jane wood | University of Kent (original) (raw)
Papers by jane wood
Journal of Sexual Aggression, 2017
This report presents results of research commissioned by the police to evaluate their use of poly... more This report presents results of research commissioned by the police to evaluate their use of polygraph testing with individuals convicted or suspected of committing a sexual offence. Police areas involved in this research were: Greater Manchester (GMP), Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, South Yorkshire, and Northumbria. Additional areas (i.e., Lancashire, Norfolk, and Staffordshire) supplied data on polygraph tests conducted for them. The University of Kent was commissioned to evaluate police use of polygraph testing from 3rd July, 2017 to 15th July, 2019. The evaluation described in this report refers to analyses of: • Strand 1 (Supervisees): 557 individuals convicted of sexual offending and undergoing police supervision who were randomly assigned to polygraph testing (voluntary or mandatory1 depending on police area) or comparison groups. • Strand 2 (Suspects): 142 individuals suspected of committing online sexual offences and undergoing police investigation who were assigned to polygra...
That gangs facilitate increased levels of deviancy in members is a consistent research finding. H... more That gangs facilitate increased levels of deviancy in members is a consistent research finding. However, it is not fully clear why this is so. This chapter seeks to explain this effect by examining first the likely impact that group processes have on gang members and second the likely social cognitive effects that gang membership is likely to elicit. It concludes by noting the importance of psychology in gang membership and how psychologists need to develop further research to explain the specifics of gang membership as it impacts on youth.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020
Adult gang involvement attracts little empirical attention, so little is known about how they com... more Adult gang involvement attracts little empirical attention, so little is known about how they compare to nongang violent men in social harms beyond gang contexts. This study, based on unpublished data of 1,539 adult males, aged 19 to 34, from the Coid et al. national survey, compared gang members’ (embedded in a gang; n = 108), affiliates’ (less embedded in a gang; n = 119), and violent men’s (no gang association; n = 1,312) perpetration of social harms by assessing their violence-related dispositions and beliefs, victim types, and locations of violence. Results showed that compared with violent men, gang members and affiliates were equally more likely to: cause social harms to a wider range of victims, including family and friends; seek violence; be excited by violence; and carry weapons. Gang members and affiliates were equally more likely than violent men to be violent at home, in friends’ homes, and at work; they also thought about hurting people, but felt regret for some of the...
Youth Justice, 2020
Mental health difficulties, conduct problems, and emotional maladjustment predict a range of nega... more Mental health difficulties, conduct problems, and emotional maladjustment predict a range of negative outcomes, and this may include gang involvement. However, few studies have examined how behavioral, mental health, socio-cognitive, and emotional factors all relate to adolescent gang involvement. This study examined 91 adolescents to compare non-gang with gang-involved youth on their conduct problems, emotional distress, guilt-proneness, anxiety and depression, and use of moral disengagement and rumination. Analyses revealed that gang-involved youth had higher levels of anxiety, depression, moral disengagement, and rumination. Gang-involved youth also had higher levels of conduct disorder and exposure to violence, but they did not differ from non-gang youth on levels of emotional distress and guilt-proneness. Discriminant function analysis further showed that conduct problems, moral disengagement, and rumination were the most important predictors of gang involvement. Discussion foc...
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2019
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2019
International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 2018
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2016
Personality and Individual Differences, 2003
Sexual Abuse, 2013
The literature on Multiple Perpetrator Rape (MPR) is scant; however, a significant proportion of ... more The literature on Multiple Perpetrator Rape (MPR) is scant; however, a significant proportion of sexual offending involves multiple perpetrators. In addition to the need for research with apprehended offenders of MPR, there is also a need to conduct research with members of the general public. Recent advances in the forensic literature have led to the development of self-report proclivity scales. These scales have enabled researchers to conduct evaluative studies sampling from members of the general public who may be perpetrators of sexual offenses and have remained undetected, or at highest risk of engaging in sexual offending. The current study describes the development and preliminary validation of the Multiple-Perpetrator Rape Interest Scale (M-PRIS), a vignette-based measure assessing community males’ sexual arousal to MPR, behavioral propensity toward MPR and enjoyment of MPR. The findings show that the M-PRIS is a reliable measure of community males’ sexual interest in MPR wi...
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2010
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2006
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2009
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2009
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2013
This study examined the behavioral, social and psychological factors associated with gang-related... more This study examined the behavioral, social and psychological factors associated with gang-related crime. By comparing group crime committed by non-gang youth and gang members, this study sought to identify the kinds of criminal activity gang members engage in and identify the specific characteristics that differentiate gang-related crime from other group crimes. We found that gangs map out their territory with
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2001
Law and Human Behavior, 2014
Aggressive Behavior, 2010
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2010
Journal of Sexual Aggression, 2017
This report presents results of research commissioned by the police to evaluate their use of poly... more This report presents results of research commissioned by the police to evaluate their use of polygraph testing with individuals convicted or suspected of committing a sexual offence. Police areas involved in this research were: Greater Manchester (GMP), Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, South Yorkshire, and Northumbria. Additional areas (i.e., Lancashire, Norfolk, and Staffordshire) supplied data on polygraph tests conducted for them. The University of Kent was commissioned to evaluate police use of polygraph testing from 3rd July, 2017 to 15th July, 2019. The evaluation described in this report refers to analyses of: • Strand 1 (Supervisees): 557 individuals convicted of sexual offending and undergoing police supervision who were randomly assigned to polygraph testing (voluntary or mandatory1 depending on police area) or comparison groups. • Strand 2 (Suspects): 142 individuals suspected of committing online sexual offences and undergoing police investigation who were assigned to polygra...
