Práticas da Psicologia no contexto carcerário Brasileiro: uma revisão sistemática / Psychology practices in the Brazilian prison context: a systematic review

Este texto apresenta resultados de uma pesquisa que teve como objetivo compreender a atuação da(o) profissional psicóloga(o) no contexto carcerário brasileiro a partir da literatura produzida e publicada nas principais bases de dados vinculadas ao CNPq. Foi realizado um levantamento nas bases de dados no ano de 2020 e selecionados 7 trabalhos para análise. Identificou-se que a maioria das publicações é de 2015, possuindo concentração geográfica maior na região Sudeste. Predominam discussões sobre o papel que a(o) psicóloga(o) deve exercer nesse espaço e qual a sua real atuação. Constatou-se que as práticas mais exercidas por psicólogas(os) no sistema prisional são os atendimentos individuais, a avaliação psicológica e a elaboração de documentos. Considera-se a necessidade de maiores discussões e pesquisas sobre a atuação de psicólogas no contexto carcerário, bem como a realização destas discussões durante a formação em psicologia.

This text presents the results of a research that aimed to understand the role of professional psychologists in the Brazilian prison context, based on the literature produced and published in the main databases linked to the CNPq. A survey was carried out in the databases in the year 2020 and 7 works were selected for analysis. It was identified that most publications are from 2015, with a greater geographic concentration in the Southeast region. Discussions about the role that (o) psychologist (o) should play in this space and what is her real role prevail. It was found that the practices most exercised by psychologists in the prison system are individual care, psychological assessment and preparation of documents. There is a need for further discussions and research on the role of psychologists in the prison context, as well as these discussions during training in psychology.

Psychology and psychiatry in Singapore courts: A baseline survey of the mental health landscape in the legal arena.

Despite the increasing prevalence and involvement of mental health professionals in local courts, there has been no systematic study of the role played by these expert witnesses in Singapore courtrooms. An empirical study of all existing recorded cases on Lawnet (Singapore's legal database of all court trial cases) from 1975-2014 involving psychologists and psychiatrists was conducted. Results revealed that, not only were these mental health experts increasingly dotting the landscape of the legal arena, the variety of their contributions has also been gradually growing. Furthermore, there were marked differences across criminal, civil and custody cases with regards to the issues of how these experts were consulted and how their inputs utilized and appreciated by judges. Differences between psychology and psychiatry were also apparent. A future with more assistance rendered by these professions to courts, as well as greater synergy between law and mental health, was predicted for Singapore courts.

The federal Post Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA): a construction and validation study.

Offender assessment has been and remains the cornerstone of effective community supervision. This article presents the development of and tests the predictive validity of a 4th-generation risk assessment instrument designed for U.S. probation. A large administrative data set was used to create the assessment instrument and conduct an initial validation. Subsequent data generated from officer-completed assessments were used to conduct a prospective validation. Finally, data from case vignettes scored by trained officers were used to test the interrater agreement of the assessment instrument. Overall, analysis revealed that the assessment instrument predicted rearrest reliably when using the assessment results based on administrative data or officer-completed assessments. Analysis also revealed high rates of interrater agreement. Recommendations for future research and policy implications are presented.

A trait-interpersonal perspective on suicide risk in criminal offenders.

Despite elevated rates of suicide among offenders, research has yet to adequately address theoretically driven risk models in this population. The present study addresses such a gap by investigating a synthesized framework using 2 well-developed theoretical models, the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality and the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide (IPTS). Archival data from mitigation evaluations for pre-sentenced criminal offenders (n = 307) were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results supported a hypothesized personality-IPTS-suicide framework in which neuroticism and extraversion predict IPTS components, namely perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and acquired capability. IPTS constructs subsequently directly and indirectly (via suicidal ideation) predicted suicide potential. Findings have important implications for suicide theory, research, and risk assessment with offenders.

Suicide risk among violent and sexual criminal offenders.

