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Erica Hoover, MA Doctoral Candidate

An Examination of Personality Profiles based on Psychological Assessments of Violent and Nonviolent Offenders. Erica Hoover, MA Doctoral Candidate Aldwin Domingo, PhD Mark Hume, PhD

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Erica Hoover, MA Doctoral Candidate

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  1. An Examination of Personality Profiles based on Psychological Assessments of Violent and Nonviolent Offenders Erica Hoover, MA Doctoral Candidate Aldwin Domingo, PhD Mark Hume, PhD Clinical Research Project Committee Chair Committee Member American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Southern California

  2. Offenders

  3. Violent Offenders

  4. What can be done? • The need to better understand these individuals and their behavior is great. • Psychologists often emphasize treatment of these offenders, especially when they also have a mental illness. • Gaining more information about their personality characteristics and behavior can help clinicians create beneficial intervention strategies and inform appropriate management of these offenders (Craig, Browne, Beech, & Stringer, 2006).

  5. Introducing My Study • Use psychological assessments to differentiate between violent and nonviolent offenders. • Incorporating various types of assessment into a complete personality structure of an individual can yield invaluable information. • Understanding an individual from many perspectives, such as how they think, feel, and interact with the world, is essential in order to create an integrative picture of their personality.

  6. Study Methods • Archival data was collected from the California Institution for Men (CIM) in Chino California. • CIM is a men’s prison facility that opened in 1941 and currently holds over 5000 inmates. • The archival data consisted of previous testing batteries that have been performed on inmates from 2008-2012. • The subjects were all part of the mental health system at CIM and their primary clinician referred them to have a psychological assessment completed on them by a psychodiagnositc practicum student working at the facility.

  7. The cognitive measure: the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) • The objective measure: the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) • The projective measure: the Rorschach Inkblot test using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) to score and interpret the results.

  8. Type of Offender • Violent crimes, or crimes against persons: • involve force or the threat of force, and are comprised of the following offenses: • Murder • Manslaughter • Robbery • Assault • Sex offenses • Kidnapping • Non-violent crimes include property crimes such as: • Burglary • Theft • Or drug offenses

  9. Traits analyzed

  10. Traits Analyzed

  11. Results • Descriptive Statistics: • sample size: 36 subjects • Ages of subjects ranged from 18 to 77 years old, with an average age of 37. • 38.9% Caucasian, 30.1% African American, 27.8% Hispanic, 2.8% Biracial • Completed education levels ranged from 4th grade to 4-year college degree, average completed education level of 11th grade. • 23 Violent Offenders, 13 Nonviolent Offenders

  12. Results • 37 personality factors across three assessment measures were statistically analyzed using a Binary Logistic Regression. • The alpha level of statistical significance was set at 0.05. • The best resulting BLR model to categorize between violent and nonviolent offenders involved the combination of:

  13. Results • Variables in the BLR equation for this model: • The resulting BLR regression equation is: (-0.123)(PRI)+(-0.128)(DOM)+(-0.06)(PHR)+22.7

  14. Results • This model correctly classified 20 of the 23 violent offenders resulting in 87% correctly classified. • 9 of the 13 nonviolent offenders were correctly classified, corresponding to 69.2%. • The model demonstrated an overall correct classification of 80.6%.

  15. Results • Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA):

  16. Summary of results • A combination of PRI, DOM, and PHR is able to correctly classify an offender as violent or nonviolent 80% of the time, and can correctly classify violent offenders 87% of the time. • The mean scores for PRI were marginally significantly different, violent offenders’ scores were higher. • The mean scores on the DOM scale were significantly different, violent offenders’ scores were higher. • The mean scores on the PHR scale were not statistically significantly different, (violent offenders: M=106.61, nonviolent offenders: M=101.15). • Adding the PHR scale to the BLR model improved the overall correct classification rate by 5%. • The mean scores on the Diffuse Shading (Y) scale were marginally statistically significant • But not included in the BLR equation

