Criminogenic and Non-Criminogenic Needs of High-Risk Offenders and Reintegration Success

Abstract

There is limited research about individuals incarcerated until the end of their sentence without being supervised in the community through parole. When they are assessed to be a high risk for committing sexual or violent offences, they can be placed on Section 810 peace bonds to restrict their movements and behaviours (Harris, 2001). The present study examines high-risk individuals’ basic needs, criminogenic needs (i.e., dynamic risk factors), and responsivity issues and how these predict their reintegration success. Specifically, it assesses whether these factors contribute to missing an appointment, violating conditions, and reoffending. The files of 45 individuals were coded for the first year of post-release supervision to explore challenges and performance while under supervision for each 4-month time period. The area under the curve statistic was calculated to evaluate the predictive accuracy of each total for basic needs items, criminogenic needs, responsivity issues, and three community outcomes. The findings indicated that criminogenic needs consistently predicted violations of conditions and reoffending across time periods. However, basic needs and responsivity were not predictive of missed appointments and reoffending for all time periods. These findings suggest that supervision and monitoring of these factors play an essential role in stabilizing and effectively reintegrating these individuals into the community. However, a greater emphasis should be placed on criminogenic needs to reduce criminal behaviour. Future research is needed to examine the predictive validity of individual criminogenic risk factors and the association of basic needs, criminogenic needs, and responsivity issues regarding long-term reintegration success.

Department: Psychology 

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jung