Risk of suicide in people who have perpetrated specific forms of violent or sexual criminal offenses has not been quantified accurately or precisely. Also, gender comparisons have not been possible due to sparse data problems in the smaller studies that have been conducted to date. We therefore aimed to estimate these effects in the whole Danish population over a 26-year period. By completely interlinking national criminal, psychiatric, sociodemographic and cause-specific mortality registers, we conducted a nested case-control study of more than 27,000 adult suicides, during 1981-2006, and more than half a million age and gender-matched living controls. Elevated suicide risk was found in male sexual offenders. Risk was even higher among violent offenders, with greater effect sizes seen in females. It was markedly raised with serious violence, reaching a peak in relation to homicide or attempted homicide: male odds ratio (OR) 12.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) [8.3, 17.3]; female OR 30.9, CI [11.9, 80.6]. Following adjustment for psychiatric and social risk factors, relative risk in violent offenders was comparable to that seen among nonviolent offenders. These findings underline the importance of understanding why some people are violent toward themselves as well as other people, and why suicide risk is so much higher in people who have perpetrated serious acts of violence. They also indicate a clear need for developing effective multiagency interventions that effectively tackle both forms of destructive behavior.

Who are the people in your neighborhood? A descriptive analysis of individuals on public sex offender registries.

Despite growing focus on registration and notification systems as central elements of national sex offender management practice, there has been remarkably little systematic analysis of the content of these registries and the diversity of individuals contained within them. Specifically, little research attention has been paid to examining the heterogeneity of the population of registered sex offenders - a circumstance that may obscure important distinctions within the population and, in turn, may undermine the ostensible purpose of SORN to prevent sexual victimization. Addressing this significant gap in our current knowledge, this article sets forth a national profile of the registered sex offender (RSO) population, drawn from an analysis of data on 445,127 RSOs obtained from the public registries of 49 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and Guam. In contrast with the homogenized perception about registered sex offenders that permeates much public discourse, the analysis illuminates the wide diversity of registrants across a range of demographic, offense-related, registry status, and risk-oriented variables. Policy and practice implications concerning risk, prevention, and the public safety utility of sex offender registries are discussed.

Women who kill: a comparison of the psychosocial background of female and male perpetrators.

The purpose of this study was to compare the psychosocial background of female and male perpetrators convicted of homicide in Sweden between 1995-2001. All women (n=43) who were convicted for lethal violence during the period and a corresponding number of randomly chosen men (n=43) were examined. In total, information about 86 individuals was collected retrospectively. Areas of interest were psychosocial variables during childhood and at the time of the current crime. Results showed that both female and male perpetrators were psychosocially encumbered already at an early age. Homicidal women had more severe childhood circumstances, but less aggressive childhood behaviour than did their male counterparts. At the time of the crime, women had a more ordered social situation, had more often been exposed to violence and searched for help than had the men. These gender differences suggest that specific actions are needed for preventing women's homicidal behaviour.

A gene-based evolutionary explanation for the association between criminal involvement and number of sex partners.

Empirical research has revealed a positive relationship between number of sex partners and involvement in antisocial behaviors. Most attempts to explain this association have taken an evolutionary perspective and argued that the same traits (e.g., impulsiveness, shortsightedness, and aggressiveness) that are related to a large number of sex partners are also related to criminal involvement. However, there is also reason to believe that the covariation between sex partners and crime behaviors can be partially explained by a common genetic pathway, where genes that are related to sex partners are also related to antisocial conduct. We test this possibility by using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Specifically, we examine whether variants of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) are associated with number of sexual partners and with adult criminal behavior. The results of our analyses reveal two broad findings. First, and in line with prior research, we find that there is a strong positive association between sex partners and antisocial behavior. Second, DAT1 explains variation in both number of sexual partners and in criminal conduct for males. We speak to the implications of our findings.

Quantifying the contributions of three types of information to the prediction of criminal conviction using the receiver operating characteristic.

BACKGROUND: Quantifying the contributions that different types of information make to the accurate prediction of offending offers the prospects of improved practice and better use of resources. AIMS: To quantify the contributions made by three types of information--demographic data alone, demographic and criminal record and demographic, criminal record and legal class of disorder--to the prediction of criminal conviction in patients. METHOD: All 425 patients discharged from the three special (high secure) hospitals in England and Wales over 2 years were followed for 10.5 years. The contribution of each type of information was described in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and the number needed to detain (NND). RESULTS: The AUC values using the three types of information were 0.66, 0.72 and 0.73 respectively. Prediction based on the full model using an optimal probability cut-off implies an NND of 2. The AUCs for serious offences were 0.67, 0.69 and 0.75 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: For long-term prediction of conviction on any charge, information on legal class adds little to the accuracy of predictions made using only a patient's age, gender and criminal record. In the prediction of serious offences alone the contribution of legal class is significant.

