Growing market that's becoming more demanding and sophisticated New evidence around working with children is creating a greater need for evidence based information Integrates information for forensic and clinical professionals in a new way

This edited book presents international perspectives on the role of mental health problems in understanding and managing the risk of violent extremism. The chapters included in this book address two themes. First, they describe the research findings on the nature and prevalence of the range of mental health problems (psychosis, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, autism spectrum disorders) in young people and adults who have in the past, committed acts of violence motivated at least in part by extremist ideologies, or who have attempted or threatened such acts, or who for other reasons are thought to be at risk of doing so. Second, the chapters examine what is known about the relationship - or the functional link - between mental health problems and violent extremism. The focus of this book is on clinical practice and understanding the nature of the challenge faced by practitioners and their response to it. It will therefore be of interest to mental health practitioners, service managers and commissioners, and policy makers with a remit to understand and mitigate risk of radicalisation and violent extremism. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology.

Offender profiling is an investigative tool used to narrow down the range of potential suspects for a crime by predicting the personality, behavioral, and demographic characteristics that an offender is likely to possess, based upon information collected at the crime scene. While offender profiling has been popularized by TV shows and movies such as Criminal Minds, Silence of the Lambs, and Mindhunter, the real-world impact of offender profiling is largely unknown. This book discusses the history of offender profiling, summarizes research on offender profiling methods, and reviews offender profiling evaluations of accuracy and applied impact. This book also describes a promising new offender profiling methodology called evidence-based offender profiling. This new method relies upon empirical data and scientific methods to develop, evaluate, and replicate offender profiles, thereby increasing offender profiling's accuracy and utility for active police investigations. It uses prior information about statistical regularities between types of offenders and types of offenses to predict the characteristics of offenders in unsolved cases. A discussion of the future of offender profiling research and implications for law enforcement is also included. This book also explains how practitioners can benefit from the use of empirically tested and validated profiles in their unsolved investigations and how the use, continued research, and evaluation of evidence-based offender profiling can advance the quality, prestige, and utility of the field of offender profiling.

This book is intended for medical and mental health clinicians faced with the challenge of evaluating adolescents and adults in the legal context who may have a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Luminaries in their respective fields, the contributors to this book offer a range of expertise and perspectives regarding the forensic investigation of FASD: medical, psychological, psychiatric, criminal defense, prosecution, and the judiciary. The primary goal of the book is to provide medical and mental health clinicians with practical procedures that can be used in a variety of forensic and clinical settings. It includes protocols that have been used successfully in legal matters ranging from rights waiver and competency to capital murder and sexual offending. It not only provides detailed guidelines for interviewing birth mothers about the delicate topic of substance use during pregnancy but also introduces a methodology that can be used in the absence of exposure confirmation to arrive at a sound diagnostic conclusion through the process of differential diagnosis. Taken as a whole, the methodological procedures described by the contributors to the book serve as 'best practices' for comprehensive forensic mental health evaluation of potential FASD in juveniles and adult defendants as well as in victims.

Multicultural Child Maltreatment Risk Assessment provides detailed descriptions of child maltreatment assessment and key strategies for culturally informed risk assessment in families. The book presents a new model for evaluating families that includes cultural competence, a conceptualization of adequate parenting, and strategies for reflective decision making. Chapters address a range of factors including race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality. Ten case studies, each including discussion prompts, challenge the reader to apply forensic evaluation techniques for effective and ethical decision making in complex and ambiguous cases. Both experienced mental health providers and students will come away from the book with a deeper understanding of child maltreatment and its effects, models and modes of assessment, and factors that place families at greater risk.

Multicultural Child Maltreatment Risk Assessment provides detailed descriptions of child maltreatment assessment and key strategies for culturally informed risk assessment in families. The book presents a new model for evaluating families that includes cultural competence, a conceptualization of adequate parenting, and strategies for reflective decision making. Chapters address a range of factors including race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality. Ten case studies, each including discussion prompts, challenge the reader to apply forensic evaluation techniques for effective and ethical decision making in complex and ambiguous cases. Both experienced mental health providers and students will come away from the book with a deeper understanding of child maltreatment and its effects, models and modes of assessment, and factors that place families at greater risk.

- The application of situational crime prevention theory to homicide by people with a serious mental disorder make this book a novel resource. - Research is reviewed with a focus on implications for prevention.

