The Impact of Participation in Victim-Offender Mediation Sessions on Recidivism of Serious Offenders.

The federal correctional agency in Canada offers victim-offender mediation services to address serious crime. The current study used survival analysis to compare revocation rates of 122 offenders who participated in facilitated face-to-face meetings to a matched sample of 122 of non-participants. Results indicated that there was no significant difference between revocation rates when offenders participated while incarcerated, although the trend was that participants did better. When the meetings were held in the community post-release, however, participants were significantly more likely to spend a longer period of time under supervision in the community without returning to custody and were less likely to be revoked than their matched counterparts. The findings support participation in restorative justice sessions while under community supervision for higher risk offenders with histories of serious and violent crimes. The authors discuss how factors not controlled in the matching procedure may have contributed to this effect.

National Prevalence of Mental Disorders among Incoming Canadian Male Offenders.

OBJECTIVE: A current estimate of prevalence rates of mental disorder among Canadian federal offenders is required to facilitate treatment delivery and service planning. METHOD: The study determined prevalence rates of major mental disorders among newly admitted male offenders entering the federal correctional system in Canada. Data were collected at each regional reception site on consecutive admissions for a 6-month period (N = 1110). Lifetime and current prevalence rates were estimated using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) and the SCID Axis II Disorders (SCID-II). Degree of impairment was estimated using the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. Results were disaggregated by Aboriginal ancestry. RESULTS: The national prevalence rate for any current mental disorder was 73%. The highest rates were for alcohol and substance use disorders; however, over half of participants met the lifetime criteria for a major mental disorder other than alcohol or substance use disorders or antisocial personality disorder. Thirty-eight percent met the criteria for both a current mental disorder and one of the substance use disorders. Fifty-seven percent of offenders with a current Axis I mental disorder were rated as experiencing minimal to moderate functional impairment based on the GAF, indicating that most participants do not require intensive psychiatric services. CONCLUSIONS: These results underscore the challenge posed to Canadian federal corrections in providing the necessary mental health services to assist in the management and rehabilitation of a significant percentage of the offender population with mental health needs.

Childhood Abuse, Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, and Suicide Attempts: An Exploration of Gender Differences in Incarcerated Adults.

The relationship between types of childhood abuse, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) was examined in a sample of 415 incarcerated adults (268 men, 147 women). Men and women were equally likely to experience childhood abuse, although women were more likely to report sexual abuse and men were more likely to report emotional neglect. Sexual abuse was the only type of abuse found to predict NSSI and suicide attempts in women. For men, physical abuse and physical neglect were significant predictors of NSSI and suicide attempts, respectively. Gender differences exist and should be examined in future research in this area.

Examining Nock and Prinstein's four-function model with offenders who self-injure.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the deliberate bodily harm or disfigurement without suicidal intent and for purposes not socially sanctioned (e.g., cutting, burning, head banging). Nock and Prinstein (2004) proposed a 4-function model (FFM) of NSSI, in which the functions of NSSI are categorized by two dichotomous factors: (a) positive (i.e., involves the addition of a favorable stimulus) or negative (i.e., involves the removal of an aversive stimulus; and (b) automatic (i.e., intrapersonal) or social (i.e., interpersonal). This study examined the validity of this model with incarcerated populations. In-depth semistructured interviews with 201 incarcerated offenders were analyzed and categorized based on the FFM. Participants' descriptions of functions of NSSI were most commonly categorized as automatic negative reinforcement (25.0%; e.g., coping with negative emotions), followed by automatic positive reinforcement (31.3%; e.g., self-punishment), social positive reinforcement (31.3%; e.g., to communicate with others), and social negative reinforcement (12.5%; e.g., to avoid hurting someone else). While the uniqueness of the correctional environment affects some of the specific functions evident in offenders, FFM can be used to adequately organize the functions of NSSI in offenders, providing a useful tool for explaining this complex behavior. Clinically, NSSI in offenders can be viewed has having the same underlying motivations, although automatic positive reinforcement is more prevalent in offenders and social positive reinforcement is more prevalence in nonoffenders. Given that the motivations underlying nonsuicidal self-injury are similar for offender and nonoffender populations, similar treatment approaches may be effective with both populations. (PsycINFO Database Record