Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Prior research on the monetary costs of criminal careers has neglected to focus on homicide offenders and tended to minimize the public costs associated with crime. Drawing on expanded monetization estimates produced by Cohen and Piquero,... more
Prior research on the monetary costs of criminal careers has neglected to focus on homicide offenders and tended to minimize the public costs associated with crime. Drawing on expanded monetization estimates produced by Cohen and Piquero, this study assessed the monetary costs for five crimes (murder, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and burglary) imposed by a sample of (n 654) convicted and incarcerated murderers. The average cost per murder exceeded $17.25 million and the average murderer in the current sample posed costs approaching $24 million. The most violent and prolific offenders singly produced costs greater than $150–160 million in terms of victim costs, criminal justice costs, lost offender productivity, and public willingness-to-pay costs.
Research Interests:
The general psychopathology general theory or p Factor is an influential theoretical development in the social and behavioral sciences, but has yet to gain traction in criminology and criminal justice. Drawing on data from a sample of... more
The general psychopathology general theory or p Factor is an influential theoretical development in the social and behavioral sciences, but has yet to gain traction in criminology and criminal justice. Drawing on data from a sample of 1722 federal pretrial defendants, we created a 22-item composite indicator or additive index of the p Factor containing externalizing, internalizing, substance use, paraphilic, and forensic indicators. Negative binomial regression models found that age, sex, and diverse forms of trauma exposure are associated with higher p Factor scores. Higher p scores strongly predicted total, violent, sexual, property, weapon, and drug arrest charges net the effects of demographic features and adverse childhood experiences. There is broad heterogeneity in psychopathology within this sample with nearly 29% of clients exhibiting zero psychopathology, nearly 61% showing average psychopathology or less, and nearly 40% evincing average to exceedingly high psychopathology. As a general theory, the p Factor has considerable potential to inform the assorted morbidities that often accompany criminal activity, including self-harm, reduced global functioning, substance use, and social dysfunction and thus is a parsimonious conceptual framework to understand the overlapping and systemic personal problems that typify chronic and serious criminal offenders.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract Extreme criminal careers illustrate the effects of multiple forms of psychopathology especially the confluence of psychopathy, multiple externalizing behaviors, and homicidality. Here, we present a forensic case report of Mr. Z,... more
Abstract Extreme criminal careers illustrate the effects of multiple forms of psychopathology especially the confluence of psychopathy, multiple externalizing behaviors, and homicidality. Here, we present a forensic case report of Mr. Z, an offender whose antisocial conduct and criminal justice system involvement spans the late 1940s to the present, whose criminal career dovetails with significant events in correctional history in the United States in the middle to late 20th century, and who was a multiple homicide offender while incarcerated in both state and federal prisons. The case report method provides rich qualitative data to supplement quantitative findings on psychopathy, career criminals, the severe 5%, and life-course-persistent offender prototypes. Given the extraordinary behaviors and psychopathology of the most severe offenders, forensic case reports are useful to refine criminological theory and research, and inform correctional practice.
Research Interests:
Studies of the dark figure of sexual offending using federal correctional clients reported significant evidence of previously unknown or hidden sexual violence, often among clients with no official criminal history. Unfortunately,... more
Studies of the dark figure of sexual offending using federal correctional clients reported significant evidence of previously unknown or hidden sexual violence, often among clients with no official criminal history. Unfortunately, research has produced variable estimates of how large the dark figure is. The current study sought to replicate recent studies of federal sexual offenders about the dark figure of sexual offending. We also extended the knowledge base by providing additional correlational analyses to see whether self-reported and official sexual offending have shared or divergent correlates. Overall, 73.8% of federal sexual offenders reported prior contact victims, which is higher than, but generally consistent with, prior prevalence estimates of 55-69% in studies of federal correctional clients. In the current data, clients convicted of child pornography possession or receipt and who had no official record of sexual abuse nevertheless reported contact sexual offenses in more than 59% of cases.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) is a relatively rare psychiatric condition characterized by aggression, explosive outbursts towards people and property, and very poorly regulated emotional and behavioral control, but has... more
ABSTRACT Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) is a relatively rare psychiatric condition characterized by aggression, explosive outbursts towards people and property, and very poorly regulated emotional and behavioral control, but has rarely been studied in a criminal justice context. Drawing on data from 863 federal correctional clients from a supervised release population in the Midwestern United States, the current study examined the lifetime prevalence and correlates of IED and its associations with criminal careers. The lifetime prevalence of IED was 2.6% with another 1% of clients exhibiting symptoms of the disorder. Poisson and negative binomial regression models have shown that IED was significantly associated with arrests for murder, attempted murder, interference with police, aggravated assault, simple assault, and domestic assault despite controls for serious behavioral disorders, age of first arrest, and demographics. Clients with IED were also dramatically more likely to be habitual offenders and accumulate chronic arrests for assault-related crimes. These offenders pose considerable risk to staff safety and should be supervised with the highest level of supervision.