This book explores sexual crime and intellectual functioning. Drawing on expertise from clinical practice and applied research, the volume begins with an exploration of the theoretical and historical background to the interest in links between sexual offending and intellectual functioning. The authors then move on to discuss assessment of intellectual functioning in prison, interventions for low intellectual functioning, autistic spectrum and personality disorder. This book offers a rare insight into the phenomenon of high IQ and sexual offending, a much neglected aspect of the sexual crime literature, and includes novel research that unpacks this link. It further offers an extraordinary insight into the experiences of a person of superior IQ in the criminal justice system for a sexual offence. The book is relevant not only to psychologists, criminologists, social workers and students, but also to practitioners, researchers and the general public with an interest in learning about sexual offending and intellectual functioning.

This book aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for a myriad of crime and mental health topics and issues in the African criminal justice system from a psycho-criminological perspective. Crime, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System in Africa: A Psycho-Criminological Perspective is an ideal primary text for courses in criminology, criminal justice, and forensic psychology, as well as asource of reference for practitioners who deal with offenders or victims. "For a long time, African historiography has been viewed and interpreted from Eurocentric perspectives. This book is a timely contribution towards infusing Afrocentric perspectives in African scholarship by indigenous scholars. The authors' interdisciplinary topical approach, covering a gamut of topics ranging from African criminology, through mental health and psychology, to criminal justice systems, has lent a decolonizing voice toward African literary pursuit and thereby laid a solid foundation for further research by other scholars. I highly recommend it to readers, academic institutions and researchers on Africa." - Emmanuel Onyeozili, Ph.D., Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, USA "This edited volume by an array of experts from West and Southern Africa has given a refreshing voice to psycho-criminological narratives in the continent. In a region of the world in which there is insufficient documentation of the patterns, determinants and outcomes of criminal behaviour, this book offers a culturally competent and contemporary flavour to an ancient discourse. Its focus on new areas of concern such as online dating scams, kidnapping and the mental health of officials in the criminal justice system compellingly captures the potential reader and gives good value for time. It is warmly recommended for its breadth of coverage, the authority of its claims and the multi-disciplinary outlook of its authors." - Adegboyega Ogunwale, MBBS, FWACP, Consultant Psychiatrist, Forensic Unit, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Ogun State, Nigeria "This collection represents a significant step in the study of mental health, crime and criminal justice in sub-Saharan Africa. The breadth of topics covered is impressive, with each contribution based on methodologically-sound empirical analyses. It deserves to become a key reference for students, researchers and policy makers interested in suicide, drug use, violence, the work of prison officers, criminal investigations, and police-community interactions." - Justice Tankebe, Ph.D., Lecturer, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK "Mental health and criminal justice issues are growing problems facing the world today. Questions about whether mental health affects crime or whether involvement in the criminal justice system affects an individual's health have become part of national policy discussion. This nicely written book brings together eminent scholars and experts with extensive experience in their various fields to address these and other questions related to crime, mental health, and criminal justice in Africa. The editors did well to coordinate the efforts of the contributors into a valuable pierce. I highly recommend it for all who are interested in the nexus between crime, mental health, and criminal justice systems." - Francis D. Boateng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, University of Mississippi, USA

Closing the Integration Gap in Criminology: The Case for Criminal Thinking offers a multi -stage model of theory integration that organizes verified risk factors around the construct of criminal thinking to provide an exemplar working paradigm for criminology. In the model, once relevant risk factors have been identified, they are organized into triads -three-variable networks of antecedent, mediating, or moderating effects-and then those triads are combined into clusters of thematically related constructs. While debate continues to rage over how to handle the burgeoning number of theories in criminology, little significant progress has been made in reducing the number of criminological theories. This book argues that theoretical integration is vital to the continued viability of criminological theory and to the growth and development of criminology as a scientific discipline. It posits that criminal thinking may be useful as a core variable in constructing a useful integrated theory for criminology, and maps out a plan for scholars to organize information for further study. The innovative theoretical approach in this book is essential reading for students, academics, and researchers in both criminology and forensic psychology concerned with the reduction of crime via scientific inquiry.

