[It] is the result of a certain way of arranging objects in perspective, of perceiving their
distinctive, repeatable aspects, so as to erase from perception all the elements that -seen as chaotic- are
left outside of previous consideration. It does not "state reality"; it explains it by means of theories,
causing dissimilar empirical dissections.”
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V. OTHER DIFFICULTIES OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN

CRIMINAL SCIENCES
Göppinger (1979), quoting Jaspers, states that one prime, insurmountable difficulty in the
empirical research of man in his social interdependencies comprises the impossibility of performing an
examination beyond partial aspects, as the analysis of man as a whole concerns philosophy and not
empirical knowledge.
Due to methodological reasons, there exists a necessity of dividing individuals and their social
spheres into partial aspects that can be submitted to analysis. For this reason, these analyses may not be
performed from a perspective on the conformation and action of the research object as a unit, but may
broadly comply to the notion of objective-oriented research units. (Göppinger, 1979).
This author predicted that the comprehension of information from a broader logical or social
context is perhaps the most difficult task of the empirical research of man in his social
interdependencies, a task that, as stated by the author, can only be completed after decades of intense
work. Thus, he anticipated a current issue: the difficulties of research in complex settings.
Alternatively, one should not forget that in research on criminal behavior, as in any type of
psychological research, the object of study are constructs, not phenomena, as they comprise specific
goal-oriented concepts. (Escalante 2007).
A criminology researcher attempts to reduce or construe concepts, ideas or hypotheses from data
through a process of construct and concept operationalization. For this purpose, the scientist selects tools
and procedures that enable him or her to transform the constructed reality into meaningful information
for the research process.
Complexity of the research object, which consists of an observed behaviour under a complex
system of interaction between individual, social and situational elements (economic context,
opportunity, the analysis of cost of crime, etc.). This complexity arises precisely from the contributions
of the research under the scope of the most modern crime theories.
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VI. OBJECT AND METHOD OF CRIMINOLOGY
Nowadays Criminology is considered an independent science and, as such, must have its own
object and research method. However, its longlasting dependency on Criminal Law, undoubtedly the
origin of Criminology, is a heavy burden that has conflicted with its standing as certified knowledge,
independent from Law and bearing an object and method of its own.
Kaiser (1992) is one of the authors who holds an adequate approach to Criminology as a science
in terms of partial independence. He defines Criminology as the interdisciplinary empirical science that
studies crime, criminals and the control of socially notorious behaviour. It also comprises the
understanding of the interests of the victim and crime deterrence. The expansion of knowledge, and
research on results control and modernization of Criminal Law are the main goals of this science.
This definition represents a milestone in the process of considering Criminology as a science

because it regards this discipline as an empirical science. However, it hinders the determination of a
particular object and methodology since it also regards Criminology as interdisciplinary. Indeed, the
object of Criminology is shared by other sciences, and particularly by Criminal Law, but the object of
Law consists of an intended behavior that is brought forth exclusively in legal discourse from the
typification a certain kind of behaviour by lawmakers. Thus the characterization of behaviour stems
from outer context, and is judged by the field of Law.
Due to its interest in behaviour in term of rules, the Law does not concern the prediction or the
explanation through principles of human nature. It encourages or prohibits positively in accordance with
its extent and what it considers good or bad for human coexistence. (Sobral 1994)
On the contrary, Criminology concerns socially rejected behavior; its object of study is a
crossroads of human and criminal behavior, and social reactions to said conducts. Garrido V, Stangeland
P. and Redondo S. (1999) explain that the different elements that may be referred to as object of
criminology, namely crime, criminals and control of socially notorious behavior, are analytical
components or study fields submitted to the manifestation of criminal behavior and social reaction.
From this perspective, Criminology does not have multiple objects since there are different views on the
same dimension: criminal behavior.
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From this interpretation of Criminology, its conception as interdisciplinary is no longer

necessary.
According to the scientific method, in Criminology, as in any other science, four levels of
knowledge are intended: description, explanation, prediction and application. , aimed at the reduction of
criminal behavior in society. Nonetheless, in light of the current theoretical and methodological
progress, a shift from lineal to more complex models is required, as will be explained in a following part
of this work.
The following figure, extracted from Principios de Criminología de Garrido V. Stangeland P. y

Redondo S. Ed Tirant, (1999, p. 50), clearly illustrates the scientific area of Criminology.
Crimes
Antisocial Behavior
Facilitating Factors
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR Scientific Area of

Criminology
SOCIAL REACTION
Informal Control Formal Control
(family, school, (penal justice)
the media)
Figure 1: Scientific Area of Criminology
VII. CURRENT COMPLEXITY OF CRIME CAUSATION THEORIES
Current theories of crime causation have long abandoned a unidirectional causative conception of
crime and now consider it a byproduct of the interaction of different individual, social and situational
factors, either in the conformation and dynamics of a personality prone to engage in criminal activities,
or in the actual manifestation of criminal behavior. These theories, defined as integrated theories by
some authors, have been developed as from the 90’s, and could be divided briefly into:
Multifactor theories (Agnew 1992), which involve the influence of different social, personal or
economic causes on criminal behaviour, and include the theories of strain, social disorganization, social
learning, conflict, rational choice, and trait.
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Life-course theory (Farrington, 1992), which argues that a person does not bear a particular
propensity for delinquent conduct; behaviour evolves together with the development of the individual.
Control theories (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990), interrelating concepts from biopsychosocial,
psycological, routine activities and rational choice theories. In them, self-control is given a major rol in
the development of criminal behavior.
Transactional theory (Moffitt, 1993), where the attitude of the parents is regarded as crucial in
the proper development of children with difficult temper. If proper educational techniques are not used
early on these children, circumstances of reciprocal interaction between a vulnerable child and a hostile
enviroment will cause a transactional sequence of cummulative effects, allowing the manifestation of a
personality prone to behave deviantly.
Interactional theory (Tornberry, 2000), which argues that the weakening of family or school ties
has an effect on delinquency, and that conversely, deliquency weakens the ties to those domains.
A common denominator to all the previous theories is their use of interactive, transactional or
interactional models between individual, social or situational factors to explain criminology. These
theories depict a complex research field, bringing forth the issue of factor interaction.
The previous, brief analysis of the elements encompassing the definition of the method and
object of criminology unveils a necessity of rethinking the research perspective. Criminology intends to
explain but also to understand crime and criminals, that is, to comprehend the reasons behind acts of
delinquency. This approach demands qualitative methodologies. Interpretation and comprehension
cannot occur in natural sciences, only in human sciences. Nevertheless, natural-scientific and
comprehensive approaches are compatible, however significantly different (Escalante, 2007, citing
Weber, 1999).
When the researcher performs an expert report as a forensic scientist, he may analyze each
particular case from the adequate methodologies of psychological research (scientific-probabilistic) and
produce results that are useful for the law. This would be the case of research on, for example, the
construct of imputability. However, if the goal of research is to generate knowledge on the constitution
of criminal personality and its importance in criminal behavior, or to analyse the factors that trigger said
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behaviour, a different methodology focusing not on factors but on their reciprocal relations and
influence is required.
The development of a personality prone to delinquency, and the comprehension and explanation
of the occurence of criminal behavior will require a methodology that considers the interrelations of
variables from an individual, social and situational analysis.
A means of studying this issue is conceiving it as a complex system. García (2006) states that in
a conception of complex systems, the relations between the object of research and the emcompassing
disciplines are involved. In said relations, complexity stems from the impossibility of considering
particular characteristics of phenomena, processes or situations from a specific discipline.
In addition, this author argues that in the real world, situations and processes do not occur in a
manner that permits a clasification by their correspondance to specific fields. Thus it is possible to speak
of a complex reality. A complex system is the representation of a section of said reality, construed from
an organized frame -hence the denomination of system-, where elements are indivisible and thus cannot
be studied separately.
García (2006) defines complex system as a system where the processes determining its
functioning arise from the convergence of multiple factors interacting in a manner that renders it suitable
for partial decompression only. Thus no complex system can be described by a simple summation of
independent studies performed on each of its components.
A possible graphic representation of the object of Criminology from individual, social and
situational determinants consists of the consideration of three circles, each representing either individual,
social or situational factors. The result of the interelation of these circles comprises the object of
criminological research, defined from related variables.
As it has been established, the current issue of Criminology as a science is the determination of
specific methodology for studying its own object of research, arising from the interplay of variables, and
consequently the development of tools in accordance with its complexity. Analyzing this issue from the
formulation and consideration of complexity would set an intereresting perspective that may lead to the
validation of Criminology as an independent science.
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VIII. AN APPROACH TO CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH FROM A

COMPLEXITY STANDPOINT
a. Hypothesis
The hypothesis of this chapter is:
Current theories of crime causation have long abandoned a unidirectional causative conception
of crime and now consider it a byproduct of the interaction of different individual, social and situational
factors, either in the conformation and dynamics of the personality prone to engage in criminal
activities, or in the actual manifestation of criminal behavior.
This hypothesis involves certain views that differ from the classic neopositivist or hermeneutic
approach in order to explain crime dynamics. It is intended to establish a research design that permits the
comprehension of nonlineal systems describing and explaining crime. However, in light of empirical
evidence, it is arguable that in criminology, systematic frames are generally employed, whereas the use
of algorithms of complexity is unfrequent, possibly due to the abscence of a special epostemology or
specific tools. The treatment of criminological issues is performed by means of philosophical language
or concepts that are not clearly connected to criminology. Thus it is perceived a delay or indifference in
these issues. Old systematic concepts were not unified with methodological matters. The new
systematics -more interpretive- may lead to a predefined ontological view on the individual, and the
attempts to develop a unifying theory may encourage the practice of producing a collection of elements
with no greater empirical validity.
Conceptualizations may result from what has been defined as complexity theory, although the
use of “theory” as a single term conflicts with the existence of a number of theories of complexity.
Consequently, “notion of complexity” is preferred for the analysis of its reach in criminology. This
notion constitues an important stage for the understanding of criminals and victims. The actions of a
delinquent individual against another individual have an impact on the entire community similarly to the
effect of an agent in a system as a whole. Human beings, as any complex adaptation system, require
optimum autonomy and connectivity. A crime is committed when the autonomy of a person is violated,
or their connectivity to others is suddenly interrupted.
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There are several and varied causes of crime. These include the perception of the criminal of
their physical environment, their perception of an “appropriate” or “appealing” target, the reasons to
commit a crime in the first place, the cognitive representation of the environment by the offender, and a
number of facts related to the context of the community where the crime occur (Bratingham &
Bratingham, 1993). These factors, and several others, are constantly shifting and do not always influence
the system in the same manner. Walker (2007) explains that traditional models are only capable of
accounting for a reduced number of variations in crime as they assume that given a certain combination
of values from variables, crime rate will remain the same (a “perfect correspondence”). It is more likely
that crime correspond to a nonlinear explanation than to linear causality.
b. Assumptions on Complexity
The complexity of cause interaction in the real world prohibits the establishment of a model,
hence the need of a nonlinear modeling in terms of the “theory of complexity”. Given the nonlinear
nature of functions, small changes in time may produce significant differences after several iterations,
thus errors in measurement (the type of measurement employed in social sciences and criminology)
become an issue in this approach. In this “theory of complexity”, however, different interpretations
converge, hence the need of certain clarifications that, for the sake of clarity, are referred to as
“assumptions”. Due to matters of length, three basic assumptions arising from the notion of complexity
will be stated. Undoubtedly there exist many others -for example, transciplinary, incommensurability-,
but a didactic argumentation has been preferred.
c. First Assumption: No agreement exists regarding the interpretation of the term

“complexity”19
It is possible to state that the features of complexity theories are similar to a pre-paradigmatic
era, where there would exist several alternatives for explaining reality. Authors such as Sokol and
Bricmont (1999) have recognized a degree of confusion involving the misplacement of scientific
concepts from their original context; notions from natural sciences have been integrated into human or
social sciences without providing proper theoretical or empirical support. The interpretation of Sokal
and Bricmont should not go unnoticed, although it is desirable that the treatment of science and the
19
Ritter (2005), in his review on illicit drug markets, provides meaningful examples of its instrinsic complexity.
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notion of complexity have a greater degree of uniformity. Certainly, purely discursive interpretations
and faulty formal expositions have prevailed. Strong criticism has arisen from the lack of consistency of
argumentation on the “systemics paradigm” and the “butterfly effect”, among others. It is noticeable and
curious that some philosophers have introduced terms from physical-mathematical language and
degraded science and its methods to vest their texts with a more learned and profound quality.
The notion of complexity has emerged from different sciences and disciplines, criminology
among them, in order to explain the nature of knowledge. Nevertheless, there exists a series of mutually-
differing concepts and hypothesis. It would appear that complexity is seen beyond a mere junction of
variables. This perception, widely spread in classical social sciences, does not comply to the behavior or
the ontology of such systems, which may arise from the interaction of few variables. In fact, in its more
productive manner, the study of complexity may begin from surprisingly simple systems. From this
theoretical view, the notion of complexity refers to the occurrence of prominent characteristics emerging
from the local interaction of a number of elements, a figure that can be modest without any
consequences.
Carlos Reynoso provides one of the best records of interpretation currents of complexity20. This
author concludes his book with the following remark:
“[...] Still there is much work to do in substantive and formal terms to draw the ideas of
complexity [...]; the established epistemology, crystallized either in favor of against deductive-
nomological archetypes, has remained confined to historical modalities and is not very helpful in this
issue. Thus the scheme developed, where some elements are still shifting places as their consequences
and differences are perceived, can only be provisionally.”
Further he adds,
“In any case, the different currents in systems theory are a matter of recent past, or at best, of
uncertain future. Small areas of our field have benefited from the import of concepts from these theories,
despite the difficulty to determine the profit or loss of anthropology as a whole in this process. Certainly
they have taught a few scholars to mistrust simple mechanisms, lineal causality, temporally reversible
20
Complejidad y el Caos: Una exploración antropológica (Complexity and Chaos: An antropological study) is a highly
documented book where the author, portraying a profound capacity of suspicion, masters an ironic mood –perhaps
academically peculiar, but negative in is contemptuousness.
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schemes, instances of naive determinism, the narrowing to fundamental principles, and analytical
common sense. But the old systemics was not introduced with proper methodological elements and the
new one threatens to be materialized as a program with an ontological perspective from the individual
and reality; even if its theories are unifying and loquacious, in practice new systemics becomes a
inventorying of nonexistent, unknown or unachievable items.”
d. Second Assumption: New ways of thinking
The notion of complexity requires “new ways of thinking” and new types of knowledge in
criminology. Thus, difficult challenges appear in research. Complex behavior may arise from causes that
could easily have simple inner structures. An overly complex model is not necessarily closer to reality
than a simple model. Often in social sciences, explanations are relinquished due to the belief in the
impossibility of describing this vague “complexity” through simple models. This attitude may be
considered “ascientific” and epistemologically close to obscurantism, as argued by some authors. The
publication of Miceli et al. (n/a), Teorías de la complejidad y el caos en ciencias sociales. Modelos
basados en agentes y sociedades artificiales (Theories of Complexity and Chaos in Social Sciences.
Models Based in Agents and Artificial Societies) is highly interesting, as for example the following
statement: “the notion of complexity refers [...] to the manifestation of emerging properties arising from
the local interaction of a number of elements that very well may be few.” This argument is particularly
important for research in social sciences. The authors add:
“[...] [C]omplex behavior corresponds to causes that could easily have simple inner structures.
An overly complex model is not necessarily closer to reality than a simple model. Often in social
sciences, explanations are relinquished due to the belief in the impossibility of describing this vague
“complexity” through simple models.”
In the context of study of complexity, for example, fractal geometry of social forms arises from
nonlinear dynamic explanations. Network discourse analysis, clustering, and multidimensional analysis,
become important elements of thought.. A transdisciplinary thought based on networks,
interdependencies and relations is required.
Research from the perspective of complexity can offer new ways of thinking some of the
classical dilemmas in social sciences, particularly the tension between the finding of a general theory
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and the aspiration for contextual, specific comprehension, the focal point in the argument between
realistic and postmodernist approaches. This perspective from the notion of complexity employs modern
metanarratives to approach diversity and complexity more appropriately. Thus the attempt to develop a
theoretical frame for empirical research that comprises diversity and social change.
Not only is new vocabulary available for the understanding of particular social, cultural or
psychological phenomena, but also old conceptions of unidirectional effect are replaced by conceptions
of mutual effect.
e. Third Assumption: Theory and methods
Currently, complex models are applied for the comprehension of, for example, epidemic spread,
cultural cooperation (Reynolds, 1999), or the functioning of cities (Portugali, 1999). In criminology, the
structuring of gangs is relevant, hence the study of clusters or fragments of this type of crime
organizations.
The fight against crime requires a theoretical comprehension of the manifestation of crime, but
also proper research methods that exceed linear argumentation when gathering, processing and
interpreting information (Bratingham & Bratingham, 2004).
A theory is composed not only of concepts and hypotheses, but also of methods or ways of
researching and accumulating knowledge. If we assume that a theory is always linked to a method, we
may argue that one of the most fundamental methods of classical science is the empirical method and,
concerning data analysis, statistics. Thus, it is arguable that classic statistics features certain operational
characteristics that integrate assumptions from classical science (linearity, determinism, reductionism,
simple causality, low error tolerance, noise and lost data). Indubitably, this becomes a Gordian knot in
the methodological approach of any research involving the notion of complexity.
As Follari (2001) states,
“Different theories also imply dissimilar analysis categories for "the same" objects in the world
(in reality, by categorizing them differently, no longer is it possible to simply regard them as "the
same"). In other words, this involves the issue of terminological differences among theories. If -as any
pragmatic conception of language proves- language does not refer immediately to reality, but does this
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through specific sociocultural conditions, a neutral inter-theoretical language submitting directly to

reality in order to abridge differences or permit fluid communication is nonexistent. Hence the
“incommensurability” between theories or paradigms, as presented by Kuhn: two different theories are
argued on two different assumptions, hence -for example- the difference in the definition of relevant
example, sufficient empirical evidence, etc. This bears obvious consequences: two theories are
incapable of solving their disparities argumentatively or empirically, given the non-equivalence of their
validation protocols. Kuhn argues that science will grow due to its problem-solving capacity, not
because of a greater degree of rationality in accordance with an allegely neutral pattern of
understanding.”
From a theoretical point of view, complexity is emergent even in instances of few variables -one
or more- involving a time and interaction dimension. An immensity of factors is not required for its
manifestation. However, bibliographical revision leads to the conclusion that randomness does not
represent a mandatory factor in a complexity perspective. Also, it is arguable that there exist more
patterns of order in chaos than suspected before exploring its structure, even when considering the
impossibility of medium or long term prediction in chaotic instances given the extreme sensitivity to
initial conditions. Finally, non-linearity and emergency contribute to the unsuitability of linear models in
chaotic environments, and mere metaphorical “qualitative analysis” must be avoided because it hinders a
deeper understanding of the real complexity of events, hence the need of more appropriate methods
beyond “reduction.”
It is noteworthy that a complexity perspective or the use of tools of complexity are not relevant
in all circumstances; for example, chaos theories are applied only to very low inner-dimension realities
that permit a close-system approach with a very small number of independent variables. In addition,
regardless of the contribution of the notion of complexity and its correspondent epistemological
position, these elements are not essentially superior to any other, specially considering the absence of an
intensive exploration of their tools.
The common ground of sciences is the search and application of methodological validity -
regarding inner coherence, the statement of publicly-exposed theories, empirical testing, the reach of
empirical content, and so forth. In this sense, the ideas brought forth by Kuhn (1995) regarding
paradigmatic incommensurability are relevant given the manifestation of very dissimilar perspectives
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within the same discipline, i.e. interpretivism, postmodernism and phenomenological currents on the one
side.
One of the fields where a greater lack of agreement on complexity is in methodology. The
supporters of the notion of complexity have had very little progress in method design. Morin (2000) has
introduced ways of thinking reality from a complex view and some authors have started employing
techniques bearing characteristics from complexity. However, no methods have been established for
such purpose. This may be related to the absence of a unified community of complexity scientists.
However, it is possible to distinguish some methodological positions. On the one side, some
authors argue that social sciences are complex and this complexity can be tackled through traditional
statistical methods (parametric). In other words, social sciences are complex but they can continue
using, to some extent, current statistical techniques. On the other hand, complexity in social sciences is
introduced in terms of catastrophes and chaos, requiring new research methods and statistical techniques
for generating knowledge around them. Parametric statistical methods are applicable only to linear
phenomena –a reduced number-, and not to nonlinear phenomena -the majority-. Linearity is found
exclusively in precise and concrete situations that tend to remain static, and where elements overlap.
From this perspective, non parametric statistics and fractal mathematics are highly useful, although
parametric tendencies are not excluded.
Nicolis (in Byrne, 1998) claims that quantitative methods are incapable of understanding a
complex phenomenon, hence the need of a qualitative approach. Byrne (1998) states that all attempts to
develop regression methods for social laws have been unsuccessful. When emergent properties are
present, experimental logic fails. In an attempt to discover new techniques enabling emergency, Byrne
(1998) proposes contingency table analysis, cluster and correspondence analysis, which, according to
this author, are methods for complexity analysis. For example, contingency tables allow to examine a
given space with n dimensions according to its possible states. Thus, high-case cells are compared to
low-case cells and results are described. This also permits an examination of the whole.
The distinction between classical sciences and complexity methods arise from a major
assumption stating that methods for studying different realities are different as well. Consequently, it is
possible to state that given its characteristics, classical statistics is appropriate a linear, determinist
reality that does not bear important interactions. However, it may not be applicable to the analysis of a
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nonlinear reality with several interactions, complex causality, and others. For this purpose, more suitable
techniques, such as social networks -proposed by Carlos Reynoso21-, highly attractive from a
methodological standpoint, may be available. “Scale-free networks” are one type of model, used also for
the prediction of ecological, linguistic, social, economic or technological networks (Reynoso, 2006, 284-
290).
The most interesting characteristic of this approach is the suggestion that the reality intended for
study be a factor that must be considered in the selection of methods.
Complexity -from any interpretative standpoint- should be conceived also as a methodological

strategy allowing the study of complex phenomena in a non-simplifying, reductionist manner.
Nonetheless, one should consider that complexity as a method cannot be reduced to a number of
standardized techniques and procedures setting a course of research a priori.
Methodological matters are a junction point between a practice contemplating the subject and
theoretical-conceptual constructions in order to give sense to, understand and shape reality. Thus, the
methodological challenge of complexity involves strategies requiring subject-comprehensive practices,
that is, observer integration into the process of observation by means of second-order social research or
the knowledge of knowledge.
From a methodological perspective, a promissory set of concepts and tools has been developed
from the theorization and methodological observation of complexity, yet it is still unknown whether it
will attain in criminology the same reach and degree of development as in other areas of knowledge.
Although a significant number of failed attempts are present in social sciences, i.e. structuralism or the
classical systems theory, essential advancement related to the above-mentioned hypothesis has been
made in criminology.
To conclude this section, it is important to bear in mind that, as argued by Follari (2010) 22, a
method depends on the object. In other words, any method submits to the particularities of what is
intended to be known specifically. According to the author, this is the legacy of a scientific construction
epistemology as that of Bachelard. Follari also argues that a methodology does not exist a priori, as it is
21
Social Network Analysis (SNA) enables more precise and consistent reasoning.
22
Unpublished manuscript.
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achieved in the actual work defining the theoretical object, thus being intrinsic to its characteristics; “to
think for measuring”, rather than “to measure for thinking” . In addition, he states that the selection of
the most adequate methodology arises from the theoretical criteria applied to the object of research.
IX. RESEARCH IN CRIMINOLOGY USING A COMPLEX

PERSPECTIVE
A criminology researcher may follow different and varied statistical or hermeneutical

procedures. In this section of this chapter two types of analysis procedures for the application of a
complex perspective in criminological research will be mentioned: i) multidimensional analysis through
clustering, and ii) social networking,
a. Multidimentional Analysis
From the point of view of research, similarity judgements are extremely interesting; how do we
know that n things are similar, and to what extent? For this, tools of multidimensional analysis,
visualization, clustering, and neutral networks23 are absolutely relevant. They prove useful for the
dynamic finding and exploring of different hypotheses, and they are frequently employed in social
sciences for examining semantic distance.
A very interesting study where artificial neural networks24 are applied is Predicción del consumo
de éxtasis a partir de redes neuronales artificiales (Prediction of Ecstasy Consumption Through
Artificial Neural Networks) by Palmer et. Al. (no date) This study explores the usefulness of artificial
neural networks (ANN) for the prediction of ecstasy consumption (MDMA), in a sample of 148
consumers and 148 non consumers of the substance. The authors state that ANNs does not represent a
23
Neural networks are another method of emulating certain human characteristics, i.e. the capability of memorizing and
relating facts. By examining attentively those problems that cannot be represented in an algorithm a common feature can
be observed: experience. Man is capable of solving these situations by means of accumulated experience. Consequently, it
is clear that a way of approaching this issue consists of developing systems capable or reproducing this human
characteristic. All in all, neural networks are not more than an artificial, simplified models of the human brain, the most
perfect available example of a system capable of acquiring knowledge through experience. A neural network is “a new
system for information processing, whose basic processing unit is inspired in the basic cell of the neural system: the
neuron.” Given their constitution and principles, artificial neural networks feature a great number of characteristics similar
to those of the human brain. Thus they are capable of learning from experience, generalizing old cases to new cases,
extracting main features from entries that represent irrelevant information, among others.
24
Neural networks are not models of subjectivity or human experience; they are only programs that recognize, associate,
correlate and generalize.
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“black box”; they are capable of providing information regarding the degree of influence that each
predictor variable has on ecstasy consumption. A questionnaire of 25 items is used. Items are grouped
into five theme categories: a) Demographics, relationship with parents and religious beliefs; b) Leisure;
c) Consumption; d) Opinion on ecstasy; and e) Personality.
Figure 1 illustrates the neural network model used in the research. Its structure comprises 25
neurons in its input layer, two neurons in its hidden layer and one in the output layer.
Figure 1: Neural Network
The authors conclude that ANNs may predict ecstasy consumption from answers provided
through a questionnaire with 96.66% accuracy. This means that from the answers to those 25 questions,
one may predict whether the subject is a consumer of the substance with a reduced margin of error.
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b. Clustering
In order to explain one of these procedures, clustering, a criminological research where cluster
analysis was performed on a matrix involving two types of felonies -aggravated robbery and murder-
from 70 inmates in Mendoza (2008) will be mentioned.
Cluster analysis, also known as Numerical Taxonomy or Pattern Recognition, is a multivariate

statistical technique whose purpose is to divide a collection of objects into groups or clusters in a way
that the elements in a group are similar to each other (inner group cohesiveness) and different to the
elements of other groups (outer group isolation).
Cluster analysis is an inherently exploratory technique as usually no statistical model is used for
classification. This is a very adequate technique for acquiring information from a collection of data
without previously imposing, at least explicitly, restrictive statistical models, hence its value as a tool for
developing hypothesis without imposing patterns or theories established beforehand.
In several cases, data is analysed with the purpose of testing certain hypotheses or models; for
example, when a researcher intents to discover the relationship between the age of people and their
capacity of taking risks, or in more complex situations, the relationship type between a given number of
-linear or nonlinear- variables. In these cases where the researcher is not provided of a definite
hypothesis to test, the nature of the research is exploratory and certain techniques designed to find a
“meaning” in data, that is, to recognize structures or clusters, must be applied.
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Figure 2. Combined Cluster. Personality and Crime: Murder and Robbery
Two groups of variables (next to the variable, the number of participants is included) and an
isolated variable (Si, with 5 participants) can be observed in Figure 2. Two clusters of variables are
visible: (Pa, Sc, Yocog, Pd, RedAdic, Acdas, Yoinh) and (Ma, Hos, PotAdic).
In the following figures (3 and 4), a collection of variables for each of the crimes, murder and
robbery, is included.
c. Clusters of Variables
From the results, an arrangement depicting two perfectly distinguishable profiles - individuals
who commit murder and those who commit robbery- can be observed.
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Figure 3. Personality and Murder Variables
d. Group I H
It comprises individuals with low self-control who are susceptible to consume toxic substances in
stressful situations. They are hyperactive and restless, unstable and impulsive, and suffer from severe
difficulties in their anger management. They tend to lose their self-control easily. Their criminal records
generally include abuse towards people and objects (robbery, fraud, and other crimes).
e. Group II H
Individuals with motor hyperactivity and accelerated thinking. They are energetic, talkative
people with frequent mood disorders, low tolerance to frustration, and prone to boredom and
listlessness. They display low self-esteem and confidence, self-centeredness, introversion, scarce social
interaction, tendency to be isolated and feel uncomprehended. They avoid new situations and exchange
situations with other people. They are shy, withdrawn, and frequently experience generalized anxiety.
They have an unconventional lifestyle, and are immature and self-centered.
They are suspicious, mistrustful individuals with delirious beliefs, excessive interpersonal
sensitivity, rigid thinking, and guilt projection. They may manifest deliria of persecution or greatness.
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As in Figure 2, two groups can be observed, allowing the determination of two profiles of
individuals who commit robbery.
Figure 4. Personality and Robbery Variables
f. Group I R
Withdrawn, self-centered, irritable, impulsive individuals suffering from difficulties in self-

control. They abuse people and objects and are susceptible to consume toxic substances in difficult
situations.
g. Group II R
Individuals in this group feature denial of their aggressive or hostile impulses, lack of command
of Self, high sensitivity to the reactions of other people. Due to their loss of control over their emotions
and impulses, and their restlessness and hyperactivity, they may not be conscious of their actions or able
to recall them. They also display a predominance of acting-out conducts, behavior problems during their
schooling years, antisocial practices such as robbery, fraud, and confrontation with the law. Scarce
social interaction and tendency to isolation, alienation and to feel uncomprehended. Shyness, self-
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centeredness, introversion and instances of generalized anxiety. Tendency to avoid stressful situations
by means of fantasies and day-dreams. Difficulties in their distinction of reality and fantasy. Feelings of
inferiority.
X. SOCIAL NETWORKS
According to Reynoso (2010), the introduction of complexity theories through networks would
have a major anthropological impact -in social sciences, one might say. It would allow the examination
of elements from complexity and chaos theories, depict fundamental epistemological fractures, and
signal and establish differences with theories not strictly complex, or “complex” from a statistical
perspective. This author argues that many problems can be restated in terms of networks: interracial
relationships, spread of critical information (e.g., water policies), health-care campaigns, spread of
diseases, trends, clientelism relationships, close friendship, kinship, interpersonal relations, segregation,
ghettoes, exclusion, implementation of cultural policy programs, etc.
As Miceli (2006) states, the analysis of social networks (SNA) comprises the systematic study of
social systems, not "limited to a set of group or centrality markers, as it is an instrument of research [...]
specially adequate for relating micro and macro-social levels.
According to Lozares (2006), from the standpoint of social networks,
“at first, agents are not construed as social entities from their social attributes (or variables),
but from their relational connections. These connections and their contextualization, also relational,
grants social identity to the agents, which can be deliberate. Direct and indrect relationships between
agents, and the entire relational network, are at the same time the context of action of the agents, the
foundation of their resources, the object of their representations and the basic ingredient of their social
identity.”
For Wellman (1983), SNA is a comprehensive and paradigmatic method of giving serious
consideration to social structures from a direct study of the way in which correlation patterns arrange
resources in a social system. Although individuals tend to see world in terms of independent groups,
they are part of the relational networks that constitute a social system (Freeman, 1977).
183
As in any other social activity, delinquency can be explained, at least in part, by submitting to the
relationships that one individual establishes with others. Due to this characteristic, a network perspective
can prove useful in crime analysis. The following network features clusters that may represent social
groups or gangs, labelled A and B.
Figure 5. A Network and Clusters
184
Figure 6. A Network and Groups
In this network there appear different social groups, highlighted with different colors. Small
white circles are not grouped. Software such as Pajek, Ucinet and Netdraw is essential for the
construction and analysis of social networks.
In the study of social networks, a integrated theoretical frame is required in order that research
not be circumscribed to certain tools. In other words, a theoretical framework where the researcher can
select a variety of concepts and hypothesis to be tested by means of a social network methodology is
needed. Also, the analysis must transcend a merely descriptive level, and rules should stem from the
selected methodology and theory. Miceli (2009) distinguishes the real network, comprising all existent
relations in the empirical universe, from the observable network, "formed by the subgroup of relations
perceived by the nodes and mapped by the researcher" (Ibid, p. 10). This distinction is important in
order to avoid any cognitive distortion of the real network that may arise from the intervention of the
researcher.
XI. NETWORK DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
There exist different methods to perform a network discourse analysis: the participant-centered
approach, i.e. epistemic communities; and the content-centered approach, as in networks of semantic
networks. Nevertheless, it is possible to study the relations between participants and the contents of
discourse by combining the analysis of content and social networks.
Different authors have dealt with Network Discourse Analysis ("Análisis Reticular del Discurso"
or ARD by its Spanish abbreviation). Miceli (2006) identifies three lines of work: i) the line of Carlos
185
Lozares (Lozare et al 2000), focusing on the interpretation of narrative sequences, which show a
segmentation of the interviewee's life into different "spheres" or biographic areas and are formed by a
group of actions called forth at the time of the interview; ii) the line of Joel Martí's line, focusing on
argumentative characteristics and aiming at the identification of different discourse structures from the
coding of topic relationships or topoi; and iii) a third view that makes use of biographic interviews but
correlates events in terms of causality and identity relationships. Miceli's perspective is centered on
factual elements of discourse, but analyzed two-dimensionally; on the one hand, a concept hierarchy is
used, and on the other hand, causality is applied to sequence events in a tree structure.
Miceli argues that through network discourse analysis it is possible to find macro-textual
discourse features (it is not limited to the analysis of isolated discourse segments) by means of markers
pertaining to social network analysis. Relationship mapping is no longer restricted to co-occurrences;
these submit to a wide spectrum of semantic functions (causality, belonging, identity, topic inclusion,
temporal sequencing, cognitive affinity, etc.).
Figure 7. Actors, concepts and relations
SNA applies diverse strategies. Visone, a software program, may be used for the analysis. It
cpnsists of an application for network analysis of texts.
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Figure 8. Discourse Network
This type of procedure permits the mapping of interviews of individuals who display criminal
behavior.
XII. TO CONCLUDE
In light of the issues developed in this chapter, it is arguable that current theories of crime
causation have long abandoned a unidirectional causative conception of crime and now consider it a
byproduct of the interaction of different individual, social and situational factors, either in the
conformation and dynamics of the personality prone to engage in criminal activities, or in the actual
manifestation of criminal behavior. A common denominator to all these theories is their use of
interactive, transactional or interactional models between individual, social or situational factors to
explain criminality. These theories depict a complex research field, bringing forth the issue of factor
interaction. Finding a specific method for studying its object, defined from the interaction of variables,
and hypothetically discovering new tools related to the complexity of this issue, bears major importance
in criminology.
The notion of complexity simplifies the revision of the concept of system in order to comprehend
criminological processes. It leads to the understanding of the nature of emergency and transcends
reductionist explanations found in social sciences and criminology. Also, it allows the examination of
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consequences beyond unidirectional notions, and the consideration of mutual effects and the evolution
of complex situations.
The use of the theoretical notion of complexity demands a methodology for its study. In this
chapter some of the current methods have been mentioned -clustering, social networks, among others-,
but arguably, their application is narrow and a there exists a considerable lack of theoretical and
methodological development in this field.
XIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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VI
RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF OFFENDERS AT COURT

