Criminal Justice & Behavior Abstracts, Part One

A few of several excellent articles available at Criminal Justice & Behavior right now. Go check out the others if you have time.

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 34, No. 11, 1516-1527 (2007)
Belief in a Personal Just World, Justice Judgments, and Their Functions for Prisoners
Claudia Dalbert and Eva Filke, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

This study focuses on the relationship between the experience of justice, belief in a just world (BJW), and the feelings of adult male prisoners. The sample comprised 100 adult male prisoners from a German prison. Regression analysis provided evidence for the assimilation function of the BJW: High believers evaluated the legal proceedings, their interpersonal treatment by their corrections officers, and decisions on prison affairs as more just; they reported better well-being and were less likely to express anger as outburst behavior. Interpersonal justice was particularly important in explaining well-being. The results persisted when controlling for social desirability, criminal background, and personal background. The role of BJW and interpersonal justice as a resource for adaptive social behavior and subjective well-being is discussed.

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 34, No. 11, 1499-1515 (2007)
The Role of Impulsivity in Antisocial and Violent Behavior and Personality Disorders Among Incarcerated Women
Irina Komarovskaya, Ann Booker Loper, Janet Warren--University of Virginia

This study investigated the relationships among impulsivity, antisocial and violent behavior, and personality disorders in 590 female inmates of a maximum-security female prison. Measures included the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, Prison Violence Inventory, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders Screening Questionnaire, numbers of institutional infractions recorded in inmate files, and violent versus nonviolent offending. Results showed that impulsivity was associated with personality psychopathology and aggressive and antisocial behavior. In contrast to findings of studies with male inmates, female violent offenders did not demonstrate higher levels of impulsivity than nonviolent offenders.

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 34, No. 11, 1481-1498 (2007)A Multisite Evaluation of Prison-Based Therapeutic Community Drug Treatment
Wayne N. Welsh, Temple University

A quasi-experimental study examined multiple postrelease outcomes up to 2 years for inmates who participated in therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment programs (n = 217) or comparison groups (n = 491) at five state prisons. Statistical controls included level of need for treatment, current and prior criminal history, and postrelease employment. Prison TC was effective even without mandatory community aftercare, although main effects and interactions varied somewhat across different outcome measures and sites. TC significantly reduced rearrest and reincarceration rates but not drug relapse rates. Postrelease employment predicted drug relapse and reincarceration, and employment interacted with age to predict rearrest. Two sites had higher drug relapse rates than the other three. Implications for research and policy are discussed.