Use of the psychological inventory of criminal thinking styles to predict disciplinary adjustment in male inmate program participants.

The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) was administered to program participants in two different federal prisons-a medium-security federal correctional institution and a maximum-security penitentiary-who were subsequently followed for a period of 24 months for evidence of disciplinary adjustment problems. Disciplinary outcome was measured by the total number of incident reports, the number of nonaggressive incident reports, and the number of aggressive incident reports received during the 24-month follow-up. Negative binomial regression was used to test the relationship between the eight PICTS thinking style scales and three disciplinary outcome measures because the total and nonaggressive disciplinary report distributions showed signs of overdispersion. The only PICTS thinking style scale to achieve statistical significance in this study was the Cutoff scale that successfully predicted total, nonaggressive, and aggressive incident reports in both samples.

Intellectual abilities and motivation toward substance abuse treatment in drug-involved offenders: a pilot study in the Belgian criminal justice system.

A sample of Belgian drug-involved inmates (N=116) completed the European Addiction Severity Index, the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), and the Circumstances, Motivation, and Readiness Scales. The pilot results demonstrate that nearly 50% of the participating drug-involved offenders display low intellectual abilities (SPM score definitely below average). Legal difficulties, drug abuse, and psychological problems are identified as the most severe problem areas for the total group. The participants display low to moderately low scores regarding motivation, readiness, and external reasons to stay in or leave treatment. No to very limited correlations between motivational attributes and other variables such as the length of the prison sentence and the number of violent crimes are found. Participants with high intellectual abilities are less motivated to enter substance abuse treatment compared to their counterparts with average and low intellectual abilities. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Comparing single and serial homicide offenses.

Serial homicide has attracted much attention, but little empirical scientific investigation. This exploratory study reports demographic information on a large sample of serial homicide offenders (157 offenders, 608 victims), and compares a subsample of serial homicide offenses with a control group of single homicide offenses. Results show that serial homicide offenders target more women than men, and kill more strangers than family or friends. Single homicide offenders kill men and women in equal frequency, but kill family and friends more often than strangers. Serial homicide offenders kill for apparent sexual motivation more often than for any other reason, while single homicide offenders kill most often out of anger.

Serial murder by children and adolescents.

Six cases of serial murder by children and adolescents spanning the past 150 years are presented. The available literature pertaining to this area is reviewed. Each of these six offenders committed sexually homicidal behavior as demonstrated by their expression of erotic interest or engagement in overt sexual behavior at the crime scenes. From a DSM-IV-TR perspective they all exhibited signs of sexual sadism, and their crime characteristics reflected behavior of a more predatory than affective nature. Hands on methods of killing were preferred, i.e., cutting, stabbing, or strangulation. These crimes are extremely rare. Case reports in this area are encouraged to advance our knowledge of these youths.

[Categorical and dimensional assessment of "psychopathy" in German offenders. Prevalence, gender differences and age factors]. / Kategoriale und dimensionale Erfassung von "psychopathy" bei deutschen StraftäternPrävalenz, Geschlechts- und Alterseffekte.

The personality construct "psychopathy" is of utmost importance in legal prognosis. In the last 20 years, a multitude of empirical research proved the predictive validity of this concept concerning the degree of dangerousness represented by an offender. In the present study, a representative, nonselected sample of 416 offenders was examined using the Screening Version of the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL:SV). The data were analysed both categorically and dimensionally according to the three-factor model proposed by Cooke and Michie. In comparison to North American Studies the prevalence of high scorers was significantly lower, implicating intercultural differences. Analyses of the effects of gender yielded higher scores on each of the three factors in male offenders. Concerning different age cohorts, it turned out that the arrogant and deceitful interpersonal style and deficient affective experience remained stable, whereas the impulsive and irresponsible behavioral style decreased with increasing age. Therefore, our results point out intercultural differences already shown in the prevalence of "psychopathy" and confirm the effects of gender and age concerning this construct.