DR. STUART ROSS25, DR. MONICA PEREZ-TRUJILLO26
AUSTRALIA, COLOMBIA
I.OFFENDERS AT COURT - II.THEORY - a.Addressing social disadvantage - b.Rehabilitation - c.Therapeutic

jurisprudence - d. Family violence court models - III. SERVICE MODELS - a.Bail management - a.Pre-trial diversion of
mentally ill or disabled offenders - c.Specialised and Problem Oriented Courts - IV.ASSESSMENTS AT COURT -
a.Assessment goals and procedures - i.Clinical assessments - ii.Risk and compliance issues - b. Challenges of forensic
assessment in court - V.CASE MANAGEMENT AT COURT - a.Case planning - b.Establishing an integrated service
response - c.Role of family and friends - VI.ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES - VII.SOURCES OF FURTHER
INFORMATION OR RESOURCES TO SUPPORT COURT-BASED PROGRAMS - VIII.REFERENCES
I. OFFENDERS AT COURT
The criminal courts process large numbers of offenders and in most cases the interaction between
offender and court is brief and perfunctory. For many this is entirely appropriate – their crimes are
minor or unlikely to be repeated. However, some offenders are charged with more serious offences,
appear repeatedly on minor offences, or show a pattern of persistent criminality. In these cases there is a
25
University of Melbourne (Australia)
26
University of Los Andes (Colombia)
191
responsibility on the court to respond in a more considered way that provides protection for the
community and an opportunity for the offenders to change their behaviour. One of the most significant
paradigm shifts in the justice system over the past two decades has been the enhancement of the
therapeutic role of the courts and the development of programs and services to support this role. This
shift forms part of a more general development of systems of non-adversarial justice (M. King, Freiberg,
Batagol, & Hyams, 2009:p.x) as well as the increasing involvement of human services in justice
systems. Court services in various forms are now an established part of most justice systems and it has
been estimated that clinicians participate in up to one million court cases each year in the USA alone
(Faust & Ziskin, 2000).
No other stage in the criminal justice process offers the same capacity to respond to offenders.
The courts are the primary decision making process in the criminal justice process. Everything that
happens before the offender’s court appearance - identifying the offender, determining the charges,
establishing bail conditions, formulating prosecution and defense briefs - is preparation for the decisions
that take place in court, and everything that happens after court is putting those decisions into effect. In
particular, all treatment or rehabilitative interventions with offenders ultimately derive from decisions at
the court stage. The decisions made at court determine the balance between punishment and
rehabilitation in the sentence, and specify the mechanisms whereby these sentencing goals will be put
into effect. The court can determine whether particular offender attributes like homelessness, mental
illness, drug or alcohol problems, or disability are identified as a relevant to the justice process, and can
place obligations on the offender and a range of other parties to respond to those attributes. Even where
offenders are sentenced to a correctional program where further decisions about the timing or specific
nature of rehabilitative interventions will be made, it is the court process that provides the statutory and
procedural basis for those subsequent decisions.
For courts to play a meaningful role in responding to the needs of offenders, they must
understand the causes of the offender’s behaviour, and have access to information and services that
facilitate the development of appropriate responses. Traditionally, courts relied on advice provided by
defense counsel or agencies with pre-existing service or support connections with the defendant. More
recently, a range of pre-trial, bail support or court support services have been developed that provide
assessment, case management and program or service delivery to defendants at court. However, to date
there has been only limited attention paid to how these court services are organized, who they provide
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services to, the form of service models on offer or the outcomes that result from them. The goal of this
chapter is to review the theoretical ideas that underpin the provision of offender services at court,
examine the range of service models and evidence about their effectiveness, and provide an overview of
some of the primary clinical, case management and program support resources that are available to those
working in this field.
II. THEORY
In order to properly understand court-based offender programs we need to locate them within a
body of theory and practice knowledge. Court-based offender services exist at a series of boundaries –
between arrest and hearing, treatment and control, court and community. One of the central arguments
in this chapter is that this position on the boundaries means that one cannot properly understand these
programs in terms of concepts and theories that have been developed solely in a judicial or clinical or
therapeutic context. What is required is an understanding of how court services operate at the interface
of different systems that have distinctly different goals and principles.
a. Addressing social disadvantage
Offenders are overwhelmingly drawn from the most socially and economically disadvantaged
sectors of the community, and services that aim to ameliorate these forms of disadvantage are present in
courts in a wide variety of forms. The earliest examples of court-based offender programs were those
established by religious or charitable institutions in the 19th Century. As early as 1876 members of the
Church of England Temperance Society attended city police courts and provided information and advice
to the court and care and support to offenders (Raynor, 2007). These early services were voluntary and
informed by a moral and ethical view about the causes of offending. By the early 20th Century the
modern professional structures and service models of social work were well established in western court
systems (Vanstone, 2004).
From a social work perspective, offenders’ needs are the product of both their individual
characteristics and their family and social environment. Programs to address these needs must aim to
respond to individual-level problems like drug abuse or mental disorder, as well as working to improve
familial relationships and social and economic conditions. The justice system is a primary agent in the
maintenance of social norms and structures, together with the inequities that are an integral part of these
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systems (Young, 1988). As a result, court-based programs that aim to address social disadvantage and
achieve social justice goals must reconcile the competing priorities of the state and their clients.
Perhaps reflecting the difficulty in this task, social work-based programs have been most evident in
juvenile and family courts where a welfare orientation is stronger (Mantle, Williams, Leslie, Parsons, &
Shaffer, 2008; Reynolds, 1982).
The last two decades has seem an increasing focus on managerialist strategies in justice
processes, involving the use of risk assessment and risk management, and problem-focused
programmatic responses (Garland, 2001). One product of this transformation has been that interactions
between offenders and professionals in support or welfare roles have become more formalized and
concerned with compliance management (Barry, 2000; Maguire, Raynor, Vanstone, & Kynch, 2000).
However, at the same time, there has been an increasing recognition that social exclusion (that is, the
process whereby the links between individuals and social relations and institutions are weakened or
broken) is a key factor in justice system involvement (Cape & Bridges, 2001; Social Exclusion Unit,
2002) and that this requires support programs that aim to assist offenders to participate fully in the social
and economic life of their communities.
b. Rehabilitation
A fundamental distinction in jurisprudence is between punishment and rehabilitation. Where a

court believes that the primary sentencing goal should be to address the causes of offending, it may
select a rehabilitation sanction that incorporates treatment, education, counseling or some other non-
punitive intervention. The idea of rehabilitation is based on the argument that offending is the product
of psychological or behavioral attributes of the offender that can be rectified or improved through some
form of programmatic intervention. One of the most influential ways of thinking about these issues is
the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model developed in 1990 by Andrews, Bonta and Hoge (1990) and
subsequently applied to a wide range of assessment and program design and delivery tasks (James R.P.
Ogloff & Davis, 2004). The RNR model comprises three principles. The risk principle states that
criminal behaviour can be predicted through actuarial assessment, and that treatment intensity should
vary with offenders’ level of assessed risk. The need principle identifies a range of criminogenic needs
that should guide the design and delivery of treatment, and the responsivity principle proposes that
interventions should be matched to the learning style, motivation, abilities and strengths of offenders.
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While generally recognized as a key development in offender rehabilitation, the RNR model has been
the subject of criticism as being theoretically incomplete and encouraging a focus on a limited range of
individual-level risk factor to the exclusion of situational and contextual influences on behaviour (Ward
& Brown, 2004). A development of the RNR model, Ward, Stewart and Maruna’s “good lives”
approach, gives greater emphasis to the development of motivation to change via a therapeutic alliance
between worker and offender (Ward & Maruna, 2007; Ward & Stewart, 2003).
Some categories of offenders like juveniles, mentally disordered or intellectually disabled

persons are regarded as inherently warranting rehabilitative interventions. There is also a common view
amongst sentencers that, where some rehabilitative process has been established prior to the court
hearing, the punitive and deterrent aspects of sentence should not disrupt or prevent that process (R. Fox
& Freiberg, 1999). Nevertheless, while many judges and magistrates describe their practices as
incorporating elements of rehabilitative sentencing, it cannot be assumed that this proceeds via a
systematic process of determining an offender’s needs and imposing a specific intervention designed to
address those problems. Moreover, it is clear that sentencers are fully aware that treatment or other
programs are not a panacea for the factors that give rise to offending (Ashworth, 1995) and its
effectiveness is often constrained by the absence of systematic assessment, and lack of access to expert
advice on appropriate interventions, and to treatment or support services.
Judges and magistrates who adopt a rehabilitative sentencing approach are frequently required to
deal with issues of which they have limited professional knowledge (for example, the implications of
different forms of mental disorder, or the efficacy of different treatment modalities) and where some of
the most critical matters are the subjects of technical and sometimes conflicting advice (Shea, 1996). A
further limitation on rehabilitative sentencing is that the likely outcomes of a treatment intervention are
often uncertain and are commonly never reported back to the court. The outcome of a court order for
treatment may be that the offender is assessed and found unsuitable for treatment, or that only minimal
or ineffective treatment is delivered, or that the offender receives treatment interventions that involve an
impositions or obligations that are wholly disproportionate to the crime.
c. Therapeutic jurisprudence
One of the most significant reforms to court practice in recent years has been the adoption of
therapeutic jurisprudence practices. Therapeutic jurisprudence developed out of the work of David
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Wexler and Bruce Winick in the late 1980’s (Wexler, 1999; Winick & Wexler, 2003), although court
centered initiatives for the “therapeutic disposition” of mentally ill offenders were present at least twenty
years before this (Matthews, 1970). Winick and Wexler used the term to refer to the operation of the
law within a framework that takes explicit account of its therapeutic impact. Therapeutic jurisprudence
asks ``whether the law's anti-therapeutic consequences can be reduced, and its therapeutic consequences
enhanced, without subordinating due process and other justice values'' (Wexler & Winick, 1996: p.xvii).
More generally, therapeutic jurisprudence seeks a conscious recognition that the law can have a direct
and powerful effect on the physical and psychological well-being of those who it deals with, and argues
that lawyers and judges and the justice system in general need to be sensitive to the fact that their actions
and decisions can have therapeutic or anti-therapeutic consequences (Casey & Rottman, 2000).
Therapeutic jurisprudence is often associated with specialized forms of courts like drug courts
and mental health courts that operate in ways that are distinctly different to normal courts. However, it
is better regarded as a mode of judicial practice that can be adopted in a variety of cases and
circumstances. A single judge or magistrate may elect to practice therapeutic jurisprudence in relation
to one case, or therapeutic jurisprudence may be integrated into the procedures and decision-making
throughout all of a court’s business. The first implies a way of acting as a judge or magistrate, while the
second implies a way of organizing court goals, services and outcomes. A third way to think about
therapeutic jurisprudence is at the level of legal and court policy, involving changes to State statutes or
to court rules, policies, or procedures that apply across courts.
The adoption of therapeutic jurisprudence can be viewed as a key element in a more general
paradigm shift towards non-adversarial jurisprudence (M. King et al., 2009), and from “passive” to
“active” adjudication (Carney, 2000). Carney (2000) identifies five distinctive features or themes of
courts operating under this model:
 “neutral adjudication is replaced by a “proactive” (inquisitorial and interventionist) bench

or tribunal;
 the court or tribunal directly embraces achievement of defined social goals such as
rehabilitation and reintegration;
 the court does not stand aloof from other services or agencies, but seeks to integrate those
sectors into its work;
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 rather than remain independent, the court or body instead seeks to foster a partnership or
collaboration with the wider community; and
 the processes adopted often resonate with the rhetoric and substance of a “contract” or
“compact” between the citizens and the court, service agencies or communities.” (Carney, 2000, p321)
d. Family violence court models
Family violence court models have introduced critical changes in their responses to offenders
using principles and methods grounded in therapeutic jurisprudence. Family violence courts share the
same objectives: to improve victim safety and hold defendants accountable. They also have in common
some key features and strategies that include family violence training of court and law enforcement
staff, victims’ early access to advocacy and services, coordination between courts and service providers,
mandated programs for respondents, and increased judicial supervision (Sacks, 2002; Center for Court
Innovation, 2009). However, court models also vary considerably.
There are at least three distinctive Family violence court models. One of the most common is the
criminal Family violence court, followed in most states in the United Stated, Australia and New
Zealand. A recent review of 208 criminal Domestic violence courts across the United States identified
that, in addition to the two main goals, this model typically focuses on deterring recidivism and
penalizing non-compliant offenders (Labriola, Bradley, O’Sullivan, Rempel & Moore, 2009). Efforts are
made to ensure that courts impose intervention orders on all family violence offenders, offenders are
ordered to probation supervision, and law enforcement arrest and prosecute those who breach an
intervention order. However, offenders’ assessments are not a common practice in these courts and
mandates to attend an intervention program vary widely in frequency from court to court.
A second model is the civil Family violence court. This model emphasizes the consistent issuing
of intervention/protective orders and connecting adult and children victims to appropriate support
services. Civil courts commonly achieve this goal through the support of a dedicated victim advocate
from an independent, community-based service (Center for Court Innovation, nd). There is also an
emphasis on frequent court appearances to control offenders’ behavior, reinforce compliance, and
sanction violations of mandate.
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The third model is the integrated domestic violence court, which has been implemented in some
U.S. states such as New York and Florida and in Victoria, Australia. In these courts, Magistrates or
Judges handle all matters related to family violence, civil and criminal, including applications for
intervention/protective orders, criminal cases, visitation and custody issues, although cases are not
consolidated in all courts. In addition to putting a greater emphasis on defendant monitoring and
informed-decision-making, some models also consider offenders’ individual and situational
characteristics and make efforts to addressing their specific needs (Winick, Wiener, Castro, Emmert, &
Georges, 2010; Victoria Department of Justice, 2006).
Although it is not a common practice in Family violence courts, addressing offenders’ individual
needs in court is important to impact the offending cycle and encourage long-lasting behavior change
(Winick, 2000). It can also be used as a way to address marginalization and disadvantage issues that
may have contributed to the offender’s behavior. In cases where offenders have a mental illness, such an
approach can be useful to develop appropriate strategies to monitor offenders, motivate them to attend
intervention programs and help them overcome obstacles (Winick et al., 2010). From a rehabilitation
perspective, the goal of providing support to offenders should be to enhance their physical,
psychological and social well-being (Ward & Brown, 2004). However, from a criminal justice
perspective, focus on the needs of offenders is ultimately to prevent the re-occurrence of an incident of
family violence.
In order to deal with offenders, Family Violence courts offer specialized services. They usually
work with a multidisciplinary team-based approach to respond both to victims and offenders’ support
needs (Gover, Brank, & MacDonald, 2007). In Victoria (Australia), the Family Violence Court Division
includes defendant (respondent) support staff, mental health Liaison officers, a disability coordinator
and an Aboriginal Liaison Officer, among others. In this model, defendant support workers are
especially important because they collect, manage, and circulate essential information between
respondents and the court. Respondent support workers are responsible for gathering information about
the offender’s circumstances and needs, which they may communicate to the court. They are also
responsible for assessing offenders’ eligibility to an intervention program and have to report their results
and sometimes explain their finding of in/eligibility to the Magistrate. At the same time, respondent
workers explain the court process to defendants, explore the choices available to them, and link them to
services aimed at preventing further abuse and responding to their social needs. Following the hearing,
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Magistrates can also instruct defendant workers to educate defendants on a family violence related issue
(e.g. the impact of witnessing family violence on children), find specific services for them, or motivate
offenders to attend the intervention program. Very importantly, defendant workers often communicate
with other court and service providers’ staff to discuss ways in which to enhance the court’s ability to
respond to offenders.
Generally, specialized Family Violence courts have been shown to increase efficient case
processing (Angene, 2000), victims’ satisfaction and linkage with services (Harrell, Newmark & Visher,
2007), and penalize recidivist offenders (Katz & Rempel, 2011). Results on Family Violence courts
ability to affect recidivism are mixed (for a review see, Centre for Court Innovation, 2009). Evaluations
of Integrated Family violence courts have found that this model can also increase the likelihood of
reaching a case resolution, acceptable to both victims and respondents Picard-Fritshe, Cissner, & Puffet,
2011; Katz & Rempel, 2011), and that at least half respondents felt that their case was handled fairly
(Picard-Fritsche, 2011). Evidence from the evaluation of the Family Violence courts in Victoria showed
that addressing the offenders’ needs within a Family Violence court model can create a positive bond
between defendants and court staff that motivates offenders to attend the intervention program, and
enables informal monitoring of the cases.
Many courts and jurisdictions in United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have
adopted principles and processes based on therapeutic jurisprudence to respond to family violence. Also,
there is a growing number of innovative approaches in Family violence courts based on therapeutic
jurisprudence that emphasize the role of the offender in finding solutions to their violent behavior (King
& Batagol, 2010; Winick et al, 2010). Although these proposals are promising, some concerns have
been raised regarding the general appropriateness of using therapeutic jurisprudence approaches in the
context of family violence (Holder, 2006; Stewart, 2011). For example, Stewart (2011) has argued that
therapeutic jurisprudence responses are too offender-oriented and that while this approach gains
acceptance, the focus on victim safety and support is diminished. It is clear that there is a need for
constantly evaluating the impact of courts’ approaches, policies and practices to ensure that victim
safety and support are achieved. However, so far empirical studies have not found any empirical
evidence to support this claim.
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III. SERVICE MODELS
The focus of this chapter is on non-legal services provided to court users, either directly or under
some form of court order or direction. These services include assessment, advice, counseling, treatment
either directly or by referral, material support (including housing assistance), and case management. In
theory, court users can access most of these services independently of the court via community-based or
private providers. In this chapter we are concerned with the different service models under which court
services are delivered. These service models specify the goals of the program, how the services relate to
the criminal or civil work of the court, and responsibilities of services providers to the court and court
users.
a. Bail management
Traditionally, persons charged with a criminal offence who seek to be bailed are required to
lodge property either directly or via a third party (a surety), or make a formal undertaking to attend court
(a recognizance) that may also incorporate a financial penalty for failing to abide by the undertaking. In
the event that the person is unable to raise the necessary funds, or find someone to act as a surety or
persuade the court that a recognizance is appropriate, then he or she can be placed in custody
(remanded) until such time as a hearing of the charges can be arranged. This system has several notable
failings. The most obvious is that being granted bail is fundamentally a matter of possessing financial
resources. Poor defendants are routinely placed in remand imprisonment, while richer defendants
charged with the same offences are more likely to be bailed. Thus, while the bail process is intended to
protect the community and ensure that defendants appear at their hearing, in reality many bail decisions
are made on the basis of financial capacity (Vera Institute of Justice, 1995). Remand imprisonment in
turn has a variety of undesirable consequences. Imprisoned defendants are hampered in the preparation
of their defence, more likely to plead guilty and if convicted, more likely to receive a custodial sentence
(S. King, Banford, & Sarre, 2005; VanNostrand, 2007). Where there is a significant delay between the
charge and court hearing, defendants can spend months in remand imprisonment, and at least some of
those remanded are eventually acquitted or receive a non-custodial penalty.
The basis for bail support programs is the instrumental goal of diverting offenders away from
remand imprisonment and ensuring equality of justice at the remand stage. Early bail programs like the
Manhattan Bail Project (Schaffer, 1970) aimed to improve the quality and impartiality of bail decision
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making by making reliable information about defendants’ social circumstances available to the court.
Their goal was essentially to produce greater equity in bail outcomes with no significant diminution in
community safety – that is, to ensure that defendants who were bailed under these programs behaved no
worse than defendants who could meet money bail requirements. These early bail reform projects were
“competing with money bail, not with jail” (Vera Institute of Justice, 1995: p.5). In the United
Kingdom, bail programs used the existing probation service to carry out bail assessments and prepare
reports to the courts (Mair, 1988) and by the early 1990s bail programs operating on this model were
available across the country. The UK model supplemented assessment and court reporting functions
with social and other supportive interventions, including providing access to probation hostels for
bailees who required accommodation (Lewis & Mair, 1988) and these “second generation” programs
that combine advice with support, case management and sometimes monitoring are now found in many
jurisdictions around the world (Clark & Henry, 2003; Gerety, 1980; Paschke, 1999). In the USA the
National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies sets performance standards and provides technical
and other support to member programs (National Association of Pre-trial Services Agencies, 2008).
b. Pre-trial diversion of mentally ill or disabled offenders
Bail support programs aim to ensure that those charged with criminal offences are not jailed
unnecessarily before their cases proceed to a hearing. A variation on this approach is court-based
programs that aim to identify those with conditions (most commonly mental health or disability) that
allow them to be diverted out of the criminal justice process entirely. Pre-trial diversion can take place
at the point of arrest, and typically aims to divert persons charged with minor offences. Once cases
proceed to court, diversion services are targeted at the early identification of individuals who require
mental health and other services, providing advice to the court about the person’s condition and
treatment or support options (Sharples et al., 2003). Mental health or disability-related diversion
programs are available in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (Richardson & McSherry,
2010). Diversion may involve referral to a community based treatment service or psychiatric
hospitalization in more serious cases, but in general these services do not have an ongoing supervisory
role over offenders. In this respect they differ from the mental health court model (see below). The
specialized nature of the assessments involved in this form of court service means that they are typically
provided by psychiatric nursing staff in combination with forensic psychiatrists. Practitioners may also
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assist in custodial management issues and manage medication of offenders in custody. Persons with an
intellectual disability may also be the target of diversion to specialized services (Hayes, 2002).
c. Specialised and Problem Oriented Courts
The new paradigm of therapeutic or problem solving jurisprudence has been given effect in a
range of specialised courts that target particular forms of crime (drug courts, family violence courts, sex
worker courts), offender attributes related to crime (mental health courts, homelessness courts) or that
aim to address social and economic disadvantage by engaging offenders and justice processes with
communities (indigenous courts, neighbourhood or community courts). King et al (2009) distinguish
between specialised courts (that is, courts with limited or exclusive jurisdiction) and problem-oriented
courts (courts operating within the therapeutic jurisprudence paradigm). Specialised courts aim to
improve case processing efficiency for difficult cases and provide access to specialized legal, clinical or
other expertise. Problem-oriented courts have more ambitious goals and “represent a move away from a
focus on individuals and their criminal conduct to offenders’ problems and their solutions” (M. King et
al., 2009: p.138). They aim to more effectively coordinate assessment, treatment and case management
resources, and use the court’s authority to ensure that desired therapeutic outcomes are achieved (Arie
Freiberg, 2007; Payne, 2006; Petrila, 2003).
There is a great deal of variability in the specific forms and processes within these court models,
and an extensive literature is available that examines their attributes, processes and achievements (some
key sources are given at the end of this chapter). This chapter will only consider the role of court
assessment, therapeutic and support services within specialist and problem-oriented courts and in
particular their relationship to the judicial function of these courts. In both approaches, court services
are used to access and coordinate treatment and support services to improve case outcomes but in
problem oriented courts this relationship tends to be more closely integrated into the judicial process. A
central principle in problem oriented jurisprudence is that judicial officers should engage directly with
defendants in order to make the judicial process more meaningful for participants, clearly communicate
the court’s expectations about program involvement and exploit the coercive power of the court to gain
commitment and cooperation in achieving case outcomes.
There is a great deal of variability in the specific forms and processes within these court models,
and an extensive literature is available that examines their attributes, processes and achievements (some
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key sources are given at the end of this chapter). This chapter will only consider the role of assessment,
therapeutic and support services within specialist and problem-oriented courts and in particular their
relationship to the judicial function of these courts. In both specialist and problem oriented approaches,
court services are used to access and coordinate treatment and support services to improve case
outcomes but in problem oriented courts this relationship tends to be more closely integrated into the
judicial process.
A central principle in problem oriented jurisprudence is that judicial officers should use the court
process to engage directly with offenders. The aim of this is to make the judicial process more
meaningful by showing that the court has a genuine interest in the offender’s problems and clearly stated
expectations about what the offender must do to satisfy the court. Judicial involvement can take the
form of regular monitoring of the progress of the offender and involvement in clinical conferences
where decisions about the nature and extent of treatment interventions are made. This process of
engagement is simultaneously one of individualizing the court process and using the coercive power of
the court to gain the offender’s commitment and cooperation. Engagement can take the form of using
respectful or informal language in the dialogue between judicial and court staff and offenders and
seeking to develop the offender’s motivation to seek help or undertake treatment. It also means that
court services must be organized in ways that support this process of engagement, including the use of
team-based service models and the location of service providers in the court building to provide
immediate assistance and coordinate the work of the external agencies and staff (Goldkamp & Irons-
Guynn, 2000).
Two important variants on the general problem oriented court model are family violence courts
and community or neighbourhood courts. The primary concern in family violence courts is not the
treatment of offending-related problems (although the usual range of drug, alcohol and mental health
issues are likely to be present in many family violence cases) but rather to protect victims from further
violence. To this end family violence courts may provide advice and support to victims about safety for
themselves and their children, assistance with applying for an intervention order or in relation to
criminal charges against the perpetrator of the violence, and counseling and support in relation to
financial and legal issues associated with family violence (Stewart, 2005). Where a court order is made
against the perpetrator, court services may be involved in assessing suitability for violence prevention or
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other treatment interventions, and monitoring progress and compliance with the court order. (Stewart,
2005)
Community or neighbourhood courts differ from other problem oriented courts in that they focus
on local crime problems (often involving “quality of life” and street crimes and civil disputes) and aim
to increase the level of community engagement with the justice system. In particular, court services
operating in a community justice framework emphasize the “inclusion principle” that views offenders as
“troubled members of the community in need of help rather than considering them social misfits in need
of exile through incarceration” (Karp & Clear, 2000:p.335-336). Rather than acting as an alternative to
community-based services, community courts work to restore and enhance the role of community
agencies in responding to local justice issues. For court services, this approach requires that direct
service provision be combined with brokerage and advocacy to link offenders to local service providers,
and where appropriate education and training of community-based treatment providers on criminal
justice procedures and issues.
IV. ASSESSMENTS AT COURT
Accurate and timely assessment of offenders is the key to the good judicial decision making and
the effective delivery of treatment and support services to offenders. There are two features of the
assessment process that make this is arguably the most complex and difficult component of court
services. The first is that the assessment process must satisfy a variety of goals and audiences. Court
assessments may be used to support decisions by the judge or magistrate, prosecution and defense
lawyers, treatment providers and case managers on a range of legal, clinical, risk and service need
issues. The second feature is the difficult circumstances under which court assessments are often carried
out. These include time pressures, clients who are intoxicated, aggressive or mentally impaired,
unreliable or incomplete information about the client, and the need to conduct assessments in places like
custody cells where there is limited or no privacy.
a. Assessment goals and procedures
The content of court assessments is determined by the service model under which the assessment
takes place. In general, assessments for bail support programs emphasize legal, risk and compliance
issues, while assessments for diversionary and problem oriented court programs give greater emphasis to
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clinical and support issues. For any program, the content of the assessment is usually prescriptive (that
is, the questions to be asked are specified in a standard form or assessment schedule with pre-set
response categories), and this may be supplemented by semi-structured clinical interviews and more
specialised assessment procedures. Some examples of assessment schedules are discussed in the final
section of this chapter.
i. Clinical assessments
Clinical issues that may need to be considered in a court assessment include the nature, severity
and appropriate treatment for an offender’s problems and his or her treatment readiness. Court
assessments may also need to consider the social and family structures that support or hinder the
offender’s participation in treatment. Some forms of forensic clinical assessment, especially where
sexual or violent offending is involved, represent specialist forms of expertise in themselves. In the case
of some problem oriented court programs (in particular, drug and mental health courts), program entry is
contingent on meeting prescribed clinical criteria such as drug dependency or an Axis 1 mental illness
(A. Freiberg, 2000; Goldkamp & Irons-Guynn, 2000), while for other programs entry criteria are kept
deliberately broad (NSW Department of Health, 2007).
There is an inherent conflict between the need to conduct the kind of thorough clinical
assessment required for reliable diagnosis and the need to provide a speedy response to the court so that
the offender’s case can be processed without undue delay (Goldkamp & Irons-Guynn, 2000). Cases
involving mental illness, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury and sexual offending may require
many hours of expert attention for a comprehensive diagnostic assessment. Thus, it may be more
appropriate to regard clinical assessment at court as a screening process designed to identify cases
requiring more detailed assessment under some form of court order. It has been proposed that for
mental health problems the optimum approach is one that uses a systematic, validated screening
instrument designed to minimize the number of false negatives (i.e. failing to identify a person who has
a genuine disorder) at the expense of classificatory precision (i.e. determining the exact nature or
severity of the disorder) (James R. P. Ogloff, Davis, Rivers, & Ross, 2007).
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ii. Risk and compliance issues
A court assessment may also need to consider the risks that an offender poses to the community
in general, to specific individuals or themselves, as well as their suitability for and likely compliance
with different forms of court-based orders or interventions. Risk and compliance criteria are frequently
specified as part of a program’s entry or eligibility requirements. This may mean that certain kinds of
offenders are excluded from participation (for example, violent offenders) or that only those assessed as
being likely to re-offend are eligible to participate. Risk and compliance are commonly assessed using a
standardized assessment schedule. This may be a short questionnaire focusing only on factors
predictive of future risk like the screening version of the Level of Service Inventory (Andrews & Bonta,
2001) or a more comprehensive assessment involving a detailed case history and examination of the
offender’s individual, social and criminal characteristics like the OASys assessment used by the UK
Probation and Parole Service (Debidin, 2009).
b. Challenges of forensic assessment in court
Forensic assessments conducted at court pose a number of distinctive practical challenges. A

single assessment may involve a range of clinical, legal, social and program matic issues. No single
profession or discipline can claim expertise across all these issues and a comprehensive assessment
requires either an individual with a wide range of general skills or the integration of contributions from a
number of assessors. Any assessment process is only as good as the information available, and in the
case of forensic assessment the assessor may be faced with a client who is unwilling or unable (because
he or she is intoxicated, distressed or mentally impaired) to provide accurate information about his or
her current status or past history. Client issues can be compounded when assessments must be carried
out quickly as a result of time pressure from the court or heavy caseloads, or in inappropriate physical
locations like custody cells. However, applying some basic principles can improve the quality and
reliability of court assessments. These principles are:
Forensic assessments should only be done when the client is fully able to take part in the
process. If a client appears confused, distressed or unable to understand the questions being asked, it is
better to reschedule the assessment and if necessary to report that the client cannot be reliably assessed
at this time.
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Forensic assessments should gather information about all relevant aspects of the client’s current
behaviour and past history. Offenders are a very heterogeneous group, and offending (especially
serious offending) is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Relevant information for an assessment
may include sexual factors (e.g., sexual preference and sexual deviation), intra-personal (e.g., antisocial
attitudes, mental disorder, substance use) and interpersonal (e.g., intimate and familial relationships)
attributes of the client, social skills and networks, educational and vocational status, and biological (e.g.,
neurological or endocrine disease) factors.
Forensic assessments should use multiple methods to gather information. No one source of
information is likely to provide a complete picture of the client. Information provided directly by the
client at an assessment interview should be supplemented with behavioural observations, reviews of case
records (e.g., medical, psychological and correctional reports) and psychological tests (e.g., self report of
personality, performance tests of intellectual ability). For some clients like sexual offenders or those
with serious drug or alcohol issues a physiological assessment or medical examination may be
appropriate.
Forensic assessments should gather information from multiple sources. Offenders may wish to
minimize their offending, attribute it to causes external to themselves or may be unaware of important
factors relevant to a forensic assessment. An assessor should also attempt to gather information from
other sources including: the victim(s); the offender’s family, friends, and co-workers; and law
enforcement, corrections, and mental health professionals familiar with the offender.
Forensic assessments should consider both static and dynamic aspects of risk. Static factors like
the offender’s age and criminal history are good long-term predictors of future offending and some
forms of assessment focus on these factors. However, a comprehensive assessment must also consider
dynamic aspects of an offender’s behaviour and capacities like drug and alcohol use, current mental
state, and social and financial resources. These are reliable measures of short-term changes in risk and
are important in developing effective intervention programs.
Forensic assessments should evaluate explicitly the accuracy of information gathered. Forensic
assessors must make judgements about the reliability and usefulness of sources of information. This
may require reconciling contradictory information, and judging whether the information is sufficiently
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comprehensive to permit valid decision-making. Important concerns about the accuracy or coverage of
information gathered should form part of assessment reports.
V. CASE MANAGEMENT AT COURT
Where court services are in contact with a client for an extended period, the case management
role becomes increasingly important. Case management involves at least five distinct activities: (1)
assessing the client’s needs; (2) developing a service plan; (3) linking the client to appropriate services;
(4) monitoring progress; and (5) advocating for the client as needed. Two common models are “strength
based” and “assertive” case management. Strength-based case management assesses the client’s
strengths and talents (with special emphasis on those strengths identified by the client) and builds on
them in the treatment and service plan. In forensic case management practice, the support displayed by
case managers for their clients must be balanced with disapproval of the client’s antisocial attitudes or
behaviours. Assertive case management involves delivering services assertively to the client, rather than
passively offering services in a centralised office setting. Assertive case management may require case
managers to seek out the client in his or her home, job, or community for meetings and counselling or to
locate branch offices that provide services in the communities where clients reside.
a. Case planning
The case plan developed for a court services client is the framework around which interventions
are established to deal with the problems identified at the assessment stage. A case plan should identify
the services and supports required by the client, the activities to be performed and skills to be developed
by the client, the level of supervision of the client at different stages of the program, and the actions that
will flow from achievement of the goals set by the court as well as the consequences of failure to
comply or participate effectively. The client should understand the basis of the case plan, including why
particular interventions have been specified and what outcomes are expected from them, and should
have the opportunity to contribute to its development, including identifying the issues that they want to
work on and the outcomes that they see as particularly important. In forensic case management, case
plans may be designed mainly with the goal of mitigating the risk factors identified through the
assessment process. However, where a program is focused mainly on clinical goals, the case plan will
give priority to the achievement of these outcomes.
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b. Establishing an integrated service response
In the case of problem oriented courts, case management may be a team-based function, with
contributions from court service workers, judges and magistrates, legal service providers and treatment
and support agencies. Case management in this kind of environment is a difficult task, and ideally a
single worker should have the role of primary case manager in order to ensure that there is no
duplication of tasks and that the client is not given contradictory advice or direction. One of the
common themes in court-based offender programs is the goal of providing an integrated response across
a range of services and interventions. Integration is not a natural state for social services and the
services and processes to be integrated may themselves each have distinct goals and priorities, so it is
not necessarily clear how this goal should be achieved. Many offenders already have service
connections in the community and court-based interventions are relatively short-term. For courts to deal
with offenders’ issues effectively and ensure continuing treatment and support it is necessary to establish
appropriate interfaces with these existing service networks. A key case management role is therefore
to establishing collaborative relationships with these service networks in order to ensure continuity of
service for the client (Greenberg & Nielsen, 2003; Healey, 1999).
c. Role of family and friends
At court, the role of family and friends varies. In some instances, they can be involved in court-
mandated strategies targeted at reducing the offender’s risk of recidivism and responding to his/her
needs. More frequently, they are involved as support people before, during and after the hearing.
Although intervention programs are not mandatory for most crimes, juvenile courts have
commonly involved family members through parenting skills classes (Schaffner, 1997) and intervention
programs such as family therapy (Quinn & Van Dyke, 2004) and, more recently, family group
conferences (McGarrell & Hipple, 2007). Similarly, Drug and Alcohol courts rely on family and friends
to encourage offenders’ participation in treatment, compliance with court mandates, rehabilitation and
cessation of delinquent behaviour. Some research has shown that targeting parenting factors, such as
parental monitoring and communication, can reduce offenders’ substance abuse and delinquency in
adolescents (Tolou-Shams, Hadley, Conrad, & Brown, 2012). In these settings, family involvement in
the justice system is usually encouraged (Garfinkel, 2010).
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In most other cases, the role of family and friends is to support defendants through legal
processes. Their responses are essential as few services are targeted at addressing defendants’ needs.
When they exist, court-based services are mostly targeted at meeting the needs of offenders with mental
health difficulties, disabilities or substance abuse problems.
Whereas it is recognised that family and friends can provide defendants’ with emotional, material
or financial support, there is concern regarding the effects of their support on victims of violence.
Offenders’ family and friends can assist the offender regardless of the nature or the severity of the
offence. In their interaction with victims, they can ignore the violence, blame the victim, minimize the
offence, and deny emotional, informational or tangible social support to victims in order to favour
offenders(Angless, Maconachie, & Zyl, 1998; Huisman, 1996). Offenders’ family and friends can exert
inappropriate influence on the victim by and directly or indirectly forcing her to relinquish her rights to
get protection and support from police, courts, and service agencies (Panchanadeswaran & Koverola,
2005).
At court, defendants’ family and friends’ presence and behaviour can also have an impact on
victims. Domestic violence support court workers in Colombia and Australia have indicated that
defendants’ family and friends can intimidate victims with their behaviour, by threatening, insulting,
disrespecting or upsetting victims or their family and friends during their time at court (Perez-Trujillo,
2011). Offender’s family and friends can also try to intimidate court workers.
In the context of domestic violence, defendants’ family and friends’ behaviour at court can add
significant stress to victims, which could result in charges being dropped or victims failing to show up at
the hearing. More importantly, negative reactions’ from family and friends can impact victims’ general
well-being. Although social support may be positive for the well-being of defendants, courts should be
mindful of any undue contact between defendants’ family and friends and victims during the court
process.
VI. ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Several important ethical problems arise when courts get involved in the assessment of offenders
and the delivery of treatment or support interventions under some form of order. Two key problems are
the relationship between the seriousness of the person’s offending and the intrusiveness or other
210
demands of the court interventions (the problem of proportionality) and the use of compulsion to
motivate or require that a person undertake treatment that they would not otherwise see as desirable or
necessary (the problem of coercion). Court-ordered treatment may involve attendance for lengthy
periods and may impose demands that are disproportionate to the punishment to which a non-disordered
offender would have been subject. Consent by the offender to treatment is especially problematic,
because refusal of treatment may expose the offender to a custodial penalty (R. G. Fox, 1991) or
alternative forms of surveillance or behavioural control (Cohen, 1985).
Treatment under court order places therapists in a problematic position in relation to their
patients, the supervising correctional agency and the court (R. G. Fox, 1991). Andrew Ashworth notes
that the “long tradition of regarding (some) mentally disordered offenders as either deserving mitigation,
or requiring treatment” is rationalized on the basis that such offenders may “not understand the
significance of punishment or may not deserve it” (Ashworth, 1995: p.323). Drug courts in particular
frequently use sanctions like more frequent testing, more intensive supervision or even return to prison
as a response to noncompliance with treatment. However, whether these responses are appropriate when
dealing with mentally disordered offenders is more problematic (Goldkamp & Irons-Guynn, 2000:
p.xiii). However, Fox also notes that some of the most important elements of a treatment sentence (the
form, substance and length of treatment) are not determined by the court but are decided by the
therapist. Thus, the issue of proportionality and choice in relation to treatment sentencing is not simply
a question of what goes on in court, but also of what goes on between the offender/patient and the
therapist.
VII. SOURCES OF FURTHER INFORMATION OR RESOURCES TO

SUPPORT COURT-BASED PROGRAMS
Centre for Court Innovation: http://www.courtinnovation.org/
National Center for State Courts: http://www.ncsc.org/
Neighbourhood Justice Centre (Victoria): http://www.neighbourhoodjustice.vic.gov.au
Client Services in Local Courts project (New South Wales):

http://www.uow.edu.au/law/crt/clientsservices/index.html
211
Australian Institute of Judicial Administration: http://www.aija.org.au/
Offender Health Research Network: http://www.ohrn.nhs.uk/
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217
VII
PSYCHOPATHY: CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
ERIC GARCÍA-LÓPEZ27, DAVID GONZÁLEZ-TRIJUEQUE28
MÉXICO, SPAIN
I.INTRODUCTION - II.APPROACHING THE CONCEPT OF PSYCHOPATHY - III. CLINICAL CHARACTERISTIC

