Elsevier

Aggression and Violent Behavior

Volume 59, July–August 2021, 101450
Aggression and Violent Behavior

The classification of people with a history of interpersonal violence for correctional treatment purposes: Possibilities for a schema-informed approach

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2020.101450Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Evidence is limited to support the application of typologies to correctional programs is limited

  • Heterogeneity that exists in treatment groups remains poorly understood

  • Classification based on clinically meaningful subgroups derived from schema constructs may hold promise

Abstract

In a context in which there is only limited evidence to suggest that contemporary violent offender treatment results in meaningful reductions in re-conviction rates, it is important to understand the heterogeneity that exists within violent offender populations. Although a number of different typologies of interpersonally violent behavior and of those who perpetrate violence have been proposed, few have had any discernible impact on treatment programs. Based on the assumption that delivering treatment that meets the needs of these different subpopulations will improve treatment outcomes we consider how classification based on the presence of violence-related schema may hold promise in this respect.

Introduction

Contemporary correctional treatments for those who have committed violent offenses vary markedly over time and across jurisdictions. This possibly reflects practitioner confusion about how to conceptualize violence as well as the diversity of responses that might be considered necessary to meet a wide range of needs that can be observed in the violent offender population. It may also contribute to the relatively modest reductions in violent recidivism that have been reported in recent evaluations of correctional treatments which, collectively, suggest that only some programs produce meaningful benefits for participants (Papalia, Spivak, Daffern, & Ogloff, 2019) and that individual responses to treatment vary within these (Klepfisz, O'Brien & Daffern, 2014).

In this paper we suggest that confusion about what constitutes a preferred approach to the treatment of violence arises from a limited understanding of: (a) whether criminally violent behavior can be classified into subtypes; and/or (b) whether there are subtypes of violent acts within people who have a history of violent offending who may be referred for treatment. Another way of thinking about this is that those who are referred for treatment may have heterogeneous offenses and are themselves heterogeneous. The aim here is to examine different approaches to parsing each type of heterogeneity and to evaluate the extent to which these efforts might inform more effective correctional treatment. As Ward (2000) have suggested, the development of more effective classification systems should not only make it easier to describe problems and to develop better explanatory theories but, ultimately, to support the delivery of more effective treatments. Accordingly, the key practice question that we consider is how the classification of violence might help to strengthen the correctional treatment of those who have committed criminal acts of interpersonal violence. In the second half of the paper we discuss how one particular approach, schema therapy, might be used to illustrate the importance of connecting violence classification to the actual delivery of treatment. We conclude with some observations about the gaps in current knowledge and key priorities for future research. First though, we consider some of the challenges associated with clearly defining what is actually meant by the term violence.

Section snippets

Defining violence

Even a cursory inspection of the research and professional literature reveals ongoing confusion about basic terminology, with terms such as aggression and violence often poorly defined or used interchangeably. Although legal definitions can be used to identify a core set of offenses that can be categorized as violent (e.g., murder, serious assaults, rape), the boundaries between the classifications are often blurred. For instance, do crimes involving weapons but no actual physical violence

Approaches to classification

From the outset, we acknowledge that the need to identify types of violence or classification systems to guide treatment is not universally accepted. This is illustrated in a recent study by Boxall, Rosevear, and Payne (2015) where domestic and family violence stakeholders were asked to comment on the relevance of typologies to how they worked. Consistent with other research in this area (e.g., Weber & Bouman, 2020), most of those who participated reported that they did not use ‘typologies’ to

Towards a Schema-informed approach

The remainder of this paper is devoted to a discussion of the application of a schema-informed approach to the treatment of violent people in prison. This approach is of interest to our discussion as it is based on the careful assessment of a set of underlying cognitive styles (which are referred to as ‘maladaptive schemas’ and ‘schema modes’; Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003) and the development of specialist treatment approaches that correctional practitioners can apply in both individual and

Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to consider how current typologies of interpersonal violence and violent offenders might improve the effectiveness of correctional treatment. It is surprisingly how little evidence currently exists to support the application of typologies (or either people or behavior) to correctional treatment programs are designed and delivered. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity that exists within groups of people with convictions involving violence is clear, even though we have yet to

Acknowledgements

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) (New Zealand) Research Programme (19-UOW-026).

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