By European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA; European Institute for Gender Equality

  This report presents, for the first time, selected key results of the EU gender-based violence survey based on data from all 27 Member States. Across the EU-27, 114 023 women were interviewed about their experiences. The report focuses on the prevalence of various forms of violence against women in the EU. The EU gender-based violence survey also collected specific data about women’s experiences of violence, including on the consequences of violence and contacts with different services that provide assistance to victims, as survivors of violence. Data on both the prevalence of violence and the consequences of violence will be analysed in detail in the survey report that Eurostat, FRA and EIGE will publish in 2025. In this report, the results are presented in four chapters, starting with the overall prevalence of physical violence or threats and/or sexual violence by any perpetrator. This is followed by two chapters that focus on violence perpetrated by women’s intimate partners and by other people (non-partners). The fourth chapter examines women’s experiences of sexual harassment at work. Finally, the report includes an annex that summarises the survey data collection methodology  

Vienna: FRA 2024. 48p.

By The  European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights = FRA

This paper sets out some of the key challenges and concrete solutions in the implementation and enjoyment of victims’ rights that have emerged from FRA’s research over the past decade on how victims of crime have accessed their rights in practice across the EU. The findings are intended to inform and support the work of key stakeholders with respect to the revised Victims’ Rights Directive and related legislative files that address various victims’ rights. Those include the Directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence, the Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protection of its victims, the Directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, the Directive on combatting terrorism, and the Compensation Directive.

Based on existing FRA data, the paper brings together key findings from FRA’s quantitative and qualitative research on victims of crime relating to three areas:

• Reporting crime

• Protection from secondary victimisation

• Victim support services.

The paper highlights challenges and solutions in each of these areas, drawing directly from FRA’s published work.

Empirical evidence concerning victims’ enjoyment of their rights in practice, and the challenges they face, emerges from data that FRA has gathered using a variety of methodologies; namely:

1. Large-scale quantitative surveys collecting data from tens of thousands of victims (based on interviews in person or carried out online; some surveys covering all EU Member States and others a selection of countries); and

2. In-depth qualitative research that involves the testimony of victims but also practitioners who deal directly with victims within the criminal justice system (e.g. police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, victim support services).

See list of relevant FRA publications at the end of this section.

The solutions outlined in this paper, drawn from existing FRA findings, are based on practices in various EU Member States that have proven to be effective in responding to the practical needs of victims and to improving their ability to access their rights. These findings can assist the EU institutions and Member States in identifying actions that could be taken in these three areas to guarantee the rights, support and protection of victims of crime.

Vienna: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA, 2024. 39p.

By Jonathan P. Caulkins

Background and aims: Multiple countries are considering revising cannabis policies. This study aimed to measure long-term trends in cannabis use in the United States and compare them with alcohol use.

Design and setting: Secondary analysis of United States general population survey data.

Participants: The national surveys had a total of 1 641 041 participants across 27 surveys from 1979 to 2022.

Measurements

Rates of use reported to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health and its predecessors are described, as are trends in days of use reported. Four milepost years are contrasted: 1979 (first available data and end of relatively liberal policies of the 1970s), 1992 (end of 12 years of conservative Reagan-Bush era policies), 2008 (last year before the Justice Department signaled explicit federal non-interference with state-level legalizations) and 2022 (most recent data available).

Findings

Reported cannabis use declined to a nadir in 1992, with partial recovery through 2008, and substantial increases since then, particularly for measures of more intensive use. Between 2008 and 2022, the per capita rate of reporting past-year use increased by 120%, and days of use reported per capita increased by 218% (in absolute terms from the annual equivalent of 2.3 to 8.1 billion days per year). From 1992 to 2022, there was a 15-fold increase in the per capita rate of reporting daily or near daily use. Whereas the 1992 survey recorded 10 times as many daily or near daily alcohol as cannabis users (8.9 vs. 0.9 M), the 2022 survey, for the first time, recorded more daily and near daily users of cannabis than alcohol (17.7 vs. 14.7 M). Far more people drink, but high-frequency drinking is less common. In 2022, the median drinker reported drinking on 4–5 days in the past month, versus 15–16 days in the past month for cannabis. In 2022, past-month cannabis consumers were almost four times as likely to report daily or near daily use (42.3% vs. 10.9%) and 7.4 times more likely to report daily use (28.2% vs. 3.8%).