OF PSYCHOPATHY - IV.FORENSIC AND LEGAL REPERCUSSIONS. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS - V.REFERENCES
I. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this chapter is to do a brief historical review of the concept of psychopathy, since
its first descriptions and up to today’s newest technical considerations. Aspects considered include: the
theoretical delimitation of the concept, the clinical characteristics of psychopaths and the forensic
implications in Mexican courts of justice.
In previous works, (García, 2007; García, Robles & González-Trijueque, 2010; López-Quintana
& García, 2010) it has been pointed out the importance that the concept of psychopathy should have in
the legal field, especially these days when reforms in the Law system include novel concepts and
operative procedures in areas such as restorative justice, penal mediation, youth justice, women-
associated violence, etc. It has been warned that psychopaths may very well manipulate rational
27
Autonomous University of Oaxaca (México)
28
Court of Justice, Madrid (Spain)
218
concepts, legal terms, and even psychotherapeutic tools to take personal advantage out of those
otherwise solid moves towards social welfare. Such psychopathic manipulation turns into missed shots
the objectives targeted by the legal reforms.
This chapter lays out a brief but substantial historical review of the term psychopathy and
highlights the importance of bringing it into the legal field. Likewise, it is stated as necessary the
inclusion of Forensic Psychology into the corpus all of those institutions dealing with justice: general
prosecution departments and justice courts, specific prosecuting offices oriented towards the young and
towards women victims of violence, centers of attention to crime victims, centers of mediation and
restorative justice, among others).
II. APPROACHING THE CONCEPT OF PSYCHOPATHY
Although the characteristics of psychopathy are known since ancient times (López-Magro &
Robles, 2005), it is until the 18th Century that the first clinical descriptions can be found.
Arnold (1782) discriminated ideal insanity from notional insanity by stating that the former is a
kind of insanity in which perception is disturbed whereas the latter is a result of failures or mistakes in
the established associations. This idea was taken further by Rush (1786) who used the concept of innate
moral depravation to describe a mind disorder in which moral faculties are disturbed while reason and
other intellectual capacities remain unaffected.
Later on, Pinel (1809) observed and documented patients who suffered of what he called mania
with no delirium, a situation in which subjects show intellectual normality but some of whose conducts
were in conflict with social, moral or legal standards. Based on this concept, Pritchard (1895) came up
with the term moral insanity that described a psychopathological disorder characterized by a perversion
of the feelings, affections and the ability to act without the presence of illusions, hallucinations or
perturbations of thinking. He also identified that biological heredity was involved.
Another important concept was that of psychopathic inferiority (Koch, 1891; cit. López-Magro &
Robles, 2005) which highlighted the biological foundation of this kind of disorder that affected all of
those who were “tearful sentimentalists or impressible souls”; and also the ones who were “imaginative,
disdainful, pusillanimous, morally scrupulous, sensitive and susceptible, obstinate, obnoxious, eccentric,
219
stubborn and close-minded, arrogant, indiscrete, frivolous and snobbish”. Likewise, the concept referred
to those who behaved as “the punishers, the reformers of the state and the world, vagabonds and story-
makers, collectors of all sorts of things, inventors, satisfied and unsatisfied genii”. According to this
idea, the origin of this type of disorders was congenital and could take any of three paths: 1) psychic
fragility; 2) psychopathic disposition, and 3) moral and intellectual abnormality.
Following the work of Koch, Kraepelin (1904) introduced the concept of psychopathic states
which referred to the constitutional disorders shown as morbid personalities. This term was developed
by Kraepelin himself who coined it as psychopathic personalities which regarded certain morbid,
degenerating ways in which personality unfolds. He distinguished different types of psychopaths: the
nervous, the obsessive neurotic, the irritable (with and without hysterical traits) the unstable (with and
without hysterical traits), the ones with feeble will (with and without hysterical traits), the impulsive (an
increase in regular drives), the emotionally epileptic, the pathologically impulsive, the sexually
perverted (homosexuals, sadists, masochists, voyeurists and exhibitionists), the wicked extravagant, the
liars, the hysterical personalities (hysterical temper and degenerative hysteria), the troublesome and the
asocial.
In a separate pursuit, Birbaum (1914) proposed the term sociopathy to emphasize the relevance
that both social learning and the negative early environmental influences have in the origin of the
disorder.
Kretschmer (1921) developed a continuum from the normal constitutional types to the extreme
pathological states among which psychos could be located. Psychopaths are those who, due to their
temper structure, find it hard to adapt to a regular environment, making others suffer or undergo
suffering themselves. Kretschmer considered as the main constitutional types the leptosomatic, the
athletic and the pyknic. He also talked about three more kinds -not as common- which he put together
under the label “dysplastic” (eunuchoidal gigantism, eunuchoidal obesity and eunuchoidal infantilism).
Furthermore, thanks to his clinical observation, he found a strong correlation between the leptosomic,
the athletic and the dysplastic body structures and schizophrenia as well as the same relationship
between the pyknic body structure and maniac-depressive or circular psychosis.
220
Strongly influenced by Kraepelin’s ideas, Schneider (1923) kept the idea that psychopaths show
a personality disorder due to which they suffer or make others suffer. He classified this condition into
several subtypes, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Psychopathic subtypes suggested by Schneider
The hyperthymic. These people are joyful and efficient; they lack
firmness and depth. They are not really trustable, since they are careless and
easy-to-manipulate. They easily get involve in criminal behavior.
The depressive. This kind of person is calm, in a constant depressive

condition. They tend to blame themselves all the time and are doubtful.
The unsure of himself. These people show lack of self-confidence

due to inner shyness (especially in the physical and social spheres).
However, their appearance is that of someone self-confident, even arrogant.
They show remorse and scrupulousness.
The fanatic. They are active and expansive. Depending upon their
goals, they can be classified into: the personal (they fight for their rights,
whether real or unreal); the idealist (they will openly express themselves in
favor of their causes); the silent, the eccentric and the dreamer. They will not
hesitate to carry out actions that will break social or penal order.
The one in need of appreciation. They pretend to be more than what
they really are. They do so to attract others. They are eccentric.
The labile. They show sudden mood changes and a depressive
irritable condition. They engage in impulsive actions which often lead them
to end up running away or drinking alcohol excessively.
The explosive. They are excitable and irritable. They get mad very
easily reacting violently.
221
The mean. They lack certain basic feelings (compassion, shame,

sense of honor, remorse or awareness).
The apathetic. They are manipulable, lacking strength of will.
Two approaches to the concept of psychopathy can be drawn from all this. On one side, there is
the Anglo-Saxon tradition that started off from Pritchard and his conception of moral insanity which lies
in the weakening of the ability to behave according to moral principles. On the other hand, there is the
German tradition that defines this disorder on the bases of personality traits. (López-Magro & Robles,
2005). But before moving any farther into the analysis of these two postures, it is time to introduce a key
question: Is psychopathy a synonymous of antisocial conduct. Although it has been sufficiently proved
that neither every criminal is a psycho nor every psycho is a criminal, research in the last decades
follows a general trend towards defining this disorder on the basis of symptomatic descriptions.
This is the case of Karpman (1961) who described psychopaths as people who are insensitive,
emotionally immature, split and depthless, with simple emotive reactions although capable of simulating
deeper reactions in order to reach their true purposes. He feels no anxiety or fear and this is why neither
remorse or punishment have any effect on his immediate conduct which in turn in determined mainly by
circumstantial drives or needs. His interpersonal relationships are rather superficial. According to this
author, psychopaths could be classified into aggressive-predators and passive-parasites.
Another controversial issue is that for some authors psychopathy is a categorial concept (Hare,
2003; McCord, 1983) whereas in the opinion of others, it is dimensional (Blackburn, 1988; Wilson y
Herrnstein, 1985). Both positions have originated many studies. Those of Harris’s, Rice’s y Quinsey’s
(1994), are of noticeable importance. They demonstrated that psychopathy, as it is measured by the
Psychopathy Check List-R (PCL-R), is a discrete entity. This means that a high score in that scale could
be interpreted as a good chance for psychopathy rather than a larger predominance of the disorder.
Difficulties like these have made different authors question the precision of the concept and its use with
scientific ends. (López-Magro & Robles, 2005).
Diagnostic categories related to the psychopathic disorder have changed both in terms of the
word used to describe it and the diagnostic criteria applied in defining it. (López-Magro & Robles,
222
2005). So, for instance, DSM29-I used “disorder of the sociopathic personality, antisocial reaction” to
refer to chronically antisocial individuals who are always getting in trouble, do not seem to benefit from
past experience or punishment and can not keep truly honest loyalties with any person, group or rule. In
the DSM-II the words “Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)” appeared for the first time. Then, some
personality traits which appear in most clinical descriptions were emphasized: selfishness,
irresponsibility, insensitivity, absence of both sense of guilt and ability to learn from experience
In DSM-III it was stated that the manifestations of the APD are identifiable since adolescence or
even before and last all throughout adulthood turning into “a record of chronic and continuous antisocial
conduct which violates people’s rights”. Four criteria are enough to diagnosis ADP: 1) Age above 18; 2)
Evidence of troublesome conduct before the age of 15; 3) The antisocial conduct pattern persists into
adulthood, and 4) Antisocial behavior has neither schizophrenia nor maniac episodes as its origin.
In DSM-IV the term APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) remained and not many changes
were made. The importance of a violent background during adolescence or infancy persisted: a record of
aggressions to other people or animals, destruction of propriety, fraud or stealing and serious breaking of
the rules.
For the WHO, psychopathy is included in the ICD-10 with the category of dissocial personality
disorder, following the German tradition which defines a disorder on the basis of only personality traits
leaving out the essential symptoms of behavior disorders during development considered in the DSM
(López-Magro & Robles, 2005).
Finally, it should be said that according to Blackburn (1992, 1993) the concept of psychopathy is
used in three different ways mainly: 1) “Psychopathic personality”, understood as a personal deviation
or deterioration (here is the influence of the German tradition); 2) “Psychopathic personality”,
understood as a social deviation or deterioration (here is the influence of the Anglo-Saxon tradition),
and 3) “Psychopathic personality”, understood as a hybrid of the former conceptions.
29
DSM and ICD are the international code that clinical psychologists use in our diagnosis. DSM means Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and it is an instrument that currently is found in its IV-R version IV-R (V version is in
process right away). On the other hand, “ICD” means International Statistical Classification of Illnesses and other Health
Problems. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, whose current version is the
tenth. It offers classifications for the mental and behavioral disorders. Then both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10 are our referential
codes to establish a common source or world communication in the diagnosis of mental disorders.
223
III. CLINICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF PSYCHOPATHY
Cleckley (1976) discriminated psychos from criminals on the basis of the motivation of their
behavior, the consideration of their consequences and the loyalty to the members of the group, being the
lack of emotional attachment the main feature of psychopaths. In his opinion, the criteria for diagnosing
psychopathy are: 1) noticeable intelligence and charming appearance; 2) lack of hallucinations or other
signs of irrational thinking; 3) absence of nervousness or psychoneurotic manifestations; 4) instability
and scarce formality, 5) dishonesty; 6) absence of remorse or shame; 7) antisocial conduct inadequately
motivated, 8) poor reasoning and inability to learn from previous experience; 9) pathological
egocentrism and incapacity to love; 10) overall poverty in the most important personal relationships; 11)
specific loss of intuition, 12) overall insensitivity in interpersonal relationships; 13) not very
recommendable fantastic behavior in presence or not of alcohol; 14) suicide warnings that are hardly
ever accomplished; 15) superficial and poorly integrated sexual life, and 16) failing to follow a life
plan.
According to Andrews and Bonta (1994), the contributions of Cleckley to the concept of
psychopathy can be summarized into: 1) Appearance of normality; 2) Lack of reaction to punishment or
social control, and 3) Needlessness of criminal behavior as a requisite to define psychopathy. In contrast,
Blackburn y Maybury (1985) criticized Cleckley by pointing out that he: 1) Over emphasized the
emotional variables when considering them as a necessary and self-content criterion; 2) Offers a global
concept without distinguishing among the different types of psychopathy, and 3) Breaking away from
the theory of personality when considering variables as discrete categories rather than as continuous
traits.
Strongly influenced by Cleckley, Robert Hare started studying psychopathy in 1980 among some
jailed young men (López-Magro & Robles, 2005). One of his first studies consisted of analyzing the
scores of 143 prisoners according to Cleckley’s criteria. After applying a factorial analysis, he came up
with 5 orthogonal factors: 1) Inability to develop emotional connections towards others, lack of
empathy, insensitivity and indifference to the rights and feelings of others as well as absence of guilt; 2)
Unstable, no long-run planning life style; 3) Incapacity to take any responsibility over his antisocial
conduct; 4) Absence of psychopathology; and 5) Weak and unpredictable conduct self control.
224
Later on, after a new factorial analysis, it all came down to two comprehensive factors: They
make up the current PCL-R30:
a) Factor I. It describes a list of personality traits such as lack of empathy and inability to
develop emotional connections with others. This factor recovers the German tradition discussed above.
It is related to the characteristics suggested by Cleckley and with self-reported measurements of anxiety,
neuroticism and negative emotions (Hare, 1991), narcissism and dominance. Items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16
of PCL-R would be included.
b) Factor II. Behavioral manifestations: Antisocial and chronically unstable life style
(propensity to boredom, low tolerance to frustration, poor control of their conduct, behavioral problems
during childhood, absence of long-run planning, irresponsibility, criminal conduct since an early age).
This factor seems to be related to other self-reported scales which evaluate psychopathy as well as
30
The PCL-R scale is well known in the field of forensic psychopathology. Its criteria are:
1. Loquacity / superficial charm.
2. Egocentrism / Great sensation of self value
3. Need for stimulation / tendency to boredom
4. Pathological lies
5. Cheating / manipulation
6. Absence of remorse and guilt
7. Emotional shallowness
8. Insensitivity / lack of empathy
9. Parasite-like life style
10. Poor behavioral control
11. Sexual promiscuity
12. Problems associated to precocious conducts
13. Absence of realistic long term goals
14. Impulsivity
15. Irresponsibility
16. Incapacity to take responsibility over one’s actions
17. Short-lasting marital relations
18. Young delinquency
19. Loss of parole
20. Criminal versatility
225
diagnose antisocial disorders and keeps some negative correlation with variables such as socioeconomic
status, educational level or intelligence and a positive correlation with variables like impulsivity, search
for sensations and hostility. Items 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 of the PCL-R would be included here.
All of the studies provide evidence of discriminating validity between these two factors, although
they are correlated to one another anyways. This can be explained by using Cleckley’s argument: neither
all of the psychos diagnosed as such by traditional criteria meet the diagnosis of antisocial personality
disorder nor every single person diagnosed as APD can be called a psychopath (López-Magro & Robles,
2005).
In short, it can be stated that the essential characteristic of psychopathy is made up of two
features. In first place, there is this factor that has to do with the emotional, interpersonal area: those
personal attributes that take the most human component away from the subject and thus turn him self-
centered, manipulating, liar and cruel. The second feature regards a psychopath’s life style which is
antisocial and aggressive; where the important thing is to feel tension and excitement, and in which
future does not go beyond immediate impulse, caprice or rapture (Garrido, 2000).
In contrast, the concept of sociopathy refers to people whose antisocial conduct is imputable both
to constitutive and environmental factors which control or obstacle his socialization, even when their
psychosocial structure is normalized (Carrasco & Maza, 2005).
IV. FORENSIC AND LEGAL REPERCUSSIONS. FINAL

CONSIDERATIONS
Criminals who show these personality disorders cannot be taken as normal, ordinary people
neither from a statistical perspective nor from a functional point of view. But their abnormality is
complex and should not be considered as a mere congenital inherited deficit. Instead, the impact of
diverse sociocultural factors that shape a personality in the process of becoming so must be taken into
account (Carrasco & Maza, 2005). Also, there will be people who might have never committed a single
crime and yet possess the psychopathic characteristics mentioned in this chapter. And it is this clinical
concept which is critically important for the legal field, the world of law.
226
So, just to provide an example that gives us some reference, let us study the case of Mexico’s
most recent legislation. Table 2 lists some of the laws which have been recently reformed in Oaxaca
(southwest from Mexico City): One of them has to do with the concept of psychopathy. Here, we will
insist in how important it is that such concept is taken into account not only by the local legislation, but
by that of Mexico, more than anything else, because it has a significant influence. A quick look at the
following paragraphs will make this clear.
Table 2. Main legal reforms which could be related to psychopathic personalities
CONCEPT REFORMED ART REFORMED TEXT DATE

JUDICIAL
REGULATIO
N
No one can be put in prison because of debts that are only
civil. No one can take justice in his own hands or excuse
CONSTITUTIO 11 any kind of violence to make his own rights effective. August 25th, 2002
N OF THE Every single person should be administered justice by the
STATE OF courts which will in turn offer it willingly in the time and
OAXACA conditions that laws state, issuing resolutions in a quick,
complete and impartial way without any interference to
the mediation and alternative justice centers opened
by the authorities. Service both at the general courts and
at the mediation and alternative justice courts mentioned
above will be for free. Therefore any charge for these
legal services is forbidden.
By the term “restorative justice”, it should be
understood any process in which both the victim and the
PENAL 26 accused should participate together in actively solve of all September 9th, 2006
PROCESAL of the themes derived from the crime in the pursuit of
CODE restoration, whether this happens with the assistance of a
mediator or not.
Restoration or a restorative result is an

agreement aimed to meet the individual needs and
responsibilities whether individual or collective of all the
DROGODEPEN-
RESTORATIVE
parts involved and to accomplish the reincorporation of

both the victim and the criminal into the community in
DIENTES
JUSTICE
search for repair, restitution and community service

Ministerios Públicos (Mexico’s public offices
where people demand justice) are led by a
7 FR. V Subprocurador(a) –Chairman or Chairwoman-of
227
Attention to Victims, Restorative Justice and Community

Services.
Among the attributions and duties of the

Chairman of Attention to victims, Restorative Justice and
Community Service are:
I. To watch for the adequate application of the

ORGANIC programs of the restorative justice center.
LAW OF THE 27
“MINISTERIO II. During the legal process, to offer the
PÚBLICO” OF victims and their relatives the legal assistance necessary
OAXACA for them to know of and exert their rights along the legal
process.
May 2nd, 2008
III. To coordinate the attention and protection

offered to the victims, their families and witnesses;
IV. To define, promote and develop crime-

prevention programs;
V. To sign collaborative agreements with

public and private organisms and institutions to improve
the quality of the services provided.
VI. All of the other that this Law and other

applicable regulations state.
The Subministery of Attention to Victims,
Restorative Justice and Community Service will count
28 with the offices and areas necessary for its proper well
functioning. The attributions and duties of these offices
will be indicated in the pertinent legislation.
Local head offices will have the following
attributions:
FRACTION V.- To warranty the protection

33 FR. V and attention of the victims and witnesses in collaboration
with the corresponding Regional Subministry and the
Subministry of Attention to Victims, Restorative Justice
and Community Service.
228
REFORME
D
CONCEPT JUDICIAL ART REFORMED TEXT FECHA
REGULATI
ON
No one can be put in prison because of debts that are only civil.
No one can take justice in his own hands or excuse any kind of
CONSTITUT violence to make his own rights effective. Every single person 25 Agosto 2002
CION OF should be administered justice by the courts which will in turn
THE STATE 1offer it willingly in the time and conditions that laws state,
OF OAXACA 1 issuing resolutions in a quick, complete and impartial way
without any affectation to the mediation and alternative
justice centers opened by the authorities. Service both at the
courts and at the mediation and alternative justice courts above
mentioned will be for free. Therefore any charge for these legal
ITRAJUDICIAL
MEDIATION
services is forbidden.
LAW OF Toda la The whole contents of the Law of Mediation of the State of 13 abril 2004
MEDIATIO Ley Oaxaca
N OF THE
STATE OF
OAXACA
LEY OF Toda la The whole contents of the Law of Women’s Access to a Life 26 de febrero de 2009
WOMEN’S Ley Free from Violence
VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN
ACCESS TO
A LIFE
FREE
FROM
VIOLENCE
Table 2 shows the recent incorporation of concepts such as 1) Restorative Justice; 2) Intrajudicial
Mediation, 3) Justice for the Young; 4) Adversarial Accusing Procedure; and 5) Violence against
Women.
229
All throughout this exposition, a hypothesis sustains: a psychopathic personality could very well
manipulate and take advantage of the principles included in all this new legislation.
Let us think, for instance, in a person with psychopathic characteristics that takes part in a
mediation or restorative justice process, it would not be difficult at all for him to manipulate the
mediator, especially if the latter misses the proper training.
A similar situation might occur in those cases where teenagers could pretend in their own favor
without been detected by the people responsible for making legal decisions. Likewise, the new Law of
Women’s Access to a Life Free from Violence considers pathological violence but leaves out the
potential harm that a psychopath can cause. Also, there are not specialized courses or training for those
who will be in charged of or working for the institutions responsible for implementing these reforms
leaving the latest scientific discoveries of behavioral fields away from those who need them the most.
Forensic psychopathology is also very important in the case of the adversarial accusatory
procedure: the staff working in this area should be updated and specialized. We can not continue
working with archaic, subjective, full-of-intuition criteria when we have so much knowledge coming out
of neuroscience and the scientific study of criminal behavior and when academic and –in-the-field
authorities keep insisting in the value of interdisciplinary work.
We have to admit, however, that the responsibility for these deficiencies can not be exclusively
blamed on those who make decisions inside the department of justice. It is truly urgent that academic
institutions take their share: they should revise, update and reach certification for the programs of study.
They should also widen their academic offer by opening new specializations and encouraging
investigation in several faculties like Law, Psychology, Sociology and Education.
Likewise, it is being suggested the opening of an Institute of Criminology which would engage
in the scientific analysis of these cases from the autonomy of the university centers.
It is urgent, necessary, and critical that research centers within universities and colleges take a
more active role in the promotion of social development which lies upon the development of legislation.
But this goes not only for centers usually oriented to do research in legal issues, but also for those which
focus on studying human behavior. Scientific, systematic research should be encouraged, carried out and
230
its results published so that facts can be proved and arguments sustained letting us move from merely
logical, well-sounding rationalizations into methodologically supported theories and suggestions of what
to do (Garrido y Herrero, 2006; Kovera, Russano y McAuliff, 2002; Garrido y Herrero, 1997; Garrido,
1997; Garrido, 1994). In a nutshell, science should be a fundamental element of legislation.
Forensic Psychology (García, 2010; Cáceres y Rodríguez-Ortega, 2008; Garrido, Masip y

Herrero, 2006; Carson, 2003; Haney, 2002; Esbec, 2000) is a specific discipline whose structure and
foundation can strongly contribute to the scaffolding that new laws require. Legislative reforms in
Oaxaca and in Mexico must include in their elements, knowledge and techniques from this scientific
field. This is exactly why universities and colleges have to provide society with the professionals in the
area by means of the creation of institutes of criminology. These centers will be devoted to find and
produce knowledge and not only teach it. Then, they could develop alternatives aimed to ensure social
progress, a better administration of justice, the strengthening of social welfare and prevalence of peace
and security.
Top round this upl, it must be said that current conditions lead to a situation where both law
makers and law executors know very little about psychopathic personality. It takes not much
imagination or thinking to visualize that failure is a constant potential risk of every otherwise well-
intended act.
To conclude, I want to share some quotes that we all should keep in mind: “The honest practice
of the law is simply impossible without a prior psychological foundation” (Mira i López, 1932); “The
precise knowledge of the brain structure is a cornerstone in building a rational psychology” (Santiago
Ramón y Cajal, Nobel prize winner, 1906) and “To punish a crime without condemning [understanding]
the hidden germ […] might mean its multiplication rather than its destruction” (in the opening speech at
the Real Audiencia de Extremadura en 1791). There are some newer quotes: “There is no such a thing
as a jurist without passion or sensitivity. […] diverse elements should be eventually removed through
reason and process [,] to come to understand the profundities of human personality” (Carrancá y Rivas,
2007).
The so called profundities of human personality include the study of psychopathic conduct. If
human behavior can not be studied with the legal field in a specialized way, legislation limps, this is,
tumbles, contaminates, annoys and, at the end, leaves its goals unfulfilled.
231
V. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Berlín: Walter de Gruyter.
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235
VIII
PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY: A CRIMINAL AND

CRIMINOLOGICAL METHOD OF RESEARCH
DR. C. TERESITA GARCÍA PÉREZ31
CUBA
I. BACKGROUND - II.VALIDATION OF THE INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGIGAL AUTOPSY FORM (MAPI) -

III.PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION (CRIMINAL APPLICATION) - a.How do we carry
out this analysis of every case? Through an assessment of - IV.APPLYING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY METHOD
TO HOMICIDE AND MURDER VICTIMS (CRIMINOLOGICAL APPLICATION) - V.APPLYING CRIMINAL AND
CIVIL LAW - VI.REFERENCES - VII.ANNEX
I. BACKGROUND
The historical origins of psychological autopsy in Cuba date back to 1947, when World War II hero
Lt. John Lester Mee died at the hands of his lover and was submitted to a post-mortem psychiatric study at
the request of his murderess’s defense attorney, who wanted to prove that the deceased was a “subnormal,
dangerous person” in order to justify his client’s homicidal action. To that end, Drs. Díaz Padrón and
Henríquez (1947) analyzed Mee’s personal diary, letters and poems, as well as a medical record kept in a
military hospital where he had once been admitted, and were able to ascertain that the victim suffered from
a personality disorder particularly centered on his sexual life.
31
University of La Habana (Cuba)
236
In the 1950s, the chief medical examiner of the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office asked a team of
professionals from the local Suicide Prevention Center to help in his investigation of equivocal cases where
a cause of deaths was not immediately clear (Curphey, 1961). Given the need to make data collection
uniform, Robert Litman provided the key elements of an investigation process he labeled as "Psychological
autopsy" (Litman, 1963) which has been used ever since to define the medico-legal ethiology of equivocal
deaths in cases where the possibility of suicide has to be ruled out (Litman, 1968).
The psychological autopsy is a procedure for investigating a person’s death by reconstructing what
the person thought, felt, and did before dying (Litman, 1989). Litman’s method involves the biographical
reconstruction of the deceased’s life with particular emphasis on issues such as lifestyle, personality, recent
stress, mental illness and communication of death-oriented ideas, particularly in the person’s last days and
hours. This information is gathered from personal documents, police and medical records, legal proceedings
and open interviews with family, friends, coworkers or schoolmates.
It has been mostly applied in studies related to suicide prevention. In 1979, Terroba and Saltijeral,
from the Departamento de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Sociales del Instituto Mexicano de
Psiquiatría (Terroba y Saltijeral, 1983), proposed a method to study suicide which, albeit deemed reliable,
was described by the authors themselves as lacking in a systematic qualification of criteria and a definition
of symptoms in each scale, as it was a half-structured instrument designed in such a way that it left room for
subjective interpretations.
The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) used
a similar method based on semistructured interviews designed to study physician morality rates from 1982
to 1984.It was a 58-page-long questionnaire covering the individual’s personal and medical (organic)
history, family, education, physical and mental health, interpersonal relations, professional practice and
financial situation, as well as a narrative analysis and evaluation made by the interviewees to provide their
own –and therefore significantly biased– interpretation of the results (Douglas,A & Sargent,JD, 1984).
In turn, child and adolescent psychiatrists adopted a psychological methodology based on a set of
data –medical, mental and school records, and vital events like death, loss, suicide (attempted or
consummated) and the reconstruction of the suicide victim’s behavior in their last year, week and day of
life– to establisha some kind of dynamics usually attended by all family members, who would freely
confess their feelings for and thoughts about the deceased and the way they took their own life (Shneidman,
237
ES , 1976). Apparently, this method proved to be more therapeutic than reliable when it comes to the
objectivity of the information provided.
In order to come up with a tool applicable to both criminal and criminological research we reviewed
every existing form, questionnaire and instrument established to study suicide or equivocal death cases
where suicide or accident were the hypotheses to be considered ( Shneidman, 1976; Blachly. 1973; Ross ,
1973; Spellman, 1989 ; Diller, 1979; Brent, 1988), and they all turned out to be similarly semi-structured
or open enough to allow for bias at the time of interpretation, which seriously limited their use in criminal
investigations.
II. VALIDATION OF THE INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGIGAL AUTOPSY

FORM (MAPI)
Since we are dealing with a fatal consummate fact that cannot be directly approached, we have to
design inferential, indirect methods and get information from the persons closest to the deceased who knew
him/her intimately.
This method of retrospective indirect exploration of the victim’s personality and life through third
persons is called psychological autopsy.
In order to gather the necessary information we designed an initial form that we gave to at least two
members of the suicide victim’s family or other persons who lived with or were close to the victim.
All interviews were made independently and in private after we explained to the subjects the
confidential nature of their information and its purely scientific purposes.
In every case we cross-referenced data forwarded by each source so as to measure the consistency
of their statements in all items, which were evaluated in percentage terms.
Before the interviews we reviewed the victim’s medico-legal record to know the technical degree of
certainty about the ethiology, as well as particular features of the death scene and statements made by any
witness that we could use as a valuable source.
238
Three steps were taken to validate our tool:
First: We studied all 1990 suicide victims who lived in Centro Habana municipality on a permanent
basis (according to their identity cards). We cross-referenced the information given by two different sources
per every case study and analyzed their consistency using Kappa indexes (Fleiss, 1969).
Second: We studied the first 20 suicides registered at Instituto de Medicina de La Habana in 1991,
cross-referenced the information gathered by two different interviewers per every case study and analyzed
their consistency. Data about the victim’s identity were also taken from their medico-legal records.
Third: We studied all suicides registered at Instituto de Medicina Legal in 1991 except the 20 cases
mentioned above. Data about the victim’s identity were also taken from their medico-legal records. There
were 140 cases left after excluding foreigners and out-of-towners. A total of 309 interviews were made with
an average length of two hours, although we spent a much longer time in each case because sometimes we
had to visit a home more than once or re-explore some of our sources.
Our validation process revealed a coincidence of more than 90 % of all items after cross-referencing
the information provided by two different sources per every deceased, with a Kappa index higher than .75;
these coincidence and consistency indexes remained after cross-referencing information provided by two
different surveyors, which eliminates any surveyor-dependent bias and guarantees reliability and
objectivity.
By 1993, MAPI (García Pérez, 2007) (see Annex) was applied to all 50 homicide victims processed
by the Havana City’s Provincial Police Station after excluding those who had no relatives or friends capable
of providing any useful information. This research work marked the beginning of the method as a tool for
criminological investigation.
III. PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

(CRIMINAL APPLICATION)
It is common knowledge among Forensic Science professionals that the popular saying “Dead
people tell tales” is quite true, although classical literature ascribes it to thanatological findings related to
239
lividity, rigor mortis, and the presence or absence of defensive wounds that could belie an initial
conclusion about the cause of death and its circumstances.
With this work, however, we intend to convey the idea that these are not the only reasons why
“dead people tell tales”: there are also “psychological clues” that they leave behind where they lived
which in certain cases could be the key that leads to the cause of death being solved.
By way of example, let us discuss the case of a gentleman who booked a hotel room and threw
himself off from the top floor into the swimming pool area in front of many other guests. At first sight it
looked like suicide, but the psychological autopsy revealed that the man had been erratic lately and,
when we requested information from his family, it turned out that a few years before he had suffered
head injuries leading to loss of consciousness and had thereinafter displayed a conduct reminiscent of
automatism with a complex semiology similar to the one described by several interviewees, including
the hotel’s doctor. These facts, together with statements of the closest witness about visual-tactile
hallucinations –e.g., right before jumping the man had said aloud, “Look how long this braid is!” and
had his hand extended as if holding one– made us conclude that he suffered from an epileptic
crepuscular disorder of post-traumatic etiology.
Upon examining the body, the forensic experts found no sign of a suicide case, nor did the police
find any evidence that a crime had been committed. Therefore, there were neither forensic nor legal
grounds to rule out suicide. Instead, it was clear from the psycho-pathological viewpoint that it had been
an accident, since suicide, conceptually speaking, is the voluntary act of killing onself, and this
individual’s irregular consciousness disorder made it impossible for him to do so.
That an accidental death is mistakingly determined to be suicide can be harmful to the victim’s
survivors both morally –in this case, they are Catholics, whose religion condemns suicide– and
economically, for they lose the right to collect life insurance.
Now, taking into account that it is too risky to form a judgment using retroactive, indirect facts,
we always make a probabilistic analysis –which often leads to no less probabilistic conclusions– but in
cases like the one described above it is fairly safe to reach a sound conclusion.
240
a. How do we carry out this analysis of every case? Through an assessment of

 Lifestyle. Here we assess: What was the individual’s life like? Did he lead a healthy life?
Did he have any parasuicidal trend? Did he cause himself any harm, knowing that what he did would
shorten his life? (for instance, alcoholics and drug addicts)
 Risk factors for suicide, heteroaggressiveness or proneness to accidents. Here we focused
our analysis on universally accepted, locally identified factors. For instance, being part of a violent
subculture is a universally accepted risk factor for heteroaggressive behavior, whereas at local level each
country or region may establish a profile of higher vulnerability such as membership of secret cults,
working in nightclubs, or living in certain areas. That is why we always insisted that any analysis had to
be tailored to each locality, which is important in equivocal death cases as it helps investigators ascertain
that a person who supposedly took their own life showed no risk factors for suicide such as loneliness,
recent loss, etc., but was at risk of heteroaggressive behavior, such as being linked to unlawful economic
activities.
 Personality of the deceased. Here we must also analyze both universally accepted and
locally identified factors. For instance, a victim suicide is said to be less independent, more prone to
depression, and psychologically frail, whereas a homicide victim is more confrontational and
quarrelsome and fonder of belligerence. In face of an equivocal death, these elements play a key role.
For instance, since no one would picture a histrionic woman choosing a suicide method as violent as
hanging, if we find a young, beautiful woman hanged in her bathroom we must study the scene
thoroughly because it’s highly unlikely that she chose that method rather than the usual ingestion of
psychoactive drugs that would not impair her looks even after dying.
Every case is discussed collectively with all specialists involved in the criminal investigation:
forensic doctors, legal experts, police investigators, forensic psychiatrists or psychologists, etc. Ideally,
they should all have attended the scene or otherwise watched the videotape of the initial processing of
the corpse and the crime scene before they can properly discuss any hypothesis.
241
IV. APPLYING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY METHOD TO

