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Assessment for Criminal Thinking

NCJ Number
215843
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 159-177
Author(s)
Kevin Knight; Bryan R. Garner; D. Dwayne Simpson; Janis T. Morey; Patrick M. Flynn
Date Published
January 2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examined the use of the Texas Christian University Criminal Thinking Scales (TCU CTS) as a reliable self-reported criminal thinking assessment.
Abstract
Findings indicate that the TCU Criminal Thinking Scales (TCU CTS) have good psychometric properties and offer the corrections field a quick and reliable self-report assessment of criminal thinking. Corrections-based treatment programs focus on the way offenders think and act in hopes of getting them to make better, more pro-social choices. Ingrained in living a criminal lifestyle, criminal thinking is viewed as a dynamic cognitive process that can and must be altered before inmates are released into the community. The TCU CTS can serve as a reliable tool for measuring this process. They have the potential to enhance the assessment system for determining treatment progress and intervention effectiveness and an offender’s amenability to change. One of the primary goals for correctional programs is to minimize offenders’ potential for reoffending. Studies have shown the need to provide the most intensive rehabilitation service to offenders with the greatest risks of reoffending to achieve optimal safety and health gains. However, the utility of risk or problem severity assessments as tools to assist in the identification of offender treatment need has been undervalued. The TCU CTS were developed to provide the criminal justice system with a brief and cost-effective criminal thinking instrument. The TCU CTS are a brief (self-reporting) instrument developed to assess cognitive functioning expected to be related to criminal conduct. This study examined the basic psychometric properties of the TCU CTS. Tables, figure, and references

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