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In a project funded by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), psychologists from the University of Kent investigated the effects of mandatory polygraph testing for UK sexual offenders released on licence. Their research demonstrated that this practice increased disclosure by sexual offenders. This led directly to a change in Government policy and delegated legislation under the Offender Management Act (2007). The resulting legislation will make it compulsory for sexual offenders in England and Wales to be polygraphed as part of their licence conditions from January 2014. The widely disseminated research findings also alerted professionals to the benefits of mandatory polygraph testing on sexual offenders, and generated significant public discussion.
Since 2001, Professor Grubin has led trials to test whether polygraph assessment could help case officers manage high-risk sex offenders released on licence in England and Wales. A three-year study of mandatory assessment which ended in 2012 demonstrated conclusively that polygraph testing helped case managers evaluate the risk posed by offenders and decide how best to protect the public from harm. A policy of mandatory polygraph assessment of all high-risk sex offenders on parole in England and Wales was approved by ministers in summer 2012, and procurement is underway for a national polygraph testing service for high-risk sex offenders.
In just six years, research by the Sexual Offences, Crime and Misconduct Research Unit, conducted in conjunction with the Her Majesty's Prison Service and National Health Service Forensic Services, has produced key benefits for the management and treatment of offenders and the training of professionals within the prison service and NHS by:
(i) developing, evaluating and improving treatment interventions for high-risk sexual offenders; vital for successful rehabilitation and reducing recidivism;
(ii) research-based training to reduce corruption and professional misconduct;
(iii) identification of offenders at risk of suicide and other self-harming.
This case study describes the international impact of research carried out by Swansea criminologists in partnership with criminal justice agencies in the Channel Island of Jersey. This has included work on risk and need assessment and, in a linked study, on supervision skills used by probation staff. This research has a documented impact with international reach, mainly since 2008, affecting policy and practice in Jersey, Scotland, the Irish Republic, the Isle of Man, Malta, Sweden and Denmark, and (in relation to the skills study only) England and Wales, and has attracted interest in the USA, Australia and Portugal. Its significance lies mainly in the fact that the risk and need assessment study has led to structured and evidence-based assessment of (currently) about 15,000 offenders per year, or about 45,000 to date, in jurisdictions where no structured assessment methods were previously used. About 35,000 of these represent impact since the start of 2008. In addition, the study of supervision skills has contributed since 2008 to the measurement and development of skills in offender supervision in England, Wales, Scotland and Jersey. The research has also been used extensively by a training and consultancy company and contributed to the establishment and growth of the research and practice development network CREDOS (Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision).
Policy on offender management has been changed in several areas through statistical research on criminal careers. The research has:
a) crucially influenced an Information Tribunal appeal case on the retention of police records, where five Police Authorities were appealing against a decision of the Information Commissioners.
b) influenced the research methodology and policy of the Home Office towards the retention of DNA profiles for those arrested but not found guilty, and contributed to a new Act of Parliament.
c) through the development of a reconviction predictor tool for offenders (OGRS3), improved court pre-sentence reports, and provided a mechanism for new policy on payment by results.
Through better assessment of the risk of reoffending it has been possible to improve the treatment of sex offenders and protect the public. An algorithm developed at the University of Birmingham, has been used by the Probation Service to classify the entire prison population of over 8000 sex offenders attending treatment in England and Wales, enabling allocation to the best treatment available at the time. This approach to treatment led to a 40% reduction in recidivism in those who were treatment responders. More specifically, this work enabled length of treatment to be matched to high-risk offenders' level of pre-treatment risk/need, and resulted in a reduced rate of reconviction among high-risk offenders to the level of reconviction observed among lower risk/need offenders. The work has reduced the level of sexual victimisation in the UK, reduced the costs associated with such offending, and has influenced policy and services for the treatment of sex offenders in other countries in Europe. Such recidivism reduction also enables ex-offenders to lead more fulfilling offence free lives.
A research team at GCU, led by Professor Liz Gilchrist, exploring aspects of intimate partner violence (IPV) has had a significant impact on IPV practice. The research linked two traditionally conflicting approaches to IPV: the victim/survivor based research emphasising gender in IPV, and the forensic psychology approach focussing on characteristics and criminogenic need in offenders.This has significantly changed practice nationally and internationally, including leading to the development of parenting interventions for men convicted of IPV in Scotland; restructured interventions for victims and offenders in New Zealand and the assessment of dynamic factors for those accessing IPV programmes in Scotland.
Research commissioned by the Risk Management Authority (RMA) assessed criminal justice practice in Scotland relating to high risk offenders, and provided the rationale and founding principles for the RMA to create a Framework for Risk Assessment, Management and Evaluation (FRAME), published in July 2011. The key findings from the research were published in a report, which recommended the need for consistency in risk definitions and guidance across criminal justice agencies, for compatibility in information sharing and training, and for greater inter-agency cooperation and accountability. These recommendations have directly influenced Government policy and practice in assessing and managing offender risk, and continue to inform how sexual offenders are currently managed and how serious violent offenders might also be managed in the future.
We report on the development and use of a clinical tool designed to assess the distorted cognitions of sex offenders with an intellectual disability. The tool discriminates between offenders and non-offenders and individuals who offend against children and those who offend against adults. Over the review period it has become routinely used internationally in forensic services in the treatment and management of sex offenders with an intellectual disability. Practitioners using the tool now have a means of monitoring the effectiveness of their treatment of sex offenders with an intellectual disability. Prior to its publication, practitioners working with this cohort had no access to suitably validated measures of cognitive distortions and therefore no means of systematically monitoring the extent to which offenders in their treatment programme were still exhibiting cognitive distortions typically associated with offending behaviour.
Over 60% of young people in the criminal justice system have speech, language and communication difficulties (SLCD), compared to 1% in the general population. SLCD is a contributing factor for reoffending, and researchers at the University of Surrey have developed best practice for mitigating SLCD, allowing successful reintegration of young offenders into society.
This work impacted policy at the national level, with specialist services now available throughout the UK. In addition, successful reintegration of young offenders impacts quality of life for the individuals and has a substantial economic impact at the institutional level.