  17. PRI • Factors that may be related to an individual’s score include: (Sattler & Ryan, 2009) • Violent offenders scored higher than nonviolent offenders • M=90.7 • Nonviolent offenders: M=81.8 • Larger PRI vs VCI split with violent offenders • VCI was 4 points lower (on average) for violent • 1 point lower for nonviolent

  18. DOM

  19. PHR

  20. Diffuse Shading (Y)

  21. Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) (Sattler & Ryan, 2009, p. 134) • Violent offenders: M=83.2 • >1 SD below the mean (“low average”) • Nonviolent offenders: M=75.2 • Almost 2 SD below the mean (“borderline”)

  22. Clinical Implications • Better understanding of violent offenders • Prominent features that differentiate this population from nonviolent offenders are related to interpersonal characteristics, and reasoning and problem solving skills • Prone to using nonverbal problem solving and reasoning • More dominant and controlling • *Based on self-report • Problematic understanding of self and others • This understanding can guide treatment planning toward more interpersonal/social skills and adaptively understanding and interacting with others • especially during conflictual encounters and those that require healthy problem solving

  23. Limitations • Small sample size (especially nonviolent offenders) • Generalizability • Only inmates within the mental health system at one prison • Not representative of general prison population • Inter-rater reliability • Tests were scored by various examiners • Standard validity concerns for each assessment measure • Effort, motivation, performing at optimal level, self-reporting, defensiveness, impression management, rapport with examiner, administration, nature of setting/environment, etc.

  24. Conclusion • Comparative characteristics and styles of those prone to harm others directly vs other crimes in a small sample • This is preliminary research -there is much more we can do! • Gather more assessment data • Study how these results can affect treatment of violent offenders to reduce future violent crime and increase their likelihood of success while incarcerated and when released into the community

  25. references California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [CDCR]. (2012a). Adult Population Projections. Retrieved from the CDCR website: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/ProjeProjec/S1 2Pub.pdf California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [CDCR]. (2012b). Prison Census Data. Retrieved from the CDCR website: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/Annual/Census/ CENSUSd1206.pdf Coram, G. J. (1995). A Rorschach Analysis of Violent Murderers and Nonviolent Offenders. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 11(2), 81-88. Craig, L. A., Browne, K. D., Beech, A., & Stringer, I. (2004). Personality characteristics associated with r econviction in sexual and violent offenders. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 15(3), 532-551. Craig, L. A., Browne, K. D., Beech, A., & Stringer, I. (2006). Differences in personality and risk characteristics in sex, violent and general offenders. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 16(3), 183-194. Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]. (2010). Crime in the United States: Violent Crime. Retrieved from the FBI website: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/violent- crime

  26. References Glaze, L. E. (2011). Correctional Population in the United States, 2010. Retrieved from the Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2237. Guerino, P., Harrison, P. M., Sabol, W. J. (2010). Prisoners in 2010. Retrieved from the Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2230. Meyer, G. J., Viglione, D. J., Mihura, J. L., Erard, R. E., & Erdberg, P. (2011). Rorschach Performance Assessment System: Administration, Coding, Interpretation, and Technical Manual. Toledo, OH: Rorschach Performance Assessment System, LLC. Morey, L. C. (2003). Essentials of PAI Assessment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Polaschek, D. L. L., & Reynolds, N. (2004). Assessment and treatment: Violent offenders. In C. R. Hollin (Ed.), The essential handbook of offender assessment and treatment (pp. 201-218). Chichester: Wiley. Sattler, J. M., & Ryan, J. J. (2009). Assessment with the WAIS-IV. La Mesa, CA: Jerome M. Sattler, Publisher, Inc. Walters, G. D. (2007). Predicting Institutional Adjustment With the Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form and the Antisocial Features and Aggression Scales of the PAI. Journal of Personality Assessment. 88(1), 99-105.

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