HOMICIDE AND MURDER VICTIMS (CRIMINOLOGICAL APPLICATION)
Killing oneself (or someone else) is no doubt the most serious act any human being could commit,
and one that cannot be undone from a victimological viewpoint, as it entails the disappearance of the direct
victim and the end of the “iter victimae".
The renowned Mexican criminologics Rodríguez Manzanera (2005) holds that a typical difficulty to
study homicide is that we cannot count on the victims anymore than we can know their version of the facts,
their feelings, what they did afterward, etc. (18), but we can overcome this obstacle if the victim survives
for some time following the attack or the homicide never goes beyond the attempt.
A murderer’s criminogenesis and criminodynamics, as well as their features, personality and “iter
criminis”, have been extensively studied, but we still need to learn much more about the victim and what
this researcher calls "iter victimae".
According to Hans Von Hentig (1962) in The Criminal and His Victim, "the victim is not only an
inanimate object, but an active element in the dynamics of homicide". Neuman (1989) also holds that a
study of the victim’s criminogenesis cannot be relevant or serious if it fails to consider the role played by
the victims and to what extent they consciously or unconsciously contributed to the crime.
In line with the psychological autopsy method agreed at the International Symposium on
Victimology (Bellagio, Italy, 1975), victimological research ranks high among the first basic fields related
to the victim’s role to try and establish to what extent they caused, encouraged, contributed to or
participated in their own victimization, with an emphasis on the study of their personality and their role in
the facts.
A questionnaire is the method to be used, although in the case of homicide victims information has
to be gathered by interrogating the offender and through interviews with those who have known the victim
personally.
According to Rodríguez Manzanera, it is advisable in this line of research to use every source of
information, including documentary evidence such as records, newspaper reports, etc., and says that this
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model has proved to be highly useful in the legal system, as it provides judges with sufficient information to
pass judgment.
We must point out that the individuals that aroused the police’s suspicions were ruled out as sources
even if they were the victim’s relatives or friends in case they would give false information to avoid being
charged as culprits or accomplices.
In every case we reviewed the medico-legal record, the inquiry reports and the police investigation
file before the screening of the selected sources.
Once we followed the abovementioned procedures, we made a victimological assessment to rate the
homicide victims according to the Avison classification on the basis of criteria such as:
1- Small participation: There is no provocation; the victim slightly participates and sometimes
he/she “was just there". For instance, small children murdered by maniacs.
2- Moderate participation: The victim intervenes directly; sometimes victims and offenders swap
roles, as in homicides resulting from fights. For instance, death caused by family violence.
3- Great participation: The victim participates actively, as in the case of violent subcultures with
patterns of vendetta. For instance, the so-called provocative (or provoking) victim mentioned by
Mendelsohn and Fattah (1967).
As we carried out this work we noticed in the field that, far from opposing to the interviews, most of
the victim’s relatives and closest persons (friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc.) willingly cooperated and
even felt great relief when they could verbalize their views about the facts and the decesased.
It is paramount to have good communication links with the police investigators in order to get
additional information and study other seized documents such as medical histories, letters, diaries, notes,
recordings, videotapes, etc.
Regarding the time passed between the death and the interview, we must say that all psychological
autopsies made within the 30 following days stemmed from the police’s need to know the victim’s mental
state in order to classify the crime or clarify concurring circumstances, since the study of the suicide led us
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to establish one month after the death as the reasonable length of time to let the first reactions of grief ease
off.
We found out that people still have clear memories and provided detailed information even two or
three months after the facts, although from the preventive viewpoint and for purposes of intervening in a
family’s situation of psychological crisis it is advisable that the first visit be paid as soon after their loss as
possible.
We made 325 three-hour-long interviews were made, that is, a total of 975 hours solely devoted to
interviewing people related to the deceased, not counting the time to review documents (four hours for
every case, for a total of 200 hours). If we add the time to study the scene of the facts –not the same in all
cases, since we could not visit every scene– the total time exceeds 1200 hours.
Hereinafter we comment on the results of a study of 50 victims submitted to psychological autopsy

using the suggested methodology. We also make a comparison between victims of known and unknown
offenders and, in the former case –that is, where the facts were established– a comparative analysis of
victims and their victimizers.
We believed this analysis would be interesting if we raised a question to be used as our hypothesis:
are there significant differences between these individuals that might turn some of them into victims of
crimes the perpetrators and circumstances of which can be more or less easily established while in other
cases this information might remain forever unknown?
We based our comparison between victims and offenders on the hypothesis –by no means our own,
since famous criminologists like Rodríguez Manzanera (1990) have put it forward from their own
experience– that there are more similarities than differences betweea them.
As to age, we noticed that the 26-35 age bracket was highly predominant among victims of known
and unknown offenders alike. There were no gender-specific differences between the two groups, even if
the usual pattern reported (Kellermann & Mercy, 1992; Scott, 1990; Lis & Craig, 1990) is male-
predominant.
Race distribution was equitable in the cases of known author, but not so in the cases of unknown
author, where the europoid group prevailed by 56%.
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As to civil status, most victims of cases already solved were married, whereas singlehood prevailed
among the victims of unsolved cases. Both subgroups showed educational levels consistent with the
national average (9th.grade).
Concerning employment, most victims in the cases solved were workers, followed by retired
persons and the unemployed. These last two groups prevailed among the victims of unsolved cases and,
from a victimological viewpoint, they proved to have more risk factors for victimization –the retired
persons because they are more isolated from society and seen by their victimizers as weaker and therefore
easier to be robbed of their money or property; and the unemployed because once these individuals stop
working they tend to keep company with individuals who live on the fringes of the law, which outstands as
a victimogenous factor.
Regarding religion, 42.85% and 33.33% of the victims of solved and unsolved cases, respectively,
practiced a religion, mostly Santeria (Yoruba religions). This is a seldom studied element that might prove
important: are the Afro-Cuban syncretic religions victimogenous factors?
High numbers of victims in both groups had an addiction, mainly to alcohol (80% and 60%,
respectively). Both groups preferred rum with a high alcohol content, as befits problem drinkers. Therefore,
alcoholism is directly proportional to overproof beverages (Caballero, 2008).
We noticed a prevalence of weekly or daily alcohol ingestion, which meets one of Marconi’s
amount and frequency criteria (González Menéndez, 1986). However, another one of the said (amount-
related) criteria established by Marconi to diagnose alcoholism became apparent: the (frequency-based)
criterion that those who drink more than a quarter of a liter of overproof alcohol, a liter of wine or two liters
of beer on a regular basis (González Menéndez, 1986) meet this requirement –in our study, 51.42% and
46.66% of the victims of solved and unsolved cases, respectively.
CAGE and CID (scientifically validated questionnaires on alcoholism used in this study) revealed
that 91.42% of alcohol-drinking victims of known authors fit into the problem drinker category (26) as
opposed to only 33.33% of the victims in the other group.
The problem drinkers in the group of cases already solved eventually had more social, especially
microsocial, difficulties (family violence, rejection, loss of friends because of the drinking problem).
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Alcoholism is such an important criminogenous factor that professor Tocaven (1993) singles out
alcohol-induced homicide as a mechanism that criminology holds to be conducive to victimization. In his
work Crónica del Crimen the famous Spanish criminologist Jiménez de Asúa (1950) underscores alcohol’s
delictogenous power. Calabuig (1977), in turn, points at alcoholism as a major criminogenous element and
calls it “crime-friendy”.
Verweck (quoted by Simonin, 1980) says that "alcohol is a purely antisocial, police record-
enriching, crime-provoking agent. The decrease of crime depends essentially from the decrease of
alcoholism".
The retrospective psychiatric examination revealed that difficulties to develop interpersonal

relations prevailed in both groups. Perhaps these individuals could be classified as what Fattah calls “latent
or predisposed victims”, whose natural defects make them prone to become victims.
A nosological appraisal of both subgroups showed a predominance of alcohol abuse without

dependence, especially among the victims of known authors.
The areas of conflict were a most distinguishing feature in the subgroups considered. Housing and
economic problems prevailed among the victims of known authors, unlike the victims of unknown authors,
who had mostly personal and family problems. This has a connection with the motive and dynamics of the
crime, since –as explained below– profit motives prevailed in the unsolved cases, many of which ended up
in murder to conceal a robbery, for which the perpetrator had to select a well-off victim. Seven of the
victims of known authors had a criminal record (20%) and 9 had been involved in violent events (3 as
authors and 6 as victims) but were never prosecuted.
Regarding antisocial conduct, we found differences in both groups: the victims of known authors
had more antisocial habits (criminal activity and alcohol consumption with social repercussions), whereas
among the victims of unknown authors we could hardly identify a few cases of antisocial conduct that
mainly involved illicit business (only 4, or 26.66%), which –as we will see below– dovetails with the
possible [profit-making] motives and factors leading to their victimization.
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Housing conditions varied between the two subgroups: the houses of most victims of known authors
were in very bad or poor condition, unlikes those of the other victims. This also fits in with the criminal’s
choice –a good standard of living. However, their personalities differed as well:
The victims of known authors are described as brave (they take risks), capricious and stubborn (they
stay in victimogenous scenes even knowingly and remain deaf to any warning about the danger), self-
assured and optimistic (which makes them downplay the risk even if they’re aware of it), domineering
(which makes them try to overpower the offender) and impulsive (that’s why they undertake hasty actions
that take them into harm’s way). They’re also friendly, active, enthusiastic, reserved and more prone to fall
into Schafer’s category of provocative or precipitating victims.
The victims of unknown authors are capricious (which makes them stay in victimogenous scenes
even after being warned against it; for instance, an old lady who lived alone in a victimogenous area and
refuses to move or have someone with her during the most dangerous time of the day against her family’s
wishes), stubborn and domineering (therefore they take decisions that entail the risk of victimization),
reserved (they fail to admit their problems, so it’s difficult to help and protect them from any danger),
insecure and self-effacing (a major victimogenous factor, as they put themselves in an “isolated victim”
situation without the community’s natural protection).
Among the cases studied were 10 homosexuals (20%), 4 victims of known and 6 of unknown
authors. They also fit into Ezzat Fattah’s category of latent or predisposed victims.
Profit motives and homosexual interests prevailed among the victims of known and unknown
authors, respectively. In the latter group, at least 4 group opened their doors to individuals who seemed to
be seeking benefits from the victim and may have been involved in unsolved crimes).
We looked for possible pre-suicide signs, since the classics have mentioned similarities between the
victims of suicide and homicide in that the provoking victim has an unconscious death wish and a
psychological need to be punished as a result of a guilt complex and thus challenges the offender (Freud,
1948). This hypothesis was not confirmed in our sample, since we only found pre-suicide symptoms in 4
homicide cases, 3 of whom had been victims of unknown authors, and the said signs were not sufficiently
significant to establish a suicide tendency: irritability (possibly a heteroaggressive feature), pessimistic
views of the future, and insomnia.
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As to the scene of the events, most cases in both groups took place at the victim’s home. Proximity
can be said to be the main victimogenous factor in the cases already solved, followed by public spaces –
which is consistent with elements such as provocation, impulsiveness, third parties, and violent
subcultures– whereas in the unsolved ones such factors were the choice of the victim and the study of the
victim’s milieu by the offender.
Although most cases in both groups took place at nighttime, this factor prevailed in the unsolved
cases. It is common knowledge that there are “dangerous hours” of greater victimogenous risk, so to speak.
However, it could be said that the afternoon and the early morning share the second place in the crimes
committed by unknown authors. Obviously, the morning hours are the less risky.
Regarding the means, the use of sharp instruments prevailed in both groups –according to professor
Tocaven, a sign of primitive, violent conduct– followed by a very different method in the cases already
solved: blunt instruments (also a very primitive method) and, in the unsolved cases, strangulation, by hand
or rope, of the less resistant victims, who are usually taken by surprise.
We confirmed the presence of alcohol in blood in 48.57% and 26.66% of the victims of known and
unknown authors, respectively. Again, alcohol outstands as a victimogenous factor.
As to possible motives, we noticed major differences between the subgroups. Most of the cases
solved were crimes of passion, followed by profit-making motivations, wheras the concealment of another
offense –mainly robbery– was the prime motive in the cases of unknown author. Strictly speaking, here we
must point out that these are presumed, apparent motives; perhaps our opinion will change when the
offenders are caught and these crimes are finally solved.
Now we will focus our study on the victim-offender relationship in solved cases of known authors:
The 26-35 age bracket prevailed among both victims and authors. Yet, victims and offenders were
in opposite ends: the former were mostly above 65 and the latter 25.As to gender, most victims and
offenders were male (held to have a greater criminal potential) (Rodríguez Manzanera, 2005), and in the
case of race we observed the same behavior in victims and offenders alike: a very discreet predominance of
the Negroid race group. Furthermore, most offenders were single, whereas most victims were married, and
both groups had an educational level consistent with the national average (9th to 12th grade).
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We did find significant differences in the occupational categories: most victims in the cases solved
were workers, followed by retired persons and the unemployed, whereas the vast majority of the offenders
were unemployed, which accounts for a typical criminological behavior: plenty of free time, long periods of
idleness and better opportunities to engage in antisocial activities.
Regarding religion, 34.28% of the victims and 21.95% of the offenders practiced Yoruba religions
of African extraction. No direct relationship between religion and their crimes could be established.
It is worth mentioning that head injury with loss of consciousness was the prevailing element in the
pathological record of both the victims and the offenders. This could explain the greater tendency toward
violence (Kolata, 1978; Jacobson, 1978; Volavka, 1992; Hurd, 2006), determined by a possibly arrhythmic
organic substratum (Best, 2002), that forensic psychiatrists find with relative frequency when examining
perpetrators of violent crimes.
Even if no previous relevant pathological conditions were found in the family record, histories of
psychiatric disorders abounded among the parents of both victims and offenders, especially in the
offender’s mother, a factor likely to be related to a neglected childhood, which favors the presence of social
risk factors for a criminal conduct. The fact that almost 25% of the offenders were abandoned by their
parents as children reinforces the theory that family breakup can be a major criminogenous factor.
Although in a smaller proportion, we also found cases of abandonment and family breakup among
the victims, a significantly influential and victimogenous factor in their formation (or deformation) as
children which makes them more vulnerable to all kinds of antisocial conducts (Delgado Alvarez, 1994).
Offenders whose fathers were unknown, ex-convicts or in prison were common, as were the cases
of brothers with a criminal record. As a rule, these factors are conducive to the quintessential
criminogenous conduct at an early age, since the absence of healthy behavior patterns to emulate together
with socialization deficiencies (Goreta, 1991) are pivotal to explain a case of criminal conduct.
We found great similarities between victims and offenders regarding toxic habits and the frequency
of consumption (with a certain predominance of daily intake among offenders). Alcohol (mainly rum) was
at the top of the list in both groups. Most members of the two groups were heavy drinkers (over 12 bottles
of beer or half a liter of rum), whereas moderate consumption prevailed among the offenders (7 to 12 beers
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and a quarter to half a liter of rum) and low consumption among the victims (less than 6 beers or a quarter
liter of rum).
However, by applying the CAGE alcoholism test we found an almost identical distribution rate of
problem drinkers (60% of the victims and 60.97% of the offenders). Rodríguez Manzanera’s words about
homicide in Mexico come to mind: “victims and offenders are more similar than different" and "alcoholism
seems to be a determining factor" (Rodríguez Manzanera, 1990).
Psychiatric tests revealed that difficulties to develop interpersonal relations prevailed in both groups.
We linked the offenders’ anxiety and insomnia to the circumstances of our screening (right after their arrest)
and their absence in over 20% of them to their psychopathic structure and inability to empathize or
commiserate with others and have feelings of guilt (Hesnard, 1963).
Similarities between victims and offenders stand out in the nosological appraisal. Alcohol Abuse
Without Dependence prevailed largely in both groups, albeit they differ in the second most frequent habit,
as Drug Abuse Without Dependence prevailed among the victims (mainly legal substances like
psychoactive drugs) and Personality Disorders among the offenders (57.89% had Antisocial Personalities).
Our results after the nosological classification of offenders match those of Yarvis (1990), placing
the abuse of toxic substances and the personality disorders (mainly of the antisocial kind) among the factors
rated by Di Tullio (quoted by Manzanera) as conducive to crime.
The areas of conflict are the same for victims and offenders: housing, income and family (in that
order) for the formers and income, housing and family for the latter. Interesting enough, the fourth place is
taken by quite different conflicts: legal (victims) and personal (offenders). Anyone would think that we
made a mistake and it’s the other way around, but it’s not: the victims tend to have more legal problems,
which brings to mind Ezzat Fattah’s article Is the victim blameless? (Fattah, 1990).
We would like to make it clear before going into criminal records that we had more offenders with
such records than victims, because in the previous paragraph we mention the term “conflict” in reference to
what makes the individual feel nonconformity, discomfort or guilt, but in our case only two of the offenders
showed visible signs of conflict, as they had legal matters to solve. The victims, however, seemed to be less
willing to accept their participation in a crime. Besides, we must point out that six of them played the role of
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victims in such conflicts and their greater concern was to be victimized again (as they eventually were).
This phenomenon is called "victimhood recidivism".
These 6 individuals had been precisely the victims of violent crimes yet to be prosecuted, and only 4
of the offenders felt what they had done as a conflict. Five of these “recidivist victims" belonged to the so-
called “violent subcultures” and “criminal subcultures" (Ruiz-Funes, 1952), what the famous criminologist
Mariano Ruiz-Funes called "a bad atmosphere is a criminogenous milieu" (Ruiz-Funes, 1952), where they
lead what Don Fernando Ortiz (1976) described as "a rough life of crime and bullying, always carrying a
blade and given to challenges".
A detailed look at the criminal records revealed signs of violent criminal conduct (armed robbery,
breaking an entering, and assault and battery). For the psychological characterization we took into account
features found in at least one third of the group studied, namely:
Victims Offenders
- Brave - Domineering
- Stubborn - Impulsive
- Capricious - Active
- Optimistic - Capricious
- Self-assured - Optimistic
- Domineering - Stubborn
- Impulsive - Cold
- Friendly
- Active
- Enthusiastic
- Reserved
- Jealous
- Independent
- Possessive
- Aggressive
It’s interesting to notice that, with the exception of coldness, victims and offenders share the same
set of personal characteristics, which leads to the conclusion, at least from a psychological viewpoint, that
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their status is interchangeable and they have more similarities than differences. In fact, that’s often the case,
as we will see in the psychodynamic analysis below.
In the cases already solved, the victim-offender relationships were:
Commonly harmonious ....... 11
Commonly difficult ............ 14
Aversive ............................ 5
Nonexistent ...................... 5
What many authors have stated is confirmed here (Wolfgang, 1958; Hammett, 1958; Scott, 1992):
in most homicide cases, the victim-offender relationship is very close, even intimate. In 71.42% of the cases
we studied they were quite close, as most were spouses, friends and “acquaintances" ( Kellermann, 1992).
Marital relations are especially common in the homicide cases (Kellermann, 1992).
The offender felt the following for the victim:
Resentment ………………… 9
Hostility …………………… 8
Ambiguous feelings ……….. 6
Hate ………………………... 3
Scorn ………………………. 3
Love ……………………….. 2
Fear ………………………... 2
Nothing ……………………. 4
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These are the offender’s feelings for the victim, with resentment, hostility and ambiguous feelings at
the top of the list, a fact consistent with the higher frequency of criminogenous motives for crimes of
passion. Over 50 years ago Jiménez de Asúa said (1950): “Homicide is the type of crime most influenced
by human emotions, which give passion such a particularly criminal power that it can become a strong
crime-inducing factor”.
At the time of the events, the victim:
Assaulted the offender verbally ………… 10 ........24.39%
Assaulted the offender physically ………. 7........17.07%
Remained passive .................................... 2........4.87%
Was asleep .............................................. 2........4.87%
Acted under the effects of alcohol ............. 3........7.31%
We can see that at the time of the events 48.57% of the victims provoked their offenders physically
or (especially) verbally, although we keep in mind Marchiori’s assertion about the criminal’s distorted
perception of the victim’s attitude by finding it dangerous (Marchiori, 1980). We believe that by meeting
the methodological principles of our research we managed to minimize bias, since we not only considered
the offender’s declaration but also –and especially– the results of the autopsy and the police investigation in
order to count on well-grounded elements to prove that the dynamics of the criminal act involved
provokation.
The offenders put the blame on:
Themselves ........................4.... 9.75%
The victim ….....................16...39.02%
A friend ............................2.....4.87%
The circumstances...............6....14.63%
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Alcohol ............................10....24.39%
These are the offender’s considerations about the dynamics of their crime: 39.02% and 28.57%
blamed the victim and alcohol, respectively. The latter argued that if they had not been drinking they would
have been able to control themselves instead of reacting to the provocation. This factor (provocation) is the
key element in the crime’s psychodynamics, to the point that the study of homicide-related victimology is
limited to the study of provocation, through which victimology is included in the legal codes (Aniyar de
Castro, 1969).
We should point out that 15 of the 35 cases solved (42.85%) took place in environments that meet
the requirements described by Wolfgang y Ferracuti (1967). In these 15 cases the role of victims and
offenders alike was totally casual and interchangeable. We believe criminodynamics here was determined
by the strong effect of crime-inducing factors (machismo, bravado, vendetta, etc.) and the low presence of
crime-inhibiting ones, since the reality of everyday life leads people to condone rather than fight violence
and even enjoy it at times, and thus favor highly criminogenous situations.
Alcohol played a significant role in the lack of inhibition. Without its consumption, four of the cases
(26.66%) would have never happened. In all four cases both the victim and the offender acted under the
influence of alcohol, as did third parties who encouraged the altercation.
That both victims and offenders had been drinking near the scene of the crime is very frequent
(Roslund, 1979; Lester, 1992) and often criminodynamics’s sole determining factor as a serotoninergic that
reduces urge and increases hypoglycemia, thus paving the way for violence by lowering the reaction
threshold and driving the individual to behave aggressively (Serfaty, 1994; Mata, 1994; Greenberg, 1991).
Besides, the fact that a set of cultural patterns may lead sometimes to a simple gesture or eye contact being
interpreted as a triggering element might explain the extraordinary frequency of brutal reactions to low-risk
factors in cases involving alcohol consumption.
Our categorization of the victims following Avison’s criteria produced the following results:
The 35 víctims of known authors participated as follows:
- Small participation .......... ….. 6 .......... 17.14%

- Moderate participation ……...14 ……… 40%
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- Considerable participation …..15 ……… 42.85%
Although the fact that lack of knowledge about the victimizers in 15 of our cases, we would like to
point out that 9 of them (60%) seem to have been considerably or moderately involved in the crime. Six of
them were homosexuals who accumulated a high number of victimogenous factors (hardened drinkers or
drug users, promiscuous, and residents of at-risk areas).
The way these individuals were killed (mainly by either strangulation or suffocation) points to a
close relationship with the [still unknown] offender, whom they probably admitted in their homes as not
one of them showed signs of forced entry.
Three of the [unsolved] cases met Von Hentig’s criteria about isolated victims: old ladies who lived
alone in at-risk areas and assumed to be in possession of hard currency because their families lived
overseas. In all three cases there were signs of breaking and entering and the victims were caught by
surprise and unable to defend themselves, since there were no signs of struggle.
In two [unsolved] cases we could establish the presence of major psychiatric disorders (paranoid
schizophrenia) and in one case we considered the hypothesis –yet to be confirmed– that the offender killed
the wrong person, judging by the scene of the crime (a dark, very busy area near a bar).
Finally, we would like to remark that most crimes in our study took place on the weekend, a
particularly victimogenous period according to the literature we consulted.
V. APPLYING CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW
We saw above how the MAPI can be used to undertake a criminological investigation. Now we will
focus on proven victims of homicide and try to establish whether they suffered from any psychiatric
disorder at the time of the crime that made them unable to defend themselves.
How important this detail can be is very simple to explain. If we manage to establish that the
victim was deranged or mentally ill or had a temporary psychiatric disorder and was therefore
defenseless at the time of death, the crime is murder or homicide –depending on the national legislation–
even in absence of any other aggravating circumstances, because it is enough that the offender took
advantage of the victim’s condition to commit the crime.
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Unlike the application of these studies to Criminal Science, when we are requested by the
authorities –be they the police or the prosecutors– to describe the deceased’s mental condition at the
time of death before the crime is labeled as homicide, we must never settle for likelihood and establish
with absolute certainty whether or not the victim was deranged, mentally ill, etc.
By way of example, let us see some of the cases assigned to us:
Case No. 1:
A 15-year-old boy is found dead inside a water tank. The autopsy revealed multiple signs of
violence –even in his genitalia– and showed that he was beaten, strangled and raped. Besided, the
toxicologic tests found a high blood alcohol level.
Upon his arrest, the offender, 22, said he and the victim –whom he called a “homosexual”– had
been drinking together in a nightclub and showed sexual interest in him, but when they were having
intercourse he had taken the boy by the neck and “accidentally put too much pressure”.
The homicidal medico-legal etiology was clear in this case. The prosecution called on experts to
establish the boy’s mental condition, as he had been found to have suffered from nervous disorders since
he was a child, a determining factor to establish the kind of crime, considering that if the victim’s mental
age was under 12, the sexual act would be classed as pederasty and the offender charged with statutory
rape and murder.
Indeed, the psychological autopsy made it clear that the victim suffered from a slight-to-
moderate mental illness and his psychological performance was didactically consistent with that of a
child of 7 or 8 years old, which confirmed his defenselessness and rated the crime as murder.
By proving that the victim was defenseless, the psychological autopsy was crucial for the
prosecution to lay a charge of murder and request the death penalty for the accused. Otherwise, the
offender would have been charged with manslaughter and given a much lighter sentence.
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Case No.2:
This technique is useful to find both aggravating and mitigating factors: if we establish that the
victim was prone to precipitate their victimization and thus pushed the victimizer into a state of
psychological disturbance –according to the elements mentioned in the above clause on criminological
application– then the offender’s punishment could be reduced.
On this basis we worked on the case of a victim who had for months harassed his future
victimizer, accusing him of alleged ethical violations. The said victimizer, a man of great social prestige
and sound moral values, became gradually unstable as a result of the victim’s claims, to the point that he
had been unable to sleep for three days before the events.
Our evaluation of the victimizer revealed that he had a cerebral organic substrate which
combined with the victim’s continuous provocations to make him to feel highly vulnerable and attack
the troubling individual without prior warning.
The psychological autopsy of the victim showed he was a hostile, caustic, dictatorial, verbally
abusive, resentful, vindictive, stubborn, opportunistic man; simply put, a typical confrontational,
provoking victim, as we underscored in the psychodynamic reconstruction of the crime. The judges took
our views into account to the extreme of shortening the sentence by half. Had the offender been more
seriously disturbed to the point of reaching a psychotic state comparable to a temporary mental disorder,
he could have been even acquitted.
Case No. 3:
We left for the end a case of criminal and civil implications, although the police’s original
request had prosecutorial purposes:
A 75-year-old man was found dead in bed. The persons who lived with, but were unrelated to,
the victim called the family doctor to certify his death, and told him that the old man was usually
“getting out of breath”. When our colleague arrived, he noticed a bruise on one of the corpse’s
cheekbones and, seized by doubt, decided to call the police.
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During the autopsy, the forensic experts observed there was hemorrhagic infiltration of the
conjunctiva and the diaphragm, a sign of combined suffocation maneuvers. The police investigators
soon found out that, two weeks before the events, the victim had married a woman, almost thirty years
younger, who would be the beneficiary of all of the man’s possessions upon his death. It turned out that
the wife, who at the time was a tenant of another house also owned by the victim and rented by a woman
who lived with him, had given the said woman some money and instructed her to buy the said property
from him.
All this evidence, together with the results of the medico-legal necropsy, led the police to suspect
that a crime had been committed and the individuals who lived with the old man had taken advantage of
his helplessness to first deprive him of his property and then kill him.
Indeed, the psychological autopsy made it possible to establish that since at least two months
before his death and thus a month and a half before his marriage, he had been showing obvious signs of
insanity.
Our conclusions made it clear that the victim was in a state of defenselessness and, therefore, that
it was a case of murder, since he was a mentally ill person unable to comprehend the consequences of
his actions and behave accordingly, which made the documents he had signed two weeks earlier null and
void, as by then he was certainly insane and incompetent to manage his assets and make decisions.
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aniyar de Castro, L. (1969). Victimología. Venezuela: Universidad de Zulia.
Best M et al (2002). Evidence for a dysfuntional prefrontal circuit in patients with an impulsive
agressive disorder. Whashington: National Academy of Science.
Blachly, P. (1979). Which MDS are likely candidates for suicide?. Med World News, 19, 20-22.
Brent, DA et al (1988). The psychological autopsy: methodological consideration for the study of
adolescent suicide. J Am Acad Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 27(3), 362-66.
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Caballero Moreno A (2008).Problemas Relacionados con el Alcohol. Problemas metodológicos

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VII. ANNEX
INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY FORM (IPAF)
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA
1. Name:
2. Address:
3. Date of birth:
4. Place:
5. Until I was 16 years old I lived in:
1. Urban area 2.Suburban area 3.Rural area
6. Sex:
1. Male 2.Female
7. Race group:
1. Predominantly Europoid 2.Predominantly Negroid 3.Predominantly Mongoloid
8. Civil status:
1.Single 2.Married 3.Consensual union

4.Widow(er) 5.Divorced 6.Separated
9. Last studies:
1.Unschooled 2.Unfinished primary school 3.Primary school

4.Junior high school 5.Senior high school 6.University
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10. Occupation:
1. University 2. Technician 3. Skilled worker 4. Unskilled

graduate worker worker
5. Service 6. Administration 7. Manager 8. Self-employed

worker
9. Contract 10. Student 11. Army 12. Military

worker Service
13. Convict 14. Retired 15. Unemployed 16. Homemaker
11. Religious beliefs:
1.Catholic 2.Adventist 3.Baptist

4.Jehovah’s witness 5.Santeria 6.Spiritualist
7.Abakua 8.Palo Monte 9.Others (specify)
12. Personal pathological history:
1. Dystocic childbirth
2. Head injury with loss of conscience
3. Accident without head injury
4. Encephalitis
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5. Diabetes
6. Asthma
7. Hypertension
8. Epilepsy
9. Major mental disorder
10. Minor mental disorder
11. Household / on-the-job / traffic accidents
12. Recent hospitalization
13. Previous pathological cases in the family and socio-familial history:
Mental Suicide Fatal Criminal

Suicide Homicide
disorder attempts accident record
Mother
Father
Brothers/sisters
Children
Others
14. Toxic habits:
1.Smoking 2.Coffee 3.Drugs 4.Drinking
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15. Favorite and/or most frequently consumed drink
1. Beer 2. Wine 3. Alcohol
16. Frequency of consumption
1.Less than once a month 2.Once a month 3.Once a week

4.Two or three times a week 5.Every day 6.Don’t know
17. Amount consumed:
1. Less than 6 bot. or 1/4 liter
2. Between 7 and 12 bot. or between 1/4 and 1/2 liter
3. More than 12 bot. or 1/2 liter
CAGE: ( )
1. Have you ever felt the need to cut down on alcohol consumption? Yes…. No….
2. Are you annoyed when people question your drinking habits? Yes…. No….
3. Do you feel guilty about your alcohol use? Yes…. No….
4. Have you ever used alcohol as an eye opener to recover from a hangover? Yes…. No….
5. Do you feel your alcohol use caused you health, family, job or social problems? Yes…. No….
6. Did you find it difficult to control yourself when you drank? Yes…. No….
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7. Did you feel unwell for lack of alcohol after more than two days without drinking? Yes…. No….
8. Did you become inebriated more than once a month (more than 12 times a year)? Yes…. No….
9. Did you ever wake up and realize you could not remember what you did the day before while you
were drinking? Yes…. No….
10. Do you think that you used to drink too much? Yes…. No….
11. Do you think that you should have had medical help to drink less? Yes…. No….
PSYCHIATRIC EXAMINATION UP TO ONE MONTH BEFORE DYING:
19. Integration aspects:
1. Conscience
1.Normal 2.Reduction 3.Cloudiness 4.Delirium 5.Confusion

6.Coma 7.Seizure 8.Oneiric 9.Crepuscular 10.Other
2. Attention
1. Normal 2. Hyperalert 3. Distractive 4. Hyperconcentration 5.Other
3. Memory
1. Normal 2. Hypomnesia 3. Amnesia

4.Hypermnesia 5.Paramnesia 6.Other
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4. Orientation
1. Normal 2. Time disorientation 3. Disorientation in space

4. Disorientation in person 5. Other
5. Intellectual level
1. Normal
2. Inferior
20. Cognitive aspects:
1. Sensoperception
1.Normal 2.Hyperesthesia 3.Anesthesia 4.Paresthesia

5.Illusions 6.Hallucinations 7.Pseudohallucinations 8.Derealization
9.Depersonalization 10.Other
2. Thought:
Form disorders:
1. Normal 2. Slowed 3. Accelerated
4. Digressive 5. Detailed 6. Persevering
7. Blocked 8. Incoherent 9. Other
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Content disorders:
1.Overrated ideas 2.Fixed ideas 3.Phobic ideas

4.Obsessive ideas 5.Delirious ideas 6.Suicidal ideas
7.Self-reproachful ideas 8.Guilt ideas 9.Depreciative ideas
10.Homicidal ideas 11.Hypocondriac ideas
21. Relationships:
1.With oneself
1. Appraisal of illness 2. Awareness of illness 3.Satisfied with oneself
4. Objective self-analysis 5.Other (Specify)
2. With other people
1. Usually harmonious 2.Usually troublesome 3.Hypercritical
4. Passive 5.Leader 6.Avoids social contact 7.Aggressive
8. Argumentative 9.Sociable
3. With things
1. Organized 2. Disorganized 3.Constructive 4.Destructive 5.Indolent
22. Emotional aspects:
1. Syntonic affectivity 2.Sadness 3.Euphoria 4.Hypertimidness 5.Dysforia
6. Anxiety 7.Ambivalence 8.Discordance 9.Irritability 10.Apathy 11.Lability
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23. Behavioral aspects:
1. Normal volition 2.Hipobulia 3.Abulia 4.Hyperbulia 5.Other
24. Eating habits:
1. Normal 2.Anorexia 3.Bulimia 4.Other
25. Sex:
1. Normal 2.Anaphrodisia 3.Frigidity 4.Impotence 5.Premature ejaculation 6.Other
26. Hygienic aspects:
1. Normal 2.Excessive 3.Insufficient 4.Other
27. Sleep aspects:
1. Normal 2.Initial insomnia 3.Terminal insomnia 4.Mixed insomnia 5.Hypersomnia

6.Parasomnia 7.Sleep-wakefulness scheme disorders
28. Activity:
1. Normal 2.Hypokinesia 3.Negativism 4.Hyperkinesia
5. Compulsion 6.Agitation 7.Impulsive acts 8.Suicide attempt
29. Speech:
1. Normal 2.Soliloquy 3.Tachylalia 4.Bradylalia 5.Verbosity 6.Other
30. Syndrome:
1.Anxious 2.Depressive 3.Maniac 4.Stuporous 5.Psychomotor agitation

6.Hypocondriac 7.Conversive 8.Dissociative 9.Obsessive-compulsive 10.Asthenic
11.Pyscopathic 12.Sexual dysfunction 13.Schizophrenic 14.Delirious
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15.Sexual disorder 16.Alcohol addiction 17.Drug addiction

18.Acute organic cerebral syndrome 19.Psycho-organic 20.Amnestic 21.Oligophrenic
22.Apatho-abulic 23.Demential 24.Other
31. Nosological diagnosis:
1.________________________ 2.________________________ 3.________________________
32. Socioeconomic conflicts:
1. Personal
1. With oneself
2. Biological needs
3. Social needs
2. Family; with
1. Spouse
2. Children
3. Parents
4. Brothers
5. Parents-in-law
6. Brothers and/or sisters-in-law
7. Nephews and/or nieces
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8. Uncles and/or aunts
9. Grandparents
10. Other
3. Housing
4. Financial
33. Professional conflicts:
1. Rejection of general role
2. Rejection of individual role
3. Conflict of status
4. Conflict between role and personality
5. Friction when performing institutional role
1. Upwards
2. Downwards
3. Sideways
34. Legal conflicts:
1. Arrested 2.Awaiting trial 3.Accused 4.Victim 5.Witness 6.Inmate
35. Criminal record:
1. Injuries 2.Homicide 3.Murder 4.Attempted murder 5.Threats
6. Public disorder 7.Quarreling 8.Damages 9.Breaking and entering
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10. Robbery with violence 11.Theft 12.Theft and killing of cattle, horses, etc.
13. Receiving stolen goods 14.Hard currency trafficking 15.Illegal possession of arms
16. Sexual abuse 17.Statutory rape 18.Rape 19.Corruption of minors 20.Drug

trafficking 21.Possession of drugas 22.Crimes against state security 23.Crimes against the
economy 24.Traffic-related offenses 25.Other (specify)
36. Prior involvement in non-tried acts of violence:
1. As the offender 2. As the victim
37. Criminal record as a minor:
1. Treated by CEAOM (Center for the Treatment and Guidance of Young Offenders)
2. Supervision by the police 3.Correction Center for Minors 4.Held in custody
38. Prison time:
1. Less than a year 2. From 1 to 5 years 3.From 6 to 10 years 4.More than 10 years
39. Antisocial conduct:
1. Carrying a gun on a regular basis
2. Carrying a knife on a regular basis
3. Regular use of language typical of asocial individuals
4. Regular consumption of pills for stimulating effects
5. Regular consumption of alcohol
6. Use of drugs such as marihuana
7. Use of hard drugs like cocaine or heroin
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8. Links with delinquents
9. Illicit deals
10. Use of foul language on a regular basis
11. Frequent breach of the peace
12. Ostentatious attitude toward one’s antisocial status
13. Extravagant way of dressing
14. Regular disrespect for society’s ethical and moral values
15. Frequenting asocial or antisocial environments
16. Engaging in illegal games of chance
40. Housing
1. House 2.Apartment 3.Converted room 4.Tenement house 5.Hut
6. Improvised dwelling place 7.Public shelter
41. Location
1. Urban area 2.Suburban area 3.Rural area
42. Characteristics
1. Number of rooms 2.Number of family members or other residents
43. Suitability
1. Good conditions 2.Average conditions 3.Poor conditions
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44. Psychological features of the deceased
1.Ambitious 2.Satisfied 3.Apathetic 4.Ardent 5.Sensible 6.Insensible 7.Stubborn

8.Flexible 9.Aggressive 10.Shy 11.Conventional 12. Liberal 13.Individualistic
14.Clumsy 15.Skillful 16.Appealing 17.Repulsive 18.Guarded 19.Boastful
20.Impulsive 21.Reflective 22.Passive 23.Uncommunicative 24.Expansive 25.Placid
26.Aesthetic 27.Coarse 28.Reserved 29.Open 30.Naive 31.Decisive 32.Hesitant
33.Unsociable 34.Sociable 35.Chaste 36.Cynical 37.Distrustful 38.Practical
39.Absent-minded 40.Disciplined 41.Unruly 42.Cunning 43.Predictable
44.Intense 45.Relaxed 46.Dependent 47.Independent 48.Warm 49.Cold
50.Confident 51.Unsure 52.Tolerant 53.Domineering 54.Conceited 55.Demanding
56.Reliable 57.Quiet 58.Anxious 59.Thorough 60.Theatrical 61.Liar
62.Active 63.Stable 64.Unstable 65.Evasive 66.Creative 67.Suggestible
68.Passionate 69.Reasonable 70.Simplistic 71.Calculating 72.Competitive 73.Idealist
74.Eccentric 75.Optimistic 76.Pessimistic 77.Opportunistic 78.Extremist 79.Sincere
80.Daring 81.Brave 82.Cowardly 83.Imaginative 84.Hostile 85.Whimsical
86.Jealous 87.Oppresive 88.Possessive 89.Vindictive 90.Timid 91.Resentful
45. What were his/her top priorities?
1. Job 2.Family 3.Morals 4.Culture 5.Property 6.Religion

7.Education 8.Politics 9.Sports 10. Recreation 11.Other
46. Treatment received (drugs):
1. Psychoactive 2.Tranquilizers 3.Hypnotics 4.Antidepressants
4. Anti-Parkinson 5.Antipsychotic 6.Lithium 7.Anticonvulsive
8. Central stimulants 9.Other
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47. Signs noticed up to 2 years before:
1. Suicide talk
2. Pessimistic view of the future
3. Reduction of family’s emotional support
4. Physical violence against spouse
5. Dejection
6. Enfado
7. Withdrawn behavior
8. Drastic refusal to eat
9. Lack of interest in sex
10. Hypersomnia
11. Insomnia
12. Scorn on otherwise cherished personal belongings
13. Unusual gifts to friends or relatives
14. Neglect of one’s appearance
15. Abandonement of a medical treatment
16. Tiredness of life
17. Reduction of self-esteem
18. Adoption of drinking habits
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19. Adoption of legal drug-taking
20. Adoption of illegal drug-taking
21. Feelings of guilt
22. Feelings of loneliness
23. Feelings of wrongs yet to be corrected
24. Hopelessness
25. Lack of interest in traditionally pleasurable things
26. Irritability
27. Self-hatred
28. Hatred for everybody else
29. Fantasies of beyond-the-grave encounters with significant people already deceased
30. Hypochondriac concerns about cancer
31. Hypochondriac concerns about heart attacks
32. Feelings of inability, uselessness or incompetence
33. Previous suicide attempts
34. Praise for another suicide victim
35. Impairment of one’s set of values
36. Sliding syndrome
37. Masochistic behavior
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38. Self-mutilation
39. Pretense of being ill
40. Repeated surgery
41. Deliberate accidents (exposure to danger)
42. Antisocial behavior
43. Loss of motivation
44. Visits to the doctor for no apparent reason
45. Visits to the psychiatrist for no apparent reason
46. “Agitation”
47. “Depression”
48. “Desperation”
49. “Absent-mindedness”
50. Farewell letter
51. Premature testament
52. Highly violence-inducing behavior
48. Any recent loss (within the previous year)?
1. Mother 2.Father 3.Brothers (1) (2) (3) 4.Children (1) (2) (3) 5.Spouse
6. Other relatives (specify) 7.Other (specify)
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49. Link with victimizer(s)
1. Spouse 2.Lover 3.Casual love relationship 4.Father 5.Mother
6. Child 7.Brother/sister 8.Brother/sister-in-law 9.Uncle 10.

