An Assessment for Criminal Thinking

Abstract

Risk assessments generally rely on actuarial measures of criminal history. However, these static measures do not address changes in risk as a result of intervention. To this end, this study examines the basic psychometric properties of the TCU Criminal Thinking Scales (TCU CTS), a brief (self-rating) instrument developed to assess cognitive functioning expected to be related to criminal conduct. Findings demonstrate that these scales have good psychometric properties and can serve as a short but reliable self-reported criminal thinking assessment. Their applications as part of an assessment system to determine offender progress and effectiveness are discussed.

Relationship between Drug Treatment Engagement and Criminal Thinking Style among Drug-Using Offenders

“…It contains 16 sub-scales grouped into four dimensions (motivation/need, psychological functioning, social functioning and treatment engagement), for which norms have been established in almost 10,000 clients in the US. The CTS [20] is a 37-item questionnaire with established psychometric properties, consisting of six scales, each assessing an aspect of criminal thinking: Entitlement, Justification, Personal irresponsibility, Power orientation, Cold heartedness and Criminal rationalisation. It has been validated by research within the US criminal justice system and scores have been shown to be responsive to treatment [20] .…”

“…The CTS [20] is a 37-item questionnaire with established psychometric properties, consisting of six scales, each assessing an aspect of criminal thinking: Entitlement, Justification, Personal irresponsibility, Power orientation, Cold heartedness and Criminal rationalisation. It has been validated by research within the US criminal justice system and scores have been shown to be responsive to treatment [20] . Both assessments were amended for use with a UK population and the changes ratified with the authors of the original instruments.…”

“…In spite of the impact of treatment and the nexus between offending and substance use, limited attention has been paid to criminal thinking patterns [17] , and recent efforts to address this deficit have included the development of assessments for offender populations to measure aspects of 'thinking errors' thought to contribute to criminal behaviours [18][19][20] . Criminal thinking has been shown to be predictive of criminal lifestyles [21] , yet has also been shown to be amenable to change [22,23] .…”

“…This study uses instruments and methods developed at Texas Institute of Behavioural Research under the umbrella of a 'treatment process' model [8] , employing two client assessment forms measuring client functioning and criminal recidivism risk -the Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment (CEST) [24] and the Criminal Thinking Scales (CTS) [20] , amended for use in a UK context.…”

“…The aim of the study was to assess levels of criminal thinking in a UK population of drug users in mandated treatment and to compare their scores on criminal thinking to US norms reported by Knight et al [20] and on the TCU website [25] . The second hypothesis was to assess the relationship between criminal thinking and other aspects of treatment engagement in this population to identify associations between motivation, psychosocial functioning and criminal thinking.…”