NCJ Number
229075
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 53 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 665-678
Date Published
December 2009
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the General Criminal Thinking (GCT) score of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) to determine whether the predictive efficacy was influenced by the amount of time between administration of the PICTS and release from custody.
Abstract
Findings revealed that the PICTS inmates' results whose test release interval was less than or equal to 24 months, approached statistical significance by the eighth test. By contrast there were no significant effects when GCT was used to predict future recidivism in longer test-release interval inmates (test-release interval greater than 24 months). As predicted there was evidence for the predictive efficacy of the PICTS GCT score only when the span between testing and release was 24 months or less. It would seem the PICTS, as is probably the case with the most dynamic assessment procedures, does a better job of predicting short-term outcomes than it does of predicting long-term outcomes. Recidivism data were collected on 284 released male Federal prisoners, divided into those inmates who had been released within 24 months of having completed the PICTS, and those inmates who had been released more than 24 months after having completed the PICTS; recidivism was measured by subsequent arrests and convictions accrued during a 6- to 78-month follow-up. Tables, notes, and references