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Listed below are some recent papers associated with the Research
and Evaluation Unit.
Haugebrook, S., & Zgoba, K.,
(2007) |
Prison
Group Counseling
Correctional Counseling & Treatment, ed. by Al Roberts,
Ph.D. |
Abstract - The authors discussed numerous
areas of counseling for inmate programs, including the therapeutic
community and mental health. A historical overview of counseling
in the penal system is explored. In the chapter, various areas
of treatment counseling are presented (i.e. therapeutic community,
mental health, sex offender treatment). In addition, the authors
completed a cross state comparison of group treatment plans
in other correctional facilities across the country. The effectiveness
of correctional counseling and treatment, specifically sex offender
treatment and substance abuse, is discussed as well. The chapter
concludes with standards on how to effectively offer group counseling
in the prison setting.
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| Zgoba, K., Haugebrook, S., &
Jenkins, K. (2007) |
The Influence of GED Obtainment
on Inmate Release |
Abstract - This study's focal point is
the effect of GED obtainment on inmate recidivism. The final
sample includes 403 offenders released from New Jersey institutions
between the years 1999 and 2000. The sample of 250 GED participants
included all inmates who passed their GED exams and were released
during the study period, while the remaining comparison sample
of 153 included offenders who were matched to the GED group
on all characteristics, with the exception that they lacked
a high school degree. Sixty-six percent of non-GED participants
recidivated once released, compared with 50 percent of GED participants.
Leaving prison with at least the equivalent of a high school
diploma improves significantly the chances that one will not
recidivate, even after considering the other usual suspects
in offender research. Other factors that are important along
with GED participation in curbing recidivism include fewer years
spent in prison, being older and/or married at the time of arrest,
and committing a violent as opposed to non-violent offense.
While an offender's participation in GED programming is predictive
of no recidivism, once an offender recidivates, the value of
the GED participation depreciates and has no discernible effect
on the raw number of re-offenses. Therefore, GED participation
is an insignificant predictor of the number of post-release
arrests.
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| Roberts, A., Zgoba, K., & Shahidullah,
S. (2007) |
Recidivism
Among Homicide Offenders: An Exploratory Analysis of 336 Homicide
Offenders in New Jersey |
Abstract - Despite a great
deal of information on various types of offenders, there is
only limited longitudinal research on the offending patterns,
typologies, and recidivism of different types of homicide perpetrators.
A random sample of 336 homicide offenders who were released
between the years 1990 and 2000 from the New Jersey Department
of Corrections were identified and followed for a minimum of
5 years. These offenders were tracked to determine if incarcerated
homicide offenders who have no criminal histories prior to their
current homicide conviction recidivated less, and which specific
variables correlated with recidivism. After the analysis, it
became apparent that there were many diversities in our sample
of 336 released homicide offenders, and these diversities cannot
be clearly captured with the existing typologies aimed primarily
to explore the minds of the murderers. As a result of this discovery,
we conceptualized a new four-fold typology of homicide offenders:
1) offenders who committed a homicide that was precipitated
by a general altercation or argument, 2) offenders who committed
a homicide during the commission of a felony, 3) offenders who
committed a domestic violence-related homicide, and 4) offenders
who were charged with a degree of homicide after an accident.
Statistical analysis was completed to determine which variables
correlated with the different types of recidivism and which
of the four types of homicide offenders recidivated. In conclusion,
we found that the highest risk of recidivism for new violent
or drug crimes were the felony homicide group (slightly over
one-third), followed by the altercation-precipitated homicide
offenders (under one-third), which was in sharp contrast to
the domestic violence homicide offenders with less than 10%
recidivism due to a new violent or drug offense. This exploratory
study shows that a homicide typology can be a stable predictor
of homicide offender recidivism if it is structurally grounded
to examine the complex articulation of relations between offender
characteristics and their post-incarceration behavior.
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| Simon, L., & Zgoba, K. (2006) |
Sex
Crimes against Children: Legislation, Prevention and Investigation |
Abstract - Legislation targeting sex offenders
was enacted in the U.S. during 1980s and 1990s with the goal
of preventing child molestations. These sex offender policies
generally aim to prevent sex crimes by focusing on some aspect
of the offender, and they range from offender registration with
the police to participation in sex offender treatment. In contrast,
situational crime prevention (SCP) methods bypass offender-focused
approaches, emphasizing modification of situational factors
that initiate or facilitate the commission of crimes. This chapter
makes suggestions for legislation, prevention, and investigation
of child molestation based on empirical data that compare sex
crimes with three other violent felonies. Findings indicate
that: most sex crimes involve child victims; sex crime rates
are comparable to rates of other violent crimes; sex crimes
are rarely perpetrated by strangers; most male sex crime victims
are victimized under the age of 12; most female sex crime victims
are victimized during and after puberty; sex crimes have a decreased
probability of arrest compared to other violent crimes; and
sex crimes committed by family members and acquaintances have
a decreased probability of arrest compared to sex crimes committed
by strangers. Implications of the findings for legislation,
prevention, and investigation are explored.
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| Neuilly, M., & Zgoba, K. (2006) |
Assessing
the Possibility of a Pedophilia Panic and Contagion Effect Between
France and the United States |
Abstract - In the early and mid-1990s,
the United States experienced what could be called a societal
sex crime crisis. This led to the passage of specific types
of legislation aimed at addressing what was perceived by the
public to be a major social problem. In the mid and late-1990s,
Europe (mainly Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and
Germany) found itself in the same predicament as the United
States. Legislation was passed, varying in its nature, in order
to provide the public with an answer to its panic. According
to a social constructionist approach, a moral panic occurs when
certain types of behaviors or individuals are thought to be
utterly harmful to the fabric of the social body. The present
article aims at assessing whether there is a pedophilia/moral
panic and whether it goes beyond the borders of one country.