That gangs facilitate increased levels of deviancy in members is a consistent research finding. H... more That gangs facilitate increased levels of deviancy in members is a consistent research finding. However, it is not fully clear why this is so. This chapter seeks to explain this effect by examining first the likely impact that group processes have on gang members and second the likely social cognitive effects that gang membership is likely to elicit. It concludes by noting the importance of psychology in gang membership and how psychologists need to develop further research to explain the specifics of gang membership as it impacts on youth.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020
Adult gang involvement attracts little empirical attention, so little is known about how they com... more Adult gang involvement attracts little empirical attention, so little is known about how they compare to nongang violent men in social harms beyond gang contexts. This study, based on unpublished data of 1,539 adult males, aged 19 to 34, from the Coid et al. national survey, compared gang members’ (embedded in a gang; n = 108), affiliates’ (less embedded in a gang; n = 119), and violent men’s (no gang association; n = 1,312) perpetration of social harms by assessing their violence-related dispositions and beliefs, victim types, and locations of violence. Results showed that compared with violent men, gang members and affiliates were equally more likely to: cause social harms to a wider range of victims, including family and friends; seek violence; be excited by violence; and carry weapons. Gang members and affiliates were equally more likely than violent men to be violent at home, in friends’ homes, and at work; they also thought about hurting people, but felt regret for some of the...
Youth Justice, 2020
Mental health difficulties, conduct problems, and emotional maladjustment predict a range of nega... more Mental health difficulties, conduct problems, and emotional maladjustment predict a range of negative outcomes, and this may include gang involvement. However, few studies have examined how behavioral, mental health, socio-cognitive, and emotional factors all relate to adolescent gang involvement. This study examined 91 adolescents to compare non-gang with gang-involved youth on their conduct problems, emotional distress, guilt-proneness, anxiety and depression, and use of moral disengagement and rumination. Analyses revealed that gang-involved youth had higher levels of anxiety, depression, moral disengagement, and rumination. Gang-involved youth also had higher levels of conduct disorder and exposure to violence, but they did not differ from non-gang youth on levels of emotional distress and guilt-proneness. Discriminant function analysis further showed that conduct problems, moral disengagement, and rumination were the most important predictors of gang involvement. Discussion foc...
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2019
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2019
International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 2018
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2016
Personality and Individual Differences, 2003
Sexual Abuse, 2013
The literature on Multiple Perpetrator Rape (MPR) is scant; however, a significant proportion of ... more The literature on Multiple Perpetrator Rape (MPR) is scant; however, a significant proportion of sexual offending involves multiple perpetrators. In addition to the need for research with apprehended offenders of MPR, there is also a need to conduct research with members of the general public. Recent advances in the forensic literature have led to the development of self-report proclivity scales. These scales have enabled researchers to conduct evaluative studies sampling from members of the general public who may be perpetrators of sexual offenses and have remained undetected, or at highest risk of engaging in sexual offending. The current study describes the development and preliminary validation of the Multiple-Perpetrator Rape Interest Scale (M-PRIS), a vignette-based measure assessing community males’ sexual arousal to MPR, behavioral propensity toward MPR and enjoyment of MPR. The findings show that the M-PRIS is a reliable measure of community males’ sexual interest in MPR wi...
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2010
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2006
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2009
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2009
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2013
This study examined the behavioral, social and psychological factors associated with gang-related... more This study examined the behavioral, social and psychological factors associated with gang-related crime. By comparing group crime committed by non-gang youth and gang members, this study sought to identify the kinds of criminal activity gang members engage in and identify the specific characteristics that differentiate gang-related crime from other group crimes. We found that gangs map out their territory with
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2001
Law and Human Behavior, 2014
Aggressive Behavior, 2010
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2010
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 2019
ABSTRACT Gang researchers have robustly established that gangs facilitate increased criminal acti... more ABSTRACT Gang researchers have robustly established that gangs facilitate increased criminal activity in members—even those who were prolifically delinquent before gang membership (Klein, Weerman, & Thornberry, 2006). This suggests that there is something about gang membership, specifically, that influences individuals’ criminality. However, so far it is not clear what this influence is. This paper, taking a social psychological perspective on gang membership considers the potential influence that group processes exert on gang members to identify with a gang, to conform to group norms, become cohesive and to strive to acquire group goals—such as status. It further speculates that adherence to group norms may cultivate gang members’ social cognitions such as moral disengagement, offense supportive cognitions, and rumination. Conclusions note how group processes deserve closer research attention due to their potential for informing more accurate gang interventions to deter potential members and to reduce existing gang membership.
