Social Group Work for Young Offenders with Learning Disabilities

ABSTRACT

Despite the high incidence of learning disabilities among young offenders, research suggests that young offenders with learning disabilities do not receive interventions that address their learning disabilities. Group treatment approaches for young offenders typically utilize a cognitive-behavioral orientation. Cognitive behavioral techniques have been found to be effective with the young offender population by targeting their faulty thinking. However, cognitive behavioral treatment is less effective with youth who have academic delays. Individuals with learning disabilities may have difficulties with the cognitive tasks used in cognitive behavioral treatment. This paper describes a treatment group, with illustrations, adapted for young offenders with learning disabilities, combining cognitive-behavioral and mutual-aid principles.     

Self-Esteem,Life Satisfaction,and Positive Future Perception among at-Risk and Comparison Group Participants in National Civic Service

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on a program designed to engage at-risk youth in the National Civic Service (NCS) in Israel with the goal of enabling them to better integrate into normative adult lives. This exploratory study employed a cross-sectional design and compared groups of at-risk female volunteers (N = 426) with comparison groups of not at-risk participants in the NCS (N = 456). For both of them, three sub-groups were examined at different stages of their service: the beginning, near the end, and about one year after finishing the service. In both the at-risk and comparison groups, self-esteem was higher among the alumni compared to those at earlier stages of the program. Life satisfaction was generally much lower among the at-risk group, but after service completion, both groups reported higher life satisfaction. There were no significant differences between the groups in their future perceptions. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed.     

Empathy and Emotional Responsiveness in Delinquent and Non-delinquent Adolescents

Two groups of male adolescents, incarcerated young offenders (N = 64, mean age = 16.3 years) and a comparison group of community youth (N = 60; mean age = 16.6 years), were administered the Empathy Continuum (measuring cognitive‐affective responses to persons in emotionally evocative videotaped vignettes) and questionnaire measures of empathy, emotional responsiveness, guilt, shame, and antisocial attitudes and behaviors. Although both groups endorsed general statements of empathy, young offenders responded with empathy less often to particular persons in particular situations, and reasoned regarding their empathic responses in more self‐referencing ways. They also described their emotional responses to stimulus persons as less intense. In addition to the expected group differences, responsive empathy was a stronger predictor of delinquency than self‐reported antisocial behavior, and correctly classified 69 percent of young offenders and comparison youths. Although guilt was consistently related to lower self‐reported antisocial attitudes and behaviors, guilt (and shame) only weakly differentiated the two groups, limiting the usefulness of the TOSCA‐A as a predictor of delinquency.     

Juvenile Reoffending: a ten‐year retrospective cohort analysis

Criminologists and other developmental researchers have long acknowledged the importance of both continuity and change in antisocial and criminal behaviour over the life‐course. To the extent that young offenders having contact with the police will persist with offending into adulthood is an important social issue with significant implications for the ongoing development and implementation of early intervention and prevention programs. Using data from New South Wales, this paper tracks a cohort of 8,797 juvenile offenders over ten years and is among the first of its kind to use multivariate techniques to examine the long‐term outcomes of those who were cautioned, conferenced or convicted in that state. The study finds that just over half of all juvenile offenders were reconvicted in court of a further offence and that reconviction rates were higher for young males and Indigenous offenders than for females or non‐Indigneous offenders. In concluding, this paper draws attention to the need for improved assessment and early intervention efforts that more accurately target those young people most at risk of persisting with offending into adulthood.     

Hateful Sirens. . .Who Hears Their Song? An Examination of Student Attitudes Toward Hate Groups and Affiliation Potential

Sources indicate a rise in hate crimes committed by persons affiliated with hate groups (Bowles, 1993; Levin, 2002). Although the majority of these offenders remain unaffiliated, it is nevertheless important to understand why individuals become attracted to hate groups. This exploratory study examined youth attitudes toward hate groups. Deprivation and interpersonal bonds theories were used to explain hate group attraction among students. Secondary and university students completed the 567 surveys used in the analysis. Results indicated that crime-related measures and exposure to hate groups by word-of-mouth contacts were more often related to supportive attitudes. These effects were further associated with secondary students. Neodeprivation theory is offered for exploring hate group attraction by more educated persons.     

