Examining Developmental Patterns of Prison Misconduct: An Integrated Model Approach.

Recent prison scholarship has employed an integrated model of the developmental/life-course perspectives and importation model to examine prison misconduct. Using longitudinal data from a large sample of inmates incarcerated in a U.S.

Prison Homicide: An Extension of Violent Criminal Careers?

This study investigated prison homicide perpetrators through the lens of the career criminal perspective. Prison homicide, while a rare event, has critical implications for the prison environment. Despite its importance as a form of institutional violence that must be addressed, only four studies in the past five decades have explored the characteristics of homicide perpetrators/victims, the motives, and circumstances of the crime.

Testing the predictive validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in relation to inmate misconduct and violence.

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) has been widely employed in correctional settings as a screening tool to assess inmates' risk for committing various types of institutional misconduct. Evaluations have generally found the PAI scales Antisocial Features (ANT), Aggression (AGG), and the Violence Potential Index (VPI) to be modestly related to institutional misbehavior, thus supporting its construct validity. The current study provides the most comprehensive examination of the predictive and incremental validity of the PAI and its subscales among a large sample of imprisoned offenders to date.

Gender-responsiveness in corrections: Estimating female inmate misconduct risk using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI).

Proper inmate assessment is critical to correctional management and institutional security. While many instruments have been developed to assist with this process, most of these tools have not been validated using samples of female inmates although distinct gender differences have been identified in the inmate population in terms of adaptation and misconduct. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a multiscale measure of psychopathology that is being increasingly utilized in the correctional setting to assist with the inmate classification process.

Using base rates and correlational data to supplement clinical risk assessments.

The current study is a partial replication of previous studies designed to estimate the level of risk posed by capital murder defendants. The study draws on data describing the behavior of nearly 2,000 incarcerated capital murderers to forecast violence propensity among defendants sentenced to life imprisonment. Logistic regression is used to model various violence outcomes, relying on the following predictors: age, educational attainment, prior imprisonment, and gang affiliation.

Youth pathways to placement: the influence of gender, mental health need and trauma on confinement in the juvenile justice system.

Although the juvenile crime rate has generally declined, the involvement of girls in the juvenile justice system has been increasing. Possible explanations for this gender difference include the impact of exposure to trauma and mental health needs on developmental pathways and the resulting influence of youth's involvement in the justice system. This study examined the influence of gender, mental health needs and trauma on the risk of out-of-home placement for juvenile offenders.

Probability of criminal acts of violence: a test of jury predictive accuracy.

The ability of capital juries to accurately predict future prison violence at the sentencing phase of aggravated murder trials was examined through retrospective review of the disciplinary records of 115 male inmates sentenced to either life (n = 65) or death (n = 50) in Oregon from 1985 through 2008, with a mean post-conviction time at risk of 15.3 years. Violent prison behavior was completely unrelated to predictions made by capital jurors, with bidirectional accuracy simply reflecting the base rate of assaultive misconduct in the group.

Community violence to prison assault: a test of the behavioral continuity hypothesis.

This large-scale study (N = 23,277) investigated the relationship between criminal history in the community and serious or assaultive prison misconduct, while controlling for the effects of inmate characteristics, general criminality, and custody level. Community violence variables included the rate of prior violent crime arrests and the types of prior violent crime, as well as a range of specific violent crimes of conviction. Behavioral continuity from community to prison was neither simple nor intuitively discernible, depending on the type, recency, and pattern of community criminality.

Life and death in the Lone Star State: three decades of violence predictions by capital juries.

The accuracy of three decades of Texas jury predictions of future violence by capital defendants was tested through retrospective review of the disciplinary records of former death row (FDR) inmates in Texas (N = 111) who had been sentenced to death under this "special issue" and subsequently obtained relief from their death sentences between 1989 and 2008. FDR inmates typically had extended tenures on death row (M = 9.9 years) and post-relief in the general prison population (M = 8.

Improbable predictions at capital sentencing: contrasting prison violence outcomes.

The postconviction prison disciplinary records of capital defendants (n = 73) who had been the subject of defense-sponsored violence risk assessments or risk-related testimony (1995-2007) that asserted an improbability of future serious prison violence were analyzed. During postconviction prison tenures averaging 4.4 years, none of the capital defendants was cited for accomplished serious assaults.

Assertions of "future dangerousness" at federal capital sentencing: rates and correlates of subsequent prison misconduct and violence.

The federal prison disciplinary records of federal capital inmates (n=145) who were sentenced to life without possibility of release (LWOP) by plea bargain, pre-sentencing withdrawal of the death penalty, or jury determination were retrospectively reviewed (M=6.17 years post-admission). Disaggregated prevalence rates were inversely related to infraction severity: serious infraction =0.

Capital offenders in Texas prisons: rates, correlates, and an actuarial analysis of violent misconduct.

This study analyzed the records of 136 recently incarcerated capital murder offenders in the initial phase (M = 2.37 years, range = 6-40 months) of their life sentences in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Prevalence rates of institutional violence were inversely related to severity: potentially violent misconduct (36.

Actuarial models for assessing prison violence risk: revisions and extensions of the Risk Assessment Scale for Prison (RASP).

An investigation and extension of the Risk Assessment Scale for Prison (RASP-Potosi), an actuarially derived scale for the assessment of prison violence, was undertaken through a retrospective review of the disciplinary records of the first 12 months of confinement of a cohort of inmates entering the Florida Department of Corrections in 2002 and remaining throughout 2003 (N=14,088). A near replication of the RASP-Potosi and additional analyses based on other weighted logistic regression models were performed on an inmate subsample for whom all information categories were available (n=13,341). Younger age and shorter sentences were associated with increased violent misconduct.

Is death row obsolete? A decade of mainstreaming death-sentenced inmates in Missouri.

Death-sentenced inmates in Missouri have been integrated or "mainstreamed" into the general population of the Potosi Correctional Center since 1991. By comparing the rate of violent misconduct among these mainstreamed death-sentenced inmates with that of the life-without-parole and parole eligible inmates under fully integrated conditions of confinement, this study provides the first empirical (statistical) evaluation of this innovative alternative to segregated death row confinement. The mainstreamed death-sentenced inmates committed no inmate or staff homicides, or attempted homicides.

An actuarial model for assessment of prison violence risk among maximum security inmates.

An experimental scale for the assessment of prison violence risk among maximum security inmates was developed from a logistic regression analysis involving inmates serving parole-eligible terms of varying length (n = 1,503), life-without-parole inmates (n = 960), and death-sentenced inmates who were mainstreamed into the general prison population (n = 132). Records of institutional violent misconduct of these 2,595 inmates were retrospectively examined for an 11-year period (1991 to 2002). Predictors affecting the likelihood of such misconduct included age, type and length of sentence, education, prior prison terms, prior probated sentences, and years served.