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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.
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.
Every week, criminal firesetting in the UK causes 65 casualties or deaths (3,380 per year) and costs £42 million (£2.2 billion per year; Arson Prevention Bureau, 2009). Remarkably, no standardised offender treatment programmes have been developed for this common, costly and tragic offence. Responding to this need, psychologists from the School of Psychology at the University of Kent have recently developed the first empirically informed comprehensive theory of firesetting, and from their theory, they have derived the first standardised treatment programmes for firesetters. Already, the research is being used across the UK and Australia in the training, assessment, and treatment practices of clinical professionals who work with adult firesetters. Clinicians in the USA have also been trained in a treatment programme derived from the research. As a result, enhanced, specialised treatment of firesetters is being provided in secure establishments and community settings for the first time. Further, the assessment and treatment programmes developed by our researchers now play a central role in the care, sentence planning and parole decisions for firesetters in the UK.
A better understanding of electronic monitoring (EM) and improvements and innovation in policy and practice have resulted from research conducted by Professor Anthea Hucklesby. An important question facing criminal justice policy makers and practitioners is how to increase compliance with community-based sanctions to improve their effectiveness as well as the confidence of the courts and the public. The research addresses this agenda by highlighting factors which influence offenders' compliance with EM curfew orders and by recommending ways in which compliance might be increased. The research reinforced government confidence that EM should be used widely and shaped the future direction of EM policy in England and Wales. The research also brought about changes in the operation of EM within G4S, resulted in the setting up of pilot projects, provided for a safer staff working environment and informed the work of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation.
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.
University of Glasgow research on desistance from crime and reintegration has contributed powerfully to a paradigm shift in approaches to offender rehabilitation, resulting in significant reforms of penal policy and practice. By fostering and sustaining relationships with criminal justice policymakers and stakeholders, the researchers catalysed a number of meaningful impacts. These included significant shifts in rehabilitation policy in all three UK jurisdictions; the delivery of a new practice skills model by the National Offender Management Service of England and Wales, and the ongoing redesign of service provision and prison staff training in Scotland and Northern Ireland. More broadly, the research has challenged conventional wisdom around approaches to `offender management', effecting a widespread cultural change in the penal system.
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.
Of the 200,000 offenders supervised in the community by Probation Area Trusts (PATs) in England and Wales, around half are reconvicted of another offence within two years. University of Sheffield research into why people stop offending (`desistance'), funded by the ESRC and the Leverhulme Trust, has provided evidence to senior staff in PATs, government departments, and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) enabling the development of initiatives aimed at supporting service users in their efforts to desist. The research has increased awareness and understanding on the part of professionals of the factors associated with desistance. Through the medium of a film about how people desist, the research has helped both to reinvigorate probation services' professional practice and to develop training programmes with an emphasis on helping people to stop offending in place of the hitherto dominant focus on enforcement.