Volume 42, No. 4
October
2000
Recommendations
for conditional release suitability: Cognitive biases and consistency
in case management officers' decision-making
Joti Samra-Grewal, Jeffrey E. Pfeifer, and James R.P. Ogloff
Effective
correctional treatment and violent reoffending: A meta-analysis
Craig Dowden and D.A. Andrews
Full
parole and the aboriginal experience: Accounting for the racial discrepancies
in release rates
Andrew Welsh and James R.P. Ogloff
Research
Note
Adolescent violent victimization and offending: Assessing the extent
of the link
Wendy C. Regoeczi
Book
Reviews
PARENT: Féminismes et criminologie
Marie-Andrée Bertrand
ROACH:
Due Process and Victims' Rights: The New Law and Politics of Criminal
Justice
Jo-Anne Wemmers
WIEHE:
Understanding Family Violence: Treating and Preventing Partner, Child
Sibling, and Elder Abuse
Maryse Rinfret-Rayor et Myriam Dubé
McMAHON:
Women on Guard: Discrimination and Harassment in Corrections
Lyne Beauchesne
POUPART,
DESLAURIERS, GROULX, MAYER et PIRES. La recherche qualitative: Enjeux
épistémologiques et méthodologiques
Lorraine Savoi-Zajc
Books
Received
Coming
Events
Instructions
to Authors
Index
to Volume 42
Abstracts/Résumés
Only abstracts of full articles are contained in these Web pages.
Research notes and commentaries are usually not summarized into abstracts.
Readers who need the complete texts should contact the CCJA and subscribe
to the Journal. They can also purchase single copies of back issues
that are still in stock.
RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR CONDITIONAL RELEASE SUITABILITY: COGNITIVE BIASES AND CONSISTENCY
IN CASE MANAGEMENT OFFICERS' DECISION-MAKING
Joti
Samra-Grewal
Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute, Department of Psychology
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
Jeffrey E. Pfeifer
Department of Psychology
University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan
and
James R.P. Ogloff
Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute, Department of Psychology
Simon Fraser University , Burnaby, B.C.
In
the last decade there has been a surge of media, judicial, and public
attention toward the adequacy of the Canadian parole decision-making
process. Despite expressed dissatisfaction with parole decision-making,
there is a paucity of scientific research examining the current Canadian
parole decision-making process. This study examined the decision-making
processes underlying recommendation decisions to the National Parole
Board. Consistency and biases in recommendations were examined between
decisions made under the current Correctional Service of Canada decision-making
guidelines (i.e., unstructured criteria), versus those made under
more structured guidelines (i.e., structured criteria). Participants
were case management officers recruited from federal institutions
in Western Canada (N = 68), and a matched community sample (N = 67).
It was hypothesized that when structured criteria were utilized, the
negative effects of a potentially biasing variable (i.e., race) would
be eliminated, and that consistency in decision-making would increase.
Results indicated that (a) consistency in decision-making would have
increased if participants in the structured criteria condition had
relied exclusively on the tabled risk score, (b) native offenders
were not less likely than white offenders to be recommended for parole,
and (c) CMO's were not more consistent in their recommendations than
the community sample. Additional findings regarding factors predicting
recommendation decisions are presented, as are implications of the
findings and directions for future research.
EFFECTIVE
CORRECTIONAL TREATMENT AND VIOLENT REOFFENDING: A META-ANALYSIS
Craig Dowden
and
D.A. Andrews
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
The
clinically relevant and psychologically informed principles of human
service, risk, need and responsivity have received strong support
within several meta-analytic reviews. However, despite their widespread
acceptance, no meta-analysis to date has examined whether the appropriate
application of these principles within correctional treatment programs
is associated with reduced levels of violent re-offending. This article
provides an overview of the role that each of these principles played
in reducing violent recidivism. Adherence to each of the four principles
received empirical support, although not to a statistically significant
degree in the case of risk. In addition, a composite measure, reflecting
adherence to the four principles revealed the greatest mean reduction
in violent recidivism. The principles of effective correctional treatment
are discussed as key elements that should be considered in developing
effective correctional interventions for reducing violent recidivism.
FULL
PAROLE AND THE ABORIGINAL EXPERIENCE: ACCOUNTING FOR THE RACIAL DISCREPANCIES
IN RELEASE RATES
Andrew Welsh
and
James R.P. Ogloff
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
Aboriginal
people comprise 2% of Canada's general population, et they account
for approximately 17% of all federal offenders. This over-representation
of aboriginals in corrections has been attributed, in part, to racial
disparities in the granting of full parole. To date, studies of full
parole and aboriginal offenders have been descriptive and controls
for other causal factors besides race have not been introduced. The
purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent to which
race group differences accounted for differences in the granting of
full parole in comparison to factors normally considered in evaluating
release potential. All male federal offenders who reached their full
parole eligibility date in 1996 (N = 2479) were followed across four
stages of the parole process as provided for by the Corrections and
Conditional Release Act. Results indicated that aboriginal offenders
were significantly less likely to apply for and be granted full parole
as compared to non-aboriginal offenders. Logistic regression analyses,
however, found that race group differences did not predict either
full parole application rates or parole board decisions.