RAP Therapy: A Group Work Intervention Method for Urban Adolescents

ABSTRACT

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) places a premium on the development of cultural competence among practitioners. To this end, the present study highlights how social work practitioners, specifically group work leaders, can utilize elements of the culture of urban adolescents to develop effective group work intervention strategies. The article compares adolescent participants' perceptions of usefulness of traditional group therapy and similar group work sessions using RAP music as a conduit to support prosocial skills development. A nomenclature of three adolescent groups was tested: violent offenders, status offenders, and a control condition of high school students with no criminal history. Findings were unequivocally in favor of the RAP therapy as a tool for advancing prosocial behavior.     

Parallel Processes in a Training and Supervision Group for Counsellors Working with Adolescent Sex Offenders

This paper discusses four parallel processes in a sex offenders' counsellors training and supervision group. Two of them, feelings of isolation and proclamations of boredom, were similar responses to similar stimuli: the first, to the stigma that adheres both to the sexual offense and to the professional work with the offenders, the second to anxieties that derived from a similar technique used in both groups. The other two involve the counsellors' displacement of feelings they had in and about the offenders' groups to their own training and supervisory groups. Both of these involved issues-responsibility and self-control that are particularly salient in work with sex offenders. The discussion suggests that parallel processes emerge with great frequency in work with sex offenders because of the stresses of the work and the issues that are highlighted in it.     

Gerontological Competencies among MSW Students: Evaluation of a Gerontology Specialization Program

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a gerontology specialization program (GSP) within a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)–accredited master of social work (MSW) program. This study utilized a pretest/posttest design with a three-group comparison: group 1—GSP students; group 2—students from the group 1 program but not in GSP; and group 3—students at two external MSW programs with no GSPs. The overall sample comprised 220 advanced year students. A CSWE Gero-Ed Center/Hartford Partnership empirical measure was used to assess overall, gero social work practice competency. Within-group analyses revealed a significant increase in gero competency scores from pretest to posttest among all groups, with GSP students showing the largest increase. Between-group analysis at pretest revealed that the GSP group showed lower gero competency scores than both non-GSP groups. At posttest, these results overturned: GSP students scored significantly higher gero competency scores than both non-GSP groups. These preliminary findings suggest that the GSP offers an impactful, positive role in development of practice skills for the next generation of gero social work practitioners and scholars. A follow-up study with additional years of data will increase longitudinal rigor and confidence in the long-range efficacy of this GSP.     

Do depressive symptoms in justice‐involved girls reduce the effects of a cognitive‐behavioral program on their disruptive and delinquent behaviors?

The present study evaluated the effects of a cognitive‐behavioral program on disruptive and delinquent behaviors among a sample of adolescent girls placed in a residential center in Quebec (Canada). This study also investigated the moderating impact of depressive symptoms on program effectiveness. The study used a quasi‐experimental design to allow comparisons between 104 girls in the treatment group and 78 girls in the comparison group over 18 months. Findings showed that the program contributed significantly, albeit modestly, to a decline in some forms of disruptive/delinquent behaviors. Results also indicated that girls with a higher level of depressive symptoms at admission also reported higher involvement in a myriad of disruptive/delinquent behaviors and that for some types of problem behaviors, this higher involvement persisted over time. In general, however, the seriousness of the depressive symptoms that the girls reported at admission did not interfere with the effectiveness of the cognitive‐behavioral program.     

Does vegetation matter for the criminal behavior among people with serious mental illness?