Conclusions

Long-term trends in cannabis use in the United States parallel corresponding changes in cannabis policy, with declines during periods of greater restriction and growth during periods of policy liberalization. A growing share of cannabis consumers report daily or near daily use, and their numbers now exceed the number of daily and near daily drinkers.

Addiction, Volume119, Issue9, September 2024, Pages 1648-1652

By Anita Lavorgna, and Anna Sergi

This paper, based on discourse analysis of policy documents, departs from a critique of the juxtaposition of the terms “serious” and “organised” in policies against organised crime in the UK. The conceptualisation of organised crime as national security threat supports our hypothesis that a similar critique can be applied to the emerging narrative of cyber-organised crime in the country. We argue that, whereby organised crime has become essentially “serious” as consequence of its characterisation as a national security threat, cyber crime is becoming “organised” in the policy narrative because of its seriousness. The seriousness and organisation of cyber crime justifies its inclusion within the national security agenda, thus accessing the procedural benefits of criminal intelligence assigned to national security threats. The implications associated to the evolution of such narratives in policy-making need to be assessed while policies are still developing.

International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 2016, 18p.

By Daniel Birks, Elizabeth R. Groff, and Nick Malleson

An agent-based model is a form of complex systems model that is capable of simulating how the micro-level behavior of individual system entities contributes to macro-level system outcomes. Researchers draw on theory and evidence to identify the key elements of a given system and specify behaviors of agents that simulate the individual entities of that system—be they cells, animals, or people. The model is then used to run simulations in which agents interact with one another and the resulting outcomes are observed. These models enable researchers to explore proposed causal explanations of real-world outcomes, experiment with the impacts that potential interventions might have on system behavior, or generate counterfactual scenarios against which real-world events can be compared. In this review, we discuss the application of agent-based modeling within the field of criminology as well as key challenges and future directions for research.

Annual Review of Criminology, Vol. 8:75-95 January 2025)

By John Hagan

My interest in criminology grew as the Vietnam War escalated. I applied to two Canadian graduate schools and flipped a coin. The coin recommended the University of Toronto, but I chose the University of Alberta, which had a stronger criminology program. I wrote a dissertation about criminal sentencing, which led to an Assistant Professorship at the University of Toronto. Dean Robert Pritchard of Toronto’s Law School encouraged my work and later successfully nominated me for a Distinguished University Professorship. My interests continued to grow in international criminal law. A MacArthur Distinguished Professorship at Chicago’s Northwestern University and the American Bar Foundation facilitated my research at the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. I followed this by studying the crime of genocide in Sudan and later the trial of Chicago’s Detective Jon Burge. Burge oversaw the torture of more than 100 Black men on Chicago’s South Side. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted Burge when Illinois prosecutors would not. Despite many good things about Chicago, the periodic corruption of the government and police was not among them.

Annual Review of Criminology, Vol. 8:1-23 . January 2025

By Andrés Aldana, Hernán Larralde & Maximino Aldana

Among all types of corruption, police corruption is probably the one that most directly hurts society, as those trusted with protecting the people either side with the criminals that victimize the citizens, or are themselves, criminals. However, both corruption and its effects are very difficult to measure quantitatively other than by perception surveys, but the perception that citizens have of this phenomenon may be different from reality. Using a simple agent-based model, we analyze the effect on crime rates as a result of both corruption and the perception of corruption within law-enforcement corporations. Our results show a phase transition in which crime can propagate across the population even when the majority of police officers are honest. We find that one of the parameters that strongly controls crime incidence is the probability that regular citizens become criminals. In contrast, other actions, such as arresting crime lords, or the amount of crime-associated money that is confiscated, have little impact on the long-term crime incidence. Our results suggest that in addition to combating corruption within law-enforcement institutions, to further reduce the incidence of crime, policymakers should strive to restore confidence in these institutions and the justice system.