Detection Avoidance in Homicides: Debates, Explanations and Responses presents theory and research on how offenders avoid detection and the challenges and opportunities these efforts pose to investigators. From a scholarly perspective, the book presents a continuing history of research on detection avoidance by offenders, discusses the features of complex death investigations involving detection avoidance, and critiques the current frameworks used for conceptualizing these behaviors. Dr. Ferguson focuses on the key debates in the literature, argues for collaborations between researchers and practitioners to remedy siloing, and explores the reality of detection avoidance in homicides as complex and multifaceted. While detection avoidance behaviors have the potential to negatively impact sudden death investigations and frustrate criminal investigations specifically, their use also creates broader problems. These include many problematic effects on family members of the deceased, police officers, police agencies and the communities they serve. Offenders choosing to use detection avoidance behaviors challenges the efficient use of public resources, puts at risk the successful adjudication of homicides, and creates a public safety issue. The book explains detection avoidance using learning, situational, individual and gender-based theories, including proposing whether it may be a form of coercive control used by intimate partner abusers. Finally, how detection avoidance by offenders is recognized and responded to in sudden death investigations is addressed, with specific reference to useful examples of policy reform implemented by various police agencies internationally. Providing research and theory to explain detection avoidance and best practice for responding to it, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, forensic science and psychology. It will also be useful to professionals working with homicide offenders.

examines the evolutionary, psychological and social significance of fire drawing on interdisciplinary literature and original research data, it challenges the existing understanding of arson and fire setting introduces a new concept - fire use - and conceptualizes it as sitting on a continuum from non-criminalised to criminalised behavior includes a particular focus on the assessment and treatment of fire setters and a call for a socially informed approach to prevention

This book examines serial homicidal poisonings in the modern era, to improve our contemporary understanding of poisons, poisoners, and investigation. Drawing on cases of serial poisoning from around the world, the book defines key terms, examines theories and explanations of serial homicide in relation to serial poisoning, explores the features of the poisons and examines the demographic characteristics of perpetrators of serial poisoning and their victims. It considers healthcare serial poisoning as a specific issue. Overall, it provides an outline for developing a criminology of serial poisoning homicide.

The volume of studies into desistance has grown dramatically in recent years. Much of this research has focused on the internal dynamics of desistance such as decision-making, choice and restraint. Bringing together leading figures and drawing upon case studies from around the world, this book seeks to fill a vacuum in the contemporary literature on desistance by considering processes and practices at a societal level that influence how and why people desist from crime. Beginning with an outline of what is known about how social, cultural and economic structures shape desistance from crime, this book proceeds to explore studies of desistance in countries such as the UK, Brazil, France, Israel, Ireland, Sweden and Chile. These studies touch on variations by ethnicity, the nature of the criminal justice system, economic cycles, gender, religious belief systems and the use of time and space. Policy matters relating to desistance such as the rehabilitation and supervision of former offenders are also explored. This book will be invaluable reading to students and scholars of criminology, sociology and social studies engaged in studies of desistance, criminology, criminal justice, victimology, penology and probation.

The use of informants has been described as the "black hole of law enforcement." Failures in the training of police officers and federal agents in the recruitment and operation of informants has undermined costly long-term investigations, destroyed the careers of prosecutors and law enforcement officers, and caused death and serious injuries to innocent citizens and police. In many cases, the events leading to disaster could have been avoided had the law enforcement agency followed the time-tested procedures examined in this book. Informants, Cooperating Witnesses, and Undercover Investigations: A Practical Guide to Law, Policy, and Procedure, Second Edition covers every aspect of the informant and cooperating witness dynamic-a technique often shrouded in secrecy and widely misunderstood. Quoted routinely in countless newspaper and magazine articles, the first edition of this book was the go-to guide for practical, effective guidance on this controversial yet powerful investigative tool. Extensively updated, topics in this second edition include: Sweeping changes in the FBI and ICE informant and undercover programs New informant recruiting techniques Reverse sting operations Entrapment issues Examination of recent high-profile cases where the misuse of informants resulted in lawsuits and legislation The changing nature of compensation and cooperation agreements Forfeiture, informants, and rewards The management of controlled undercover purchases of evidence Challenges posed by fabricated information, phantom informants and police corruption Witness security measures New whistleblower reward programs Authoritative, scholarly, and based on boots-on-the-ground experience, this book is written by an author who has been a police supervisor, an informant recruiter and handler, an undercover agent, and an attorney. Supported by statutes, case law, and previously unpublished excerpts from law enforcement agency manuals, it is essential reading for every police officer, police manager, prosecutor, police academy trainer, criminal justice professor, and defense attorney. This book is part of the Practical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic Investigations series.

