NCJ Number
208145
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 31 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2004 Pages: 717-733
Date Published
December 2004
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA) was administered to a sample of adult male offenders in Canada to test its predictive validity for general and violent recidivism.
Abstract
Part A of the MCAA is a quantified self-report measure of the criminality of associates of the examinee, and Part B contains four attitude scales that measure violence, entitlement, antisocial intent, and the characteristics of associates. For the current study, examinees were 144 volunteers drawn from a population of imprisoned adult males sentenced to 2 years or more. Offenses represented among the sample were robbery, sex offenses, assault, property offenses, criminal negligence/driving, and drug-related offenses. In addition to being administered the MCAA, the sample was also administered the General Statistical Information on Recidivism (GSIR), which was developed as an actuarial instrument to predict recidivism in federally sentenced Canadian offenders. All participants were followed up for 1 year after their release from custody by using both offender files and official police records. General recidivism included all new offenses, and violent offenses included verbal threats, assault, sexual assault, armed robbery, and robbery with violence. The recidivism data compared with MCAA results showed the predictive validity of the MCAA for both general and violent recidivism. In addition, the MCAA significantly improved the prediction of violent recidivism produced by the GSIR. The article discusses the significance of antisocial attitudes and criminal associates as factors in risk assessments. 3 tables and 47 references