Cousin 11.Grandparent 12.Grandchild 13.Other relatives
14. Unrelated co-resident 15.Friend 16.Coworker 17.Fellow churchgoer
18. “Buddy” 19.Prison mate 20.Lover’s spouse 21.Spouse’s lover
22. Neighbor 23.Social relation 24.Pen pal 25.Phone pal 26. “Acquaintance”
27. “Hitchhiker” 28.None
50. Scene of the incident
1. Home 2.Offender’s home 3.Another home 4.A hotel 5.Public shelter
6. Workplace 7.Public place 8.The street 9.Leisure center 10.Prison
11. Isolated location 12.Bar 13.Vehicle 14.Other (specify)
51. Time of the incident
1. Morning 2.Afternoon 3.Evening 4.Early morning
52. Were there third parties present?
1. Yes 2. No
53. Substance(s) taken by the victim right before death:
1. Alcohol 2. Psychoactive drugs 3. Other (specify)
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54. Was the victim armed at the moment of death?
1. Sharp instrument or blade 2.Firearm 3.Blunt instrument 4.Other
55. Means used by victimizer:
1. Stab wound 2.Gunshot wound 3.Strangling 4.Suffocation 5.Bludgeoning

6.Fire 7.Beating with a pseudo-weapon 8.Toxic substance 9.Other
56. Possible motive:
1. Antisocial behavior:
1. Bravado 2. Revenge 3.”Honor” 4.Old score
2. Passion:
1. Love 2.Hate 3.Resentment
3. Material gain:
1. House 2.Inheritance 3.Property 4.Position (status) 5.Hired killer
4. Concealment of another crime:
1. Robbery 2.Rape 3.Other (specify)
5. Irrationality:
1. Alienation 2.Temporary insanity
57. Victim-victimizer relationship:
1. Close affinity a) harmonious b) difficult 2.Aversive 3.Neutral 4.None
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58. What did the victimizer feel for the victim?
1. Hatred 2.Love 3.Disdain 4.Fear 5.Ambiguous feelings
6. Resentment 7.Revulsion 8.Hostility 9.Nothing
59. At the time of the incident, the victim:
1. Verbally assaulted the victimizer
2. Physically assaulted the victimizer
3. Remained passive
4. Offered resistance
5. Was under the influence of medicines, drugs or alcohol
a) taken of his/her own free will
b) given by the victimizer in order to facilitate his/her acts.
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IX
CRIMINAL SERIALITY AND VICTIMOLOGY

LUIS ALBERTO DISANTO32
ARGENTINA
I. INTRODUCTION - II. INTEREST IN THE AUTHOR, LACK OF INTEREST IN THE VICTIM - III. DEFINITIONS OF
CRIMINAL SERIALITY - IV.THE ‘LESS-DEAD OR LESS-VICTIM’ VICTIMS - V. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
VICTIM: SYMBOLIC, ACCESSIBLE AND VULNERABLE - VI.IMPORTANCE THE VICTIM HAS TO THE
INVESTIGATION AND FROM THE LEGAL POINT OF VIEW - VII.THE SERIAL OFFENDER. A VICTIM THAT
BECOMES A VICTIMIZER? - VIII.ELIMINATING TORMENT - IX.CONCLUSIONS - X.REFERENCES
“…Perhaps humanity is no more than the destination we hope to arrive at”. (Ulf Christian Eiras
Nordenstahl
I. INTRODUCTION
This text aims at analyzing the existing relations between the criminal seriality phenomena and
several victimology aspects. There is a certain dynamics present both in the subjects and in the situations
and scenarios involved in this drama. Crime –we must say it once again- is an essentially human
phenomenon. Even in crimes that shock us due to their monstrosity and in which human traits are not
easily perceived, the human element is present. It is from this perspective of the human condition and its
32
Buenos Airers University (Argentina)
282
limits, its edges, that I believe this problem must be analyzed. Crime is a complex phenomenon, and
serial crime is a hyper-complex phenomenon.
The term ‘criminal seriality phenomena’ (Disanto, 2011) involves a certain conceptualization
that usually involves repeated offenses by the same perpetrator or perpetrators, to wit: murders, sexual
crimes, arson attacks and peer contagion offenses. Murder is usually found in combination with sexual
offenses; and peer contagion offenses mean certain offenses that -due to a number of reasons- are
suddenly ‘in fashion’ at a certain historical moment and a certain region or geographic segment.
In the last decades, there has been an increasing epistemological, political and institutional
interest in the concepts resulting from victimology, which, so far, have experienced diversity and a
sustained development that are far from lineal. However, practices do not yet match developments and
are well behind them. Apart from the enforcement of laws, regulations and programs that are
irreproachable in nature, placing the “social representations” (Disanto, previously quoted), over the
subject matter becomes a priority.
Social representations, which form a kaleidoscopic set of insights, ideas, experiences,

preconceptions, wishes, anxieties, fears, etc., give origin -both during practices and in the so called “off
the record”- to the actual feelings and thoughts people have on certain topics. These diverse
representations, according to the communities and groups, should be prioritized before approaching any
other matter.
The person known as the victim is usually in the center of the typhoon regarding these matters,
and here is where behind a theoretically technical, scientific or administrative act or omission there is a
moral conviction that always involves a dark side.
Although there are typologies and several levels of victimization within the overall victimology
context, is it possible to think of some kind of specificity in relation to serial crime victims?
283
II. INTEREST IN THE AUTHOR, LACK OF INTEREST IN THE

VICTIM
Very often, and as a slight incitement, I ask the audience I am addressing the following
question: “Could you name three serial offenders you know?” Names and details about the offenders
quickly spring up. Then, I request: “Please name some of their victims.” Except for a few exceptions,
nobody answers: they do not know them, they do not remember them.
Eiras Nordenstahl (2008) says in his text:
“…man’s curiosity almost invariably turns to victimizers, who are even remembered
historically, have been turned into literary characters and have been portrayed by artists, while interest
in their victims dwindles to the point of oblivion. Could this identification with the victimizer, with
his/her representation of courage and lack of inhibitions, be an act of the unconscious? Or maybe it is
the product of an obscure political intentionality”
The quoted text considers no particular element linked to criminal seriality, where victimizers
have been analyzed, interviewed, consumed, even glorified as modern times icons, as people who do not
back down in the pathway of their desire, whatever it takes.
In this sense, the figure of the criminal was taken by Sigmund Freud (1927) in a text on
Dostovieski and his work, where he states:
“There are two basic traits in a criminal: an endless egotism and a strong destructive tendency.
Common to these traits and as a premise to his exteriorizations are the lack of love, the lack of affective
valuation of objects (human beings)…. The criminal considers himself almost as a redeemer who has
taken on the guilt others should have carried.After he has killed, there is no need for us to kill; rather,
we should be grateful because otherwise, we ourselves should have murdered. This is not just indulgent
compassion, it is an identification based on the same murderous urge, actually slightly displaced
narcissism”.
284
The Freudian hypothesis states that the human being is neither meek nor good, but full of
hostility and destruction that culture and civilization try to tame. This results in a constant conflict
whose result, in turn, is the unease of culture, where the first identification usually takes place with the
offender - not the victim.
In serial crime, the stress is usually placed on the study and analysis of the perpetrator. The
damage to the victimological analysis is paradoxical, since crimes are often solved thanks to crime scene
investigations, victimological studies and interviews to surviving victims. This enigmatic motivation
tells us about a crime in which there are usually no prior links between the author and the victim.
Attacking strangers fits the victim’s social features and the event’s circumstances.
The so-called high-risk lifestyle, physical features and usually socio-economic conditions usually
turn a person into a potential victim.To the victimological risk factor, we must add the re-victimization
of the procedures that is encouraged because of the criminal act, particularly in sex crimes.
III. DEFINITIONS OF CRIMINAL SERIALITY
There are several definitions for this phenomenon. I will quote somefor which it may not be
necessary to select one. I suggest reading them as complementary or supplementary definitions. In all of
them, the relevancy is placed on the victims, whether due to their number, common features or even
differences.
The classical and more widespread definition is the one provided by the FBI (Federal Bureau of
Investigation): “a serial killer is a person who has killed at least three victims, at different times and
places, with time intervals between the events.” But in a Symposium (2005), the definition change:
“The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events”.
The difficulty that this definition of statistical nature poses is that it does not consider the cases
where the criminal fails or when the offender is caught after committing his/her first crime – ultimately,
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it does not consider the motivation at stake. However, this was the first classification performed in order
to discriminate the confusing picture of this type of offenses.
Steven Egger (1998), lecturer and researcher at Illinois University, says in this regard: “A serial
murder occurs when one or more individuals (in many cases ,males) commit a second and/or subsequent
murder, and there is generally no prior relation between the victim and the attacker (if there is, such
relation will place the victim in a subjugated role to the killer).Subsequent murders occur at different
times, have no apparent connection with the initial murder and are usually committed in a different
geographical location. Moreover, the crime motive is not profit but the murderer’s wish to exercise
control or dominate the victims, who may have a symbolic value and/or be perceived as lacking all
value. In most cases, the victims are unable to defend themselves or tell others about their situation.
They are, for example, vagabonds, homeless people, prostitutes, immigrant workers, homosexuals,
missing children, women who are out on their own, elderly women, university students and hospital
patients”.
Egger reduces the number of offenses to two, establishes a motive usually considered as the
strongest and highlights that the location of the victims contributes to the complexity of the
phenomenon, since in general they are the victims called “the less dead” (Egger, previously quoted)
given the fact that when they lived,they were the “less-alive” due to the position they filled in terms of
social consideration. This matter will be discussed again in relation to the serial killer victim’s
particularities.
South African psychologist Micki Pistorius (2004) , participated in several investigations of

serial offenses (murders and sex crimes) and became the Head of the South African Police Service. In
one of her texts she makes the following definition:
“A serial killer is defined as one or more persons that kill/s several victims who are usually
strangers, at different times and not necessarily in the same place, with short cold or calm period
between one crime and the next.The motivation is intrinsic, an irresistible compulsion fed by fantasies
that may emerge as torture and/or sexual abuse, mutilation and necrophilia”.
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She explicitly includes the concept of fantasy, which has been widely developed by
psychoanalysis and is an important element in sex and sexualized crimes, particularly when the
surviving victims provide information on the physical, verbal and sexual behavior of their victimizers.
IV. THE ‘LESS-DEAD OR LESS-VICTIM’ VICTIMS
Throughout the apparently short history of criminal seriality, a trend in the choice of the victim
type has been, and is, critical for the great number of victims. This is the victim’s lifestyle, social
condition and risk level. Also, the social status of these people –whether missing or dead- has been
important for the consolidation of criminal serial.
At the origins of modern serial crime (1888), regarding the killings of women in Victorian
London’s Whitechapel neighborhood by Jack the Ripper, the sharp pen of Bernard Shaw depicts a
drama that is still current in a letter to the editor of “The Star” in September 24th 188
“Everything has changed now. The private company has won where Socialism failed. While we –
conventional Social Democrats- wasted our time in education, upheaval and organization, some
independent genius took the mater in his hands and, simply by killing and gutting four women, turned
private press into an incompetent sort of communism. It still remains to be seen how much the East End
circus can profit from these murders.In fact, if the duchess habits allowed them to be dragged as bait to
the back yards of Whitechapel, a single slaughter house anatomy experiment performed on an
aristocratic victim would yield a good half a million and would spare the need to sacrifice four town
women. This is the hard and naked truth of the sad pipe dreams of prim charity, where the poor are first
robbed and then pauperized by compensation, so that the rich can combine the idle luxury of the
protected thief with the unctuous personal satisfaction of the pious philanthropist.”
Hans von Hentig (1960), states that impunity (which we might call series) results from:“…in the
first place, the choice of the victim”. The following example comes from a piece of writing related to
the crimes perpetrated by Dr. Petiot in Paris under Nazi occupation, where the victimizer chose a
particularly victimized population – the Jewish community.
In this regard, von Hentig, (previously quoted) says::

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“They must secretly leave the country, carrying everything they have, jewelry and money. They
are forced to isolation, which facilitates the work of the murderer. The men and women he killed had to
cross the border clandestinely to go to Africa, and later Argentina. …they always have to travel alone.
Luggage will be limited to two suitcases and all clothes labels and initials will disappear from the
suitcase content. Furniture, jewelry and values must be sold, and gold, diamonds and currencies will be
sewed to clothes. A secret code needs to be learned. Before the night departure, they were shot with
preventive tropical vaccines under the pretext of complying with the Argentine Migration Authorities’
regulations.During this night treatment, the victims were killed and, “due to the numerous Nazi spies in
Argentina”, they were conveniently hidden for a long time. The trip was illegal; the police should know
nothing about it. Even though the evasion attempts from the occupied country were sometimes
unsuccessful, these people were not missed at all.”
Steve Egger (previously quoted) has named the victims of serial offenses “the less dead” stating
that that because they are viewed as a devaluated strata of society, they become “less-dead” or “less-of-
a-victim”, since for many they were less-alive before their death.And their demise becomes an
“ecological crime”; due to the lives they led, they “had it coming” or simply, their fate was
“preordained”. Victims become much less important, and the multiple nature of the killer’s act, together
with his ability to elude the police, becomes the focus of attention. His alleged ability to leave no trails is
frequently based on the absence or prior relations with his victims.
Based on the available data on serial murder investigations, the most frequent victims of these
crimes seem to be sex workers. From the murderer’s pint of view, these victims are available in areas
that grant anonymity, ease of choice and the time required to perform the whole crime schedule.
Denis Nilsen murdered around 17men in the house where he lived. He would meet them at gay
clubs and, after becoming intimate with them, he would kill them and dispose of their remains following
a specific necrophilic ritual. He went on for years. In his writings about his murders, he said (Masters
1993):
“I stood there, filled with deep sorrow and absolute sadness, as if someone very dear to me had
just died. I knew I had caused this outcome, but like life itself, this scene looked appropriate; at the same
time, I was astonished that this tragedy could not be prevented in this day and age. Following a ritual,
the body had to be undressed and washed. Each time, I expected and got ready to be arrested.
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Sometimes I wondered if anybody cared about me or whoever easily might be me, lying there. In fact,
many times, I was there”.
In this shocking post-crime remark, the author poses several things: the identification with the
corpse, the splitting of the ego into two coexisting parts, the ritual required to deploy his fantasy and the
surprise at the lack of search for the victim.
V. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIM: SYMBOLIC, ACCESSIBLE

AND VULNERABLE
Very often, and based on some specific case, the serial offender is thought as somebody who
repeats the style and method in all crimes, who always chooses the same type of victim in terms of
gender, aspect, age, condition, etc.
The victims of certain crimes are people who have common physical features and/or similar
habits. But in some other cases, this choice is related to traits that are common in the population in
which the author lives and perpetrates his crimes. Regarding habits, to the victimizer it is important for
them to be related to the accessibility and vulnerability of the victims.
The symbolic choice of a victim is usually explained by the fact that this person has in the
author’s mind some traits that relate to his obsessions, passions, conflicts, ghosts. In some cases, hate is
fed because the subject imagines the existence of a “being” that has an knowledge that is both
unattainable and threatening; in other cases, the symbolic value of the victim represents in certain
circumstances an attack to the reflection of something in the attacker or the attacker’s own history.This
means attacking something of his own provided it is located in the other.
Another example of the difficulty to accurately establish the type of person chosen as a victim is
in a text by Ronald Turco (2001), where he develops the case of a serial child killer who chooses victims
of different gender, which in principle and considering this alleged repetition would make us dismiss the
cases as belonging to a series. In the quoted text, the Kernberg malignant narcissistic syndrome, on the
one hand (narcissistic personality disorder, ego-syntonic aggressive trend, with paranoid and antisocial
traits, with prevailing hatred as a complex effect of aggressive drive) and the FBI typology, on the other:
that of the indiscriminate situational child abuser (who does not have a real sex preference either for
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children or for a specific gender, for whom abuse is a life model, who chooses his victims based on their
vulnerability and opportunity. Someone who is motivated by sex experimentation).
In our country, at least one case with the above-mentioned characteristics is known. It occurred
in the Great Buenos Aires region in the late 19th century and early 20thcentury.
In a classic case of the criminal history of our country, Cayetano Santos Godino, a serial child
killer of the early 20th century, tried to kill two adult, physically disabled patients at the Hospicio de las
Mercedes (currently, the Borda Neuropsychiatric Hospital). This shows that, although child victims
represented some kind of conflict to the author, he was capable of choosing another type of victim,
provided they were both vulnerable and accessible.
In the research carried out by the Institute for Studies of the Public Affairs Ministry in Colombia,
certain considerations confirm the diversity in relation to victim choice (Alvarez, 2005): “There is no
age limit, nor any restraint regarding the sex of the victim. The attackers and the victims of a sexual
attack show a wide range of possibilities and characteristics”.
Therefore, the importance of preserving the case singularity beyond any casuistries and
classifications –such as victim choice diversity- is highlighted, since it must be considered both during
the investigation and in prevention and criminal instances.
VI. IMPORTANCE THE VICTIM HAS TO THE INVESTIGATION AND

FROM THE LEGAL POINT OF VIEW
As one might expect, serial crimes become such when they are related by a certain reading that
is familiarized with the whole investigation process – the crime scenes, what happened to the victims,
whether they are dead or alive, and the possibility of relating information from different jurisdictions.
In this regard, Hickley (2002) poses the need to build factorial typologies, regardless of psycho-
pathological considerations, and stressing the link between the victims and the methodologies used to
perpetrate the crime, in the dynamics or statics of the murderous career.
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He relates:
 Specific victims assaulted with specific methods

 Varied victims assaulted with specific methods
 Specific victims assaulted with varied methods
 Varied victims assaulted with varied methods
In the case of “specific victims assaulted with specific methods”, we can mention the 1888
classic and paradigmatic case of the Whitechapel crime perpetrator called “Jack the Ripper”, whose
identity remains unknown. The victims were women prostitutes, he is supposed to have approached
them as a client, then incapacitated them with some kind of blow and finally strangled and cut their
throats to proceed with the act he was really interested in: mutilation and disembowelment.
The “varied victims assaulted with specific methods” category poses a significant difficulty to
the investigation, since the range of victims logically hinders the possibility to find relations among the
crimes. Some sex child killers –those marked by the FBI as showing situational or indiscriminate
features, where opportunity and experimentation are behavioral vectors- choose children of both
genders. In Argentina, at least two cases with these characteristics have been identified, and are being
researched by the writer and other colleagues.
There is another classical case in Argentina that fits the “specific victims assaulted with varied
methods” typology - Cayetano Santos Godino,a.k.a. “el Petiso Orejudo” (the big-eared shorty). This is
an exceptional case that occurred 100 years ago, since he started his criminal career when he was 8 and
was caught at age 16.He had several failed attempts, but it is agreed that he killed three victims, all of
them children who were younger than him. One of the victims was buried alive, another one had her
dress set on fire, and a third one was strangled with a string that he used to wear as a belt and later had
his temple nailed. During his failed attempts, he tried to drown some children in fountains, to burn
others or to hit them with a contusive object.
Finally, the “varied victims assaulted with varied methods” category is the nightmare of
investigators and consternation of academicians. Perhaps, it is just on the most brutal evidence where
knowledge based on casuistry and classification bites the dust facing the singularity of the case. This
happened with the Spanish Manuel Delgado Villegas, a.k.a. “el Arropiero”. The victims of this subject
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were diverse in age, gender and social status. His murders were also random and indiscriminate
regarding the methods used: fire weapons, bladed weapons, contusive objects, loop or mechanical
strangling, etc. I might well assert that the constant of this series is the word “anything”.
For Hickley, in order to understand serial crime etiology, the analysis of victimological aspects is
critical. There is a general thought that the victim choice depends on the symbolic value the victim has
to the offender. Although this theory is still valuable, it must be verified in every case. The accessibility
and vulnerability of the potential victim is definitely a critical element.
In the case of sex serial offenses, the victim is critical to the investigation (Hazelwood and
Burgess, 2001). A good practice consists of using questionnaires, protocols or guides that help us create
a profile of the possible author/s.It is essential to record as many details as possible, since a minimum
detail may have a significant relevance. Questions are asked about the physical, verbal and sexual
behavior shown by the offender.
Other features of interest: the method used to approach the victim, the type of control exercised,
the attacker’s reaction to the victim’s resistance, whether or not the offender showed sexual
dysfunctions, the type of sequence of sexual acts during the assault, whether or not the offender stole
any items or carried any objects to be used during the perpetration of the crime (Hazelwood and
Burgess, previously quoted)
This sex crime victim insight helps configure not only the author’s physical features but also
provide information on the motivation at stake, such as a perverse fantasy he tries to embody in the
criminal act.
According to the Psychoanalysis Dictionary (Laplanche and Pontalis, 1979), the psychoanalytical
conception of the fantasy is: “Imaginary scripts that may be stated in a single phrase, organized scenes
that may be dramatized in a mainly visual way, where the subject is always present, even if he is just a
viewer. What is represented is a sequence where he participates and where possible role and attribute
permutations are shown in the phrase syntactical changes. The perverse fantasy is located in
consciousness and has the potential of being concretized under the proper circumstances”.
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The importance of considering fantasy in sex crimes must take into account some aspects during
the investigation, such as the use of inanimate objects – dolls, photographs, magazines, films, clothes,
underwear and shoes-, or relations with consensual partners: sex workers and certain stable relations
with girlfriends, partners, spouses, where this fantasy is completely or partly deployed.Other elements to
be considered are self-eroticism indicators, such as asphyxiation, self- flagellation and the use of objects.
According to Egger (previously quoted), the sociologist Ford says that in order to use a
victimology approach, five tasks are required: identifying the victim type, analyzing his/her social
networks, establishing risk-determining personal factors, describing personal factors that influence risk,
and identifying the victim’s routines and reactions in relation to the victimizer.
However, this is incomplete and insufficient if the victim does not have his/her deserved
protagonist role in the criminal institutional system.
Fortete (2006), mentions a text that appeared in the same publication:

“Not knowing the rights and resolutions of a case or the circumstances that are discovered during the
course of an investigation limit the exercise of the victim’s right to have access to the criminal
system….In practice, the victim’s rights or interests are usually subordinated to administrative
considerations or penal purposes, which results in a secondary victimization. It is then necessary to
avoid merely informing the victims about their rights, and to explain in detail the development and
purpose of the criminal process, the importance of the victim’s role in it, the scope of the victim’s rights,
the procedures and mechanisms to exercise them and the possible legal consequences. Moreover, there
must be a good and continuous communication of the proceeding progress and the scope of the different
actions performed”.
From time to time, what is necessary is enough.In some cases, where a subject may be tried and
sentenced for an offense, there are other crimes committed by the same person that cannot be tried and
eventually subjected to a sentence. Sometimes, there is no sufficient consistency in the evidence.In other
cases, as the offender has already been sentenced for one crime, the others are no longer important.
Cold cases, shortfalls of justice. Gaps that, although the law is followed, leave us far from what Bobbio
called “the equality minimums”. At least one scenario where we are all equal is needed, such as justice
and its institutions.
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VII. THE SERIAL OFFENDER. A VICTIM THAT BECOMES A

VICTIMIZER?
Considering that literature has repeatedly stressed the fact that some perpetrators suffered some
kind of abuse in childhood, it is inferred that this child/juvenile victim condition is the origin of the
offender’s transformation into a victimizer.
Jimenez Acosta (2010), says in a text:
“Child abuse and child sex assaults are factors that may trigger a long-term reaction where the
abused child becomes a rapist and killer as a consequence of the severe damage caused by a life of
trauma and frustration”.
Research on this matter projects significant percentages of abuse declared by the perpetrators, but
the samples used are usually small in number. In other cases, there is no evidence of child abuse or sex
assaults.
Henry Lee Lucas is an example of the incidence of family life on the generation of a serial killer.
He grew up in a significantly dysfunctional family, and his life was full of traumatic experiences. His
mother would frequently beat him and abused him emotionally. His father was a disabled drunkard, who
did not represent any authority or reference.It has sometimes been said that his mother made him watch
her work as a prostitute. Lucas had his first sexual experiences associated to bestiality. His education
and other growth factors, such as feeding, were highly deficient. He lost an eye during one of the
beatings by his mother. Finally, he killed his mother and served some time in a juvenile prison.
In Argentina, Carlos Robledo Puch belonged to a middle-class family who lived in the outskirts
of the city of Buenos Aires. His father was a qualified employee in an American automotive company,
and his mother was a homemaker.Carlos played the piano and spoke reasonably good English and some
German due to his mother‘s origin.Although his father was a strict man who did not show affection
easily, it is difficult to find elements that justify -from the family, educational or health aspects- why he
killed ten people during his robberies, most whom were asleep at the moment of the crime.
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What is then the place that this victim condition occupies to make the subject develop into a
victimizer? It always depends on each particular case and its events.For psychoanalysis, trauma is not
only the event occurred, but what the individual does with it. This is what will determine its
consequences. And this doing must be aided by others. The drama is not only the abuse and cruelty, but
what Winnicott used to say: that we are always late to what happens within four walls.
From the motivational point of view, Canadian investigator Candice Skrapec (2000), proposes a
multi-dimensional construction.She states that serial criminals are not different from the rest, but reveal
extreme aspects of normality, where violence plays a role in their lives. Usually, three dominant themes
arise in their motivations: justification, control and power and vitality.
Justification: They feel they are victims punishing those who deserve their punishment. They are
furious victims that have become omnipotent victimizers; they have double standards, for themselves
and for the others - double standards that remind us of the “splitting of the ego” concept.
Control and power: the act of killing or raping grants them a transient power in which fantasy
drive is critical: this is another reality that grants them the experience of power both on the others and on
their own destiny.Facing a ineluctable destiny and the uncertainty of their ordinariness, crime gives them
the chance to make a difference, a place as a criminal, which embodies the words of poet Haine: “it is
safer to be feared than loved”.
Vitality: ecstatic feeling of euphoria or violent rage with orgiastic consequences, after which they
feel a relief or calm condition.
The triad of MacDonald proposes -as a pathognomic sign of future violent acts by a subject- the
presence of three sustained behaviors during childhood: cruelty to animals, secondary enuresis and
arsonist behavior. These behaviors would respond to the trauma, on the one hand, and predict a subject
that uses heteroaggressiveness to solve his own conflicts, on the other. However, this does not occur in
all cases, either.
The aggravation of the criminal behavior in certain subjects that have served time for sexual
offenses has also been suggested. Imprisonment and having been the victims of what is called “jail law”
might be one of the elements involved in going from the victim to the victimizer condition. For
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example, someone has been sentenced for a sex crime and, when released from prison, adds murder to
the sex crime. In other cases, they simply increase the level of aggression to neutralize their
identification and avoid returning to prison. We should consider the role the applied criminal system
plays in the aggravation of certain criminal styles, particularly when the penalty is more a punishment
than anything else, a punishment that is included neither in the text nor in the spirit of the law.
Beyond childhood history or abuse at institutions, there is always a decision made –at different
levels- by the subject. There are people who, although abused and attacked during childhood, do not
develop violent behaviors.
British psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas (1992), developed the “structure of evil” - a

victimization process that consists of eight steps. Although this process may be considered for different
situations, it is the serial offender who develops it completely.
This structure is deployed as follows:
1) Kindness as enticement
2) Creation of a false potential physical space
3) Offering
4) Evil reliance
5) Outrageous betrayal
6) Catastrophic disillusion and radical infantilisation
7) Psychic death
8) Endless pain
The author is not based on empirical data, but on the logics of the deployed repetition where the
offender infantilizes the victim through seduction and dependency to achieve his cruel objective.
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VIII. ELIMINATING TORMENT
“Hug me, Mother of Pain. I’ve never been so far from my body
Hug me for from life I have healed. Hug me, Mother of Pain. I’ve never been so
lonely in this world. Hug me, for dawn has come and there is resignation. And in this quietness that
surrounds my death, I have no auguries of what’s still to come” (Spinetta 1973)
Going back to the question of whether serial crime victims show any specificity, we can affirm
they do. The series shows specific characteristics in relation to the investigation, criminal proceedings
and prevention. There are some institutional experiences in this regard. Some of them are:
The Franco-Belgian ViES (Victimes en série) association seeks to group the victims of serial
criminal acts in an international project in order to:
 Accommodate and advise victims,accompany them in their suffering and allow them to
meet other victims, offering them a mutual and long-lasting assistance.
 Communicate and analyze the available information so that the serial offender’s activity
can be stopped as soon as possible.
 Organize a group intended to propose actions, provide advice and demand updates to the
European laws in order to optimize investigations and the work of criminal justice, and to report failures
in performance.
 Check the performance of the rule of law.
 Exercise civil action before legal jurisdictions in order to represent and defend collective
and/or individual interests pursuant to the French criminal procedure.
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 In general, support the victims of criminal acts with the help of the existing associations
and devices.
Figure 1
This is the ViES logotype, which represents the tree of life with leaves falling that symbolize
victims. Since it was established, this association has been actively supported by Stephane Bourgoin, a
specialist in the criminal seriality phenomenon, who has interviewed over forty criminals in Europe,
Africa and North America.
Another organization is the American Carol Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation,

which was founded in memory of Carole Sund, her teenage daughter Julie and a friend of hers, Silvina
Pelosso. They were murdered by Cary Stayner during a visit to the Yosemite National Park in February
1999. Silvina Pelosso had been born in Córdoba, Argentina,and was visiting her friend in the USA.
The investigation was highly publicized and revealed some dramatic events of the victimizer’s personal
history.
A few years ago, Silvina’s father, José Pelosso, had the courtesy and willingness to agree to
being interviewed by myself and my colleague Javier Chilo. At the end of this unforgettable meeting,
Mr. Pelosso highlighted an important fact: the loneliness of the victim when time goes by and the
victim is no longer necessary for the investigation or the criminal proceeding.
The organization founders are Carole Sund’s parents - Francis and Carole Carrington. The
organization aims at helping institutions locate abducted or missing persons and arrest criminals. It
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provides resources to the families that are undergoing this dramatic situation and lack the economic
resources to act, and they offer rewards for pertinent information on the crimes.
Their acceptance criteria are:
 Victims must not be involved in illegal activities

 Rewards are offered during a period of six months
 The task forces involved in the cases must justify and give their approval to the reward
 The victim’s families, together with justice and the foundation representatives, must
announce the reward offer in the media.
The Kare Project is located in Canada and depends on the Edmont Police Department and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police. For illustrative purposes, we can say that the Province of Edmont is
similar in size to half the Argentinean territory. The two main objectives of the Kare Project are high
risk missing people and unsolved murders.For years, several victims –most of them sex workers- were
found in rural areas and the outskirts of the city of Edmonton. The number of missing persons is
currently fifty. The investigation of high-risk missing persons involves identifying, collecting data,
assessing and analyzing all these cases and their possible relation to unsolved murders. As a
consequence, it also involves assessing whether or not these crimes belong to a series.
The investigations have different objectives:
1) Prepare and implement strategies to minimize the risk of high-risk persons becoming
murder victims.
2) Develop investigations at all levels, in order to arrest the perpetrators of these crimes.
3) Prepare and establish investigative units throughout the territory with people who are
trained to deal with cases of high-risk missing people, and solve historical crimes or cold cases, as well
as serial crimes.
4) Create a guide of good practices to be used in other similar projects at the national level.
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Also, they are developing the Proactive Initiative Program, in which highly qualified
investigators work in the areas where sex workers are usually found, collecting data on them and
offering them the possibility to participate actively in ongoing investigations, and connecting them to the
healthcare system for their benefit.
In short, regardless of their diversity, these endeavors are examples of the “wish to do” in
relation to trauma, pain and loss. Not just suffer, but use them to move forward.
IX. CONCLUSIONS
Regarding those people who have suffered different types of victimization, I believe it is
important to avoid reinforcing with our practices and speeches the consistency of this pseudo name
given to the social reference called victim, since, although it grants a temporary place, like any other
pseudo name, it may alienate and fail to assist the real sufferers from the subject.
Whatever our speech is and whatever practice we exercise, we must take into account the
objection points posed by Fernando Ulloa (2006), a Master in Psychoanalysis who devoted to the study
of human rights, “social numerosities” and institutional work together with the group field. His last
work, perhaps incomplete, spoke about cruelty.
In a personal communication with the athor of this article, he explained what he called objection
points in relation to the so-called victims:
1- Objection point as shelter and protection: relatively easy clinical point that allows an
efficient performance, involving the willingness to listen. Level of the phenomenon description that
allows the establishment of alternatives and variables of the “tragic cul-de-sac” defined as a situation
consisting of two asymmetrical places without the possibility to have a third appeal.
2- Objection point as intervention: involves the reading of signs and signals, the deployment
of time, space and function variables. It is a point of virtual or real, institutional, familiar or singular
links. If they do not work correctly, excess or overlapping of roles occurs. If they work properly, they
allow the reading and location of the situation.
3- Objection point as the remediation itself. Point of anchorage for the subject, allows the
deployment and elaboration of the traumatic experienc
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X. BiBLIOGRAPHY
Alvarez, Miguel et al. (2005): “Cazadores de vida. El asalto sexual: agresores e

instituciones”(Life Hunters. The Sexual Assault: Attackers and Institutions), 2da. edición. Procuraduría
General de la Nación, Instituto de Estudios del Ministerio Público, Fiscalía General de la Nación,
Cuerpo Técnico de investigaciones, Colombia.
Bollas, Ch. (1992): “La estructura de la maldad” (The estructure of evil). Unpublished
conference at APdeBA (Psychoanalitic Association of Buenos Aires).
Disanto, L. Alberto (2011): “Metodologías y enfoques del campo “psi” aplicados a los
fenómenos de serialidad criminal” (Methodologies and approaches of the psi field applied to the
phenomena of Seriality criminal). En Manual de Evidencia Científica II. Cuestiones Psicojurídicas, (
In Manual of Scientific Evidence: psicojuridic- issues. Committee of Scientific evidence). Poder Judicial
de Río Negro, Sello Editorial Patagónico, pp. 21-75.
Eiras Nordenstahl, Ulf Christian (2008): “¿Dónde está la víctima? Apuntes sobre victimologìa”
( Where is the Victim? Notes on Victimology). Chap. II, p. 23. Editorial Historica Emilio J. Perrot,
Buenos Aires.
Egger, Steve (1998): “The killers among us. An examination of serial murder and his
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TREATMENT OF DRUG-ABUSING INMATES

