Attributions for the causes of crime : a comparison between prison officers and inmates

Abstract

Recent reform within the New Zealand Justice Department's Penal Division has introduced changes in management structure, staff duties, and programme services, as part of the new vision to provide equal balance between humane containment and habilitation. With the introduction of Unit Management policy, prison officers are provided with opportunities to develop better communication and relationships with inmates. In conjunction with more humane containment, individual programmes, designed to meet the inmate's needs, aim to reduce the rates of reoffending. Research has shown that effective treatment programmes are based on a social learning model, which states that behaviour is learned and therefore can be treated. The cognitive approach to psychological intervention maintain that how a person thinks influences how they feel and behave, and is therefore central to any psychological intervention. Attributions, or the perceived reasons or causes of an outcome or event, are part of the thinking process. The present study used the 4-Attributional Dimension Scale (4-ADSt a methodologically valid and reliable instrument, to gain a better understanding of the causes of crime as perceived by prison officers and inmates. Results indicate that while prison officers attribute crime to be more internal to the offender and stable over time, the differences are not apparent when making judgement on particular types of crime. Four offender groups (violent, sex, drug, and dishonesty offenders) and prison officers were compared on their causal attributions to four crime scenarios similar to those of the offender groups. Inmates also made causal attributions to their own offending behaviour. The sex and drug offender groups made significantly different attributions than the other subject groups, suggesting that these two types of offenders may hold faulty attributions to their own and similar types of crime. In addition, family involvement in the criminal justice system appears to be influential in how an inmate perceives their own crime. These results are discussed in light of contemporary attributional theory which provides a link between attributions and the emotional and behavioural consequences that are experienced as a result.