Repeat Offenders

How can the average 'criminal career' be characterized and how common are career criminals? Does offending become more specialized and/or more serious as people get older? Do female careers in crime differ from those of males in substance or only in magnitude? Britta Kyvsgaard examines these questions through her longitudinal analysis of the life circumstances and criminal pursuits of 45,000 Danish offenders. This 2002 book provides a remarkably broad assessment of the full spectrum of criminal career patterns. The data, unparalleled in size and quality, allows powerful analyses of criminal behavior, even among relatively small demographic subgroups. Kyvsgaard is thus able to make solid assessments of offending patterns for males and females, juveniles and middle-aged adults, and employed and unemployed individuals. Furthermore, she examines the empirical evidence of the effects of deterrence and incapacitation. Her findings suggest rehabilitation as an alternative worthy of further research.

This report provides a comprehensive review of the literature on a high-risk group of drinking drivers: driving while impaired (DWI) repeat offenders. It first defines the DWI problem and assess its magnitude in Canada, then reviews the characteristics of DWI repeat offenders, including their drinking patterns and problems, demographic characteristics, and driving-related problems. The remainder of the report examines what can be done about DWI repeat offenders. Chapter 4 describes a model of impaired driving that identifies the stages of the behaviour and the opportunities for intervention. It then outlines the different perspectives and their approaches for dealing with the problem. The next three chapters review how some of those approaches might be used with the DWI repeat offender at the following stages of intervention: prevention, identification and apprehension, and sanctions (driver- or vehicle-based), assessment, and rehabilitation. The final chapter discusses program and policy options for dealing with DWI repeat offenders efficiently and effectively, and how such measures could be integrated to form a comprehensive countermeasure strategy. The appendix provides an overview of the legislation governing impaired driving offences in Canada.

This book will revolutionalise how we think about the diagnosis and treatment of offenders. Rather than categorising offenders according to their offenses, the primary focus needs to be shifted to identifying the underlying psychological processes out of which the offending behaviour flows. Convincing empirical evidence is provided that these underlying processes change pro-socially when specific, effective intervention occurs, and the offender’s behaviour changes accordingly. The findings are not however restricted to offenders. They are applicable also to others with various psychological disorders in the wider community. This is an essential book for professionals such as psychologists, lawyers, social workers, therapists, police and students. “Patrice Cooke’s findings are important and they are not obvious, at least in advance of having performed the research” – Professor Nancy Hirschberg, Illinois, USA

This report provides highlights of a comprehensive review of the literature on driving while impaired (DWI) repeat offenders. It identifies and summarizes the characteristics of these offenders, reviews existing countermeasures for dealing with repeat DWI offenders, and provides recommendations for dealing effectively with this high-risk group with regard to prevention, identification and apprehension, sanctions, and programs.

This book elaborates on the rules governing the prosecution and sentencing of multi-offenders. The term ‘multi-offender’ is used for an offender that has committed a series of offences (either in one single act or in different acts); hence the addition of ‘multi’ in ‘multi-offender’. A crucial element thereto is that the whole series of offences – which make the offender a multi-offender – has been committed before being subject to a final conviction. A comparative EU-study was conducted, focussing on the rules governing multi-offenders within different EU Member States. It reveals that this type of offenders challenge both the legislator and the prosecution and judges: when the offences are prosecuted in one go, the challenges are linked to finding an appropriate way to assess the severity of the criminal behaviour; if however the offences are prosecuted in several simultaneous or consecutive proceedings, the challenges are linked to taking account of the simultaneous or past proceeding. These challenges only grow if proceedings take place in different EU Member States. The analysis presented in this book is essential reading for EU policy makers, national policy makers, academics and defence lawyers throughout the EU working with multi-offenders. Undoubtedly, it will be an asset to their work in both mere national as well as in cross-border cases.