By Ingrid Diane Johnson

Purpose: How victims of violence against women (VAW) label their experiences and selves can be important for help-seeking, but descriptive research on the prevalence of experience- and self-labels among VAW victims is limited. This study sought to fll some of the gaps in this quantitative literature using new measurement tools. Method: The current study used quantitative survey data from a weighted sample of 1694 community-based women in Alaska who had experienced VAW (determined using behaviorally specific items) to measure the prevalence of a variety of labels these victims could apply to their experiences and selves. Results Generally, victims of specific forms of violence had minimal agreement on the terms they used to label their experiences. The most commonly endorsed label was 28.5% of those who had experienced alcohol or drug involved sexual assault applying the label rape to their experiences. Across all victims, the most commonly endorsed self-label was survivor, with one-quarter to one-third endorsing this label, depending on the subsample. Roughly one-tenth used the self-label victim across all subsamples. Conclusion: VAW service providers should consider labels used to promote services and how to increase awareness about which behaviors constitute VAW; policymakers should improve the accessibility of healthcare so that labeling oneself or one’s experiences in a certain way is not a prerequisite of help-seeking; and researchers should continue exploring how to measure experience- and self-labels with minimal priming of participants and greater specificity to the actual experiences with violence.

Journal of Family Violence (2024) 39:421–433

By  Alex Severson,  Paul Guerin,  Reanna Sanchez, Cris Moore,

This study validates two risk assessments designed to predict inmate misconduct in New Mexico prisons. Using a six-year admission cohort of inmates admitted to New Mexico prisons between 2015 and 2021 (n = 34,2467 unique classification events), we paired focus groups with New Mexico Corrections Department classification staff and observations of the classification process with logistic regression, count models, and random forest models to assess the predictive validity of the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)’s initial and reclassification tools for general and serious, violent misconduct within six months following classification. Results from focus groups and observations highlighted that the NMCD had the essential components of an objective classification system. Our empirical validation found that the reclassification tool was more predictive of misconduct than the initial classification tool for both male and female inmates and generally had good classification performance, though there were limitations with the metric we used for evaluating predictive validity. We also recommended that some factors on the classification tools should be rescored based on their predictive relationship with serious violent misconduct and proposed an updated scoring system based on these relationships (i.e., increasing points for factors which were more predictive of violent misconduct). We also evaluated the relationship between overrides, custody levels, and misconduct.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, Center for Applied Research & Analysis, 2024. 70p.

By Monica Wheeler and Robin Joy

This memo explores drug charge filings and dispositions in the Vermont Superior Court, Criminal Division from 2018 through November 2023. Summary • Heroin filings are down from their pre-pandemic levels. • Cocaine filings and dispositions are rising back to their pre-pandemic levels. • The most common crimes associated with drug charges are public order offenses. • Property crimes are not often associated with drug charges. • Cocaine is the most common drug charged with fentanyl cases, heroin cases, and the catchall depressant/stimulant/narcotic cases.

Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2024. 18p.

By Monica Weeber and Robin Joy

Summary • The 2023 retail theft charge filings are consistent with pre-COVID years. There is an increase in the number of felony retail theft charges filed. • Most felony retail theft charges are disposed as a felony. • Case backlogs can occur at all stages of the process, including apprehension, scheduling, and disposition. • 57.6% of repeat retail theft offenders re-offend with a new retail theft offense within 30 days of their first offense. • Restitution is ordered in approximately 8% of all retail theft cases.
 

• Straight sentences were the most common sentence for both misdemeanor and felony retail theft. The average minimum time for misdemeanor retail theft was .03 years (11 days) and for felony was .64 years (7.6 months).

Montpelier VT: Crime Research Group, 2024.   12p.

By Megan Novak

Vermont’s victim service providers, law enforcement, and legislature have been interested in understanding state trends related to sex and labor trafficking. In this regard, Crime Research Group reviewed Vermont human trafficking data recorded in the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NIBRS was created to capture details on specific crime incidents including information about victims, known offenders, victim-offender relationships, arrestees, and property involved. Since the 1990s, Vermont law enforcement have been NIBRS compliant meaning that information concerning certain crimes known to Vermont law enforcement are logged in NIBRS. This report reviews available NIBRS data reported between 2015-2019. A preliminary review indicated that there were no labor or sex trafficking cases recorded in 2015. Furthermore, between 2016-2019, there were no recorded incidents involving labor trafficking offenses. Therefore, this report focuses on sex trafficking offenses that occurred between 2016-2019 in Vermont. Annual review of NIBRS sex trafficking data will help identify trends and monitor data quality. Trends to be monitored include, but are not limited to, total number of incidents and offenses, offense circumstances (e.g., substances involved, weapons used), as well as victim and offender demographics.

Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2021. 7p.

By Megan Novak

Property offenses refer to crimes in which the object is “to obtain money, property, or some other benefit” (NIBRS User Manual, p. 9).1 Between 2015 and 2019, property offenses accounted for 70.88% of all crimes committed in Vermont. Given the prevalence of property offenses, criminal justice stakeholders and legislatures have a vested interest in monitoring trends related to these types of crime. The National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a data source in which law enforcement record information about 26 property offenses. Annual reports will monitor Vermont’s NIBRS data for trends related to the number of incidents each year, types and number of offenses committed, victim and offender demographics, and arrestee information. 

Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2021. 13p.

By Christopher C. Louras 

As part of Crime Research Group’s (CRG) stakeholder engagement process associated with the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data-driven Vermont Crime Analysis project, CRG’s law enforcement partners asked: “How do our agencies spend our time? And to what offenses do we respond?” This report seeks to use NIBRS data to help Vermont’s state, county, and municipal policing agencies answer those questions. This report will delve into the most common reported offenses within the state and the individual counties, which law enforcement agencies respond to the reported crimes, and the distribution of the offenses in individual counties. Given that most of Vermont is comprised of rural areas, an aggregate view of the data on offenses committed in the state might be skewed by more urbanized areas like Burlington. As such, this report will examine the top five offenses reported in each county and will include a list of the top ten crimes. A county-level examination can help inform how law enforcement agencies and policymakers develop strategies to address each jurisdiction’s particular needs. This report by no means describes all the incidents to which law enforcement responds. NIBRS data captures crimes while quality of life incidents such as noise complaints, issues with animals, and suspicious activity, etc., are not captured in NIBRS data. Once Vermont law enforcement are all using the new computer aided dispatch/records management system (CAD/RMS), the quality-of-life incidents will be available for a more comprehensive review as to how law enforcement spends their time.

Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2021. 33p.

By Christopher Louras

A series of interviews with criminal justice stakeholders conducted by Crime Research Group (CRG) in 2020 concluded that policymakers at both the state and local levels rely on access to accurate data to fully understand the scope of criminal incidents that occur within Vermont generally and within communities specifically. Without timely and accurate information, those policymakers recognize the inherent challenge in developing both short- and long-term effective strategies to address the needs of the constituencies they serve. To that end, this report analyzes five years of National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data for incident trends related to law enforcement agencies’ recording day(s) of the week and time of day for criminal events. While this study by no means provides a comprehensive summary of how law enforcement agencies spend their time in response to calls for service, it provides a glimpse into one critical component, when crimes occur and/or are recorded within Vermont’s data systems, that is needed to effectively and efficiently serve the public. 

Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2021. 11p.