SERGE BROCHU33
CANADA
I.DRUG ABUSERS IN PRISON SETTINGS - a.Prevalence of drug abusers among inmates - b. Drug use during
incarceration - II. REASONS EXPLAINING THE HIGH PREVALENCE RATES OF ADDICTS AMONG INMATES -
a.Drug Laws - b.Violent crime committed during periods of intoxication - c.Crime committed in the aim of obtaining drugs -
III.IMPACT OF DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENTS OFFERED IN PENITENTIARY SETTINGS - a. The impact of
specific types of treatment - b.Therapeutic elements related to the impact of drug addiction treatments in a penitentiary setting
- i.Motivation of drug-abusing offenders to engage in drug addiction treatment during their incarceration -
ii.Therapist/offender alliance in a penitentiary setting - IV.CONCLUSION - V.REFERENCES
The prison world is heavily affected by drug and addiction problems. According to the European
Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (2001), this situation is one of the principal problems
currently facing correctional systems. The current European Union Action Plan on Drugs 2009-2012
defines access to health care for drug users in prison as an important objective for the coming years (Part
II: Demand Reduction, objective 9: “Provide access to health care for drug users in prison to prevent and
reduce health-related harms associated with drug abuse”).
However, the public often appears hesitant to invest the necessary sums of money to provide
adequate treatment programmes equivalent to those available in the community. Is this due to a question
of morals, lack of funds, or concerns about the impact of such programs? In many cases, it is a
33
Professor, School of Criminology, Université de Montréal
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combination of all three. This chapter will attempt to take stock of current knowledge in the field of the
treatment of drug-abusing inmates. First, we will provide a portrait of persons exhibiting problems of
drug abuse in prisons. Then, we will attempt to understand the reasons behind the high prevalence rates
for drug users and addicts in prison settings. The third section of this chapter will be devoted to an
assessment of the impact of treatments provided in prison contexts. We will attempt to identify a certain
number of ingredients linked to the success of such interventions, focusing more specifically on
motivation and the therapeutic alliance.
I. DRUG ABUSERS IN PRISON SETTINGS

a. Prevalence of drug abusers among inmates
Drug use is far more prevalent among prison populations than in the general population.
Available data gathered by the European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (2009) from
several studies carried out from 2002 to 2007 show that between a third and one half of those surveyed
reported regular use of illicit substances prior to incarceration. Between a fifth and a third of those
surveyed reported having injected drugs in the past. Cannabis constituted the illicit drug most frequently
reported (up to 78%), but cocaine/crack (up to 53%) and heroin (up to 49%) were also very present.
While it is risky to compare prevalence rates in one country to those in another as methods and
definitions vary enormously, the European situation can be said to be very similar to that found in North
America where illicit drug use among inmates is at least as significant (Pelissier & Gaes, 2001; Mumola
& Karberg, 2007; Pernanen, Cousineau, Brochu & Sun, 2002). Mumola and Karberg (2007) observe
that nearly half of the inmates of American prisons (53%) and penitentiaries (45%) present symptoms of
illicit drug dependence or abuse. Furthermore, between one quarter and one third of American inmates
report having taken drugs at the time of their offence and 1 in 3 property offenders in State prisons
report that drug money was a motive for committing their crime.
A study by Makkai and Payne (2003) also indicates that in Australia most offenders are illicit
drug users and many are polydrug users. Half of all those who report using drugs attribute the majority
of their crimes to their use of psychoactive substances.
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Female offenders consume as much if not more than their masculine colleagues according to
American studies (Henderson, Galen & Deluca, 1998; Kerber & Harris 2001; Mumola & Karberg, 2007;
Pernanen et al., 2002). However, they differ from men in that they present more psychiatric symptoms
and health problems (HIV/AIDS) and more risk behaviours (e.g. needle-sharing, unprotected sexual
relations with injection drug-using partners, multiple sexual partners, sex-drug exchanges, low self-
esteem, nature of preferred substances, modes of consumption and types of offences perpetrated)
(Henderson, Galen & Deluca, 1998; Peters, Strozier, Murrin & Kearns, 1997; Staton, Leukefield &
Webster, 2003).
Brochu, Guyon and Desjardins (1999) compared the characteristics of three groups of men
addicted to psychoactive substances to identify specific characteristics of drug abusers in detention. The
study found that, compared to non-prisoners, drug-abusing offenders were younger, experienced more
problems with the law, attained lower levels of education, had less stable employment records, had
lower income, experienced more social maladjustment, were less integrated into the social world, and
displayed more antisocial behaviours. In short, drug addicts in detention had lower social profiles than
drug abusers treated in addiction services in the community.
Thus, the majority of inmates have histories of significant illicit drug use prior to incarceration.
Does the drug habit end with imprisonment?
b. Drug use during incarceration
Drugs of all sorts enter, circulate and are consumed in prison. Logically, the prison context
constitutes an ideal venue for the drug trade as drug dealers familiar with the illicit drug distribution
network are incarcerated with large numbers of users and addicts (the proportion of addicts to dealers is
certainly higher in detention centres than on the street of large cities).
Some inmates actually initiate their use of certain drugs during their stay in detention. The prison
context is indeed a difficult place to live. Stress, boredom and all forms of victimisation are
commonplace. Inmates try to escape this difficult context, in thought at least. Certain drugs, due to their
anaesthetic or euphoriant effects, provide users with an adaptive response that is highly appealing to an
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individual wishing to “steal some time from the system” (Chayer, 1997; Monceau, Jaeger, Gravier &
Chevry, 1996; Plourde & Brochu, 2002; Plourde, Brochu & Lemire, 2001). Contact with the outside
world thus becomes an opportunity to bring drugs into the prison compound (European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2002). Prison leave and visits, created to help maintain social ties,
are opportune times to bring drugs into the penitentiary. Sometimes, this drug trade takes place with the
complicity of employees of the detention establishment, but in many cases, it occurs without their
knowledge. Naturally, recent technological innovations, such as ion scans, make it easier to intercept
drugs being smuggled into prison compounds, but they have some obvious limitations in countering
inmate ingenuity. When all is said and done, their sole impact is on the price of the drug, which rises to
take into account the difficulty and the challenge of bringing it into the prison compound.
Studies conducted in Europe show that up to 50% of inmates report having used drugs while
incarcerated, and that up to 27% report regular use during incarceration (European Monitoring Center
for Drug and Drug Addiction, 2009). Other North American and European studies also indicate a high
rate of psychoactive substance use during detention (Cope, 2000; Edgar & O’Donnel, 1998; Jean, 1997;
Keene 1997a and 1997b; Kevin, 2003; Monceau, Jaeger, Gravier & Chevry, 1996; Plourde & Brochu,
2002; Rotily, 1998; Seddon, 1996; Stevens, 1997). Inmates nevertheless tend to reduce drug use during
incarceration and to favour cannabis over other more expensive drugs. However, the use of opioids and
injectable drugs in certain European prisons seems relatively popular and worrisome. Indeed, it is
believed that half of injection drug users continue their habit in detention and that three-quarters of these
share their injection paraphernalia. While education programs have been implemented in numerous
detention centres, the centres still continue to be high risk places for injectors (Kevin, 2003).
The highest levels of drug use during incarceration are found in maximum and medium security
establishments (Plourde, 2001). However, illicit drugs appear to be easier to obtain in minimum security
establishments. This apparent paradox may be explained by the ease of contact with the outside world
that inmates in minimum security establishments enjoy, and which provides easy access for drugs into
the penitentiary’s perimeter. Yet this constant contact with the outside world causes inmates to fear
losing this privilege if they are caught taking drugs.
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It is mainly young inmates, inmates with numerous prior incarcerations as well as individuals
with drug use problems prior to detention who use drugs most during their stay in prison (Plourde &
Brochu, 2002).
The use of psychoactive substances during incarceration brings with it its own share of problems.
Thus, the sharing of soiled injection materials constitutes a health risk for users (Kevin, 2003). The
difficulty of smuggling drugs into prison increases their monetary value. The cost of drugs multiplies in
proportion to the difficulty of obtaining them in a prison context34. Some drug users accumulate debts
and are then obliged to face the consequences. Some ask for the protection of correctional officials who
place them in isolation. Others will agree to smuggle drugs into prison on their next prison leave or ask
their visitors to smuggle drugs in to reimburse their debts. A minority fall prey to enforcers (Mc Vie,
2001; Plourde & Brochu, 2002). Finally, addiction problems during incarceration are an excellent predictor
of criminal recidivism (Morentin, Callado, & Meana, 1998).
II. REASONS EXPLAINING THE HIGH PREVALENCE RATES OF

ADDICTS AMONG INMATES
Several reasons explain the high prevalence of drug addicts in detention. These include drug
laws, violence committed during periods of intoxication and offences committed to support drug use. All
these elements may result in the arrest and conviction of the offenders.
a. Drug Laws
One of the possible reasons for the high prevalence of drug users and addicts among inmates
involves drug laws. In many countries, drug possession is punishable by a prison sentence. While these
laws are no longer rigorously applied in most countries, they are somewhat more so in North America.
Thus, although in some American states cannabis possession is only punishable by a fine, 5% of inmates
of federal penitentiaries and 27% of inmates of state prisons are there for possession-related offences
(US Drug Enforcement Administration, 2008). However, the increased prevalence of drug addicts in
detention is primarily due to offences related to drug cultivation, manufacturing or trafficking. Thus, in
34
One gram of cannabis, which costs between $10 and $20 in Montréal, is sold for between $100 and $200 in maximum
security establishments (Plourde & Brochu, 2002). However, prices vary widely from one institution to another and
sometimes based on the user and the network to which the user belongs (Cope, 2000).
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the State of New York, for example, 97% of individuals incarcerated under drug laws were incarcerated
for trafficking or for possession with intent to distribute (US Drug Enforcement Administration, 2008).
In Canada, drug-related offences have risen since 1993, reaching a peak in 2007 at more than
100 000. They are primarily possession offences (68%), distantly followed by trafficking (23%) and
production, importation and exportation (9%). The principal substances involved are cannabis (62%)
and cocaine (23%). It should however be noted that half of all drug-related court cases are stayed,
withdrawn, dismissed or discharged, with offenders receiving no conviction or sentence. Half of adults
convicted of drug trafficking are sentenced to custody (average sentence length of 278 days), while
16 % of adults convicted of drug possession are sentenced to custody (average sentence length: 19 days)
(Dauvergne, 2009).
In Europe, the proportion of prisoners convicted under drug laws ranges between 10% and 30%.
It is estimated that approximately 400 000 European drug users are incarcerated every year, a large
number of whom have drug dependence (European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction,
2009).
Of course, offenders sentenced under drug laws are not the only ones with problems of drug
abuse. In fact, many addicts are convicted for other offences, such as violent crimes committed under
intoxication.
b. Violent crime committed during periods of intoxication
As we saw in the previous section, inmates generally display high prevalence rates of psychoactive
substance use. Such drugs act on regions of the central nervous system thereby modifying the emotions,
cognitions and behaviours of intoxicated individuals. Thus, certain crimes can be attributed at least in part
to the psychoactive properties of various drugs (Brochu, 2005). In a study with regular cocaine users,
Brochu and Parent (2006) clearly show how cocaine use can help neutralize hesitation with regard to
taking part in a crime or violent act while providing the courage necessary to engage in the act. The
following is an excerpt from an interview from their study:
[Translation]
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Well, of course I was more into doing robberies when I was high, I was more ... (brief silence) (I:
When you did robberies, did you do drugs first?) Not all the time. I did some robberies straight. (I: Were
you less into those robberies?) Well, more nervous, not less into it, but more nervous. While, there was
something else, of course, more... Some robberies I did, I didn’t feel like being into it. There were
robberies I had to do, robberies that were more … more I don’t give a shit. Maybe you could say too
that it let me have more money, it let me do more drugs. (Justin)
Some depressants (opioids, volatile substances, tranquillizers, sedatives, hypnotics…) may have
disinhibiting effects. Natural barriers introjected in childhood may dissolve in the drug giving free rein
to certain urges, including the violent tendencies in some of us (Brochu, 2005). Furthermore, during
periods of intoxication, the repertory of habitual responses to a stressor diminishes down to so-called
primary responses, thus favouring violent responses over intellectual rejoinders.
A second category of psychoactive substances is that of stimulants (cocaine, amphetamines, etc.)

of the central nervous system. The initially desired effects of these drugs become detrimental when
reactivity to environmental stimuli provoked by intoxication changes into irritation, gestures of extreme
impatience and irritability (Brochu, 2005). In users who engage in more aggressive forms of drug use
(injection, freebase or crack for cocaine), stimulants may activate paranoid thoughts. When confronted
with such ideas, users may become violent.
Hallucinogens (cannabis, LSD, PCP, magic mushrooms, etc.) form a third category of
psychoactive substances. As their name indicates, such substances produce cognitive and behavioural
distortions and, in the most extreme cases, hallucinations and delirium. Hallucinogens are often
consumed with the aim of achieving quasi-transcendental states. They are rarely associated with crime
or violence, but their use can trigger latent psychopathologies or exacerbate serious mental problems
already present in users, thus contributing to the use of violence (Brochu, 2005).
Not all intoxicated persons display violent behaviour. Drug users’ conduct is a function of the
individuals’ physical and psychological characteristics, previously established ties with those around
them, the attitude of the other social actors present, the permissiveness of the situation or the place in
which the interaction takes place, the availability of weapons, anticipated consequences, etc. Further, the
absence of normative social controls, or the presence of social controls favouring such deviant
behaviours may contribute to the manifestation of aggressive behaviours (Brochu, 2005).
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Finally, some people are constantly under the effect of drugs. A study conducted with Canadian
inmates indicates that the proportion of crimes committed under psychoactive substance intoxication is
between 50% and 59%. However, when offenders are asked whether they would have committed their
crime without the influence of the substance consumed, the intoxication-crime causal attribution reported
by offenders falls to between 33% and 44% for all crimes (Pernanen, Cousineau, Brochu & Fu, 2002).
Thus one must be very careful before attributing a violent act to the intoxication of the offender.
c. Crime committed in the aim of obtaining drugs
Certain drugs, such as opioids and cocaine, can cause significant drug dependence. A dependent
person must use a substance repeatedly over the course of the same day; this is especially true of individuals
who inject cocaine. At such a rate, these substances become extremely onerous and quickly exceed the
budgetary limits of most users. The criminal involvement of certain offenders who are no longer able to
manage their drug use can thus be attributed, at least in part, to the need for money engendered by such
dependence. Here is what a regular cocaine user interviewed during one of our studies had to say about this
(Brochu & Parent, 2006):
[Translation]
If you do drugs, well you need money to do drugs, whether you’re a millionaire or you don’t
have much, it still takes money to be able to do drugs. If you do drugs, at some point, crime will come.
(Michel)
Crime is not usually the first means people consider to satisfy their drug needs. Regular or under-
the-table employment are the sources of income most often used by individuals who are not socially
isolated. For others, various avenues such as cutting back on spending, relying on government support,
and selling off personal objects may prove necessary to support their dependence (Brochu, 2005). In the
following excerpt from Brochu and Parent (2006), the interviewee explains different means he used to meet
the monetary needs engendered by his drug abuse.
[Translation]
To pay for my drugs, I dealt drugs, I traded things I owned, I sold personal belongings I owned. I
worked, so I had some personal belongings. Say I had a piece of gold jewellery. At the end of the
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evening, if I ran out of drugs, I might exchange my jewellery for a gram of coke. But I never stole money
or other stuff. (Maxime)
When a person struggling with drug dependence turns to crime to make ends meet, they
generally limit it to dealing drugs to friends or petty theft. The following two excerpts from Brochu and
Parent (2006) illustrate this:
[Translation]
I started at the bottom of the ladder. I bought more drugs than I needed for myself. The drugs
were free because I bought more to deal. I sold them to my friends and I made maybe $100 in profit and
got my own drugs for free. It worked for me. (Richard)
[Translation]
In my case, crime started when I began doing drugs. When you take drugs, you live with people
who do drugs, and people who do drugs are all into …petty crime. If everyone around you does it, it’s
not a big deal for you … it’s a part of life … that’s how it begins. It’s not as if you were at home with
your family doing good stuff and a guy comes to see you: “Want to come steal a bike with me?” Then
you’d see it as a crime. But when you’re in the drug scene, there’s a shift that draws you into crime.
That’s how it happened in my case. It’s that, you’re with a group of drug users, even if you’re young,
there are always some who are going to do petty crime. Steal this, deal some drugs to meet their needs.
In the drug scene, it’s okay. Sure if a guy comes to see me and says: “Come on, we’re going to go kill
XXX ...” I would answer “Are you crazy?” “Are you out of your mind?” But that’s not how it was. It
started out with little stupid stuff around me. The guy would say to me: “Feel like coming?” “Yeah,
we’ll come. We’ll help you.” But you don’t see it like a crime … It wasn’t seen … It didn’t feel like a
crime … You’re not hurting anyone. And you’re stoned, and you have fun, and … Well, that’s the shift,
the fact that you go ... that taking drugs leads to crime without you thinking it’s a crime. It’s not as if …
You’re at home and someone ... comes to invite you to go commit a crime. When you live in a healthy
environment, you’re going to see right a way that it’s a crime and that it’s illegal and that it’s not right.
Because you have values … but there your values melt away. (Carl)
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Nearly one in five of Canadian inmates who met with Pernanen et al. (2002) stated they had
committed their most serious offences in order to obtain drugs. However, it would appear that
involvement in crime by users of illicit psychoactive substances is a function of: a) the user’s income in
relation to the price of the substance; b) the frequency of the drug use as well as involvement in a drug-
addiction lifestyle; and c) prior delinquent history (Hunt, 1991).
In sum, three main reasons account for the high proportion of drug addicts in detention settings.
These drug addicts require appropriate health care. Is it possible to provide them with such care in a
prison environment? Does such care have a positive impact on their drug addiction and criminal
involvement?
III. IMPACT OF DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENTS OFFERED IN

PENITENTIARY SETTINGS
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (2001), there are
important disparities between services offered inside and outside of prison in the field of substance
abuse treatment. Despite the existence of a variety of international recommendations based on the
principle of equity, meaning that prisoners should have access to the same medical and healthcare
services as they would in their own community, the level of drug treatment provision in prison settings
remain low while the prevalence of drug abuse is high. What are the reasons for these disparities
between specialized treatment services in detention and in the community? Is the problem due to the
difficulty of finding effective treatment for inmates?
“Nothing works!” “Criminal rehabilitation programs have no effect!” How many times have we
heard such comments since the publication of Martinson’s (1974) article denouncing the serious
limitations of rehabilitation programs for offenders? Martinson’s article shook up the clinical and
research communities who then began to mobilize. However, it should be noted that this article was
written at a time when it was enormously difficult for evaluative methodology to properly determine the
impact of implemented programs. In many cases, budgetary priorities prevented these programs from
having a sufficiently long life expectancy to mature and be evaluated and those which did endure were
often “corrupted” by security priorities.
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The most vehement criticisms generally concerned classic intervention strategies taken directly
from the therapeutic repertory for the general population without any fundamental adaptations for the
prison setting. The aim of such rehabilitation programs, for the most part, was to transform the antisocial
personality or modify a flourishing criminal trajectory. Perhaps the objective was too big and the means
too limited.
Following the Martinson ‘nothing works’ statement (Martinson, 1974), many scientists and
therapists perceived that treatment in correctional facilities needed to adapt its practice and be more
evidence-based. More than 30 years after this shocking statement, there is now much evidence proving
that substance abuse treatment in correctional settings is effective and can contribute significantly to
reducing drug abuse relapse and criminal recidivism (Brochu, 2005; Federal Bureau of Prisons, 1998;
Kubiak, Boyd and Slayden, 2005; Wild, Roberts and Cooper, 2002). Offenders who successfully
complete treatment generally present a lower risk of relapse and re-arrest than other comparable
offenders (Luchansky, Nordlund, and Estee, 2006; Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, 2006;
Warner and Kramer, 2009).
Scientific literature on the impact of treatment can be divided into two main currents: one which
attempts to identify the types of treatment that provide the best impact; and another which attempts to
identify effective therapeutic elements irrespective of the type of treatment used. We will analyse the
impact of treatments using each of these two approaches.
a. The impact of specific types of treatment
According to systematic reviews in the field, two types of programs have clearly shown their
effectiveness in correctional settings: Therapeutic Communities and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapies
for drug-abusing offenders (Lipton et al., 2002; McMurran, 2007). Methadone maintenance programs
also appear promising (Pearson and Lipton, 1999; Kinlock et al., 2007; Stallwitz and Stöver, 2007). We
shall begin by briefly analyzing how they work.
Therapeutic communities (TC) represent one of the most intensive and demanding forms of
long-term treatment available to drug addicts (time spent in residential treatment usually ranges from 9
to 12 months). TC could be characterized as self-help treatment in which professionals play only
marginal roles. Participants take responsibility for their own individual recovery process as well as for
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that of one of the other community members. Community pressure to adopt a new drug-free lifestyle
plays a significant role in the rehabilitation process. Old members become models for new members,
acting, in some ways, as therapists, friends and family members. Daily TC activities are very structured
and controlled. A “code of regulations and conducts” delineates proscribed behaviours and
consequences. A system of rewards allows members to obtain certain privileges. Many privileges are
associated with responsibilities assumed by individual members. TC in correctional settings has a long
track record in the United States (De Leon, 1998; Lipton, Falkin and Wexler, 2002; Wexler, 1997).
Several adaptations of the therapeutic communities model for prison establishments have been
developed over the years. Generally speaking, they share a number of elements in common: (1)
community members are relatively isolated from other inmates; (2) activities are structured and
regulated; (3) privileges are earned gradually, but never definitively; (4) members must accept their
personal and communal responsibilities; (5) members must make constant efforts to change their values
and lifestyle and to create an environment that fosters the rehabilitation of all members; (6) members
must integrate into a relatively rigid hierarchical system; (7) “old” members serve as models for recruits;
(8) discipline is omnipresent and any violation is punished; and (9) members benefit from follow-up
care after leaving the community (Brochu, 1995).
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapies (CBT) are treatment methods based on classical and operant
conditioning, social learning and cognitive theories. CBT are based on the principle that learning
processes and cognition play decisive roles in the development of maladapted behaviours. CBT
techniques are drawn from both scientific psychology and clinical practice. Contrary to classical
behavioural therapies in which cognition and interpretation were not really considered, CBT therapists
believe these have an important influence on the person, sometimes more than events themselves.
Furthermore, CBT consider that undesirable behaviours may be replaced with healthier ones and that
cognitive distortion can be modified through adaptive reflection. In sum, CBT work with thoughts and
feelings as well as the consequent reactions (Brown, Dongier and Graves, 2005). They may take the
form of individual therapy, group therapy, couples therapy or family therapy. With regard to drug
dependence, CBT try to understand the learning process as well as the cognition supporting it. Cognitive
distortions are confronted through functional analysis and new behaviours learned through skill training
during therapy sessions (Kinlock et al., 2003; NIDA, 2010; Taxman 1999). Techniques such as positive
self-talk, cognitive restructuring, reframing, matching current behaviours to positive healthy thinking
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patterns, and skills training are examples of tools cognitive-behavioural therapists use during therapy
sessions (Valle and Humphrey, 2002).
Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is the most widely used form of treatment for
opioid dependent individuals (Fischer, Cruz and Rehm 2006; Morgan, Griffiths and Hickman 2006).
MMT represents approximately 90% of all pharmacological treatments for opioid users, with the
exception of in France where buprenorphine maintenance is preferred (Fischer et al., 2002). Methadone
is a long-acting synthetic opioid agonist that has to be taken once a day (Clark and Lintzeris, 2002;
Léonard and Ben Amar, 2002; Mattick and Breen, 2002; Van Den Brink and Haasen, 2006). A
comprehensive approach to MMT generally includes methadone and counselling. A meta-analysis
conducted to determine the best correction-based treatment for drug abuse put MMT in the category of
‘treatments that warrant further attention’ (Pearson and Lipton, 1999). Kinlock et al. (2007) conclude
that MMT may be able to fill an urgent treatment need for prisoners with a history of opioid
dependence. A recent review of prison-based substitution programs (Stallwitz and Stöver, 2007)
concluded that positive MMT effects depend on the provision of a sufficient dosage and treatment
lasting for the duration of imprisonment, conditions that are sometimes difficult to respect in a prison
setting.
Other types of treatment have been found to be promising in terms of reducing relapse and
reoffending, but more research is needed to conclusively determine their long term impact in prison
settings (Arakari et al., 2001; Austin et al., 2000; Guerin, 2002; Taxman and Bouffard, 2000).
To summarize, research has clearly demonstrated that high quality drug abuse treatments can
produce positive impact in terms of the reduction of relapse and criminal recidivism when prisoners
return to their community. However, effective programs are based on vastly different theoretical
underpinnings and techniques from one another. TC emphasizes community pressure and modeling to
modify drug addicts’ lifestyle. CBT focus more on behaviours and inadequate cognitions in order to
modify them through cognitive restructuring and learning new skills. Finally, MMT uses a molecule to
reduce the desire to use illicit opioids. Yet, each of these therapeutic models has repeatedly
demonstrated its effectiveness when applied in a correctional context. Hence, some believe that the
success of these types of treatment is due to common “therapeutic ingredients” found in each of these
approaches.
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b. Therapeutic elements related to the impact of drug addiction treatments in a

penitentiary setting
Some common elements linked to the positive impact of correctional treatments have been
identified. We will first present elements related to the way prison settings operate and then analyze two
therapeutic elements that seem universal, irrespective of the problem targeted or the intervention
context.
According to Ramsay (2003), drug addiction treatments offered in a prison setting need to be: 1)
tailored to individual needs, 2) of sufficient duration and 3) followed up by high-quality aftercare, both
in prison (after any treatment program) and on release. It has been proved that correctional treatment
programs lasting three months or more significantly reduce recidivism and are cost-effective (Simpson
et al., 1999; Valle and Humphrey, 2002). In addition, retention of inmates in their treatment program can
have a significant impact on criminal recidivism. Thus, in their study, Warner and Kramer (2009) found
that inmates who complete a substance abuse intervention program during incarceration have
significantly lower arrest rates at follow-ups 12, 24 and 36 months after their release than inmates who
drop out of the program before the end.
As the prison context is a highly unique setting in which to provide care, it is essential that
substance abuse treatment programs benefit from favourable administrative practices. The most effective
correctional programs: (1) have separate budgetary envelopes from the administration of the host
penitentiary; (2) maintain a certain degree of administrative autonomy; (3) are able to isolate
themselves, to a certain extent, from the functioning of the penitentiary to create a therapeutic
environment; (4) establish a set of rules to be followed, and of consequences for those who break them;
(5) hire professionals who see themselves more as caregivers concerned with participants’ well-being
than as guards responsible for security; (6) rely on staff who act as models for the inmates; (7) teach
participants new skills; (8) provide aftercare for graduates who have completed the program and make
use, if necessary, of community resources (Brochu, 1995; Inciardi et al., 1997; Lipton et al., 1992).
However, two therapeutic elements seem to stand out clearly from other clinical and scientific
considerations: the drug addict’s motivation to engage in a process of change in a prison context and the
possibility of creating a therapeutic alliance in such a context.
317
i. Motivation of drug-abusing offenders to engage in drug addiction treatment during

their incarceration
In the field of drug-dependence treatment, as with many other socio-sanitary issues, the
individual’s motivation is considered to be an element that directly affects the results of intervention
(Grégoire and Burke, 2004; Joe, Simpson and Broome, 1998; Simpson, Joe and Browne, 1997). Is it
plausible that individuals, placed in a prison environment against their will, will be motivated to take
part in a substance abuse treatment program and display the necessary effort to modify their behaviours?
Surprising though it may be, the answer is affirmative; we shall therefore try to understand better what
might motivate an inmate to undertake and become actively involved in substance addiction treatment
while in detention.
Studies by Rosen et al. (2004) and de Hiller et al., (2009) provide us with certain avenues for
understanding this situation, specifying that it is those inmates who are most preoccupied by the
negative effects of their narcotics use on their lives (professional, family, or health problems … or
problems with the law) who display the greatest probability of engaging in drug addiction treatment
offered during incarceration. They add that inmates with the most positive expectations concerning the
benefits of the treatment program show greater motivation to take action regarding their drug use. Thus
two motivation-related elements stand out: the inmate’s preoccupation with an awareness of a problem
and a certain number of positive expectations regarding the potential benefits of the treatment offered.
The conceptualization of motivation has evolved considerably over the last quarter of a century,
stimulated by the work of Miller (1985), Prochaska and DiClemente (1984), and Deci and Ryan (1985).
For Miller (1985), motivation is a dynamic concept. Motivation fluctuates and can be influenced.
This conception is shared by Prochaska and DiClemente (1984) who add that motivation can be
conceptualized in terms of stages rather than traits. Thus, inmates are in the “precontemplation” stage
when they do not recognize that they have a problem or need treatment. At this stage, individuals are not
motivated and the therapist’s role consists in helping clients become aware of their problem. Motivation
appears when clients recognize they are experiencing problems caused by their drug use; this is the
“contemplation” stage and at this point the therapist helps clients consider how they might modify their
behaviour. The degree of motivation increases when the clients themselves are able to conceive of
concrete means of changing their behaviour. They are in the “determination” stage and the therapist’s
318
role then consists of providing them with the necessary tools so they can take concrete action to deal
with their problem. In fact, the ultimate objective of therapy is for clients to undertake concrete action to
modify the way they function. This is the “action” stage. Finally, the process would not be complete if it
did not take into account the possibility of relapse. Individuals must pass through a change consolidation
phase; this is the “maintenance” stage during which individuals integrate what they have achieved into
their regular lifestyle.
In addition, another important dimension of motivation is linked to the inmate’s “readiness”. It

concerns an individual’s willingness to embark on the process of change (DiClemente, Schlundt and
Gemmel, 2004). Studies have evaluated two aspects of this concept: readiness for change and readiness
for treatment. Indeed, inmates can be ready to modify the behaviours that led to their detention without
necessarily wishing to engage in a therapeutic process with a professional hired by the correctional
services.
Finally, one last aspect merits our attention: the source of motivation. We often discuss internal
motivation versus external motivation. In many cases, authors seem to indicate that only internal
motivation constitutes a true intention to change that can serve as a basis for a real therapeutic process.
Deci and Ryan (1985) however present a conception of motivation based on a continuum ranging from
the absence of motivation through levels of external motivation to varying degrees of internal
motivation. Internal motivation is associated with self-determination, which is bolstered by cognitive,
emotional and physical factors such as stress, the desire to become a better person, dissatisfaction with
oneself and recognition of problems. External motivation, on the other hand, is tied to pressure from
one’s social circle or external consequences for the individual, like the loss of family or social support,
problems in the work environment and legal pressure. In both cases (contrary to the amotivated
individual) there is well and truly motivation upon which the therapist can draw. For treatments in a
detention context, external motivation may be helpful in bringing patients to treatment and keeping them
there. However, the therapist should then try to elicit internal motivation with the techniques developed
by Prochaska and Di Clemente (1984) or more recently by Miller and Rollnick (2006).
In their work, Magrinelli-Orsi and Brochu (in press) consider there to be no clear demarcation
between coerced treatment and voluntary treatment. Indeed, it appears that the majority of drug addicts
enrol in treatment due to pressure from those around them, even when they are not involved with the
319
judicial system. In most cases, people experiencing substance addiction problems, whether they are
involved with the criminal justice system or not, come to treatment with an external motivation.
All in all, there is reason to believe that inmates who are well aware of the negative
consequences of their drug use on their lives (one of which may be incarceration) can show motivation
to change even while in detention. If they come into contact with a therapist, the latter may help them to
envisage concrete changes, implement them, and integrate them into their lifestyles.
However, motivation to change does not necessarily equal motivation to engage in a therapeutic
process with a professional employed by the prison who, over the course of therapy, will undoubtedly
receive confidences from the client on the most secret aspects of the client’s life which the therapist may
then reveal in administrative reports. How can trust be built in such a context? Is a real therapeutic
alliance possible?
ii. Therapist/offender alliance in a penitentiary setting
A large number of articles and book chapters have been published in the last few years on the
importance of creating an alliance between the therapist and the client. This variable, reminiscent of the
therapeutic ingredients identified by Carl Rogers (1965) in his client-centered appraoch, appears once
more as an essential element of an effective therapeutic process, regardless of the type of issue treated.
The therapeutic alliance defines the quality of the patient-therapist working relationships and, in some
ways, their affective bonds (Bordin, 1979). A work alliance between a therapist and a client implies an
agreement as to the objectives to be met and the tasks to be accomplished to achieve them.
Following their literature review, Castonguay, Costantino and Holtforth (2006), conclude that the
therapeutic alliance is indeed positively correlated with therapeutic change for a wide variety of
treatment modalities and clinical issues. Meta-analyses on this topic display effect sizes of between .22
and .26, which although not very large in statistical terms nonetheless demonstrate a significant impact
in clinical terms given the complexity of psychotherapy contexts.
Not all client-therapist relationships are characterized by a strong alliance. The therapeutic
alliance is a dynamic process in which client and therapist play key roles. Clients who are “receptive” to
a psychotherapeutic approach, who display high expectations of the process, are likely to take a more
320
active part in creating a positive alliance than those who deny the existence of their problems or who do
not believe they can act to overcome them. Of course, the therapist plays a crucial role in the
development of a positive alliance. Therapists who are most effective at fostering the establishment of
such an alliance usually demonstrate their interest in their clients: they are warm, flexible in their
approach and play a clear therapeutic role. On the other hand, those therapists who have the greatest
difficulty establishing a healthy alliance are rigid in their approach and engage in ineffective
confrontations.
These characteristics raise questions as to the possibility of a true therapeutic alliance being
established in the framework of treatment offered in a correctional context. Now, many inmates are
affected by multiple mental health issues such as antisocial personality disorder. An antisocial
personality, characterised by significant interpersonal difficulties, is often perceived as resistant to the
creation of an alliance with anyone. However, Gerstley et al. (1989) clearly indicate in their study
carried out with 48 antisocial patients that it is possible to create such an alliance with some of them.
Moreover, the creation of such an alliance is linked to the positive treatment results. It is therefore
reasonable to consider the antisocial personality, like other mental states resistant to the creation of
interpersonal bonds, as being defined in terms of a continuum of intensity and that it is probably possible
to establish some form of therapeutic alliance with inmates who are the least affected. Furthermore, it
should be noted that not all inmates are affected by an antisocial personality disorder or mental disorder.
IV. CONCLUSION
Let us agree straight off that the prison setting, in which drugs are as plentiful as the reasons to
take them, does not necessarily encourage changes in behaviour. First, the prison setting does not
provide the therapeutic climate necessary for personal development and lifestyle changes. Furthermore,
inmates’ primary concern (e.g. their need for freedom) do not always coincide with the objectives of the
criminal justice system (e.g. protection of the public, security, etc.). Inmates generally seek, and with
reason, the best ways to make their incarceration as painless and short as possible. The context thus
perverts truth and quells authenticity.
As inmates have a right to the same health services as are available in the community, it is
important to offer an adequate range of services to meet their needs. Under these circumstances, it is out
of the question to deprive them of appropriate care to help them combat their dependence. Moreover, the
321
establishment of adequate treatment within detention centres themselves is a crime prevention strategy
that results in fewer harmful effects than detention alone.
However, in terms of the prison context and the imprisonment of individuals, the impact of
treatment must not constitute the sole basis for reflections on the issue of treatment; it is important to
take into account the impact of the moral and ethical components of such interventions. Intervention in a
prison context must be carried out with a constant concern for ethics and with the continual
“redefinition” of the professional’s self-imposed limits. What precipitates a request for intervention: is it
the desire for change or the wish to appear favourably in the eyes of the authorities? Who is the real
client; is it the individual who attends the therapy session or the detention establishment? To whom does
the therapist address the report? What limits should therapists set for themselves regarding the pressure
they exert to try to motivate inmates to change?
It will always be difficult for a professional, as an employee of a detention centre, to create a

healthy therapeutic alliance and to motivate an inmate to change if the therapist is also responsible for
granting privileges (transfer to a lower security penitentiary, temporary absences, etc.) or for writing
reports used for these same purposes. Hence, it is important to establish a brick wall between health care
provision and surveillance; otherwise inmates’ suspicions of authority figures and defiance towards
them will continue to be the principal therapeutic obstacle. The thicker the ramparts, the less often these
ethical questions will arise. This will make it possible to protect inmates’ right to confidentiality in the
context of therapy, and to reduce the number of games of seduction and rebellion associated with the
relationship between guard and guarded. This is the philosophy that governs the therapeutic services of
several countries where health and social services are placed under the responsibility of the regional
health board rather than the authority of the prison administration.
In sum, a large proportion of inmates are addicted to drugs. These high prevalence rates can be
accounted for by drug laws as well as acts committed while intoxicated or with the aim of obtaining
drugs. Incarceration curbs drug use somewhat but does not put a definite end to it. The incarceration
period is an opportune time to reach a good number of people with drug dependence issues. Drug
addiction treatment services provided during detention must be of the same quality as those in the
surrounding community. The impact of high quality treatment has frequently been demonstrated,
particularly with respect to therapeutic communities and CBT. Two of the keys to therapeutic success
322
are client motivation and the establishment of a healthy therapeutic relationship. Of course, the prison
context is not, in itself, a context that fosters the therapeutic process. However, therapists who are
charismatic and make use of current knowledge on motivation for change can help their clients make
progress, despite the detention context. Nevertheless, this therapeutic relationship must be conducted in
a manner that is respectful of the inmate and with a constant concern for ethics. For that purpose, we
recommend a brick wall be established between treatment and control activities which would prevent the
therapist from being associated with security management activities that could jeopardize the therapeutic
relationship.
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XI
MERGING THE CONCEPTS OF RESTORATION AND

IMPRISONMENT: A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP
NIKOLAOS STAMATAKIS35
GREECE
I.INTRODUCTION - II.CHALLENGING THE PRACTICE OF IMPRISONMENT - III.MERGING THE CONCEPTS OF

RESTORATION AND IMPRISONMENT - IV.RESTORATIVE JUSTICE INITIATIVES: ALTERING THE FOCUS OF
IMPRISONMENT - a.Victim Awareness and Empathy Programmes - b.Amends Programmes - c.Mediation Programmes -
d.Conflict Resolution Programmes - V.BARRIERS TO RESTORATIVE IMPRISONMENT - a.Conceptual Barriers -
b.Operational Barriers - i.Limited Opportunities for Empowerment - ii.Competing with Prison Culture - iii.Lack of
Autonomy - iv.Obtaining Genuine Voluntariness - v.Dealing with ‘Bifurcation’ - vi. The Social Conditions of Prisons -
VI.CONSTRUCTING A RESTORATIVE PRISON - a.Incorporating Restorative Principles into Prison Life - b.Fostering
Relationships between Prisons and Local Communities - c.Focusing Early on Reintegration of Offenders - d.Raising Victim
Awareness among Prisoners - e.Integrating Opportunities for Apology and Remorse - VII.CONCLUSIONS: VISION FOR
THE FUTURE - VIII.REFERENCES
35
Ph.D. at Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences, Athens
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I. INTRODUCTION
Could the concept of restorative justice ever be compatible with imprisonment? This argument is
controversial even within the restorative justice movement, with many advocates arguing that restorative
justice is best pursued not as a policy of prison reform but as an alternative to prison (Guidoni, 2003:
66); or that one of the main purposes of restorative justice should be to steer offenders away from
punitive and segregative sanctions - hence, from imprisonment (Johnstone, 2007: 17). At the same time,
other restorative justice advocates claim that prisons could encourage prisoners to take personal
responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour by providing greater opportunities to make
amends (Edgar, 1999: 6) or that prisons can be a place where all those affected by a crime can work
together to reach a consensus about how to resolve the problems that emerge from crime (Edgar &
Newell, 2006: 56-58).
From this perspective, the idea of restorative justice in prisons is contradictory, leading to a love-
hate relationship between the two notions. Bearing in mind that prisons are complex institutions, and
given the clear tendency of restorative justice to alter the focus of imprisonment, the present chapter
aims to highlight the aspects of prisons that would welcome restorative justice, as well as those that
hamper it. Thinking creatively and taking into consideration these aspects, a description of various
initiatives, categorized according to their objectives, scope and ambitiousness is also provided,
envisaging suggestions for the construction of a ‘restorative prison’.
II. CHALLENGING THE PRACTICE OF IMPRISONMENT
Prison is an institution that is used by every country of the world and imprisonment is a penal
sanction with a long history. Many countries are building more prisons and filling them up until they
become as overcrowded as the older ones were before. But, could this phenomenon be translated as
prisons being a ‘success story’? The answer to the question “Does prison work?” changes depending on
the purpose that prisons are meant to fulfil. If the purpose of imprisonment is to heal damaged
relationships and build community, the answer is “no”. If the purpose, though, is to incapacitate and
ideally keep offenders away from certain criminogenic factors (e.g. delinquent and violent
environment), the answer is “yes”. In this sense, of course, prison does work. People who could
potentially do harm to others are locked away so they cannot carry on doing harm, at least to people
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outside prison walls. In the short term, whether prisons are unjust and violent inside, and whether they
make people who are sent to them behave lawfully, does not always concern law-abiding citizens (Stern,
2006). However, as research evidence on prisoners’ re-offending suggest, people released from violent
prisons are these people who will most likely commit crimes in the future. In the short term, one thing is
sure: prisons protect society by holding people who would other wise be outside, causing damage and
spreading fear. All may not be well behind a prison’s bars, but for those outside, the high walls are
symbols of the power of the State to punish and remove whoever threatens public peace.
Consequently, prisons symbolize the maintenance of law; and, although people do not want to
lose their freedom, prisons do not seem to discourage the potential law-breaker from committing a
crime. On one side, the existence of imprisonment as a viable punishment may deter some people from
offending (Stern, 2006). On the other side, various studies (Hudson, 2003; Pollock, 2005; Lynch, 2007)
have shown that neither prison deters crime nor the threat of incarceration reduces the phenomenon of
criminal behaviour. In reality, the countries that lock up a lot of their people in prisons are not the safest
countries, but the more dangerous ones.
Violence and injustices created by excessive imprisonment lead to more crime among prisoners
while serving their sentences (Stern, 2006: 56). Such injustices turn prisoners into victims who carry the
effects of their (multiple) victimisation even after their release. Consequently, if we want to make the
case for a different crime policy that mends people rather than damages them, and strengthens
communities rather than fractures them, we need to show that prisons fail to accomplish their primary
goal: to make people better; in contrast, prisons tend to stigmatise and socially marginalise whoever is
sent there. Although redemption and rehabilitation were embedded in the original intention behind the
penitentiary, nowadays, little room is left for prisoners to change for the better (Barak, 2007: 277). As a
rule, the prison system breeds more violence and deeper hatred while threatening the inmates' sense of
self-worth (Siegel, 2009). It ignores the possibility for healing, wholeness and reintegration by making
people less able to participate in the economic system, to function fully as an individual on the outside,
or to develop healthy social relationships (Magnani & Wray, 2006: 2-3).
Subsequently, the harm of imprisonment is, in fact, wide-ranging. Retributive values in society
support the commitment of criminal justice to inflict harm on wrongdoers. But even so, it would make
sense to ensure that, in the long run, imprisonment helps to prevent recidivism. Instead, many of the
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direct effects of imprisonment on ex-offenders, such as homelessness, reduced opportunities for

employment, limited finances, and ruptured family bonds, usually lead to re-offending. This effect of
‘revolving door’ verifies that people tend to come to prison already harmed by their social and family
background. A retributive argument is that their experience as victims should not be an excuse for any
criminal behaviour (Edgar & Newell, 2006: 104). While this is true, as prisoners should be held
accountable for their crimes, this argument fails to recognise that unless prior victimization suffered by
prisoners is addressed, criminal behaviour will be perpetuated and society will suffer the effects of re-
offending.
Thus, during the last decades, the notion of restorative justice - a humanitarian approach based
on the principles of forgiveness, healing, reintegration and reparation (Sherman & Strang, 2007: 13) -
has been emerged. In part, this means that offenders should show evidence that they do not intend to
harm others in the same way as their actual victim, and that they need to take responsibility for the harm
done, proposing a means by which to make amends (Mace, 2001; Rumgay, 2004). For offenders to play
a responsible role in serving their sentence, they need to take any opportunity that is offered to repair the
harm fuelled by the problems they have inherited from their backgrounds of social exclusion.
III. MERGING THE CONCEPTS OF RESTORATION AND

