Evan McCuish | Simon Fraser University (original) (raw)
Papers by Evan McCuish
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
Recent research suggests that sexual recidivism rates have been declining, which contrasts with o... more Recent research suggests that sexual recidivism rates have been declining, which contrasts with observations regarding general recidivism rates as well as perceptions of sexual reoffending risk. If sexual recidivism rates are in decline, it raises fundamental policy questions about the youth justice system’s tendency to operate on the assumption that juvenile sexual offending is a risk marker for sexual reoffending in adulthood. A systematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis were conducted to determine the general, violent, and sexual recidivism rates of adolescent perpetrators of sexual offenses with data stemming from studies published worldwide between 1940 and 2019. A total of 158 empirical studies including 30,396 adolescent perpetrators of sexual offenses were retrieved to examine estimates of general, violent, and sexual recidivism. The study findings highlight that the risk of general recidivism (weighted pooled mean = .44) is substantially higher than violent (weighte...
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Reducing explanations of victimization to a person’s risky lifestyle has stalled growth in theori... more Reducing explanations of victimization to a person’s risky lifestyle has stalled growth in theories of victimization. Drawing from Carlo Morselli’s contributions to social network analysis, the current study extended past research on community-based co-offending networks and victimization in two ways. First, the current study more comprehensively measured a person’s criminogenic network by also examining the contribution of conflict ties and social ties to victimization. Second, we investigated whether serious victimization was prospectively associated with social network characteristics. Data were used on 99 participants from the Incarcerated Serious Violent Young Offender Study who had criminogenic connections within the city of Surrey, BC. Time-dependent covariate survival analysis was used to model the relationship between network characteristics and time to victimization. Time-series ordinary least squares regression was used to examine whether serious victimization predicted n...
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 2022
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2021
Warr (1989) conceptualized offence severity as the intersection of the harmfulness and wrongfulne... more Warr (1989) conceptualized offence severity as the intersection of the harmfulness and wrongfulness of an act, which overlaps with how Canada’s justice system makes decisions about sentencing. The current study used this logic to move beyond static indicators of crime severity (e.g., history of violent offending) to examine risk factors for longitudinal patterns of offending severity over the life course. Data on girls (n = 284) from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study were used to examine the impact of self-reported risk factors on trajectories of offence severity between ages 12 and 23 (i.e., amount of time spent in custody at each year of age). Overall, 40% of incarcerated girls were associated with serious offending in emerging adulthood; however, it was rare for offending severity to escalate during emerging adulthood (ages 18–23; n = 25, 8.8%). Early-onset illicit substance use and frequent involvement in physical altercations during adolescence predicted...
Psychology of Violence, 2021
Shaffer, C. S., Gatner, D., McCuish, E., Douglas, K. S., & Viljoen, J. L. (2021). The rol... more Shaffer, C. S., Gatner, D., McCuish, E., Douglas, K. S., & Viljoen, J. L. (2021). The role of psychopathic features and developmental risk factors in trajectories of physical intimate partner violence. Psychology of Violence. Advance online publication. Objective: Limited research has examined the association between different dimensions of psychopathy and membership in trajectories of physical intimate partner violence (IPV) while also considering developmental precursors. Thus, the current study examined the role of adolescent unidimensional, interpersonal-affective, and lifestyle-antisocial psychopathic features and developmental risk factors in trajectories of physical IPV in young adulthood. Method: Data were derived from 885 male offenders who participated in the Pathways to Desistance Study and were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV). Results: Semi-parametric group-based modeling identified three trajectories of physical IPV from ages 18 through 25: (a) a no physical IPV trajectory (70.5%, n = 624), (b) a low-level physical IPV trajectory (21.9%, n = 194), and (c) a high-level decreasing physical IPV trajectory (7.6%, n = 67). In multinomial logistic regression models controlling for exposure to violence, substance abuse, and peer delinquency, PCL:YV Total scores were associated with an increased likelihood of membership in the low-level and high-level physical IPV trajectories compared to the no physical IPV trajectory. In addition, Factor 2 scores (lifestyle-antisocial features) were associated with an increased likelihood of membership in the high-level decreasing physical IPV trajectory compared to the no physical IPV trajectory. Factor 1 scores (interpersonal-affective features) were unrelated to trajectory group assignment. Conclusions: Psychopathic features in adolescents should be considered in prevention and intervention strategies targeting physical IPV.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015
a case study was performed on two adolescent males involved in intensely violent offenses. Hours ... more a case study was performed on two adolescent males involved in intensely violent offenses. Hours of interviewing both youth, separately, indicated a callous and unemotional disposition, extreme desire to exert interpersonal dominance over others, and contemptuous attitudes towards individuals whom they felt were 'low functioning', 'ignorant', and 'histrionic'. They viewed their relationships as 'temporary', 'replaceable', and 'contingent on a lack of expectation and personal opinion'. They viewed themselves as 'on a different intellectual level', 'able to project whomever they wanted to be', 'manipulative', and deserving of special treatment due to 'exceptional abilities'. Although lower levels of self control were present in both youth, this construct central to criminological theories insufficiently explained their offenses, which were often thoroughly planned. Greater precision appeared necessary to explain why these specific types of offenders were involved in crime. This revelation serves as part of the motivation for writing this article as well as part of the motivation for compiling this special issue on psychopathy.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015
ABSTRACT The extant criminal career literature supports the assertion that risk factors for viole... more ABSTRACT The extant criminal career literature supports the assertion that risk factors for violent offending are the same as those for non-violent offending. However, such studies have not examined the role of psychopathic personality disturbance (PPD) in the development of persistent violence across the life course. A situational action theory perspective was used to help illustrate the utility of PPD in explaining persistent violent offending.
The Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2021
International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, Jan 29, 2015
Child sexual abuse is considered a risk factor for the development of sexual offending in adolesc... more Child sexual abuse is considered a risk factor for the development of sexual offending in adolescence. Beyond this, comparisons of the risk factor profiles between adolescent sex offenders (ASOs) and adolescent non-sex offenders (ANSOs) have uncovered minimal differences. However, differences between ASOs and ANSOs in terms of patterns in the abuse histories of their family members have rarely been studied. The aim in the current study was to retrospectively examine histories of abuse among family members of ASOs compared with ANSOs to determine whether and how these were related to youth abuse experiences and sexual offending in adolescence. The current study is based on a sample of 482 incarcerated male adolescents (ASOs = 67, ANSOs = 415). Latent class analysis was conducted to determine multidimensional familial abuse profiles, and a series of logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between family abuse profiles, youth abuse experiences, and adolescent s...
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015
ABSTRACT Criminal career research has recently found that symptoms of psychopathy are more preval... more ABSTRACT Criminal career research has recently found that symptoms of psychopathy are more prevalent among offenders following chronic offending trajectories. In the current study, the ability of psychopathy to predict involvement in chronic offending trajectories above other criminogenic risk factors was examined.
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2021
The relationship between psychopathy and negative behavioral, social, and health outcomes has lea... more The relationship between psychopathy and negative behavioral, social, and health outcomes has lead to calls to identify factors that promote change in features of psychopathy. Given that maturation has important implications for changes in personality more broadly, it also may be informative of changes in specific personality traits associated with psychopathy. Rocque’s integrated maturation theory was used in the current study to guide the measurement of psychosocial, adult social role, and identity maturation domains among boys and girls from the Pathways to Desistance Study ( n = 1,354). Based on cross-lagged dynamic panel models, within-individual change in temperance (psychosocial maturation), work orientation and consideration of others (adult social role maturation), and moral disengagement (identity maturation) predicted within-individual change in features of psychopathy measured using the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory. Maturation may influence features of psychopathy...
A developmental perspective on the stability and change of psychopathic personality traits across... more A developmental perspective on the stability and change of psychopathic personality traits across the adolescence-adulthood transition.
Youth who are dually involved in both foster care and criminal justice systems represent a small ... more Youth who are dually involved in both foster care and criminal justice systems represent a small minority of individuals with multi-problem risk profiles. Prior research has found that foster care youth are disproportionately more likely to be chronic offenders in both adolescence and emerging adulthood. However, the nature of this relationship remains theoretically underexplored and empirically underexamined, especially with respect to risk factors that may moderate the relationship. Using data from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study, the criminal offending trajectories of 678 incarcerated youth were examined. A history of foster care predicted membership in a high rate chronic offending trajectory. This relationship was not moderated by parental maltreatment, negative self-identity, involvement in gang activity, or substance use versatility. Findings suggested a greater need for ongoing support for foster care youth during their transition to adulthood, rega...