Research Interests:
Institutional misconduct has criminogenic implications, whereas visitation, work, and educational involvement have desistance implications, but there is considerable heterogeneity in the inmate population and in the effects of... more
Institutional misconduct has criminogenic implications, whereas visitation, work, and educational involvement have desistance implications, but there is considerable heterogeneity in the inmate population and in the effects of institutional experiences and various programming on their immediate and postrelease behavior. Using a near population of offenders on federal supervised release, the current study examined the effects of criminogenic (e.g., misconduct) and desistance-promoting (e.g., work, education, and visitation) factors occurring within prison along with the effects of importation factors (e.g., arrest onset, federal criminal history rank, and demographics) in relation to functioning/compliance on supervised release. Institutional misconduct and specifically drug/alcohol misconduct reduced postrelease functioning/compliance, while the effects for visitation were limited. Prison work and educational experiences had no effect on supervised release outcomes. The most consist...
Research Interests: Criminology and Law
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) requires a childhood diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD); however, some adult offenders are nevertheless diagnosed with ASPD without antecedent CD. The current study used a population of federal... more
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) requires a childhood diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD); however, some adult offenders are nevertheless diagnosed with ASPD without antecedent CD. The current study used a population of federal correctional clients to examine psychiatric and paraphilic conditions that potentially differentiate these offenders. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was associated with a 120% increased likelihood of ASPD with prior CD, but a 75% reduced likelihood of ASPD without CD. Bipolar I disorder was associated with a 328% increased likelihood, frotteurism conferred a 311% increased likelihood, and sexual sadism conferred a 1,033% increased likelihood of ASPD without CD. The findings provide specificity to the heterogeneous ASPD population and help to clarify its equifinality. Implications for correctional practice are that prior psychiatric diagnoses and paraphilic disorders can help to understand the development of serious criminal behavior occu...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Household drug abuse is one of the seminal forms of adverse childhood experiences, but it does not fully capture the severity of parents that actively provide or even administer drugs to their children. Drawing on a near population of... more
Household drug abuse is one of the seminal forms of adverse childhood experiences, but it does not fully capture the severity of parents that actively provide or even administer drugs to their children. Drawing on a near population of federal supervised release offenders, the current study examined this “new” adverse childhood experience and its association with antisociality. Multiple analytical techniques (e.g., correlation, binary and multinomial logistic regression, and negative binomial regression) indicated that parent exposure to drugs was significantly associated with current drug status while on supervision, three forms of drug offending, and Cannabis, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Opiate, and Alcohol Dependence even while controlling for age of arrest onset, sex, race, and current age. We concur with other scholars that more conceptualization and measurement-refinement of adverse childhood experiences is needed to fully understand how early-life trauma shapes the contours of t...
Research Interests:
PurposeHomicide is the most severe form of crime and one that imposes the greatest societal costs. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the homicide circumplex, a set of traits, behaviors, psychological and psychiatric features that... more
PurposeHomicide is the most severe form of crime and one that imposes the greatest societal costs. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the homicide circumplex, a set of traits, behaviors, psychological and psychiatric features that are associated with greater homicidal ideation, homicidal social cognitive biases, homicide offending and victimization, and psychopathology that is facilitative of homicide.Design/methodology/approachUsing the data from a near population of federal supervised release offenders from the Midwestern USA, ANOVA, multinomial logistic, Poisson and negative binomial regression models were developed.FindingsGreater homicidal ideation is associated with homicide offending, attempted homicide offending and attempted homicide victimization and predicted by gang activity, alias usage, antisocial personality disorder and intermittent explosive disorder. These behavioral disorders, more extensive criminal careers, African American status and gang activity also e...