IMPRISONMENT
Punishment, whether delivered by Law, community or God, needs justification. The initial
justification of punishment stems from the fact that someone has done wrong. In the legal context this is
generally called ‘crime’ while in the theological context it is known as ‘sin’. These two terms are by no
means interchangeable, however, most crimes are also morally evil and, therefore, are also sins (Allen,
2006: 1). At the same time, there has been some debate on whether punishment is also an evil. This is
based on the assumption that suffering is evil and, given that all punishments involve suffering,
punishment is an evil too; a ‘necessary’ evil that aims to restore the Law and morality through
unpleasant penal practices, including imprisonment (Bentham, 1843: 83).
However, the way in which imprisonment is justified has changed significantly over time. This is
reflected in history through various philosophical theories of punishment; as well as in restorative
justice, which does not reject imprisonment as a possible sentence. As a matter of fact, restorative justice
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has implications for the practice of imprisonment; although, from a theoretical point of view, there is
little in the restorative justice vision that embraces imprisonment. On the one hand, it deems that the
practice of imprisonment could be reformed in such a way as to serve restorative rather than punitive
functions. On the other hand, it questions the conventional belief that wrongdoers deserve pain; a notion
that goes to the heart of retributivism and incapacitative thinking. In any case, imprisonment seems to be
the sentencing currency of various contemporary criminal justice systems around the world (Van Ness,
2007: 312; Van Ness & Strong, 1997). Maybe because, from a safety standpoint, prisons can offer
protection from offenders who are deemed to pose a serious risk to community members. Hence,
imprisonment as an imposition of pain, segregation, deprivation (of freedom) and moreover,
incapacitation, it seems like a necessary social practice, especially for persistent offenders.
Imprisonment also compares favourably with ‘community sentences’, which tend to be perceived by the
public as insufficiently painful as a response to serious wrongdoing (Kahan, 1996).
In contrast, it could be argued that there are better routes to justice in the aftermath of crime (e.g.
restoration, reconciliation) and attack the idea of imprisonment at its heart by challenging, as mentioned
above, the very assumption upon which custodial sentences are based: that justice should require the
imposition of pain upon offenders. Assuming, within a restorative justice spectrum, that restitution and
reparation are essential in any justice-making process, imprisonment could become problematic. First of
all, imprisoned offenders may regard their prison sentence as adequate amends for their crime, and
hence, be discouraged to take any further responsibilities towards the victim or, moreover, to be willing
to repair the harm they have caused. But, even if they did recognise such liability, being locked behind
bars would make it difficult to undertake any reparation (Johnstone, 2007: 16). Furthermore, Kahan
(1996) adds that costly imprisonment and pain infliction is also likely to decrease the chances a person
has in resuming a law-abiding life.
As far as the promotion of future law-abiding behaviour by offenders is concerned, the

traditional structure and ethos of imprisonment appears ineffective and, sometimes, counter-productive.
At the moment, the ‘golden rule’ of recidivism, irrespective of the country’s size or population, seems to
be that 50-75 percent of prisoners will re-offend (Maruna, 2007), meaning that restorative practices,
undertaken on an ad hoc basis, rarely substitute imprisonment; usually, imprisonment acts as an obstacle
to develop restorative processes. In contrast, processes based on the notion of reciprocal responsibility
between individuals might appear more effective in terms of recidivism, seeking to encourage offenders
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and victims to discuss the harm inflicted and how it can be repaired in a mutually beneficial way in the
interests of social justice. Through such encounters (that are made on a voluntary basis), offenders
become more aware of the harm they have caused to both the actual victim and the community; and
victims become divested of fearful images and benefit from the opportunity to express their feelings
about what happened (Zernova, 2007: 8; Sullivan & Tifft, 2006; Toews & Katounas, 2004: 101;
Umbreit, Coates & Kalanj, 2004; Umbreit & Zehr, 2003: 73). However, such encounters are very
difficult to arrange even when both parties are at liberty. When one party is imprisoned, the difficulties
increase.
Finally, there seems little doubt that restorative justice goes considerably further towards
providing a holistic and inclusive theory of punishment and imprisonment in particular, than does any of
the existing theories. It challenges the entire contemporary state-based justification of punishment and
administration of justice, advocating the need for a cultural change and being critical to the imposition
of imprisonment as stand-alone punishment rather than supporting the dictations of a wider social
justice.
IV. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE INITIATIVES: ALTERING THE FOCUS

OF IMPRISONMENT
Although the differences between the traditional and the restorative notion of imprisonment are
well-known by theorists and practitioners, programmes are currently being implemented in prisons
around the world (e.g. in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United
States) that could be classified as forms of restorative justice (Liebmann & Braithwaite, 1999;
Hagemann & Robertz, 2000; Umbreit & Vos, 2000; Newell, 2001). Restorative justice is part of wider
transitions that are underway at present, both within and outside the world of corrections. Firstly, there
is a world-wide movement towards the recognition of victims rights, and the need to reform criminal
justice from a two-party process between the State and the defendant to a multi-party process where
victims actively participate. Secondly, there is an international trend towards the democratization of the
criminal justice process and the empowerment of the community. Restorative justice advocates insist
that solutions should not be imposed ‘from above’, but the voices of those most closely affected by
crime should be listened to and being able to influence outcomes that meet the needs of society
(McElrea, 2002: 1). Thirdly, there is a long-established tendency towards holistic approaches to
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conflicts, which allow the expression of spirituality and emotions, especially when indigenous peoples
or religious/faith organizations are involved.
In result of these tendencies, various programmes have been initiated seeking to alter the
‘monopoly’ of offenders within the correctional system and to prove that the punitive ethos of prisons is
not totally hostile to the idea of restoration36: after all, prisoners have time on their hands that could be
used to put right some of the harm they have caused (Liebmann, 2007: 201). And many prisoners are
remorseful and keen to participate in such programmes, either developed because the direct stakeholders
– prisoners and victims – requested it; or because the government officials within correctional services
introduced it; or still because of the initiative of community agencies. Within those initiatives, efforts are
placed to develop restorative processes in prisons on a continuum mainly based on their intended impact
upon the prison itself by bringing imprisoned offenders to greater awareness of the harm done, and of
their obligation to desist from further unlawful actions in the future, without explicitly seeking to bring
organizational and cultural changes in the prison system (Johnstone, 2007; Van Ness, 2007). These
initiatives vary enormously and may be categorized according to their objectives, scope and
ambitiousness, as highlighted below:
a. Victim Awareness and Empathy Programmes
Victim awareness and empathy programmes in prisons are designed to encourage convicted
prisoners to better understand the impact of crime on victims and communities. Although consistent
with restorative justice philosophy, these programmes are also rehabilitative due to their distinct victim
unawareness elements (Van Ness, 2007: 314). The idea behind these programmes is that a deep
appreciation of the trauma their crime has caused may lead prisoners to change their life and their
attitude towards crime in a way that reduces recidivism (Thompson, 1999: 5). It also acknowledges the
fact that many prisoners have also been victims in their turn, and reflection on these experiences can
help them be more aware of other victims (Wright, 1996: 155).
Some victim empathy programmes teach prisoners about the impact of crime on victims, without
including any direct contact with them. An example is the ‘Focus on Victims’ programme in Hamburg,
36
Of course, the fact that it is possible to undertake restorative justice projects in prisons should not make imprisonment a
pre-condition to access restorative work. Restorative justice projects can actually take place outside prisons and with fewer
difficulties.
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Germany, which takes place during the first three months of detention. This programme tries to make
prisoners think generally about victimization, reflect on their own experiences of being victims (when
relevant) and then examine, in more detail, the aftermath of the victimization they have caused to others
(Hagemann, 2003: 225-227). On certain occasions, like in the ‘Victim Reconciliation Group’ initiated
by state prisoners at the California Medical Facility (USA), has led to prisoners have made products for
sale (e.g. crafts, paintings) with the profits being donated to victim’s rights and support groups
(Liebmann & Braithwaite, 1999: 17-18).
Other programmes organize conversations between prisoners and surrogate victims (people who
have been victims of crime, but not of those crimes committed by the offenders with whom they meet).
The purpose of these meetings is to allow prisoners to develop a relationship with victims who have had
a similar real experience, hear their stories and realize how that crime has affected their lives. One of the
most well-known victim awareness project behind bars is the ‘Sycamore Tree’, which was pioneered by
a Christian voluntary organization called ‘Prison Fellowship’37. The Sycamore Tree project began in
1998 in HMP Mount in Hertfordshire (UK), where ten prisoners volunteered to take part in the
programme of five sessions. In general lines, the Sycamore Tree is a Christian values-based programme
but is not faith promoting (Prison Fellowship International). Nevertheless, this programme has been
criticized for drawing too exclusively on Christian themes irrespective of the multi-cultural and multi-
faith background of prisoners (Liebmann, 2007: 212).
Currently, the Sycamore Tree project operates in a number of other countries38, where prisoners
and trained volunteers engage with the concept of restorative justice: taking responsibility, apologizing
and achieving reconciliation. Apart from the programme itself, offenders are said to benefit from the
contact with volunteers who are motivated by their Christian faith to reach out and help those in need.
Participants have an opportunity to explore the effects of crime on victims and the community, and to
discuss what it would mean to take responsibility for their personal actions. For most offenders on the
Sycamore Tree programme, the most powerful element of the programme is when a victim of crime
comes in to talk about how crime has impacted upon their lives. Hence, volunteers who had been
victimized share their stories, and both prisoners and volunteers are encouraged to see 'the other side'
37
The ‘Sycamore Tree’ project is based on the Biblical story of Zacchaeus who climbed a sycamore tree before meeting
Jesus and making restitution to his victims (Leibmann & Braithwaite, 1999; Francis, 2001).
38
Since the launch, Sycamore Tree has also been run in New Zealand, the United States, Australia and Northern Ireland
(Prison Fellowship International, 2005)
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(Feasey et al., 2005). At the final event, prisoners have an opportunity to express their remorse - some
write letters, poems or create works of art or craft (Leibmann & Braithwaite, 1999; Francis, 2001) or
even make symbolic acts of restitution to volunteer victims (Liebmann, 2007).
Academic evaluations of this programme have concluded that offenders’ attitudes change during
the project. Prisoners can develop victim awareness and show willingness to take responsibility for their
actions (Bakker, 2005). An academic report published in March 2005 argued that there was a
statistically significant reduction on all the Crime Pics II scales 39 indicating that ‘the Sycamore Tree
programme has a positive impact on programme respondents with a reduction between pre and post
programme scores on all scales’ [...]; and that ‘the programme had the desired impact on participants
and reduced the attitudes that are known to be conducive to offending behaviour’ (Feasey et al., 2005:
14).
In the same vein is the SORI (Supporting Offenders through Restoration Inside) project,
developed by HMP Cardiff Chaplaincy in the UK. The SORI programme developed into a series of
courses for offenders, victims and community representatives. Taking part in the scheme is voluntary,
and it is not linked at any stage to programmes of early release or parole (Restorative Justice
Consortium, 2009). At HMP Cardiff, SORI includes a victim awareness course and a victim impact
course. Offenders are encouraged to consider how they might make amends to their own victims while
imprisoned by carrying out various tasks, such as an apology (either written or oral), undertaking a drugs
rehabilitation course, or working with young or elderly people on release (The UK Parliament
Memorandum, November 2006). The course culminates in individual presentations to representatives
from the wider community, or even to the actual victims who wish to receive apologies or statements of
reparation by their offenders.
Evaluations of SORI have shown that, because victims express what their needs are in terms of
reparation and offenders try to make amends, offenders are able to regain a trusting relationship with the
39
Crime-Pics II is an instrument originally that measures changes in offenders' attitudes to offending. It is also used
frequently in evaluations of rehabilitation projects in the private and voluntary sectors. Crime-Pics II can also be used as a
'before and after' evaluative measure of changes in offenders' thinking about crime and victims. Its scores are statistically
correlated with chances of reconviction, and changes in scores can be used as a proxy measure indicating a project or
programme's likely impact on reconviction.
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outside, even before release (Liebmann, 2007). In addition, the local community also benefits, as
reparative work done by an offender has a visible impact on the wider community. This shift in
perception and understanding enables a more positive resettlement and reintegration of offenders on
release (The UK Parliament Memorandum, November 2006). From the victims’ perspective, the SORI
programme offered a sense of resolution that helped them to move on emotionally, and both parties have
described mutual stereotypes being challenged (Houlston-Clark, 2006). Not coincidentally, the current
British Justice Minister David Hanson (2006) had praised the work of SORI staff at HMP Cardiff by
stating that “[…] the prison, in partnership with Victim Support Wales, has developed a unique and
pioneering programme of restorative justice”.
b. Amends Programmes
It has been suggested that ‘prisons can become more restorative by encouraging prisoners to take
personal responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour, by establishing formal channels of
mediation between prisoners to resolve conflicts and by providing greater opportunities to make
amends’ (Edgar, 1999: 6; Braithwaite & Roche, 2001).
One way for offenders to make amends is for them to make financial payments to victims to
compensate for their losses. However, as a rule, prisoners have very limited financial means to obtain
funds as the majority of them are insolvent and in debts. Hence, for many prisoners it is impossible to
start making a payment of material compensation while serving a sentence. In response, some countries
have taken initiatives. For example, in Belgium, redress funds have been created by the ‘Victim-
Offender Reconciliation Group (Suggnomè)’ in Belgium to which prisoners can apply as long as they
acknowledge their wrongdoing and are willing to make amends to the victim40. If successful, the
prisoner must perform a certain number of hours of community service in or outside the prison during
leave permits in an institution of his/her choice (if outside). The amount of hours of community service
depends on the amount of funds to be released to the victim (or to a victim support organization – public
charity) after the community service has been completed (Robert & Peters, 2003: 112-113). In addition,
in 2000 the Belgian Ministerial Council decided that all prisons should cultivate the idea of restorative
justice. For this process of change, restorative consultants were recruited in every prison. Their
assignment has been to raise awareness of the notion of restorative justice among prisoners and staff, to
40
Presently, inmates can get limited financial support up to € 1,240 or half of the civil party’s damage.
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make contacts with internal and external services, to introduce concepts and practices in line with those
developed within the community and, finally, to contribute in the development of a coherent prison
policy for the introduction of a restorative detention.
Of course, programmes that aim to encourage offenders to make amends are not limited to
crimes where victims are identified and willing to accept such amends. When no direct victim is
involved, prisoners may still perform community service projects, outside or in prisons aiming to enable
prisoners to repair the damage that have caused by putting something back to the community. In 2000
the International Centre for Prison Studies in the UK initiated the ‘Restorative Prison’ project in three
prisons (HMP Bristol, Norwich and Winchester) where prisoners were able to work for the benefit of the
community, such as reclaiming public parks (Coyle, 2001: 8). The Restorative Prison Project initiated
by the Inside-Out Trust (IOT) was an example of enterprising community involvement by which those
in custody participate in a process of making amends. The IOT provide prison inmates with skills likely
to contribute to their reintegration into the community through employment. The main target of the
Restorative Prison Project was to strengthen ties between prisons and the communities in which they are
situated; this was an institutional objective that acknowledged that isolation of prisoners from the
community while in prison is exacerbated by the lack of productive ties between prisons and the
communities in which they are found (Coyle, 2002: 22-29). It also aims to benefit people in need with
goods and services they would otherwise not receive (Carey, 1998).
Other examples include schemes in prisons along England and Wales working with youth at risk,
making clothes or repairing bicycles for orphaned children, designing Christmas cards in aid of charities
and so on. These activities were institutional objectives that were acknowledging the isolation of
prisoners from the community and the lack of productive bonds between the two sides. The intention
behind this approach is to allow such (indirect) compensation to be made at a very early stage of
incarceration and, at the same time, to give prisoners the opportunity to express their willingness to
restore in a symbolic way and to encourage them to take responsibility rather than passively treat
compensation to victims as one of the debts that must be paid. From the community’s perspective, such
projects are beneficial in terms of meeting the local needs and improving public relations between
prisons and the general public.
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c. Mediation Programmes
Programmes that facilitate meeting between victims and offenders have also been developed at
the request of both parties. The particular programmes have no formal impact on the prisoner’s sentence,
which may vary from a few months to death row (e.g. in the State of Texas, USA); however, the
victims’ opinion may be influential in parole hearings. The purpose of the meeting for both parties is to
achieve a degree of healing through a process that usually begins at the victim’s request and involves a
lengthy preparation of the offender (White, 2001: 84-141; Szmania, 2004: 4-13). This preparation also
includes some victim awareness work, as offenders need to reach an understanding on the consequences
of crime and how these could be addressed (Stewart, 1998: 73-75).
Although a purpose of mediation may be to discuss the possibility of material reparation,

reaching reconciliation between the victim and the offender is the primary one (Dunkel, 1985).
However, reaching reconciliation is not easy and may not even be achievable. This is acknowledged by
the Thames Valley initiative in London, UK, in which mediations have been undertaken in suitable
cases between young or adult prisoners and their victims, taking the inmate out to the local probation
office (Shapland et al., 2006). The eligibility of prisoners (including those who committed serious
violence or sexual offences) is decided by Victim Liaison Officers (Palk, Hayes & Prenzler, 1998: 350),
who provide the court with details of the prisoner’s involvement in the mediation process. This is done
through a short report outlining his/her level of willingness and involvement of both parties, the likely
restorative method and a judgement as to feasibility (Roberts & Jani, 1996: 476).
In the Thames Valley group, HMP Bullingdon (UK) has played a significant role in the
advancement of restorative justice in prisons. Since 2001, HMP Bullingdon has attempted to engage a
holistic application of restorative justice across all activities of the prison with regards to bullying,
conflicts between prisoners and staff, and prisoner adjudications (Restorative Justice Consortium, 2004).
One trial involved approaching prisoners (assessed as suitable) and victims separately, inviting them to
participate in a conference or be part of a control group for comparative purposes. The responses of the
participants were favourable (Liebmann, 2007: 226) and overall, the scheme has ensured relatively low
rates of offender/victim refusal or non-contact (Shapland et al. 2004). Another evaluation of a similar
initiative, the Victim-Offender Pilot Project, which took place in British Columbia, Canada showed that
‘highly significant results can occur for both victims and offenders who start the process but may not
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complete it’ (Gustafson, 1992). Both parties were impressed that someone cared about their case,
concluding that this programme should not be viewed as a form of rehabilitation, but ‘as a process
parallel to treatment’ (Immarigeon, 1994).
In the case of crimes where the victim is non-identifiable or not willing to get involved in face-
to-face meetings, mediation programmes may serve as an interactive link between prisoners and their
families and/or members of the community who discuss how the offender could be integrated into the
society. For example, the ‘Protective Mediation’ programme in New South Wales, Australia appears
helpful, as many prisoners have alienated their families because of their involvement into crime; and the
families, in turn, feel embarrassed for the harm that the offender caused. Equally helpful appears a
Community Justice Initiative at the Waterloo Detention Centre in Ontario, Canada, where victims are
interpreted as the families of the offenders. It is recognized that offenders’ families are often indirect
victims; hence, mediation programmes are established at a pre-release stage between offenders and their
families in order to bring both parties together and resolve concerns that might be harmful to their future
lives.
In some other cases, victims may have also threatened to harm prisoners (usually serious sex
offenders, like pedophiles) once they return to the community (Van Ness, 2007: 315). Hence, relevant
restorative justice programmes have emerged to assist in the reintegration of offenders back to society;
offenders who have been held in prison for the full length of their sentence without parole supervision.
These programmes are the Circles of Support and Accountability, which emerged in Canada and
currently also being used also in England and Wales. The Circles work with the offender in
collaboration with social services representatives, law enforcement officials and other community
members in order to prepare the ground for a smooth return of the prisoner into the community
(Correctional Service of Canada, 2002). Trying to meet the needs of aboriginal prisoners, specialized
hearings within custodial settings have also emerged. Aboriginal elders41 participate in the parole
hearing and deliberations in order to inform the board members about aboriginal cultures and traditions.
These hearings may also take place in an aboriginal community and all parties are invited to participate.
41
Elders are moral and spiritual leaders of the various Aboriginal communities. They are also the teachers, who pass their
knowledge on to the next generation.
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d. Conflict Resolution Programmes
Various conflict resolution interventions have been introduced into the prison system. One is the
‘Alternatives to Violence’ project (AVP) developed by Quakers at the request of prisoners in Attica,
New York42, which helps prisoners recognize when potentially violent situations are likely to arise and
teaches them how to address conflicts without resorting to violence. AVP is based on the belief that
everyone bears an intrinsic power to transform violent situations by developing alternative methods of
dealing with conflicts. Such programme could be classified as rehabilitative that, while not directly
connected to restorative justice, has similar restorative values (Bischoff, 2001). More specifically, it
helps prisoners to identify when potentially violent situations are likely to arise, teaching them
communication and interpersonal skills able to suppress the potential of violence (Sloane, 2002: 3).
When the AVP project was evaluated in 1998 it was found that the programme was successful at
developing conflict resolution skills and helping inmates at dealing with actual conflicts, especially
outside prison (Bitel et al., 1998; Hinds, 1998).
Different programmes have also focused on helping prisoners who come into conflict with other
prisoners to find a peaceful way to resolve arguments. An Ohio-based programme called ‘Resolution’
trains certain prisoners to act as mediators in order to help other prisoners find solutions to their conflicts
(Roeger, 2003: 4-5). Peer conflict resolution programmes are also available for imprisoned gang leaders
held in Bellevista prison, Colombia who meet each other to resolve disputes inside or outside the prison.
The Kairos-APAC scheme43 in the UK focuses on the dissemination of communication and conflict
resolution skills, as well as the promotion of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. The philosophy
behind this scheme is that criminal behaviour is generated from lack of love. Hence, APAC creates a
community in which prisoners can learn how to love and to be loved and, moreover, how to avoid or
perpetuate violent situations. The prosiners’ families also have opportunities to participate in special
seminars with the goal to prepare the prisoner to return to a healthy environment upon release.
Another category of conflict-resolution programmes aims to address prisoner discipline and

grievance processes. A well-known model for such cases is that of the family-group conference adopted
in several prisons in Yukon, Canada. Kattackal (2003: 26) reports that this programme which deals with
42
However, this project is used in prisons around the world.
43
This scheme is developed and run entirely by Christian volunteers from the community who wish to express the love of
God for the prisoners.
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disciplinary hearings in custodial settings have shown good results: prisoner grievance procedures
focused on mediation, restoration and negotiation rather than arbitration and adjudication are able to
develop a better understanding of the nature and extent of prisoner grievances. They also help the prison
authorities to better identify prisoner issues (Piper, 2003: 40). All these programmes (as well as those
mentioned above) have the ambition of creating an environment in which prisoners will be transformed
though processes that combine restorative justice and rehabilitation (Cullen et al. 2001: 268).
V. BARRIERS TO RESTORATIVE IMPRISONMENT
Undoubtedly, some of the aforementioned restorative justice initiatives have shown positive
results, while others are still at an experimental phase; however, all of them have been remarkable in
term of ambitiousness. Even so, critics tend to be skeptical about the possibility of integrating a
restorative justice ethos within a punishment-based institution such as the prison. These criticisms are
based on conceptual and operational obstacles concerning the very nature of prisons.
a. Conceptual Barriers
Is the concept of restorative justice compatible with imprisonment? Prisons are complex
institutions. Inevitably, there are aspects of prisons that would promote restorative justice and others that
hamper it. Every prison has the space to accommodate at least two paradigms: one is the punitive prison
that aims to exclude, humiliate and harm people who have broken the law through coercive and
stigmatizing controls that increase the risk of re-offending upon release (Edgar & Newell, 2006: 56-58).
Such prisons consistently treat offenders as fundamentally defective and they do not have a mandate to
deal with victims; consequently, prisoners are shielded from knowing how their behaviour has affected
others. On the opposite side, the restorative prison is dedicated to accomplish a reforming, problem-
solving and reintegrating mission by respecting human dignity and working on the principle that
wrongdoing creates obligations to make amends. These prisons provide a place where all those affected
by a crime can work together to reach a consensus about how to resolve the problems that crime has left
in its wake. These two paradigms (punishment and restoration) could be in the same place; however,
they cannot co-exist as the strongly held punitive values in prisons make it difficult to put restorative
justice into practice.
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Restorative justice practitioners have a long tradition of criticizing the prevalent retributive (and
the rehabilitative) approach to criminal justice in general and to prison in particular (Hagemann, 2003:
221), although some critiques are controversial even within the restorative justice movement (Edgar &
Newell, 2006: 22-23). For example, advocates like Guidoni (2003: 66) argue that restorative justice is
best pursued not as a policy of prison reform but as an alternative to prison. From this perspective, one
of the main purposes of restorative justice is to steer offenders away from punitive and segregative
sanctions - hence, from imprisonment - into restorative programmes that benefit rather than damage
them and, at the same time, better meet the needs of victims and communities for justice. Thus, the idea
of restorative justice in prisons is contradictory. In most cases, offenders will be harmed by the
experience of imprisonment and nothing that comes out of a restorative justice programme will be able
to offset that harm. The coercive and authoritarian nature of the prison may undermine any efforts at
genuine restorative justice, which requires voluntary involvement, engagement with the community,
informality and flexibility. Worst of all, the fact that ‘constructive’ programmes such as restorative
justice are taking place in prisons might make imprisonment a more attractive option for sentencing
authorities and might enhance the legitimacy of imprisonment in the minds of politicians and the public
(Johnstone, 2007: 17).
Nevertheless, other advocates of restorative justice in prisons still argue that these ‘tensions’
should not prevent efforts to transform the ethos of prisons by introducing restorative justice schemes
within them, and by using restorative justice principles to bring about organisational and cultural
changes in prisons (Edgar & Newell, 2006: 23). Form this perspective, a ‘purist’ refusal to pursue
restorative justice in the prison environment would result in a restriction of restorative justice to less
serious cases where it would operate as an alternative, not to imprisonment, but to some other non-
custodial sanction (ibid, 2006: 24).
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Table 1. Traditional Prison vs Restorative Prison
Traditional Prison Restorative Prison
Permanent pain delivery and shaming Relief and understanding
Destroys self-worth Maintains or builds self-esteem
Coercion Voluntariness
Ignores accountability to person harmed Hold accountable to person

harmed
Prisoner separated from criminal
offence Personal responsibility for harm
inflicted
Community integration
Social exclusion and isolation
Fundamental equality
Hierarchy
Boosts and values trust
Perpetuates distrust
b. Operational Barriers
As described above, particular restorative schemes are slowly developing inside prisons44,
although the existing conceptual gap between the notion of restorative justice and that of imprisonment
(in its traditional version) is still deep. Restorative schemes have to address practical issues such as
gaining access to prisoners, dealing with constant vagaries of prison schedules (for example, prisoners
may be transferred at short notice) and introducing victims to the prison environment. These schemes
44
It is important to recognize existing gender imbalances, as in most countries there are far fewer programme
opportunities for female inmates.
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are also called to address the very nature of imprisonment, which works against some of the key values
of restorative justice, such as autonomy, voluntariness and the freedom to withdraw (see Table 1).
i. Limited Opportunities for Empowerment
Empowerment is the idea that provides people opportunities to make decisions that will
determine their future. Inclusion means that decisions are more practical and responsive to the basic
needs of prisoners if they have had input into the decision-making process (Edgar & Newell, 2006: 59).
Prisoners being forced to go though personal change would violate restorative values and principles;
and, in practice, would not bring desirable outcomes anyway. Such change needs, first of all, to take
place within prisoners themselves, which may enable them to take place within the prisoners themselves
to take responsibility for their unlawful acts and the harm inflicted. This requires a process of reflection
by the prisoners so that the person can say what he/she is compared to what he/she was (Guidoni, 2003:
62).
Restorative justice could help prisoners reconstruct their self-image and identity. The
achievement of this goal is a precondition for achieving other goals of restorative justice, such as the
prisoner taking reparative action in support of victims (Johnstone, 2007: 19). Given that offenders
usually see the necessity to make amends in support of victims during or upon the completion of certain
preparation programmes (that precede all restorative justice processes), where the construction of
identity is part of them. Yet, every aspect of prison life is designed to force prisoners to conform to the
culture of captivity through a degradation process (loss of freedom, limited contact with family/friends,
lack of choices and so on), which weakens them and makes them obedient to the prison’s administrative
and disciplinary machine (Guidoni, 2003: 62). All prisons, even the most ‘open and humane’ are
designed to destroy the individuality and identity of prisoners, and thereby work in the complete
opposite direction of restorative justice. Coercive values and practices within prisons are damaging and
they intend to dominate, stigmatize and condemn prisoners as untrustworthy in order to disempower
them; something that has negative effects on any effort to prevent recidivism. Liebling (2004: 166) had
stated that ‘human beings yearn to be in social environments which contain certain virtues (e.g. fairness,
respect) and that the experience of being in punitive and disrespectful environments is traumatic and
damaging’.
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ii. Competing with Prison Culture
The punitive prison is a reaction to an original harm that spreads damage from the crime to the
people who must work in prisons, those who are confined there, their families and their futures (Edgar &
Newell, 2006: 59). Traditional prison culture lacks respect and usually let prisoners consider themselves
as victims of corrupt or unjust police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers and prison officials (Van Ness, 2007:
318-319). Thus, when they are conscious of injustices done to them, it is difficult to become engaged
with the world of their victims and community. In addition, prisons develop authoritative sub-cultures,
typically deviant (e.g. prison gangs), in reaction to their disciplinary regime, making denunciation of
deviance more difficult for prisoners.
Ideally, any restorative justice programme should be applied in a non-violent and negotiated
form of conflict resolution. On the other side, prisons, being by default coersive, use or threaten physical
and verbal violence to keep prisoners from escaping and to control their movement in the prisons,
making adoption of peaceful conflict resolution difficult (Van Ness, 2007: 319). Furthermore, threatened
or actual use of violence is also a typical aspect of prisoners’ life (Flanders-Thomas et al., 2002: 1).
Such realities work against efforts to instill in prisoners a value for peaceful conflict resolution given the
levels of violence within prisons and the commitment of prison administration to harsh disciplinary
actions. One of the ironies of prisons is that they were once considered as a means of keeping offenders
away from the criminogenic influences, which are currently immersed inside prison. Not coincidentally,
prisons have often been characterized as ‘schools of crime’ (Sloop, 1996: 46) where inmates get
victimized delving even more into the ‘art of crime’.
iii. Lack of Autonomy
Prisons are authoritarian and hierarchical institutions, which control all aspects of the lives of
prisoners, making it difficult for them to exercise personal responsibility (Van Ness, 2007: 319). At the
same time, restorative justice requires that participants be empowered and that decision-making be
‘democratised’; something that does not seem to fit well with the structural characteristics of
imprisonment. Restorative justice requires professionals to think of their role in a radically different way
- to become facilitators rather than mere decision-makers (Johnstone, 2007: 19). Currently, programmes
that are required by the parole boards, such as victim empathy training, may be beneficial to prisoners,
but they are not fully restorative simply because they are not pursued at the initiative of the prisoners. In
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addition, prisons are necessarily preoccupied with offenders and it becomes difficult to also maintain a
focus on victims’ needs. Thus, the control of prison regimes may reduce the opportunities for prisoners
to take responsibility by requiring particular activities, or it may even deter them from doing so (Toews,
2006: 5). There are many prisoners who would like to have direct of indirect contact with their victims,
but are prohibited by law from contacting them (Van Ness, 2005). So, they wait, hoping that the victim
will initiate contact.
iv. Obtaining Genuine Voluntariness
A basic principle of restorative justice is that parties can take part in initiatives on a non-coerced,
voluntary basis (United Nations, 2006: 14). Currently, the attitude of the prisoner towards the victim is
taken into account at different levels by the prison authorities, for example in decisions concerning the
fulfillment of parole requirements and the design of sentencing plans and risk assessments (Biermans &
d’Hoop, 2001: 7). Hence, restorative justice practitioners and the prisons have to deal with this in order
to avoid that some prisoners may volunteer to participate in initiatives towards the victim just because
they will increase their chances to gain an early release. Such practice could use victims as tools and
inevitably lead to an increased polarization of the conflict instead of solving it. In the worst-case
scenario, the non-genuine voluntariness of offenders may also lead to phenomena of secondary
victimization of the party affected by crime. Hence, persistently opposed offenders should not take part
in direct mediation; it would, in any case, result in achieving more harm than good for both parties.
Although voluntary participation would not guarantee a positive experience for either the victim
or the offender, it may increase the likelihood of this. Offenders who participate willingly tend to be the
most positively influenced by the process (Marshall, 1999: 24), although there remains the question of
how genuine and voluntary their participation can or needs to be. Given that a personal encounter with a
victim is something that few prisoners will be immediately enthusiastic about, some persuasion to take
that route is not unreasonable, as long as prisoners’ involvement is ultimately based on willingness. The
offender, because of his/her unlawful actions, has an obligation towards the victim, and it is reasonable
to expect some attempt to take responsibility and offer reparation; probably symbolic taken the limited
opportunities available for imprisoned offenders.
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v. Dealing with ‘Bifurcation’
The concept of restorative justice reveals a number of potential advantages for a more effective
administration of justice, which, in parallel, bears some evident difficulties. While according to
restorative justice practices, the offender should be actively encouraged to make reparation for the harm
inflicted to both the victim and the community, there also has to be a reasonable and appropriate agenda
for dealing with those offenders who decline to do so. In other words, the potential unwillingness of
prisoner to get involved in any reparative scheme should be accompanied by a ‘plan-B’; a bifurcated
policy that would deal with the non-cooperative offenders. As Blad (2003a: 1) asserts, restorative
detention is pragmatic and positive with regards to the essential humanity of most offenders. This
implies that mainstream imprisonment becomes a necessity or a priority within a framework of justice
where the chance of a restorative punishment may be ruled out in certain cases.
Similar provisions should be envisaged for cases where victims are non-identifiable or refuse to
take part in a restorative practice. Sometimes, direct contact between individual prisoner and their
victims can be an area of contention, especially with some forms of serious offending due to severe
psychological trauma that has resulted to the victim of crime or to inadequate preparation of the offender
to enter into reconciliation.
vi. The Social Conditions of Prisons
Prisoners housed in higher security levels are no less likely to recidivate than those housed in
minimum security; moreover, estimates suggests that harsher prison conditions lead to more post-release
crime (Chen & Shapiro, 2007: 1). However, in both cases, prisons conditions are rarely good; problems
usually include overcrowding, inter-ethnic tensions, bad hygiene and so forth (Guidoni, 2003;
Johnstone, 2007; Van Ness, 2007). In addition, violence and the fear of violence can have a major
impact on the quality of life in prisons. All inmates have the right to feel safe and to be able to live and
work, free from fear of violence, threatening behaviour, intimidation or bullying. Nevertheless, the
experience of imprisonment is characterized by ‘pains’ and deprivations (Dhami et al. 2009: 433).
Prisons are dangerous places where violent incidents do happen; and prison officials usually are unable
to control – or, sometimes, turn a blind eye to - all the abuse that goes on in prisons. Assaults, threats,
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theft and verbal abuse are routine and fear is pervasive (Edgar et al. 2002): ‘[…] when I was in the
mainstream prison, I was beaten up by other prisoners at least twice a week’45.
Taking into consideration all the physical, emotional and mental health risks deriving from these
problems, it is hard to expect prisoners to get an incentive for participating in a restorative justice
programme and to be able to focus on how their actions have harmed others. This is especially so when
many prisoners experience imprisonment as deeply and unfairly punishing: ‘[…] it seems as if
everything is to make you suffer. Everything is done as punishment. It’s mental torture. I feel it as a
punishment even though I am on remand. They drain people, make them feel bad […] they shouldn’t be
so heavy-handed’ (Liebling, 2004: 135).
VI. CONSTRUCTING A RESTORATIVE PRISON
Failure in many countries to achieve the aim of crime reduction or to halt the overall increase in
crime has inevitably led to considerable dissatisfaction with existing criminal justice policies. Often it
seems that policies based on each of the traditionally accepted justifications of punishment (namely,
incapacitation, retribution, deterrence and rehabilitation), or certain combinations of these, have failed to
deliver satisfactory results. Unfortunately, penal policies based on dubious premises appear to be a
universal phenomenon; and, as crime is an inevitable phenomenon resistant to control, reduction
strategies must be focused on the diminution of the causes of crime. The result of this reappraisal has
become known in the concept of restorative justice, which could transform the way prisons are designed
and operate today in line with what reality dictates us.
Bearing in mind the definition of Blad and Pauwelsen (2003) that restorative detention is ‘a
detention regime that expresses restorative culture, and which is fully structured to the needs of, and
conditions for, restoration of damage and social relations of trust and inclusion’ in relation to the variety
of restorative justice initiatives that have been taken around the world, as well as all the conceptual and
operational barriers mentioned above, somebody would rationally wonder: Is restorative detention
pragmatic or just romantic? Could it actually work or is an utopia? The way to develop restorative
justice in prisons is to think creatively and not caught up in obstacles and boundaries: “I will not restrict
myself to what is already available, or what is financially feasible. Rather I will use my imagination to
45
Personal communication with an inmate (December, 2009).
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paint a picture of how things could be […] how a system of restorative justice would look like”
(Liebmann cited in Quill & Wynne, 1993).
The present section is concerned with the extent to which restorative detention could become an
effective reality. It could be argued that punishment does not necessarily have to inflict pain in order to
condemn and sanction unlawful behaviours. Neither should punishment always be interpreted as
imprisonment. But, in serious offences where imprisonment is unavoidable, we should not abandon the
restorative concept. Initially, if we wish to achieve restorative detention, then we will have to look
beyond prison as an intervention. It is essential that detention develops within an integrated criminal
justice policy in the light of restorative justice. If stages prior to detention (arrest-charge-conviction) are
taken in a retributive, non-communicative way, then restorative detention is a lost cause. If, for example,
prior to detention, we do not deal respectfully with all those affected by the criminal act and do not
include the concept of restoration and redress, then all efforts made during detention might be a waste of
energy.
In addition, prisons adopting a restorative justice approach should no longer be driven by

