Violent Offenders’ Within-Treatment Change in Anger, Criminal Attitudes, and Violence Risk: Associations with Violent Recidivism

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the recidivist outcomes for a group of incarcerated violent offenders, based on whether they achieved pre-post raw psychometric change, reliable change, and/or clinically significant change (CSC) following treatment completion. Participants included 42 adult male violent offenders (age range 21 to 67 years) who participated in a medium- or high-intensity, group-based violent offender treatment program offered within prisons, operated by Corrections Victoria. These men were followed in the community for an average of 3.9 years post-release, and were assessed on four risk-related variables pre- and post-treatment: General Criminal Thinking (GCT), Trait Anger (T-Ang), Anger Expression/Out (AX/O), and Overall Violence Risk (OVR). Mean levels of GCT and OVR significantly reduced following treatment; no significant changes in T-Ang and AX/O were observed. Although a small proportion of offenders achieved reliable and/or CSC, within-treatment changes were not predictive of violent recidivism. This article describes, critiques, and tests methods of intra-individual within-treatment change and provides a blueprint for future analyses linking intra-individual change and violent reoffending.

Keywords:

• within-treatment change
• violence
• rehabilitation
• recidivism

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the Adult Parole Board of Victoria, Corrections Victoria, and Victoria Police for their support and assistance with data collection. Sincere gratitude is also extended to Dr. Jessica Mooney for her overall contribution to this research, especially her assistance with data collection.