In order to identify potential contagion effects or parallel
trends between France and the United States, the historical
evolutions of legislation, reported incidence of child sexual
abuse, and written media coverage of the events are triangulated
into a multilevel analysis including the years 1990 thru 2005.
Differences in intensity and in the dynamics are then established
between the two sexual abuse moral panics.
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| Simon, L., & Zgoba, K. (2005) |
Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Sex
Offender Policies,
Part I |
| Simon, L., & Zgoba, K. (2005) |
Therapeutic
Jurisprudence and Sex Offender Policies,
Part II |
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Part II
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Abstract - In the articles above, the authors
suggest a therapeutic jurisprudence analysis to explore the
benefits and liabilities of sex offender policies for children
and their families. The authors also examine the assumptions
and effects of sex offender policies through data on sex crimes,
kidnappings, and sex crime/kidnappings and apply a therapeutic
justice framework to examine the assumptions and effects of
sex offender policies. Simon and Zgoba state that policies should
be enacted to reflect the differing specific risk factors for
males and females and that the failure to publicize cases of
male victimization and the resultant policy omissions of gender-specific
preventive measures may facilitate the commission of new sex
offenses against young boys.
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| Zgoba, K., & Simon, L. (2005) |
Recidivism
Rates of Sexual Offenders up to 7 Years Later: Does Treatment
Matter? |
Abstract - This article critically reviews
the evidence of sex offender treatment and subsequently provides
new estimates on short-term recidivism among sexual offenders
released from prison in New Jersey. The sample of male sex offenders
is drawn from the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center (ADTC),
New Jersey's only sex-offender-specific prison, and the general
population of nine prisons within the state of New Jersey. The
ADTC sample receives treatment while incarcerated (n=495), whereas
no treatment is provided to the offenders in the general population
sample (n=223). Overall, 33% of the total sample (N=718) commits
a new offense. Of the total sample, 14% commits a new sexual
offense and 24% commits a new nonsexual offense. Significant
differences exist between the ADTC and the general population
samples with respect to nonsexual re-offending only. In the
final analysis, treatment appears to matter in terms of a reduction
in recidivism but not in conventionally expected ways.
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| Witt, P., & Zgoba, K. (April/May 2005) |
Psychological
Treatment of Sex Offenders: Current Status |
Abstract - This article examines the development
of risk assessment guidelines and explains how such actuarial
assessments help improve the ability to predict risk at various
stages of the legal and treatment process. This article focuses
on how to assess dynamic risk factors - a key focus of current
therapeutic practices. In particular, the article helps to explain
how it is possible to assess change, how positive changes in
dynamic risk factors can be balanced against poor static, historical
risk factors, and what structures are available to assess changes.
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| Zgoba, K. (2004) |
Spin Doctors
and Moral Crusaders: The Moral Panic behind Child Safety Legislation |
Abstract - Issues of child abduction and
molestation have risen so high on social agendas that they have
all but eclipsed similarly offensive crimes. Media broadcasts
of a rash of child abductions, molestations and homicides have
led to a nationwide moral panic concerning the safety of children.
The media frenzy surrounding these publicized cases has created
a 'fear factor' among parents and caregivers, begging the question
as to whether the incidence of child abduction and molestation
has increased or whether the nation's heightened sensitivity
is a result of increased media reporting. This article explores
the present climate of fear by way of five moral panic criteria
developed by Goode & Ben-Yehuda. This link between the child
predation moral panic and child safety legislation is explored
in the context of the recently enacted Amber Alert. Similarities
are demonstrated in the origin and empathy of both the Amber
Alert and its predecessor, Megan's Law.
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| Zgoba, K. (2004) |
The Amber Alert:
The Appropriate Solution to Preventing Child Abduction? |
Abstract - Both recent and past reported
crimes against children have led the public to demand further
safeguards for children. Media broadcasts of a rash of child
abductions, molestations and homicides have led to a nationwide
moral panic concerning the safety of children. The Amber Alert
is the most recent form of legislation that has resulted from
the public's concerns over child molestation and abduction.
This paper outlines the history and activation process of the
Amber Alert, as well as the challenges and advantages experienced
by the agencies involved. A review of the Amber Alert provides
the reader with information about the recently enacted legislation
and answers questions on its applicability at the municipal,
state and federal levels. Exposing both the practical drawbacks
and the advantages allows both practitioners and academics to
decide whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
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| Zgoba, K., & Sager, W. (Summer, 2003) |
Evaluation of
New Jersey's Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Adult Diagnostic
and Treatment Center: Preliminary Results |
| Abstract - This study examined 10-year
sexual and non-sexual offense recidivism for sex offenders released
from New Jersey's general prison system and from the Adult Diagnostic
and Treatment Center (ADTC), New Jersey's correctional facility
and treatment center for repetitive-compulsive sexual offenders.
The study found that sexual offenders released from the ADTC
had significantly lower rates of committing both non-sexual
offenses and any offense, compared with the general prison population
of sex offenders. For both groups, the 10-year sexual offense
reconviction rates were relatively low, 8.6% for the ADTC offenders
and 12.7% for the general prison sexual offenders, while reoffense
rates for non-sexual offenses were 25.8% and 44.1% for ADTC
an general prison sex offenders, respectively. |
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