Within the state of Vermont, there is a history of following a traditional approach of relying on transaction- based information systems for data capture and reporting. This model relies on disparate silos of data and functionality, resulting in numerous problems ranging from the inability to access the right data to lengthy delays in obtaining much needed data for analysis and decision making. This perpetuates inefficiencies and compromises the effectiveness of criminal justice practitioners as they try to navigate these systems. Obtaining relevant data in Vermont can also be challenging due to a lack of information-sharing or the inability to share data. Not only are there challenges in identifying data but there are also nuances in data fields that make it difficult and, in some cases, harmful to draw conclusions from the data. For example, it is harmful to assume that a defendant intended to avoid justice in the case of failure to appear, when in actuality the defendant incarcerated at the time of the hearing. The Data Integration Planning Process The National Criminal Justice Reform Project (NCJRP) helped focus the process on strategic planning that furthered the integration of data systems and the use of measurable, high fidelity evidence-based programs. The long-term vision of this effort has been to develop a data system that allows data sharing and the integration of disparate information technology systems between and among all partners across the criminal justice system in the state. Such a system would provide practitioners at all levels with a comprehensive set of query and analytics tools for improved decision making. Foundational to this work is the need for access to integrated data from criminal justice and human services. Access to integrated data is critical for the decision-making processes and for measuring the results being achieved. Currently the data systems are siloed with some data flowing through one system to the next. (See AttachmentA) Technology is needed that is scalable to all systems within the Vermont criminal justice system, allowing for the comprehensive collection and assessment of data across the criminal justice processes. Through the NCJRP, the Advisory Committee recognized the importance of including data from other agencies beyond that of law enforcement, including courts and corrections. They identified the need to engage stakeholders, conduct a thorough technology and systems assessment, develop a comprehensive strategic plan, and establish a governance structure and staffing to oversee this work. The long-term vision is to have a single point of reference for the integration of all criminal justice data in Vermont. A system is needed that provides query capabilities, as well as system integration services, allowing for the use of a single, open-source standards-based data portal to facilitate state-wide justice information sharing. The next steps called for bringing the criminal justice community together to develop a strategy that looked beyond the NCJRP. To do this, the NCJRP technical assistance team engaged SEARCH, the premiere justice sharing organization, to help with operationalizing the vision. To help convey the complexity and number of software systems involved in the various functions and roles of the stakeholders expecting to be integrated, Attachment B exists as a flowchart representation overlayed with the software engaged at each phase of the process. Three objectives were identified: 1. To develop and deliver a data infrastructure implementation plan and framework for strengthening governance and multi-agency information sharing among criminal justice and other stakeholders with an initial focus on racial disparities. 2. To establish a process to routinely communicate stakeholder technology plans, changes to information sharing needs, policies and practices, and capabilities and gaps. These activities will promote coordination and integration solutions that collectively enhance strategic policy and operational decision making among justice partners within the state. 3. To establish a consensus among partners to define the relevance, need, purpose, participating agencies, objectives, and responsibilities of the governance structure. Identify leadership, support, and resources to effectively manage progress toward the defined objectives. In 2019, the Vermont Department of Public Safety (DPS), as outlined in their Modernization Plan, was in the process of implementing a new computer-aided dispatch and records management system (CAD/RMS) for all law enforcement agencies within the state. This would allow more data to be collected and stored at DPS and help ensure the data is collected effectively and integrated with other systems within the criminal justice system. To further the data integration work, the Vermont NCJRP team proposed utilizing the funds initially allocated for personnel to support a position within the Agency of Digital Services (ADS). Scheduling meetings, agenda/minutes preparation and distribution, managing deliverables, and participating in committee meetings all takes time and effort – resources which most stakeholders had very little to spare. The support and management function of this initiative was a key component to maintain the project’s initial momentum and continue making progress toward the objectives. 

Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2022. 27p.