Journal of Criminal Psychology
PurposeThe anger/sadistic model is one of several typologies proposed for sexual homicide events.... more PurposeThe anger/sadistic model is one of several typologies proposed for sexual homicide events. This paper aims to empirically test this model by examining sexual homicide cases. Empirically validating these typologies provides greater validity and reliability toward the sexual homicide classification systems that are useful in police investigations. Design/methodology/approachSecondary data analysis was conducted using police data on 249 solved sexual homicide cases in Canada from 1948 to 2010. Through a robust classifying method, latent class analysis was used to examine variables from the anger/sadistic typology. Additionally, variables from the pre-crime, crime and post-crime phases were examined in relation to the classes’ external validity. FindingsThree classes emerged, namely, expressive, methodical and instrumental. Expressive and methodical were similar to the anger/sadistic model in terms of the presence of premeditation, victim-offender relationship and body disposal l...
Traditional longitudinal studies in criminology are not well-equipped to address questions concer... more Traditional longitudinal studies in criminology are not well-equipped to address questions concerning differences between chronic offenders and desisters because (a) these studies sampled from community-based populations where chronic offenders are rarely found and (b) these studies did not include the types of risk factors expected to differentiate chronic offenders from desisters. Indeed, there is a noted lack of research on the offending patterns of youth at the 'deep end' of the criminal justice system (Mulvey et al., 2004), and this type of sample is especially critical for studying desistance. Specific attention was given to the manner in which symptoms of psychopathy could be integrated into existing theories of desistance. To facilitate this line of analysis, data from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study (n = 326) were used to perform three separate analyses using semi-parametric group based modeling (with exposure time accounted for). The three analyses captured chronic, serious, and violent offending trajectories from age 12 to 28. The characteristics of the individuals associated with these trajectories were described in order to better understand risk and protective factors associated with persistence and desistance. Specific attention was given to whether symptoms of psychopathy measured using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) were informative of trajectory group association in each of the chronic, serious, and violent offending analyses. Theoretical and policy implications for the desistance process during emerging adulthood are discussed. There is a specific need for continued research using repeated measures of risk and protective factors within samples of highrisk offenders. The substance use literature's movement from abstinence-only treatment strategies to harm-reduction strategies may provide some helpful guidelines for criminal justice system practitioners distinguishing between high rate offenders recidivating as part of an escalation in the severity of their criminal career versus high rate offenders recidivating as part of a relapse in the desistance process.
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
Recent research suggests that sexual recidivism rates have been declining, which contrasts with o... more Recent research suggests that sexual recidivism rates have been declining, which contrasts with observations regarding general recidivism rates as well as perceptions of sexual reoffending risk. If sexual recidivism rates are in decline, it raises fundamental policy questions about the youth justice system’s tendency to operate on the assumption that juvenile sexual offending is a risk marker for sexual reoffending in adulthood. A systematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis were conducted to determine the general, violent, and sexual recidivism rates of adolescent perpetrators of sexual offenses with data stemming from studies published worldwide between 1940 and 2019. A total of 158 empirical studies including 30,396 adolescent perpetrators of sexual offenses were retrieved to examine estimates of general, violent, and sexual recidivism. The study findings highlight that the risk of general recidivism (weighted pooled mean = .44) is substantially higher than violent (weighte...
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Reducing explanations of victimization to a person’s risky lifestyle has stalled growth in theori... more Reducing explanations of victimization to a person’s risky lifestyle has stalled growth in theories of victimization. Drawing from Carlo Morselli’s contributions to social network analysis, the current study extended past research on community-based co-offending networks and victimization in two ways. First, the current study more comprehensively measured a person’s criminogenic network by also examining the contribution of conflict ties and social ties to victimization. Second, we investigated whether serious victimization was prospectively associated with social network characteristics. Data were used on 99 participants from the Incarcerated Serious Violent Young Offender Study who had criminogenic connections within the city of Surrey, BC. Time-dependent covariate survival analysis was used to model the relationship between network characteristics and time to victimization. Time-series ordinary least squares regression was used to examine whether serious victimization predicted n...
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 2022
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2021
Warr (1989) conceptualized offence severity as the intersection of the harmfulness and wrongfulne... more Warr (1989) conceptualized offence severity as the intersection of the harmfulness and wrongfulness of an act, which overlaps with how Canada’s justice system makes decisions about sentencing. The current study used this logic to move beyond static indicators of crime severity (e.g., history of violent offending) to examine risk factors for longitudinal patterns of offending severity over the life course. Data on girls (n = 284) from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study were used to examine the impact of self-reported risk factors on trajectories of offence severity between ages 12 and 23 (i.e., amount of time spent in custody at each year of age). Overall, 40% of incarcerated girls were associated with serious offending in emerging adulthood; however, it was rare for offending severity to escalate during emerging adulthood (ages 18–23; n = 25, 8.8%). Early-onset illicit substance use and frequent involvement in physical altercations during adolescence predicted...
