Personality and Short-Term Re-Offence Behaviour among Young Australian Male Probationers
| Published date | 01 March 1978 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587801100104 |
| Author | S A Lovegrove |
| Date | 01 March 1978 |
AUST &NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY
(March
1978) 11 (13-18)
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13
Introduction
This
paper
reports
an extension
of
an curlier
study
of 1
...
year-old
Australian
rnale
probationers
(Lovegrove,
197:3)
hy
examining
evidence
for tho rol« of
personality
variables
in their
short-term
re-offence
hehaviour.
The
present
analysis is
then
linked to the findings
from
the
earlier
study
concerning
precursors
of a
delinquent
orientation,
and
together
these conclusions
are
used to
draw
imp
lications
for
a
remedial
prograuune.
Lovegrove
(1973)
reported
three
scales
which
differentiated
between
young,
male
offenders
who
had
been
placed
on
probation
and
a
samp
le of youths
without
an
offence
record.
One
scale
was
"community
alienation", an
independent
factorial
scale
which
was
derived
from the
items
of
the
California
Psychological
Inventory
(CPI) using a
sample
of
non-delinquent
young
mules
(Lovegrove
and
Hammond,
197.3).
Th is
scale
consists of items
covering
attitudes
to school,
community
responsibility,
and
co-opera
tion with others.
The
other
scales
were
"delinquency-proneness",
which
consists of
the
(:PI
items
discriminating
between
the
probationers
and
non-dclinquonts
(Lovegrove,
1
H7:3),
and
the
socialization scale of
the
(~PI
(Gough,
1960'!
19(4).
The
common
vnriaucc
between
these
three
scales is suhstantial.
The
strategy
adopted
in this
present
analysis is,
first'!
to explore the
discriminative
power
of these scales in relation to 14 year-old
male
probutionorx
who
re-offended
within
twelve
months
and
those
who
did
not
(or
who
cscupc-cl
detection).
Following
this, an examination is Blade
of
the relationship het,,"pcn
the
items
which
discriminate
between
these
two
sub-groups
(the
"recidivism"
item set),
the
socialization
and
"delinquenc-y-proneness"
scales.
and
the xix
independent
factorial scales from the
(~PI.
Method
I
The
sub-samples
of
re-offcnders
(:\
=:32)
and
non
rc-offenders
(:\
=:36)
""cre
from a
sample
of
68
boys
who
resided
in
the
~Ielhourne
Metropo
lttun
/\rea
and
who
had
been
placed
on
probation
by
the
Children's
Court
in 1970
after
they
had
committed
an
offence
under
the
Crimes
Avt
at
the
age
of
14 years. It is
important
to
note
that
a
numher
of
the
boyshad
re-offcnded
before-
they
"'ere
o
~IA,
PhI)
(~h.'lh),
~IAPsS~
Lecturer
in
Psychology,
Ilusdt'n
Stan-
Collt',g("
Clayton,
Vic-tori«. Tlu-
author
gratefully
acknowledges
the
c-o-opcrution
of
the
Education,
Law,
and
Sodal
\\"t'lfarc
Departments
of
Victoria.
This
study
wus
conduc-te-d
through
tht'
Dopartun-nt
of
Psycho}o,gy,
l
'niversity
of
~1('lhournt'.
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