By The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Three Key Questions ♦ How are the activities of law enforcement agencies impacted by climate change and what are the implications of this for future practice? ♦ What capacities and organisational attributes are required by law enforcement agencies in responding to the challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation? ♦ What improvements can be made to law enforcement responses to the challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation? Legal and Professional Contexts ♦ Crimes that affect the environment are increasingly being prioritised by the United Nations and other international bodies, as well as regional and domestic authorities. ♦ A paradigm shift is occurring due to changing circumstances that is reshaping contemporary responses to the law enforcement mission and mandate. This has ramifications for how law enforcement work is carried out, the resources needed to do so, and the collaborations required across agencies and between community and government. Crimes that Affect the Environment and Climate Change ♦ Crimes that Affect the Environment Contributing to Climate Change Deforestation – diminishment of carbon sinks, adding to carbon emissions; Illegal mining – air pollution; polluting freshwater systems, Wildlife trafficking – loss of certain species and individuals may undermine the functioning of ecosystems exacerbating conditions leading to climate change; Land grabs and changing land uses – lost carbon stock and sequestration, adding to carbon emissions. ♦ Climate Change Affecting Existing Categories of Crime Water crimes – resource scarcity and water theft; Clandestine migration – climate refugees; Illegal mining – rare earth minerals for new renewable energy systems; Social conflict – aggression and violence over scarce resources, social strains arising from biophysical changes, changes in routine activities depending on weather. ♦ Cross-Over Crimes Associated with Crimes that Affect the Environment and Climate Change Homicide – killing of park rangers, environmental activists, local residents; Organised crime groups and networks – fraudulent green investments, low-price food on-sales; Corruption – direct (criminal such as document fraud) and moral (unethical policies and practices that foster carbon emission pollution); Disaster-related fraud – building practices, insurance claims, victim scams and identity theft. Climate Change Risks and Disasters ♦ The planet is heating up at an unprecedented rate and this is accelerating. The effects of this are manifest in high impact and extreme weather events and increases in all manner of risks and harms. This is global in nature. ♦ The notion of harmscape captures the idea of intersecting and interacting harms. Climate change impacts and risks are becoming increasingly complex and more difficult to manage. ♦ The intersectional dimensions of responding to climate disruption include three main features: climate related crimes (e.g., water theft); climate-related events (e.g., wildfires); and climate-related problems (e.g., prolonged homelessness), all of which are interconnected. Capacities and Capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies ♦ While there may be rising interest and need for greater law enforcement intervention arising from climate-related events and trends, at present there is generally insufficient capacity to meet the challenges of either crime fighting or disaster and emergency management. ♦ A change in and pluralisation of police roles is occurring, in which greater attention is being devoted to matters such as climate change mitigation, reduction of climate-related crime or first responder work on the frontline of environmental disasters. ♦ There are a multitude of stakeholders and agencies with which law enforcement must engage and collaborate with, with numerous tensions and opportunities evident at the grassroots level with regard to state-community relations. A New Paradigm for Global Law Enforcement ♦ A robust response to climate-related crime and disaster events hinges to a large extent on the strength and resilience provided by the community and NGO sectors working in conjunction with state authorities. ♦ A wide range of equipment and technologies are required in the fight against climate-related crimes and in responding to disasters and emergencies. These need to be shared out at the global scale. ♦ Information management systems are crucial to both combating climate-related crimes as well as predicting and responding to climate-related disasters and their short- and long-term social and environmental consequences. ♦ It is vital that multi-agency and multi-disciplinary teams and forums be provided that bring together in a coordinated manner the knowledge, expertise and experience of a wide range of practitioners. ♦ A range of strategic actions are required for effective environment and climate-related global law enforcement. The emphasis must be on preparedness and rapid mobilisation of human and technical resources.

Vienna: UNODC, 2024. 70p.

By Michael Rocque, Grant Duwe and Valerie Clark

Identity or self-concept has long been theorized to explain rule-violating behavior. Life-course criminology scholarship has incorporated identity as a core concept explaining desistance or disengagement from crime over time. Individuals who transform their identities from anti to prosocial or who are ready to move away from their past selves are more likely to desist from crime. However, the role of identity, particularly the forms of identity that have been theorized to influence desistance, has been understudied with respect to prison behavior. Understanding the ways in which identity relates to prison misconduct may help inform prison programming as well as theoretical perspectives drawing on the concept. The purpose of this study is to explore how various forms of identity are related to future prison misconduct, controlling for past misconduct and a host of other theoretical variables, in Minnesota prisons. The results indicate that two forms of identity, replacement self and cognitive transformation, are related to general misconduct but not violent misconduct in survival models. For general misconduct, both forms of identity are associated with a reduction in the risk of new convictions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2023. 31p.

By Matthew Logan and Susan McNeeley

Studies explicitly examining the antecedents of prison victimization are rare relative to other institutional outcomes (e.g., misconduct) and are virtually nonexistent for incarcerated military veterans. In the current study, we employed Firth regression models to predict victimization among a subsample of military veterans housed by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC) using a target congruence approach. Inconsistent with prior theory and research, we observed no differences among veterans on the basis of race and physical or mental health disorders. We did, however, observe a relationship between an individual’s risk of recidivism as measured by the MnSTARR 2.0 and victimization whereby higher scores corresponded with greater odds of victimization. Implications for theory and correctional policy are discussed and directions for future are given.

St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2023. 25p.

By Grant Duwe and Valerie Clark

While specific responsivity factors are believed to either inhibit or facilitate successful involvement in programming, relatively little attention has been given to the validation of responsivity assessments used for correctional populations. Based on a sample of nearly 2,100 individuals confined in Minnesota prisons, this study examines the relationship between a needs and responsivity assessment system and multiple measures of program participation, dosage and completion. The responsivity domains—childhood trauma, mental health, religiosity, motivation and learning style—were significantly associated with at least one measure of programming. All but two of the needs domains also had a significant association with programming involvement. We discuss the implications of the findings for correctional research and practice.

St. Paul:: Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2024. 37p.