This study attempts to examine the effect of vegetation on arrests of offenders with and without serious mental illness (SMI). Data from the MacArthur mental health court study were analyzed. Objective arrest data were obtained 12–18 months pre‐ and post‐court involvement between 2005 and 2007. Vegetation data were captured by the normalized difference vegetation index, which can be regarded as a general measure of “vegetation” and linked with GeoID, obtained from the American Community Survey. We analyzed data of sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, gender), crime‐related factors (e.g., age of first arrest), and vegetation in related to the crime on 652 offenders with mental illness. Multilevel negative binomial regression revealed no significant effect of vegetation on arrests among offenders without SMI; however, for those with SMI, a significant variation in vegetation on arrests was found among all study models. Our findings suggest that vegetation is significantly associated with arrests, with a positive effect on reducing the recidivism only among offenders with SMI. Given that practice and policy almost exclusively focus on individual factors of crimes, it is important to have more considerations about how neighborhood factors affect criminal behavior, depending on SMI in order to have more comprehensive methods of crime prevention.     

The Relationship of Four Types of ‘Broken Home’ to Some Neglected Parameters of Juvenile Delinquency

Using a sample of 1,130 male juvenile offenders, the relationship of four types of ‘broken home’ to the age at onset of delinquency, recidivism, rate of offences, and types of offence was investigated. The number of recidivists was found to be significantly greater among offenders who were living only with fathers than among offenders living with both parents. A trend in this direction was also found among offenders living only with mothers. Offenders living apart from parents were found to be older at the time of their first offence than were offenders living with both parents. The findings were discussed critically, and it was concluded that they support the hypothesis that the ‘broken home’ is not per se a causal factor in juvenile delinquency.     

Public Perceptions About Sex Offenders and Community Protection Policies

Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society, and over the past decade, lawmakers have passed a variety of social policies designed to protect the public from sexual victimization. The purpose of this study was to examine public perceptions about sex offenders and community protection policies. Data were obtained from a sample of 193 residents in Melbourne, Florida. It was hypothesized that the public holds some inaccurate beliefs about sex offenders, and that there is strong public support for community protection policies. It was found that community members believe that sex offenders have very high recidivism rates, view sex offenders as a homogeneous group with regard to risk, and are skeptical about the benefits of sex offender treatment. The hypothesis that public perceptions contradict empirical research was supported. Community members were overwhelmingly in favor of public disclosure of information about registered sex offenders, although they did not express as much support for residence restrictions. Implications for public policy, and for the media's role in shaping public perceptions, are discussed.     

The Importance of Status Legitimacy for Intergroup Attitudes Among Numerical Minorities

This study investigated whether the legitimacy of the status structure influences the interactive effects of group status and numerical representation on intergroup attitudes. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2 (level of status; high, low) by 2 (legitimacy of status; legitimate, illegitimate) by 2 (numerical representation; majority, minority) between-subjects design. The predicted three-way interaction indicated that, when status was illegitimate, majority groups with high status showed more ingroup bias than majority groups with low status, but minority groups with high status did not show more ingroup bias than their counterparts with low status. By comparison, when status was legitimate, high-status groups were more biased than low-status groups, regardless of numerical representation.     

Links between personalities and leadership perceptions in problem-solving groups

Leadership emergence and related variables in leaderless group problem-solving situations were examined in improvised problem-solving groups. Participants were randomly organized into 56 four-person groups and asked to evaluate themselves and others in each group by the Round Robin method. Evaluations were based on the “Big Five” personality traits, physical appearance, and two types of leadership. Generally, self-effacing bias rather than self-enhancing bias was dominant, and self-enhancing bias was not shown in two types of leadership evaluations. Relative variances of the perceiver, the target, and the relationship effects were 26.7, 9.5, and 28.8%, respectively. That the target effect was the lowest in several aspects of evaluations including leadership suggests low consensus among members in leadership evaluations. Also, older participants received higher credits in task leadership while no gender effects of target were evidenced. Finally, members’ evaluations on target were substantially accurate in most evaluation dimensions, contrary to expectations. The evaluation was particularly more accurate on task-leadership than that on relation-leadership.     

