Understanding Criminal Behaviour: Identifying Psychological Differences Between Domestically Violent Offenders and Non-Offenders (From Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice, P 551-564, 2004, Gorazd Mesko, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-207973)

• NCJ Number: 208020
• Author(s): Maria Argyrides; Terry Bartholomew; Tatiana Carvalho
• Date Published: September 2004
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Slovenia

Annotation

This Australian (Victoria) study examined whether offenders who perpetrate violence against those they know (intimates/domestic partners) differ from those who commit violence against strangers and those who commit property offenses.

Abstract

Four groups were included in the research sample: those who committed crimes against property (n=30); those who committed violence against strangers (VAS; n=99); those who were violent against intimates (VAI; n=43); and the nonoffender sample (n=100). The nonoffender subsample consisted of members of the general public who reported never having been convicted of a criminal offense. The offender sample was recruited during their assessment for participating in a court-mandated anger management program. Occupational prestige was measured as an indicator of socioeconomic status, as was the average income of the neighborhood where they lived. All participants completed a number of additional scales, including the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Self-Control Scale, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, the Locus of Control of Behavior Scale, and the Social Problem Solving Scale-Revised. In an effort to address one of the flaws of prior research, potentially confounding variables such as age, educational level, cultural identity, and socioeconomic status were controlled in an attempt to produce a more accurate measure of each offender group's specific psychological deficits and strengths. The study found no significant differences among property offenders, VAS offenders, VAI offenders, and nonoffenders on the scales related to anger management and impulse control; however, on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, the VAI group held significantly more conservative attitudes toward women than the nonoffender sample. This finding supports the view that domestic violence stems from patriarchal attitudes and cultural values. Treatment and theoretical implications are drawn from these findings. 2 tables and 41 references