Empathy versus Offending, Aggression, and Bullying advances knowledge about the measurement of empathy, using the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), and how empathy is related to offending, aggression, and bullying in community and incarcerated groups. Empathy is widely accepted as one of the most important individual factors that are related to offending, aggression, and bullying, and it is common in many intervention projects to aim to improve empathy in order to reduce offending, aggression, and bullying. The BES was constructed by Jolliffe and Farrington (2006) and has been widely used in a number of countries. This book brings together chapters, from a broad range of contributors, which explore the application of BES in ten different countries (England, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Australia, Canada, and the USA). Each chapter reviews the use of the BES in that particular jurisdiction, its psychometric properties, and its importance in relation to offending, aggression, and bullying. The research includes samples from primary schools, secondary schools, and the community, as well as those who are justice-involved and on probation, in prisons and secure psychiatric hospitals. The book concludes with wider implications for intervention, policy, and practice. This book will be valuable reading for students and scholars of criminology, psychology and sociology, as well as practitioners who are interested in developing their understanding of the complex link between empathy and a range of antisocial behaviours.

In Decoding Madness, forensic neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Richard Lettieri gives a behind-the-scenes look at criminal psychology through case studies from his over 30 years of experience as a court-appointed and privately retained psychologist dealing with some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. From cases like Tina, who seriously injured her boyfriend and stabbed his son to death, to Michael who stabbed his mother in the back, believing she was the evil force causing the sun to descend upon the earth and gobble him up, Decoding Madness is filled with gripping stories and forensic analysis told from the author's perspective. Through psychological examination, it is his job to conclude whether these individuals are truly guilty and understand their actions are wrong, or if these individuals are not guilty due by reason of insanity and instead require treatment. Integrating insights from psychoanalysis, psychology and neuroscience, Dr. Lettieri contends that the legal system's view of human nature as governed by rationality is anachronistic. Nonetheless, he argues that our criminal justice system is slowly bending towards the humane. Decoding Madness offers a nuanced and in-depth psychological understating of defendants and their personal complexities beyond the usual clinical accounts offered by forensic psychologists. The book introduces the novel idea of the daimonic as a basic force of human nature that is the source of our constructive and destructive capacities. The venue of the criminal justice system, with its daily exposure to primal emotions, serves as a petri dish to investigate the full spectrum of our basic makeup.Dr. Lettieri brings these points home by presenting a nuts-and-bolts look into what it takes to complete psychological examinations of defendants accused of committing heinous crimes.

This classic text sets the foundation for working with juveniles who have sexually offended The new edition of Juvenile Sexual Offending provides a research-based, goal-oriented approach to the assessment, treatment, supervision, and care of this difficult population. Written by leading specialists in the field, the Third Edition represents the tremendous strides in research on brain growth and development. A thorough overview of the process of risk evaluation is included, as well as detailed and practical guidelines on gauging the possibility of repeated offense. Also included: * New chapters on legislative and policy developments; risk assessment; adult responsibilities; and outcomes pairing risk management with health promotion * Greatly expanded coverage of treatment, including new chapters on abuse-specific and offense-specific treatment interventions, and the effects of trauma * Practitioner-friendly guidance to help mental health professionals with decision making; program development; case management skills; and working within multidisciplinary teams Juvenile Sexual Offending, Third Edition helps mental health professionals, child welfare, law enforcement, and juvenile justice professionals move toward successful assessment and treatment of juveniles who sexually abuse, reducing the risk of sexual abuse in future generations.

The Handbook of Forensic Mental Health in Africa traces the history of forensic mental health in Africa, discussing the importance of considering cultural differences when implementing Western-validated practices on the continent while establishing state-of-the-art assessment and treatment of justice-involved persons. Experts in the field of forensic mental health throughout Africa explore the current state of forensic mental health policy and service provision, as well as the unique ethical challenges which have arisen with the recent growth of interest in the field. The African and international research literature on violence risk assessment, competency to stand trial, malingering assessment, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) evaluations, report writing as an expert witness and mental health legislation in the context of forensic practice are explored throughout. Finally, future directions for forensic mental health in Africa are discussed for juvenile, female and elderly offenders. This text is ideal for mental health, criminal justice and legal professionals working in clinical, research and policy contexts.

This book covers Munchausen and Munchausen by Proxy (MBP) though the terms have recently changed. The 2013 DSM-V-the update to the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) diagnostic and classification tool-has classified both Munchausen and MBP as "Factitious Systematic Abuse." While thought to have occurred primarily with children and their caregivers, recent research shows a more widespread problem: such medical abuse to spouses, the disabled, the elderly-even pets. Many involve repeat and long-term instances of hospital and medical fraud. This book covers the syndrome itself, interviewing and investigative aspects, victimology, as well indicators in the event of homicide and death.