Research Interests:
Purpose Sexual sadism is a well-known risk factor for severe forms of sexual violence including sexual homicide and serial sexual homicide. The research is decidedly mixed about the association between sexual sadism and other, nonsexual... more
Purpose Sexual sadism is a well-known risk factor for severe forms of sexual violence including sexual homicide and serial sexual homicide. The research is decidedly mixed about the association between sexual sadism and other, nonsexual forms of criminal conduct. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on data from a census of 225 federal sex offenders from a jurisdiction in the Midwestern USA, the current study examined whether sexual sadism had a spillover effect into nonsexual crimes using correlation, ANOVA, and negative binomial regression models. Findings Sexual sadism was strongly associated with diverse forms of nonsexual criminal behavior, and sexual sadists had more extensive and versatile criminal careers than sex offenders without a formal diagnosis. Practical implications Practitioners should be aware of sexual sadism as a criminogenic risk factor. Sexual sadism is associated with sexual deviance and sexual violence. Sexual sadism als...
Research Interests:
Purpose Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a broad conceptual framework in the social sciences that have only recently been studied within criminology. The purpose of this paper is to utilize this framework by applying it to one of... more
Purpose Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a broad conceptual framework in the social sciences that have only recently been studied within criminology. The purpose of this paper is to utilize this framework by applying it to one of the most potentially dangerous forensic populations. Design/methodology/approach Archival data from 225 federal sex offenders was used to perform descriptive, correlational, and negative binomial regression models. Findings There was substantial evidence of ACEs including father abandonment/neglect (36 percent), physical abuse (nearly 28 percent), verbal/emotional abuse (more than 24 percent), and sexual abuse (approximately 27 percent). The mean age of sexual victimization was 7.6 years with the youngest age of victimization occurring at the age of 3. Offenders averaged nearly five paraphilias, the most common were pedophilia (57 percent), pornography addiction (43 percent), paraphilia not otherwise specified (35 percent), exhibitionism (26 percent...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Protective factors facilitate success on community supervision, but relatively little is known about correctional clients who are highly compliant particularly in the federal system. Drawing on a near population of federal clients on... more
Protective factors facilitate success on community supervision, but relatively little is known about correctional clients who are highly compliant particularly in the federal system. Drawing on a near population of federal clients on supervised release in the Midwestern United States, the current study examined variables associated with compliant supervision status. One day on supervision contributed to a 1% reduction in the logged odds of supervision compliance. Clients with no drug history had 793% increased odds, clients with sustained remission had 620% increased odds, and clients with early remission had 458% increased odds of compliant supervision status relative to clients actively using drugs. Among the federal Post Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA) indices, only PCRA Criminal History was significant as clients with less extensive criminal history were more likely to be compliant supervision clients. A one-unit change in PCRA Criminal History status was associated with 25% r...
Research Interests:
... Sixth dav ... 8 am, 4 pm, 10 pm-0.4 gram. Seventh dav 8 am, 4 pm, 10 pm-0.4 gram. Eighth day 4 am, 8 am, 4 pm-0.4 gram, Ninth day 8 am-0.4 gram; 12 noon, 4 pm-0.2 gm. Tenth day 8 am, 12 nooni, 4 ptm.-0.4 gram. Eleventh day... 8 am, 12... more
... Sixth dav ... 8 am, 4 pm, 10 pm-0.4 gram. Seventh dav 8 am, 4 pm, 10 pm-0.4 gram. Eighth day 4 am, 8 am, 4 pm-0.4 gram, Ninth day 8 am-0.4 gram; 12 noon, 4 pm-0.2 gm. Tenth day 8 am, 12 nooni, 4 ptm.-0.4 gram. Eleventh day... 8 am, 12 noon, 4 pm-0.4 gram. ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Page 1. CLXXIX. VITAMIN B DEFICIENCY IN THE RAT. BRADYCARDIA AS A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE1. BY ALAN NIGEL DRURY2, LESLIE JULIUS HARRIS2 AND CECIL MAUDSLEY (Melbourne). From the Department of ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The importation model is a venerable theoretical explanation for inmate misconduct but it has not been extended in nearly 50 years. The current study advances a life course importation model of inmate behavior where life events in... more
The importation model is a venerable theoretical explanation for inmate misconduct but it has not been extended in nearly 50 years. The current study advances a life course importation model of inmate behavior where life events in childhood cascade to predict antisocial behavior during adolescence and misconduct occurring during periods of confinement. Based on data from 2,520 institutionalized male delinquents, ordinary least squares, logistic, and negative binomial regression models indicated that family background variables were largely predictive of multiple facets of delinquent careers. Negative binomial regression models of institutional misconduct indicated that proximal delinquent career variables were more consistently associated with misconduct than distal family background factors. Because institutional behavior can be understood as the importing of family deprivation experiences and chronic delinquency, the life course importation model is a useful conceptual framework t...