Aggressive Behavior, 2006
Research has focused on the environmental causes of bullying in prison, but neglected the intrins... more Research has focused on the environmental causes of bullying in prison, but neglected the intrinsic characteristics of bullies. Although the importance of social status in prison has been noted as one factor that may influence bullying, no empirical research has yet addressed this. The ...
The current study investigated the effects of state and trait empathy in legal judgments and test... more The current study investigated the effects of state and trait empathy in legal judgments and tested the relationship between trait and state emotion in one hundred and fifty eight students aged 18-59. Assessments were taken of participants’ trait empathy and then state empathy was induced in half the sample. Following this all participants read a trial transcript and made judgments regarding: the verdict decision; the defendant’s responsibility for the offense; what would be an appropriate punishment; the likelihood that the offender would offend in the future; and whether the defendant felt remorse for committing the offense. Findings showed that both trait and state empathy predicted attributions of offender remorse. State empathy also predicted judgments of offender responsibility and agreement with verdict decisions in a lenient direction. Findings also showed that state and trait empathy did not interact. The results indicate that trait and state empathy work independently to influence legal judgments and that inducing empathy in decision-makers can impact on trial outcomes above and beyond the facts of the case.
Keywords: empathy; state; trait; remorse; judgments.
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2013
ABSTRACT Foreign national prisoners represent an increasingly significant and vulnerable proporti... more ABSTRACT Foreign national prisoners represent an increasingly significant and vulnerable proportion of the prison estate in England and Wales, accounting for 13% of the population in custody (Prison Reform Trust, 2010). They are ever present in the Safer Custody statistics, accounting for nearly a quarter of self-harm incidents and self-inflicted deaths (HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2009). Recent , and and a handful of research studies outline the lack of support facing many foreign national prisoners, in terms of language problems, social and cultural isolation, family support, immigration uncertainties and diversity issues. This paper reviews the current context of the foreign national prisoner population in England and Wales, paying particular attention to their experiences, specific needs, and potential threat to their mental health from being imprisoned in a foreign country. We then offer suggestions as to how these issues can be addressed by reviewing existing initiatives and making recommendations for future research.
Aggressive Behavior, 2010
This study investigated the relationship between cognitive mechanisms, applied by people to ratio... more This study investigated the relationship between cognitive mechanisms, applied by people to rationalize and justify harmful acts, and engagement in traditional peer and cyber aggression among school children. We examined the contribution of moral disengagement (MD), hostile attribution bias, and outcome expectancies, and we further explored the individual contribution of each MD mechanism. Our aim was to identify shared and unique cognitive factors of the two forms of aggression. Three hundred and thirty-nine secondary school children completed self-report measures that assessed MD, hostile attribution bias, outcome expectancies, and their roles and involvement in traditional and cyber aggression. We found that the MD total score positively related to both forms of peer-directed aggression. Furthermore, traditional peer aggression positively related to children's moral justification, euphemistic language, displacement of responsibility and outcome expectancies, and negatively associated with hostile attribution bias. Moral justification also related positively to cyber aggression. Cyber aggression and cyber victimization were associated with high levels of traditional peer aggression and victimization, respectively. The results suggest that MD is a common feature of both traditional and cyber peer aggression, but it seems that traditional forms of aggression demand a higher level of rationalization or justification. Moreover, the data suggest that the expectation of positive outcomes from harmful behavior facilitates engagement in traditional peer aggression. The differential contribution of specific cognitive mechanisms indicates the need for future research to elaborate on the current findings, in order to advance theory and inform existing and future school interventions tackling aggression and bullying.
International Criminal Justice Review, 2009
The attitudes of 66 ethnic minorities and 152 Cypriots toward the police were examined according ... more The attitudes of 66 ethnic minorities and 152 Cypriots toward the police were examined according to age, experience of criminal victimization, and race. Questions were based on the British Crime Survey (BCS) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and were translated ...
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 2008
Untreated imprisoned sexual offenders (N = 42) completed interviews and questionnaires to establi... more Untreated imprisoned sexual offenders (N = 42) completed interviews and questionnaires to establish the priority they assigned, at the time of their offending, to three "goods" from the good lives model and to gain insight into how they operationalized these goods at that time. The relationship between the priorities offenders assigned to the goods of (a) agency, (b) relatedness, and (c) inner peace at the time of offending and their problem-solving ability was also explored. A measure of problem-solving ability was obtained with the Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, and a measure of functional and dysfunctional problem solving was obtained from its scales. The results suggest that sexual offenders tend to experience problems in prioritizing, rather than operationalizing, inner peace, as this good is not related to problem-solving ability but tends to be assigned lower priority than agency and relatedness. Although agency and relatedness tend to be given higher importance, and this is related to better problem-solving ability, there appear to be problems with scope in some offenders' good lives conceptions and problems with the capacity, means, and conflict among the means used to achieve these goods. Directions for future research are suggested.