Characteristics of sexual homicides committed by psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders.

In this study, the relationship between psychopathy and the prepetration of sexual homicide was investigated. The official file descriptions of sexual homicides committed by 18 psychopathic and 20 nonpsychopathic Canadian offenders were coded (by coders unaware of Psychopathy Checklist--Revised [PCL--R] scores) for characteristics of the victim, victim/perpetrator relationship, and evidence of gratuitous and sadistic violent behavior. Results indicated that most (84.7%) of the sexual murderers scored in the moderate to high range on the PCL--R. The majority of victims (66.67%) were female strangers, with no apparent influence of psychopathy on victim choice. Homicides committed by psychopathic offenders (using a PCL--R cut-off of 30) contained a significantly higher level of both gratuitous and sadistic violence than nonpsychopathic offenders. Most (82.4%) of the psychopaths exhibited some degree of sadistic behavior in their homicides compared to 52.6% of the nonpsychopaths. Implications for homicide investigations are discussed.

Criminal careers behind bars.

In the criminal career literature, prison is usually viewed as an interruption of offending. Little research has applied the criminal career perspective to misconduct committed by prisoners. The current study used official data from a probability sample of 1,005 inmates from the southwestern United States to examine offending careers during incarceration. Descriptive and negative binomial regression analyses produced findings that suggest both similarities and dissimilarities between conventional and prison criminal careers. The incidence and prevalence of crime were inversely related to its seriousness but the magnitude of crime was higher in prison. One-third of inmates were never contacted for a prison violation and 74% were never contacted for a serious/violent violation. On the other hand, 40% of inmates were chronic or extreme career offenders even while incarcerated. A small cadre of inmates accounted for 100% of the murders, 75% of the rapes, 80% of the arsons, and 50% of the aggravated assaults occurring behind bars. Finally, prior criminality was the best predictor of prison offending, which is supportive of the importation model. While a significant number of inmates fully comply with prison rules, an even larger percentage of inmates continue to commit an array of crimes and rule violations despite the efforts of prison officials.

Risk of repeat offending among violent female offenders with psychotic and personality disorders.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the rate of criminal recidivism among female homicide offenders evaluated by forensic psychiatrists, to compare this rate with that of other violent female offenders, and to analyze the explanatory variables of recidivism. METHOD: This was a retrospective study of all women (N=132) sent for forensic psychiatric examination after being convicted of homicide or attempted homicide in Finland during 1982-1992; subjects were followed up until mid-1999. Data were collected from the national crime register, the prisoner record, and Statistics Finland. The authors compared the rate of violent repeat offending in this group with that of other violent women and analyzed the explanatory variables of recidivism. RESULTS: During the follow-up period, 23% of the study group committed a repeat offense, 15% of which were violent and 3% of which were homicides. Almost half of all repeat offenses occurred within the first 2 years after the index offense. There was no statistically significant difference in violent recidivism between the study group and other violent female offenders. Of those who committed repeat offenses, 81% were diagnosed with a personality disorder, and 10% were diagnosed with psychosis. Criminality prior to the index event, alcohol or drug dependency, and young age significantly raised the risk and rapidity of further offenses. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of recidivism was high in this study group yet was similar to that of other violent female offenders. The risk was high very early after release. It seems that women and men who are violent and have personality disorders are comparable in their risk of recidivism.

Personality disorders in prisoners and their motivation for dangerous and disruptive behaviour.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations between DSM-III, axis II, personality disorder, motivation and disruptive behaviour in prisoners. METHOD: Interviews were carried out with 81 prisoners in prison special units in England using research diagnostic instruments and an item sheet measuring disruptive behaviours and their motivations. Independent associations were established using logistic regression. RESULTS: Specific associations were established between psychopathy and axis II disorders with violent and disruptive behaviour and motivations for these behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: The study supported a cognitive model explaining the functional association between personality disorder and antisocial behaviour. Personality disorders act as predisposing factors influencing the development of motivations and subsequently facilitate the enactment of disordered behaviour, in a linear progression. Assessment of personality disorder should be routine in disruptive and dangerous prisoners.