Ministry of Justice

During the past 20 years, a significant body of literature has emerged focusing on the application of Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration (TPD) to the study of gifted individuals. Although much of this literature is prescriptive, some research reports spanning this time period are available. A perusal of research on TPD's applicability to gifted individuals indicates that the focus has been Dabrowski's notion of overexcitability (OE). This article reviews OE research, contrasts it with Dabrowski's approach to research with gifted individuals, and argues that researchers should emulate Dabrowski's approach in future investigations.

The primary aim of this study is to determine the extent to which the consideration of strengths enhances the predictive validity of risk assessment protocols applied to correctional populations. Data from the Service Planning Instrument (SPIn) Pre-Screen were analyzed for 3,656 adult offenders bound by provincial supervision across Alberta, Canada. The predictive validity of the screening instrument was equivalent across gender and Aboriginal status (areas under the curve [AUCs] = .75-.77). Hierarchical logistic regression revealed significant main effects for risk and strength subtotals in predicting new offenses over 18 months for the overall sample, indicating that the inclusion of strengths adds uniquely to the prediction of recidivism. The overall model yielded a significant Risk Score × Strength Score interaction, illustrating that high strength scores are particularly effective in attenuating recidivism among higher risk cases. Rather than limit their consideration to case management contexts, results support the integration of strengths into quantitative assessments of criminal risk.

Abstract Most treatment programmes for sexual offenders include some form of victim empathy training. Although the concept of empathy has acquired diverse meanings, those interested in sexual offenders' empathy deficits are primarily concerned about the offenders' lack of compassion or sympathy for their victims. A model of empathy is presented in which uncompassionate responses are the product of three initial conditions: a) an adversarial or indifferent relationship; b) perspective-taking deficits; and c) inappropriate methods for coping with the perceived distress of others. The model suggests that empathy training should target specific deficits, and that misdirected interventions would be expected to have no effects, or even detrimental effects, on the offenders' ability to generate sympathetic, compassionate responses to victims. Keywords: Sex OffendersVictim EmpathyTreatment Programmes

The primary purpose of this study is to introduce the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument (YASI; Orbis Partners, 2000), which is a comprehensive assessment protocol gauging a range of risks, needs, and strengths associated with criminal conduct in juvenile populations. Applied to a sample of 464 juvenile offenders bound by community supervision in Alberta, Canada, the Pre-Screen version of the instrument achieved a high level of accuracy in predicting both general and violent offenses over an 18-month follow-up period (Area Under the Curve [AUC] = .79). No significant differences in overall predictive validity were found across demographic groups, save for the relatively lower level of accuracy achieved in predicting general reoffending across the subsample of girls (AUC = .68). With regard to strengths, a buffering effect was identified whereby high-risk cases with higher levels of strength had superior outcomes compared to their lower strength counterparts. Results suggest that it is advisable to consider the quantitative inclusion of strength-based items in the assessment of juvenile risk.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been put forth as a potential means of improving and expediting violence risk assessment in forensic psychiatry. Furthermore, it has been proffered as a means of mitigating bias by replacing subjective human judgements with unadulterated data-driven predictions. A recent ethics analysis of AI-informed violence risk assessment enumerated some potential benefits, ethics concerns, and recommendations for further discussion. The current review builds on this previous work by highlighting additional important practical and ethics considerations. These include extant technology for violence risk assessment, paradigmatic concerns with the application of AI to risk assessment and management, and empirical evidence of racial bias in the criminal justice system. Emphasis is given to problems of informed consent, maleficence (e.g., the known iatrogenic effects of overly punitive sanctions), and justice (particularly racial justice). AI appears well suited to certain medical applications, such as the interpretation of diagnostic images, and may well surpass human judgement in accuracy or efficiency with respect to some important tasks. Caution is necessary, however, when applying AI to processes like violence risk assessment that do not conform clearly to simple classification paradigms.

This study examined the nature and impacts of the professional override on the Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revision (LSI-OR), using a large archival database of 40,539 individuals’ information. Research questions focused on the predictive validity of various LSI-OR risk metrics, including total risk/need scores, initial risk categories, and adjusted risk categories, for various types of recidivism; how professional overrides were used; whether they were used more with some groups than others; and whether their impacts varied depending on recidivism type. Overrides were applied in 15.4% of cases, most often (94.1%) to increase risk levels. Override use varied based on gender, race, and the nature of index offenses. Based on receiver operating characteristic analyses, the results generally indicated that adjusted risk levels (incorporating professional overrides) demonstrated inferior predictive validity relative to unadjusted metrics. The results suggest a need for increased caution and consistency in the application of professional overrides.

In recent decades the practice of violence risk assessment and use of violence risk assessment instruments has become widespread in the criminal justice system. How are courts reacting to these developments? Herein the findings of a survey of Canadian case law are reported. Using Quick Law 35 cases were systematically identified in which judges commented on expert evidence regarding violence risk. Judicial comments were summarized with respect to evaluator qualifications, assessment procedures used, and presentation of findings and opinions. Findings indicate a wide variety of judicial preferences including the skill and knowledge of the evaluator, the type of information used, the description of findings and procedures, and the applicability of legal rules. Although potentially useful to evaluators caution is urged regarding the incorporation of some judicial preferences.

That such a power now exists is indisputable. Its ambit alone must yet be resolved. Its restrictions, that is, activities denied to an exercise of the power, must be those that apply generally to legislative powers. A noncoercive power is no power – an absurd proposition – and no reason exists to confine the power to one extending only to permit Commonwealth funds to be drawn from its Treasury. The true rule is stated by Mason J. Every implied power arises from constitutional language, history or political reality. Thus, in the United States, powers over aliens, the Indian tribes, foreign relations and the compulsory requisition of private property derive from implication based on history and political reality. This is explained in the Curtiss-Wright case. Australia differs from the United States in three relevant respects: it is not a union of states; Commonwealth powers were not granted to it by the States; and there is, and there never was, dual Commonwealth-State citizenship.

Abstract Whether judges and prosecutors should be given full discretionary power in sentencing or mandatory minimum sentences be imposed remains a fiercely debated topic. In this paper, we examine the impact of Canada's 2005 introduction of minimum sentences on sexual offences against children and child pornography on the distribution of sentence lengths using administrative data containing the universe of these offences that occurred between 2003 and 2007. We find that the average sentence length for affected crimes at times increased by substantially more than the newly imposed minimum, and effects of the policy appear even in the middle and upper portions of the sentencing distribution. These increases occur immediately following the policy change, signalling that judges and prosecutors quickly change their sentencing behaviour after the implementation of mandatory minimum sentences. These lengthier sentences have significant implications for the estimation of the fiscal costs of minimum sentencing policies.