offender concerns only. Instead, they would need to undertake a three-dimensional response involving
victims, offenders and the community. Restorative justice could not only help the victim, community
and the offender, but also could help unify the prison itself. It may give a clearer mission and therefore a
more consistent response to crime. Today, there are several paradigms (as discussed earlier) that
envisage the creation of a restorative prison in order to provide a new model of imprisonment to
counteract worldwide trends towards the warehousing of prisoners with no social or ethical input (Stern,
2005: 9). More ambitiously, they explore the possibility of altering the prison from an instrument of
‘retribution’ and exclusion that it has been historically, into a place where prisoners could repair the
harm and work for the community.
It is much easier to believe that criminals deserve nothing less than punishment. If we do so, then
we admit that a person should be identified only with his/her criminal sanctions, and this would lead us
to the phenomena of exclusion and stigmatization. Keeping steer of these ideals, the following four
aspects should be intensified if a prison were to move from a retributive to a restorative one:
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a. Incorporating Restorative Principles into Prison Life
The punishment debate is full of moral and ethical complexities, nevertheless, there is no doubt
that restorative prisons can be designed and administered in a manner that enables those who have to be
detained in custody to focus on rehabilitating themselves and reparation. However, changing the ethos of
prisons from a retributive to a constructive model towards prisoners requires similar changes on an
operational level.
The quality of justice might be improved considerably if restorative justice principles were to be
widely endorsed and taken into use in prisons from all prison staff. As, according to the restorative
notion, punishment itself should not be the prime objective in dealing with crime, efforts should be made
so that disciplinary procedures are followed according to a restorative, non-violent ethos. This ethos
would require a cultural change across the whole administration of prisons, which historically and by
nature is based on segregation and restraint. Currently, restorative activities (where implemented)
occupy only a few hours of prisoners’ daily schedule and, at the same time, conflicts still develop among
inmates, as well as between inmates and staff. Therefore, if the relevant disciplinary processes are not
followed in a ‘restorative-friendly’ way, then the authoritative disciplinary measures will undermine any
enthusiastic effort to introduce restorative justice behind bars.
Blad (2003b) suggests that custodial regimes should be designed to deliver a restorative ethos
and he does not foresee any difficulty in dealing with offenders who fail to comply with the
requirements of restorative justice by maintaining an offensive behaviour or being reluctant to get
involved in reparative work. He insists that both attitudes (co-operative and non-compliant) should be
treated differently, but always in a manner that would praise the principles of restorative justice. Hence,
in order to move towards a ‘restorative detention’, it is pivotal to familiarize prison staff and
administration with the concept of restorative justice. Therefore, rather than focusing solely on direct or
indirect communication between the victim and the offender, prison staff should also be trained
accordingly. The familiarization of prison staff and officials with the notion of restoration might have an
effect on the regime, activities for detainees and, generally, on the prison regime. Providing training for
prison staff at different levels, delivered by experienced restorative facilitators who are able to raise
awareness of restorative principles and processes, may also lead to a better understanding of the context
of the crime and the prisoner. Having prison staff acquire such knowledge, mediation and other
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alternative dispute resolution processes should be preferred to more formal and aggressive methods in
dealing with the numerous conflicts that inevitably arise in prisons.
Mediation and conferencing should be available in cases of disputes within penal institutions,
whether these involve conflicts between inmates or inmates and staff. In addition, forums and dialogue
groups open to anyone working in prisons may foster a new basis for forming relationships within the
institution and creating an environment, which could foster prisoners’ transformation. It therefore
follows that in all units within prisons there should be well-trained staff who are able to facilitate
restorative justice practices. This is in line with the assumption that prisons should be considered moral
institutions and corrections a moral enterprise in which restorative justice and rehabilitation should be
combined in an effort to foster ‘virtue’ or ‘moral goodness’ in inmates (Cullen et al., 2001: 268). The
notion of a virtuous prison suggests that the correctional staff should aim to fulfil restorative goals with
the objective of culture change. The task for prison staff would be to work with prisoners to identify
their skills, to provide the support they need to restore their lives, and to prepare them for a renewed
citizenship and a life away from crime. Potentially, a restorative regime would offer growth of mutual
understanding and co-operation between prisoners, prison staff and society, with opportunities to
experience the value of reconciliation (Coyle, 2008).
The process of introducing restorative work may also bring about a conceptual change in staff
practices, too. A whole prison commitment to restorative approaches may lead to strategies for applying
principles of inclusion and problem-solving, re-defining prisons as places of reform and resettlement,
rather than punishment and marginalisation. However, it should be acknowledged that this is not an easy
task, as there is a tendency to stick to traditional structures and ways of task fulfilment. Prison staff often
has a strongly polarised frame of mind when it comes to crime and offenders (Biermans, 2002). Hence,
attention must be paid about what we are trying to achieve, providing sufficient information, training
and discussions with staff. Envisaging a prison where restorative justice reigns, a restorative justice
consultant should be provided to every prison46 that would bring the message of the culture of
restorative justice to inmates but, first of all, to prison staff. If not, there is always the danger that our
efforts may be swamped out by existing mindsets and repressive attitude towards detainees.
46
Restorative justice consultants have been already appointed in prisons across Belgium.
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b. Fostering Relationships between Prisons and Local Communities
The philosophy of restorative justice may well apply to prison relationships and structures in
general; it is something that has an impact on the prison as a whole, and on its relationships with outside
organisations and the community. However, sustaining work of a restorative nature needs support from a
wider network within the establishment and the service. Therefore, a new relationship between the
prison and its local community should be fostered. Hence, the collaboration between prisons,
community organizations, victim advocates, the Ministry of Justice / Department of Corrections and the
incarcerated individuals appears as the golden rule.
Initially, the core purpose of prison should be (re)established so as to prepare prisoners to return
to the community as law-abiding citizens. For this, strong links could be created between prisoners and
those outside of prison walls. Community members could be able to come into prison and participate in
its work and vice-versa: prisoners could also be able to go out to do constructive work in the community
- their secondary victim - in which they form a part of and belong to. In other words, prisoners could
initially be provided with opportunities to work for the benefits of the direct victim or the community as
opposed to doing work to indirect beneficiaries (e.g. fixing bikes for children in Africa or making
benches for public parks located out of their community), or being not allowed to work at all. This
could help prisoners to develop their own personal qualities, get familiarised with the ethos of making-
good through work, negate their existing negative labelling and adopt a more positive sense of identity
(Stern, 2005; Liebmann, 2007). It could also have the effect of building self-esteem and trust with the
local community. Simultaneously, the members of the wider community may start seeing prisoners as
people who are capable of doing good and not only bad actions. Prisoners are also citizens; and these
changes may reinforce each other resulting in a shift of the image of prisoners as citizens who are
(temporarily) imprisoned.
As restorative justice focuses on victims as well as community peace and is future oriented, our
aim for any networking should be to enable all the parties involved in a conflict to act on their own
behalf. Through restorative justice some prisoners find relief from their psychological suffering and, in
some cases, social relationships can be restored (Walgrave, 2003). Even prisoners who might be able to
cope with their offending might not be motivated to participate in such process unless the retributive
sentence is left out of focus. Prisons currently devote almost all their energy into preventing serious
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damage to their identity or even its destruction (by the abolitionists) (Sykes, 1958; Goffman, 1961),
making Bazemore and Walgrave (1999) wonder if restorative justice in prisons could be fully-fledged or
just an add-on to a retributive approach. According to Hagemann (2003), such programmes conducted in
prisons should not be classified as neither fully-fledged nor add-one restorative justice because the
imposed retributive punishment forms a conceptual impediment. Similarly, Liewellyn and Howse
(2001), based on the above position, claim that punishment should not be imposed at all in a restorative
justice setting; a belief that is in line with Braithwaite and Pettit’s (1990) republican theory of justice.
Nevertheless, various restorative justice initiatives have already been undertaken in prisons
around the world reaching for reparation to the community through charity workshops and planting
partnerships with the local community (Newell, 2001 Such initiatives are opposed to Mathiesen’s (1974)
argument that the disintegrative wall of prison is constitutive and cannot be overcome. Imposing
punishment through restoration and, at the same time, achieving restoration through punishment,
restorative justice schemes in prisons, even from their very early steps, have brought optimism in
processes of rehabilitation and reintegration, which, long ago, had been considered as problematic and
ineffective. This development towards restorative justice can only occur with a parallel development in
society. The idea of conflict resolution has yet to gain ground. Community must be called to actively aid
fellow citizens from the moment the prison gates close or open as the person attempts to pick up the
threads of life outside bars. Of course, all of this implies a rebuilding of community through a quantum-
shift away from the concept of retributive incarceration, and towards a model within which offenders –
with the necessary assistance – rehabilitate themselves and restore their full membership back to the
community. There is little disagreement that crime will be controlled ultimately by creating a greater
sense of social responsibility and a caring society.
c. Focusing Early on Reintegration of Offenders
Working on a restorative regime in prison is one thing, working on restorative justice another. If
somebody is going to be incarcerated, every eye should be on the release date from the very beginning,
as prisoners will be out eventually. Reintegration is supposed to start the moment someone enters prison;
however, prisons, by their very nature, are difficult places to start any reintegration process. Prison does
a bad job of being like the real world – outside prison bars. Especially for adult prisoners, very
structured regimes that take away all discretion are infantilising and not helpful for reintegration.
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But, how do we expect restorative justice to reintegrate offenders? And into what? Communities
may disable people; therefore, restorative justice may never be successful unless radical changes were
made in the existing social structures (Sullivan & Tifft, 2001). People in society may feel more
comfortable believing that offenders are ‘others’ or ‘aliens’, because to believe otherwise is to admit
that, under the same circumstances, any of us could have acted in a similar way. Nevertheless, to believe
that prisoners are ‘others’ is immature and unrealistic. In reality, the distinction line between legitimacy
and offending is very thin. Each one of us is a potential victim, and/or a potential offender. Most people
held in prisons are those who had very little in their life; people who were deprived of education, a
balanced family, healthy relationships and social acceptance (Smith et al. 2007) - things that others, the
ones presently outside the prison bars, usually take for granted.
So, what do we need to change these attitudes? Stalin said that one death is a tragedy but a
million deaths are a mere statistic. Unfortunately, we often use statistics to convince the public about
crime and justice issues, but what is actually needed are more ‘ex-convict made good’ stories. Such
individual stories could have a greater impact upon the public and are useful for the reduction of
‘othering’ and people’s fear of crime.
From the offenders’ perspective, while entering prison they are going through a degradation
process, where things are instantly taken away and the persons change from citizens to prisoners. Often
the transition from prisoners back to citizens is equally dramatic and fast. It is almost like there will be a
knock on the cell door and it is ‘you are out – here is your stuff and there is the bus’. However, the
reintegration process should be as powerful as the incarceration; though, at the moment, reintegration is
in an exploratory phase. There are no studies available that could indicate with certainty what ‘works’
(Maruna, 2007). There only exist some evidence on practices that show the best likelihood of working.
Restorative justice programmes seem to mobilise community resources (voluntary organisations)

and strengthen community capacity for social control (conflict-resolution). Community-based
programmes seem to have the best likelihood of working, however, people who go to these sorts of
projects are not always going straight or doing well. Therefore, the important phase of release should be
carefully planned, maybe on a discussion group-conferencing basis. Such processes may include those
involved in the counselling and support programmes undertaken while in custody, volunteer groups that
can visit the institution on a regular basis, as well as close relatives and significant others from the
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community. Consequently, relationships with family members should be impaired as minimally as

possible, and also contacts within the wider community should be promoted. The conference group for
this purpose should plan the release process in all its aspects, paying particular attention to vocational
training, accommodation and any other counselling support. Finally, after such processes in prison,
follow-up work should take place if the learning from the event is to be sustained within the experience
of the sentence and commitments made are to be included in the sentencing planning process.
Reintegration is a process of conversion; and people start with the desire to go straight, but it is a long-
haul process and they need constant support to keep it up.
d. Raising Victim Awareness among Prisoners
Changing a prison policy into a restorative one is certainly not only about making mediation
possible. Restorative justice is a fundamentally different way of thinking, understanding and responding
to crime. So, the first step in promoting the use of restorative justice in prisons is to deepen the
understanding of what really matters in the philosophy - its core values, namely: healing, voluntarism,
empowerment, inclusiveness, accountability and problem-solving (Edgar & Newell, 2006). Only then,
raising the awareness of prisoners to the possibility of restorative processes could lead them thinking
about their victims and the impact of their crime on others. Hence, prisons should have a policy to help
prisoners to understand the harmful effects that crime has on victims. Implanting such an understanding
is crucial, but difficult, as coping with the hardships of imprisonment leaves prisoners no space to think
of those they have harmed; the whole experience of imprisonment tends to make prisoners feel
victimised themselves (Johnstone, 2007). Many offenders sentenced to imprisonment show a tendency
to consider themselves to be the victim (which generally they were in their turn) and to rationalise their
behaviour or neutralise their guilt by minimizing their own responsibility (Bondeson, 1989: 88).
Sometimes, this process of neutralisation continues even after their release proving that all the time
spent in prison served to increase their vengeance and bitterness towards the victim, the society and the
criminal justice system.
Hence, victim awareness should be raised from the very first hours of imprisonment. Prisoners
should be asked questions about their attitude towards the victim of the crime during the sentencing
planning process. How their concern is handled could lead to a greater awareness of the impact on
others, providing to the probation service more in-depth information about the prisoner. In addition, as
359
conferencing and mediation spreads within prisons, most probably, the prisoners will spread the word
about the impact the experience had on them. Several conferences and mediations between prisoners
and their victims have taken place on a global scale through the work of probation projects and the effect
has been to make the prison population (both juveniles and adults) more responsive to opportunities for
reparation (Edgar & Newell, 2006).
However, communication between the victim and the offender is probably the ideal situation, but
is only possible for a small percentage of prisoners. Therefore, the emphasis should be placed on the
value of active responsibility rather than on professional rehabilitative techniques, which imply
rehabilitative efforts for the offender himself. For this, restorative detention would become an active
analysis of the circumstances and the reasons under which crime was committed in line with the
offender’s own background. This has to be undertaken by the offender himself, but within the context of
programmes operated in the establishment he/she is detained. A truly restorative regime in a prison
would, on a daily basis, present prisoners with a series of duties, challenges and learning opportunities,
investing trust in their capacity to take responsibility. Activities that promote victim awareness - such a
viewing and discussing relevant films, writing letters of apology (that might become the starting point
for a face-to-face mediation if victims are willing to receive this letter) or meeting with community
representatives and surrogate victims - should, therefore, be organised to create or increase the
sensitivity of what it means to be a victim of crime.
If prisons have to continue to exist then victim awareness programmes should be incorporated. A
regime like this might increase the possibility that on release prisoners would become well integrated
members of their communities with a great deal to contribute, rather than more likely to return to a life
of crime. However, the day when all prisons are like this remains in the far future. In the meantime, each
of us has to contribute as best we can, both individually and collectively. Once prisons and communities
become familiarised with the notion of restorative justice, the (restorative) activities will naturally
follow.
e. Integrating Opportunities for Apology and Remorse
360
Apology47 and remorse are powerful elements in everyday life; both in religious rituals and
secular reconciliation. However, the particular elements are not very evident in the criminal justice
arena, although, according to Sarat (1999: 168), no expressions are more universally welcomed within
and by the legal system. While, in theory, criminal allegedly encourages expressions of remorse and
apology (Duff, 1986: 154-162), in practice, far more attention is devoted to prevention and punishment
of crime than ways in which offenders could repent and resume normal lives (Wuthnow, 1997: 171-
172). Traditionally, criminal justice has been focused on deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and,
during the last decades, rehabilitation, where apology appears as a pro forma statement from defendants
to judges at sentencing48 inhibiting rather than facilitating meaningful remorse. Moreover, victims have
no structured opportunity to meet with defendants; and this hurts both parties. Similarly, prisons leave
little room to offenders for apology and remorse, although the media routinely report cases of victims
who bear wounds that need to be healed, seeking an apology from the offender.
Nevertheless, apology and remorse are not simple tools of diagnosing the appropriate
punishment for individual offenders. They are powerful rituals, not only for offenders, but also for
victims and communities. They, also, are social mechanisms able to restore relationships and affirm
group memberships (Bibas & Bierschbach, 2004: 104) that prisons could facilitate by encouraging
offenders to meet with surrogate or, when possible, with their actual victims. In addition, in the eyes of
the prison management, the victim and the community, remorseful offenders indicate that they are not
‘lost’, but they have some self-transformative capacity, which makes them more likely to rehabilitated
or, at least, less hardened (Bibas & Bierschbach, 2004: 94-95). Remorseful and apologetic wrongdoers,
simply by virtue of being remorseful and apologetic, are less likely to offend again in the future (Sarat,
1999: 170). Thus, if prisons are all about controlling and responding to an individual’s unlawful
behaviour, then terms like ‘apology’, ‘reconciliation’, ‘healing’ or ‘remorse’ are, indeed, alien. But, if
prisons aim to reduce recidivism by eliminating the moral imbalances between the parties created by the
wrong and restoring relationships between offenders, victims and communities, then the above terms
should become the norm.
In the same vein, Garvey (1998), seeing punishment as atonement, seeks to reintegrate offenders
into the community and to reconcile them with their victims. His argument is in line with evidence
47
Etymologically, the term ‘apology’ here refers to the (offender’s) expression of shame, repentance and regret.
48
Referring to the usual automatic reduction of sentence when defendants plea guilty in front of a judge.
361
suggesting that victims and offenders consider this relational aspect of wrongdoing pivotal (Bazemore &
Umbreit, 1995: 296). Expressions of remorse and apology could offer some insight into an individual’s
moral orientation (Bibas & Bierschbach, 2004: 112) and allow prisoners to make a plea for
reconciliation apart from merely predicting future offending behaviour. Given that apology is a
relational concept and practice that does not exist in isolation (Tavuchis, 1991: 47), face-to-face49
interactions between offender and offended are essential to effective expressions of remorse and apology
within prisons. In such interactions, prisoners do not apologise for something, but to someone, namely
their victim, their community, their family or friends. They also come to realise that their crime had real-
world effects avoiding possible neutralisations or rationalisations of crime as being minor or deserved.
Empirical evidence form restorative justice programmes confirm all the aforementioned: that
apology and remorse matter to both offenders and victims (Poulson, 2003: 167, 189); that a substantial
percentage of victims want to meet with offenders (Strang & Sherman, 2003: 17-23); that, interestingly,
that the more that victims are emotionally affected by the offense, the more they want to meet with
offenders (Mattison & Mirrlees-Black, 2000: 43); that offenders liked being able to apologise and to let
the victim know that they were not bad (Umbreit, 1994: 101; Flaten, 1996: 241, 256). However, in order
the entire process to have profound effects and provide a starting point of forgiveness and reconciliation,
any expression of remorse and apology should be genuine. Such expressions can be painful; hence,
remorse and apology can be very difficult for some offenders who are not willing to show genuine
repentance. Some offenders might remain defiant, while some others might suffer from a mental illness.
Furthermore, not all victims want or are ready to hear an apology or meet an offender. In other words,
remorse and apology are not a nostrum and there will always be practical problems. Nonetheless, they
remain important elements, not substitutes, for all types of punishment. They are a supplement or, better,
an integral part of the process of punishment that seeks not to ostracise offenders but to achieve
catharsis, to teach moral lessons, to condemn crime and to affirm norms.
49
Although face-to-face apologies are preferred as remorse is often conveyed with body language and facial expressions
(Strang & Sherman, 2003: 28), distant expression of remorse is also possible through apology letters.
362
VII. CONCLUSIONS: VISION FOR THE FUTURE
What is the future of the prison? To what extend is the traditional model of imprisonment still
relevant at the beginning of the 21st century? Has the time come for a radical re-think of the concept of
imprisonment and the prison? Before we start seeking the answers to the above questions, we should
decide what it is we expect out of our criminal justice system at large, and how it can best serve society.
The most important point to make about criminal justice processes is that they have a relatively
narrow part to play in underpinning the values of society. The formal justice process can support and
reinforce the value system of a society, but it cannot be a substitute for it. Society should not look to the
criminal justice process to resolve all its ‘maladies’. Neither should restorative justice be over-sold by its
advocates as the ideal solution for all the deficits of the criminal justice system. Restorative justice is not
sacrosanct, neither an infallible paradigm sui generis. Undoubtedly, research around the world has
shown clearly positive results, however, there should be avoided the ‘evangelism’ from some
practitioners, politicians or theorists who portray restorative justice as a purely successful approach to
crime and deviance.
Earlier we saw a number of aspects of imprisonment that conflict with the ethos of restorative
justice. However, it should be noted that these obstacles are not particular to imprisonment, although
they may well be more distinct within custodial settings. For example, the reconstruction of self is
difficult to be achieved in any context (Sullivan & Tifft, 2005) and the pull of delinquent sub-cultures
has been recognised as a major obstacle to any effort at personal reform (Johnstone, 2007). The social
conditions in which many offenders live when outside of prisons are not supportive at all to restorative
justice. People outside prison, as well as those within it, tend to enter restorative justice with a low faith
to its ethos - as practitioners usually struggle to establish respect and trust to the participants (Pierson,
2002: 238) - something that sometimes changes once they have completed the process.
The gap between the prison regime and the ethos of restorative justice remains deep; as deep as
the one between the environments of many contemporary societies with the notion of restorative justice.
This is why restorative justice is largely considered as a challenging idea. Nevertheless, the obstacles for
a restorative imprisonment mentioned earlier should not be considered unalterable, as Cohen (1985:
143) argued: ‘the core of a prison system cannot be changed. Either we eliminate the system entirely, or
we keep it intact […]’. This pessimistic claim seems to be in conflict with the ideas and hopes that are
363
contested by restorative justice advocates. Edgar and Newell (2006), for instance, seem to optimistically
think that restorative justice may result in a reform of the whole prison environment. While recognising
the reasonable risks of any attempt to introduce restorative justice in prisons, this cautious optimism for
the possibility of reform appears, at least for the time being, more pragmatic than the entire elimination
of prisons.
Taking all this into consideration makes the idea of restorative detention challenging.
Considering restoration in detention causes us to examine the function of prison sentences. Examining
the idea of restoration per se it became obvious that there is no room for a prison in the context of
restorative justice. However, the question should not be focused on the function of a prison sentence
within the system of restorative justice, but on the necessity of locking up people, and how fully could
restorative justice provide opportunities for redress within the need for depriving people of their
freedom.
Hence, we need to acknowledge the distinction between the punishment of criminals and the
protection of the public on the one hand, and the prevention of crime on the other. The main purpose of
the prison is to punish criminals by depriving them of their liberty; and this should only be done in
respect to the most serious crimes, and when there are no reasonable alternatives. In other words, prison
must only be used as a last resort if there is really no appropriate community-based sentence. In
addition, prison occasionally needs to be used to protect the community from individuals who are
threading public safety. Again, this should not be a common occurrence and one should be very cautious
of any suggestion that would increase the use of imprisonment as an efficient form of crime control
(Coyle, 2008). The doctrine that tougher punishment deters crime by making offenders fearful has been
widely falsified for many kinds of offenders (Sherman, 1993). The classic mistaken tendency of
conventional justice is to punish offenders as if they will never come back from prison to live among us.
But with rare exceptions, they all come back; and when they do, we depend on them not to cause more
harm in the community. Hence, preparation for resettlement should start at the beginning of the
sentence, no matter how long or short the period of custody is. Prisoners often have complex needs,
which need to be addressed if they are to resettle satisfactorily. As well as advice on health, housing and
relationships (in theory), prisoners need to feel connected with the world outside the prison, as we are all
interdependent: criminals, victims, and the wider society. However, high rates of reconviction suggest
that we are not doing what is needed to support that interdependence.
364
Many aspects of criminal justice have been blamed for causing crime among convicted criminals.
Inadequate or ineffective rehabilitation programmes, lack of drug treatment, insufficient funding for
resettlement after prison, and other specific policies have all been found to be possible causes. Others
have suggested something far more fundamental: the way in which society and Government think about
the actual and potential connections between victims, criminals and society. Offenders and victims, for
example, are often assumed to be fundamentally different kinds of people. That assumption is largely
mistaken, which obscures the reality that most criminals have themselves been victims, some from a
very early age. Thus, offenders and victims often have problems in common; a fact that could
immediately create closer social bonds between the two parties.
In a nutshell, if we consider prison primarily as a place of punishment rather than a place of

personal reform that should be used only as a last resort to satisfy public demand for punishment of
serious crimes and in the interests of public safety, then we could move on to consider that prisons can
could also serve as a place of constructive experience by:
 inviting victims, offenders and community organizations to actively participate as

development partners;
 providing opportunities for restorative justice projects to collaborate and complement
existing programmes;
 encouraging prisoners to take full responsibility for the crimes which they have
committed;
 supporting offenders who have been victims and providing services to meet their needs as
victims;
 considering ways to repair the damage they have done to the victim;
 recognising the humanity of inmates by giving them opportunities for empowerment,
self-improvement and personal healing;
 addressing issues of release and reintegration through the restorative justice lens; and,
finally,
 by making people better by the overall experience of imprisonment.
Any efforts to achieve the aforementioned transformation should not result to a leniency towards
offending behaviour. In other words, we should remain tough on crime; but moreover, to its causes.
365
What is needed is an adequate response to crime, but not necessarily a punitive one. This changing
nature of punishment can tell us about social change. Restorative justice should go hand-in-hand with
changes in the social care and welfare sector. Of course, such changes are time-consuming and cannot
happen overnight.
On the one hand, it is important to implement concrete, short-term initiatives that could lead to a
more humanising effect on detention. On the other hand, how easy and how far restorative justice will
be able to penetrate the solid criminal justice ‘shell’ will depend, among other factors, on the zeal of the
people involved, of the available funding sources and on the levels of its acceptability by the offenders
and the justice system itself. To this extent, caution is needed against unrealistic expectations that are
often attached to restorative justice initiatives. Young and Goold (1999: 136) believe that we should
place less stress on the possible impact of restorative justice to reduce recidivism: reduction of
reoffending is a viable goal of restorative justice but not the ultimate one. In contrast, restorative justice
should be regarded as a cautioning session that allows the affected parties to express with their own
voice their sense of harm, even when offenders are being incarcerated, through a more open form of
criminal justice.
Unfortunately, prisons, as we know them today, are based on the notion of exclusion and
isolation. Such notions are incompatible with the fundamental concept that everyone should be
integrated in the society and that he/she is meant to contribute to the good of others. Mandela (1995)
said that a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones. In other
words, the development of a country should be measured according to the way and conditions offenders
are punished, in which are widely regarded as the ‘mirror’ that reflects the civilization of that country.
Within every society, either developed or developing, the process of punishing has been perceived to be
a matter of justice and social necessity. Though, it is naive of us to assume that by excluding large
numbers of people from our society behind the high walls of a prison for a specified period of time we
will turn them into better citizens. For this reason, restorative justice is focused on what works, both for
victims and offenders. The optimistic results provided by experiments on restorative justice behind bars
and community penalties which are currently being undertaken in a constantly increasing number of
countries give us real reason to hope that the ‘love-hate’ relationship between the two notions
(imprisonment and restoration) may indeed be a better way of dealing with crime and achieving the
fundamental purpose of any punishment: to make people better. In the end, when we are talking about
366
punishment and crime prevention, results are all that matter. Hence, ‘what works’ both for victims and
offenders is the enigma for those who commit themselves to finding a better way to doing justice that
would be more satisfactory for the victim, more reintegrative for the offender, more assuring for the
society and thus, more restorative for all; and believing in the capability of humans to live together in
harmony, restorative justice could make a contribution to hozhooji (Yazzie, 1994); to help victims,
offenders and community live in ‘right relationship’.
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System, Vancouver BC: Simon Fraser University - Centre for Restorative Justice, available at:
http://www.sfu.ca/cfrj/fulltext/sloane.pdf
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University of Alabama press
Smith, R., Grimshaw, R., Romeo, R. & Knapp, M. (2007) Poverty and Disadvantage Among
Prisoners’ Families, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
374
Stewart, S. (1998) Conflict Resolution: a Foundation Guide, Winchester: Waterside press
Stern, V. (2005) Prisons and their Communities: Testing a New Approach. An Account of the
Restorative Prison Project 2000-2004, London: International Centre for Prison Studies, Kings College
London
Stern, V. (2006) Creating Criminals: People and Prisons in a Market Society, London & New
York: Zed Books
Strang, H. & Sherman, L.W. (2003) Repairing the Harm: Victims and Restorative Justice, Utah
Law Review, 1: 15-42
Sullivan, D. & Tifft, L. (2001, 2005) Restorative Justice: Healing the Foundations of our
Everyday Lives, 1st & 2nd editions, Monsey NY: Willow Tree Press
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Sykes, G.M. (1958) The Society of Captives, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press
Szmania, S.J. (2004) Beginning Difficult Conversations: an Analysis of Opening Statements in

Victim Offender Mediation / Dialogue, Austin TX: University of Texas
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Stanford University Press
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submitted by Victim Support Wales, November, available at:
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m
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Victims of Crime’ held in the Australian Institute of Criminology, 9-10 September
375
Toews, B. (2006) Little Book of Restorative Justice for People in Prison, Intercourse PA: Good
Books
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Justice, Monsey NY: Criminal Justice Press
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Restorative Justice and Mediation, Monsey NY: Criminal Justice Press
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Summary, Office for Victims of Crime Bulletin: US Department of Justice, July
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Restorative Justice: Critical Issues, Milton Keynes: Sage publications
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Programmes, New York: Criminal Justice Handbook Series
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Restorative Justice and Peace, Cali, Colombia: 9-12 February
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Handbook of Restorative Justice, Cullompton: Willan publishing
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376
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Willan publishing
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Dialogue in Texas, Galveston TX: A&M University
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edition, Winchester: Waterside press
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in A. Etzioni & Carney, D.E. (eds.) Repentance: a Comparative Perspective, New York: Rowman and
Littlefield
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175-190
Young, R. & Goold, B. (1999) Restorative Police Cautioning in Aylesbury: from Degrading to
Reintegrative Shaming Ceremonies, Criminal Law Review, 21: 126-138
Zernova, M. (2007) Restorative Justice: Ideals and Realities, Aldershot: Ashgate publishing
377
378
About the coordinators:
Jose Luis Alba is a professor at University of Valencia (Spain) and he is also a guest
lecturer at various international Universities. He was born in Segura de la Sierra (Jaén) in
the province of Andalucía (Spain) on 1967 with an important valencian and catalonian
mark. He is a PhD on Psychology, a Criminologist and a Catalonian Teacher. His research
path has been mainly focused on juvenile delinquents readjustment and his extensive teaching career has
specialised in basic psychological processes such as memory, thinking, language, and human emotion and
motivation. He also holds several Masters in Clinical Psychology from centres associated with the Albert Ellis´
Rational Emotive Therapy Institute, in which he developed a wide interest in human cognition. He has published
many scientific articles/papers on crime prevention in national and international publications. He is an author
with some other writers of many books aimed to Latin American countries, among which stand out: "Legal
Psychology in criminal investigation" "Gender-based violence: physical and educational prevention" "Handbook
of educational intervention in social readaptation". He is a renowed international speaker and has advised
various autonomic and foreing goverments, taking care of dignifying South American prisons. He holds the
position of consultative member of the Portuguese Association of Criminology. He is also a bit of a
queer...AMEN!!!!!
Eva María Jiménez González is Doctor in Psychology, Master in Forensic Psychology, Master
in Clinical Psychology and Criminologist; Director of Institute of Forensic Psychology;
Forensic Psychologist for the Courts; Professor of Forensic Psychology and Criminological
Research & Evaluation; Expert for the European Union about "Research Techniques in
Interrogation: Recognition of Witnesses"; Psychologist collaborating for the European
Institute of Applied Psychology; Psychologist collaborating for the Red Cross; Psychologist
collaborating for The Harmonization Project Competition Rules in the Andean Region;
Member of the Latin-american Association of Legal Psychology; Member of The World Society of Victimology;
Vice-president of the International Society of Criminology
379
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Criminology and forensic Psychology book

Book · January 2014

José Luis Alba Robles

Acoso escolar homófobo: prevención e intervención View project

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JOSE LUIS ALBA ROBLES

JOSE LUIS ALBA ROBLES

JOSE LUIS ALBA ROBLES

VITOR MIGUEL SILVA

MARÍA JESÚS LÓPEZ LATORRE

EDUARDO ESCALANTE GÓMEZ

DR. STUART ROSS

DR. MONICA PEREZ-TRUJILLO

DR. C. TERESITA GARCÍA PÉREZ

LUIS ALBERTO DISANTO

Criminology and forensic psychology

Cover Illustration: Yolanda Rodríguez

I.ELABORATION OF CRIMINAL PROFILES IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL DELINQUENTS ............17

II.SERVICE-LEARNING, CULTURE OF PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ..................................................39

III.COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL SKILLS TRAINING IN PREVENTING OFFENDING AND

IV.EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY ........................................................104

V.CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH: A VIEW FROM THE NOTION OF COMPLEXITY .......................157

VI.RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF OFFENDERS AT COURT .............................................................191

VII.PSYCHOPATHY: CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND LEGAL IMPLICATIONS .......................218

VIII.PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY: A CRIMINAL AND CRIMINOLOGICAL METHOD OF

IV.CRIMINAL SERIALITY AND VICTIMOLOGY ........................................................................................282

X.TREATMENT OF DRUG-ABUSING INMATES .........................................................................................304

XI.MERGING THE CONCEPTS OF RESTORATION AND IMPRISONMENT: A LOVE-HATE

Licensees in Criminology in Portugal, are able to conduct various activities as criminological

2 – Exceptionally, before manifest impossibility of services, the skills mentioned in the

 Criminological Analysis - 2632 (sociologists, anthropologists and

In response to this situation, the Portuguese Association of Criminology drew up a petition,

Vitor Miguel Silva

Presidente da Associação Portuguesa de Criminologia

I.INTRODUCTION - II.ORIGINS, DEFINITION AND CATEGORISATION OF THE DELINQUENT -

II. ORIGINS, DEFINITION AND CATEGORISATION OF THE

1. Picnic-cyclothymic type: These are individuals with predominance of transversal and

The criminal personality, therefore, will be described through common psychological

III. CLASSIFICATION OF THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL-CRIMINAL

• Leptosomatic: who reacts to jealousy.

• Picnic: who reacts to jealousy and revelations.

• Athletic: who reacts coldly and could act out of revenge.

• "spree murders" or “itinerant” murderers and

IV. ELABORATION OF CRIMINAL PROFILES

The psychological hallmark of an aggressor becomes impregnated in all of his/her criminal

V. TYPES OF CRIMINAL PROFILES

VI. METHODOLOGY OF THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL PROFILE

c. Modus operandi and hallmark

VII. LIMITATIONS OF THE PROFILING TECHNIQUE

Intervention, 3, 199 –215.

Canter, D. (2005). Mapping murder. London: Virgin Books.

Garrido, V. (2000). El perfil psicológico aplicado a la captura de asesinos en serie. El caso de

J.F. Anuario de Psicología Jurídica, 10, 25-46.

la investigación policial. Barcelona: Ariel.

Godwin, M. & Rosen, F. (2005): El rastreador. El perfil psicogeográfico en la investigación de

crímenes en serie. Barcelona: Alba.

of America: Sage Publications.

Justice and Behavior, 25, 319- 343.

Scene Variables. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 25, 46 – 80.

Criminological Knowledge. American Journal of Sociology, 96, 1402-40.

Ressler, R.K. & Shachtman, T. (2005). Asesinos en serie. Barcelona: Ariel.

Simon Fraser University.