Psychology of Violence, 2021
Shaffer, C. S., Gatner, D., McCuish, E., Douglas, K. S., & Viljoen, J. L. (2021). The rol... more Shaffer, C. S., Gatner, D., McCuish, E., Douglas, K. S., & Viljoen, J. L. (2021). The role of psychopathic features and developmental risk factors in trajectories of physical intimate partner violence. Psychology of Violence. Advance online publication. Objective: Limited research has examined the association between different dimensions of psychopathy and membership in trajectories of physical intimate partner violence (IPV) while also considering developmental precursors. Thus, the current study examined the role of adolescent unidimensional, interpersonal-affective, and lifestyle-antisocial psychopathic features and developmental risk factors in trajectories of physical IPV in young adulthood. Method: Data were derived from 885 male offenders who participated in the Pathways to Desistance Study and were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV). Results: Semi-parametric group-based modeling identified three trajectories of physical IPV from ages 18 through 25: (a) a no physical IPV trajectory (70.5%, n = 624), (b) a low-level physical IPV trajectory (21.9%, n = 194), and (c) a high-level decreasing physical IPV trajectory (7.6%, n = 67). In multinomial logistic regression models controlling for exposure to violence, substance abuse, and peer delinquency, PCL:YV Total scores were associated with an increased likelihood of membership in the low-level and high-level physical IPV trajectories compared to the no physical IPV trajectory. In addition, Factor 2 scores (lifestyle-antisocial features) were associated with an increased likelihood of membership in the high-level decreasing physical IPV trajectory compared to the no physical IPV trajectory. Factor 1 scores (interpersonal-affective features) were unrelated to trajectory group assignment. Conclusions: Psychopathic features in adolescents should be considered in prevention and intervention strategies targeting physical IPV.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015
a case study was performed on two adolescent males involved in intensely violent offenses. Hours ... more a case study was performed on two adolescent males involved in intensely violent offenses. Hours of interviewing both youth, separately, indicated a callous and unemotional disposition, extreme desire to exert interpersonal dominance over others, and contemptuous attitudes towards individuals whom they felt were 'low functioning', 'ignorant', and 'histrionic'. They viewed their relationships as 'temporary', 'replaceable', and 'contingent on a lack of expectation and personal opinion'. They viewed themselves as 'on a different intellectual level', 'able to project whomever they wanted to be', 'manipulative', and deserving of special treatment due to 'exceptional abilities'. Although lower levels of self control were present in both youth, this construct central to criminological theories insufficiently explained their offenses, which were often thoroughly planned. Greater precision appeared necessary to explain why these specific types of offenders were involved in crime. This revelation serves as part of the motivation for writing this article as well as part of the motivation for compiling this special issue on psychopathy.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015
ABSTRACT The extant criminal career literature supports the assertion that risk factors for viole... more ABSTRACT The extant criminal career literature supports the assertion that risk factors for violent offending are the same as those for non-violent offending. However, such studies have not examined the role of psychopathic personality disturbance (PPD) in the development of persistent violence across the life course. A situational action theory perspective was used to help illustrate the utility of PPD in explaining persistent violent offending.
The Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2021
International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, Jan 29, 2015
Child sexual abuse is considered a risk factor for the development of sexual offending in adolesc... more Child sexual abuse is considered a risk factor for the development of sexual offending in adolescence. Beyond this, comparisons of the risk factor profiles between adolescent sex offenders (ASOs) and adolescent non-sex offenders (ANSOs) have uncovered minimal differences. However, differences between ASOs and ANSOs in terms of patterns in the abuse histories of their family members have rarely been studied. The aim in the current study was to retrospectively examine histories of abuse among family members of ASOs compared with ANSOs to determine whether and how these were related to youth abuse experiences and sexual offending in adolescence. The current study is based on a sample of 482 incarcerated male adolescents (ASOs = 67, ANSOs = 415). Latent class analysis was conducted to determine multidimensional familial abuse profiles, and a series of logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between family abuse profiles, youth abuse experiences, and adolescent s...
Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015
ABSTRACT Criminal career research has recently found that symptoms of psychopathy are more preval... more ABSTRACT Criminal career research has recently found that symptoms of psychopathy are more prevalent among offenders following chronic offending trajectories. In the current study, the ability of psychopathy to predict involvement in chronic offending trajectories above other criminogenic risk factors was examined.
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2021
The relationship between psychopathy and negative behavioral, social, and health outcomes has lea... more The relationship between psychopathy and negative behavioral, social, and health outcomes has lead to calls to identify factors that promote change in features of psychopathy. Given that maturation has important implications for changes in personality more broadly, it also may be informative of changes in specific personality traits associated with psychopathy. Rocque’s integrated maturation theory was used in the current study to guide the measurement of psychosocial, adult social role, and identity maturation domains among boys and girls from the Pathways to Desistance Study ( n = 1,354). Based on cross-lagged dynamic panel models, within-individual change in temperance (psychosocial maturation), work orientation and consideration of others (adult social role maturation), and moral disengagement (identity maturation) predicted within-individual change in features of psychopathy measured using the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory. Maturation may influence features of psychopathy...
A developmental perspective on the stability and change of psychopathic personality traits across... more A developmental perspective on the stability and change of psychopathic personality traits across the adolescence-adulthood transition.
Youth who are dually involved in both foster care and criminal justice systems represent a small ... more Youth who are dually involved in both foster care and criminal justice systems represent a small minority of individuals with multi-problem risk profiles. Prior research has found that foster care youth are disproportionately more likely to be chronic offenders in both adolescence and emerging adulthood. However, the nature of this relationship remains theoretically underexplored and empirically underexamined, especially with respect to risk factors that may moderate the relationship. Using data from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study, the criminal offending trajectories of 678 incarcerated youth were examined. A history of foster care predicted membership in a high rate chronic offending trajectory. This relationship was not moderated by parental maltreatment, negative self-identity, involvement in gang activity, or substance use versatility. Findings suggested a greater need for ongoing support for foster care youth during their transition to adulthood, rega...
Journal of Criminal Psychology
PurposeThe anger/sadistic model is one of several typologies proposed for sexual homicide events.... more PurposeThe anger/sadistic model is one of several typologies proposed for sexual homicide events. This paper aims to empirically test this model by examining sexual homicide cases. Empirically validating these typologies provides greater validity and reliability toward the sexual homicide classification systems that are useful in police investigations. Design/methodology/approachSecondary data analysis was conducted using police data on 249 solved sexual homicide cases in Canada from 1948 to 2010. Through a robust classifying method, latent class analysis was used to examine variables from the anger/sadistic typology. Additionally, variables from the pre-crime, crime and post-crime phases were examined in relation to the classes’ external validity. FindingsThree classes emerged, namely, expressive, methodical and instrumental. Expressive and methodical were similar to the anger/sadistic model in terms of the presence of premeditation, victim-offender relationship and body disposal l...
Traditional longitudinal studies in criminology are not well-equipped to address questions concer... more Traditional longitudinal studies in criminology are not well-equipped to address questions concerning differences between chronic offenders and desisters because (a) these studies sampled from community-based populations where chronic offenders are rarely found and (b) these studies did not include the types of risk factors expected to differentiate chronic offenders from desisters. Indeed, there is a noted lack of research on the offending patterns of youth at the 'deep end' of the criminal justice system (Mulvey et al., 2004), and this type of sample is especially critical for studying desistance. Specific attention was given to the manner in which symptoms of psychopathy could be integrated into existing theories of desistance. To facilitate this line of analysis, data from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study (n = 326) were used to perform three separate analyses using semi-parametric group based modeling (with exposure time accounted for). The three analyses captured chronic, serious, and violent offending trajectories from age 12 to 28. The characteristics of the individuals associated with these trajectories were described in order to better understand risk and protective factors associated with persistence and desistance. Specific attention was given to whether symptoms of psychopathy measured using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) were informative of trajectory group association in each of the chronic, serious, and violent offending analyses. Theoretical and policy implications for the desistance process during emerging adulthood are discussed. There is a specific need for continued research using repeated measures of risk and protective factors within samples of highrisk offenders. The substance use literature's movement from abstinence-only treatment strategies to harm-reduction strategies may provide some helpful guidelines for criminal justice system practitioners distinguishing between high rate offenders recidivating as part of an escalation in the severity of their criminal career versus high rate offenders recidivating as part of a relapse in the desistance process.