This book offers a broad overview of public attitudes to the death penalty in India. It examines in detail the progress made by international organizations worldwide in their efforts to abolish the death penalty and provides statistics from various countries that have already abolished it. The book focuses on four main aspects: the excessive cost and poor use of funds; wrongful executions of innocent people; the death penalty's failure as an efficient deterrent; and the alternative sentence of life imprisonment without parole. In closing, the book analyses the current debates on capital punishment around the globe and in the Indian context. Based on public opinion surveys, the book is essential reading for all those interested in India, its government, criminal justice system, and policies on the death penalty and human rights.

Parricide and Violence Against Parents takes a historical and criminological approach to the research on parricide and violence against parents, placing the research in the context of social development from the 1500s to contemporary society, and giving a global overview and comparison. The book examines parricide and violence against parents as historically and culturally sensitive phenomena. It offers evidence on a seemingly rare subject from different eras, areas, and cultures, and then uses the cross-disciplinary data to produce a new, systematic insight for the reader. Case studies shift the discussion from the contemporary focus on adolescent to parent abuse, to examining the sources of conflict during life cycles of parents and their offspring. A historical approach illuminates the variations in conflicts between parents and their offspring that are shaped by the life stages of the victims and offenders themselves across time. The book argues that parental authority has been marked by property ownership and tax paying responsibilities throughout history. The continued possession of property resulted in power, the reluctance to part with it, becoming a notable source of conflict across generations within families. Parental authority was protected by means of heavy penalties and punishments and didactic teachings in almost every society at every stage of historical development. It was also challenged constantly by children as a part of their coming into adulthood. The abuse of parents has often been connected to situations where adult children were prevented from gaining the amount of independence appropriate to their position in life. This led to disputes over authority and the legitimate grounds for that authority. Offering an insight into complicated and interconnected histories of generational conflicts and how they affect modern families in different parts of the world, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, history of crime, history of the family, family violence, homicide studies, gender studies, history of emotions, political violence, and social work.

In this edited book, expert assessors illustrate through case examples how they apply psychoanalytic theory to different clinical settings. These settings include private practice, neuropsychological, medical, forensic, personnel, custody, school, and psychiatric-residential. Psychoanalytic Assessment Applications for Different Settings allows the reader to track the assessor's work from start to finish. Each chapter presents a description of the clinical setting in which the assessment occurred; a detailed review of the referral and patient history; test selection and test findings with supporting data drawn from self-report, and cognitive and personality performance-based measures; psychiatric and psychodynamic diagnoses; implications and recommendations; discussion of the feedback process; and assessor-self reflections on the case. Throughout the book, psychodynamic concepts are used to help understand the test data. The authors are experts in the psychodynamic assessment of clients in private practice, educational, medical, neuropsychological, and forensic settings. The findings are derived from methods particular to each setting, with supporting data highlighted and woven throughout the interpretive process. Students, educators, practitioners, and the professionals who collaborate with assessors will benefit from this book's offerings.

The recent explosion of research and practice relating to offending and the related investigative and legal processes makes it extremely difficult for anyone to master these emerging areas of research. This book will help readers to navigate through this rapidly expanding area of scholarship and practice by bringing together a number of recent reviews on key topics by leading experts in the field. Contributions to the volume discuss developments in the study of interviewing and the detection of deception together with explorations of victims and offenders. The psychological background and consequences of school bullying, child sexual abuse and male rape are also explored, as are the challenges of collecting information about crimes as varied as burglary and serial killing. This book will be a valuable resource for criminologists, crime and forensic psychologists, students of socio-legal processes and all those involved in legal and investigative activities. The chapters in this book were originally published as review articles in Crime Psychology Review.

Understanding and Treating Incels is an indispensable guide for mental health clinical staff, social workers, prevention specialists, educators, and threat assessment professionals who want to better understand the involuntary celibate movement, assess individuals' potential for violence, and offer treatment approaches and prevention efforts. Chapters explore the movement in terms of gender, technology, the media, and pornography usage. The book discusses how the incel mentality has motivated individuals to misogynistic worldviews and increased rage and disillusionment, and inspired acts of targeted violence such as school shootings and mass casualty events. Later chapters walk the reader through three cases studies and offer treatment considerations to assist mental health professionals and those developing education and prevention-based programming. The complete text gives the reader useful perspectives and insights into incel culture while offering mental health clinicians and educators guidance on treatment and prevention efforts.