The effects of adoption disclosure on the adaptation of Korean adoptive families

The main goal of this study is to examine the effects of adoption disclosure on the adaptation of Korean adoptive families using a two stage equation model. The results of this study indicate that there is a self-selection bias between disclosed and closed adoptive families. Yet, even after considering this selection bias, adoption disclosure was associated with the positive outcomes of adoptive families. Also, the estimates in the treatment effect model were found to be very similar to those of the regression model, indicating that the degree of self-selection bias between these groups was not so strong as to distort the effects of adoption disclosure and other predictors.     

Open-ended and Open-door Treatment Groups for Young People with Mental Illness

The concept of open-ended groups is expanded to include an open-door model (OEOD) wherein members with severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia disorders and bi-polar, can join, leave, and re-enter groups as their life circumstances dictate their availability and willingness for treatment. This model is grounded on the work of Schopler and Galinsky's (1984/2006) and Galinsky and Schopler's (1989) theses on the value and processes of open-ended groups and includes perspectives on mutual aid and group development. Groupwork with the OEOD format is illustrated with examples taken from a group of 79 participants diagnosed with first-episode schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorders, 40 of who had co-occurring substance abuse. Of the 79 participants in the OEOD group program, 70 (89%) remained in treatment for the maximum of 3 years. The over-all value of group treatment for this population is reviewed along with the small number of available publications on open-ended and open-door-type groups.     

Church-Based Programs for Black Care-Givers of Non-Institutionalized Elders

Two hundred and eighty-two caregivers graduated from a 12-hour caregiving program conducted at eight church sites. The graduates reported more efficiency with performing caregiving activities but, in comparison to a control group, did not expand to new caregiving activities nor to linkages with formal service agencies. At the termination of the training program, mutual help groups were fostered at three church sites, and sustained to the present time-one year later. The mutual help groups have instituted senior watch programs, newsletters, fund-raisers, seminars, resource directories and health screenings. At one church site three neighboring churches cooperated on both the training program and the mutual help group.     

Does Low Willingness to Respond Introduce a Bias? Results from a Socio-epidemiological study among Young Men and Women

The aim of this study was to investigate if willingness to respond can introduce bias in a population survey and to study the socio-economic characteristics of those with high and low willingness to respond. Two groups of final-year pupils at compulsory school were surveyed five years after leaving school, at the age of 21. The data were collected during class meetings, by mailed questionnaires, telephone and personal interviews. The response rates in the studies were proportionally high – about 98% and 90% respectively. In both surveys there were more men compared to women who were late respondents or non-respondents. Long-term unemployment and lack of upper secondary school for both men and women, as well as living with a partner for men, corresponded to low willingness to respond to a survey. A higher alcohol consumption – between 1.5 to 6.5 times – was observed among those with lower willingness to respond. Even a low rate of non-response can introduce a serious bias and produce uncertain results in, for example, studies on the consequences of youth unemployment on alcohol consumption.     

Social Networks Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders*

This study examines the social networks and deviant behavior of 92 male and female adolescent offenders in a secure training school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with the youth and repeated following a four-week interval. Record data were reviewed to assess behavioral adjustment. The Social Cognitive Map analytic technique was utilized to identify social clusters. Findings indicate that these extremely delinquent youth formed reasonably stable social networks within the institution. Social clusters were distinguished most strongly on the basis of gender, race and proximity. Individuals within clusters had similar levels of behavioral adjustment and perceptions of intimacy with peers. The processes of peer group formation are similar to those found among public school counterparts. Treatment implications are discussed.     

Helping ‘Well’ Families to Change: A Pilot Study

This article describes a time limited, inter-generational project which offered ‘well’ families an opportunity to define priorities and needs and practise changed behaviour within a secure group. The program lasted for twelve weeks and emphasized an educational rather than a treatment bias. Experiential learning techniques were used to teach family dynamics and alternative means of conflict resolution to whole families. In this task, the contracting process came to be an increasingly valuable tool for managing conflict within the group and within each family. Some evidence is cited to show that participation in the group enabled families to change disabling patterns of interaction.