Why tough talk on knife crime is not the answer / New Statesman, 17 July 2008
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/07/knife-crime-prison-government
"The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, deserves praise for making the case for restorative justice, yet it was badly done. There is solid evidence that forcing people to confront the consequences of their crimes is more effective in cutting reoffending than purely punitive measures. A study this month from Cambridge University shows that, under restorative justice, reconviction rates fall by as much as 27 per cent. For those who believe that anything but prison is a soft option, however, the alternatives must be convincing. It was incompetent of the Home Office to wait so long before making it clear that those using knives would not be marched to hospital to visit the victims of their violence. Smith's clarification eventually came, but the damage was done."

Sex offenders unlikely to commit second crime / New Scientist, 6 July 2008
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19926633.100-sex-offenders-unlikely-to-commit-second-crime.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
"Sex crime statistics tend to make depressing reading, but now there is some good news from the most populous state in the US. Just 3.2 per cent of more than 4000 sex offenders released on parole in 2002 were re-imprisoned for another sex offence in the subsequent 5 years, according to new figures from California. While experts know that sex offenders are less likely to reoffend than most other criminals (New Scientist, 24 February 2007, p 3), the very low rate of re-imprisonment in the new study will challenge public perceptions about the risks these criminals pose. The figures are broadly consistent with a 2007 Minnesotan study, which found that 3.2 per cent of sex offenders released from 1990 to 2002 had been re-imprisoned for a further sex crime within 3 years of their release. What's more, sex offenders in Minnesota are even less likely to reoffend ..."
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Reconviction of offenders discharged from custody or given non-custodial sentences in 2004-05 and 2005-06, Scotland / Scottish Government, 24 June 2008
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/23143245/0
PDF - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/23143245/17

Preventing Offending by Young People: A Framework for Action / Scottish Government, 19 June 2008
PDF - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/17093513/7

Restorative justice and reoffending / Ministry of Justice, 16 June 2008
PDF - http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/restorative-justice-report_06-08.pdf
Joanna Shapland et al
"This is the fourth report on the evaluation of three restorative justice schemes funded under the Home Office's Crime Reduction Programme from mid-2001. Earlier reports have examined how the schemes were implemented, participants' expectations and take-up rates and victims' and offenders' views on the process and outcomes. This fourth report focuses on one of the key original aims of the Home Office funding, whether restorative justice reduces reoffending and/or provides value for money. This is a key piece of work that adds to the evidence base on 'what works' to reduce reoffending."

[USA] THE DANGEROUS MENTALLY ILL OFFENDER PROGRAM: THREE-YEAR FELONY RECIDIVISM AND COST EFFECTIVENESS / Washington State Institute for Public Policy, February 2008
PDF - http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/08-02-1901.pdf
"Washington State’s DMIO program, enabled by the 1999 Legislature, identifies mentally ill prisoners who pose a threat to public safety and provides them services and treatment up to five years after their release from prison. This is an analysis of 172 DMIO participants three years after release from prison."

Criminal Recidivism in Sexual Homicide Perpetrators
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 52, No. 1, 5-20 (2008)
http://ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/1/5?rss=1
Andreas Hill ; Niels Habermann ; Dietrich Klusmann ; Wolfgang Berner ; Peer Briken
"Increased recidivism with any violent reoffence was associated with age-related factors: young age at first sexual offence, at homicide, and at release and duration of detention. The impacts of the results for risk assessment, relapse prevention, and supervision are discussed."
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Personality Disorders in a Sample of Paraphilic and Nonparaphilic Child Molesters: A Comparative Study
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 52, No. 1, 21-30 (2008)
http://ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/52/1/21?rss=1
Stefan Bogaerts ; Annelies Daalder ; Stijn Vanheule ; Mattias Desmet ; Frans Leeuw
"This article renders the results of research that investigated personality disorders in a sample of paraphilic and nonparaphilic child molesters. For several child molesters, psychological approaches to the treatment of sexual offending (eg, cognitive—behavioral treatment, psychotherapy in general) are limited and cannot be expected to immediately reduce risk. Interest has been expressed in medical approaches to reduce recidivism, in combination with psychotherapy."
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Duration of the time to reconviction: Evidence from UK prisoner discharge data
Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 35, Issue 4, July-August 2007, Pages 365-378
http://digbig.com/4wepg
Roger Arthur Bowles and Chrisostomos Florackis
"Duration models were used to investigate reconviction risks for a sample of 34,126 offenders released from prison in England and Wales during 1998. The study helped identify the subgroups of offenders for whom reconviction risks are greatest and the times when they seem to be most vulnerable to reconviction. Implications are explored for the design of prisoner resettlement programs and the prioritisation of offenders for more intensive forms of intervention."
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BELIEVING WE CAN: Promoting the contribution faith-based organisations can make to reducing adult and youth re-offending: Consultation Document / Ministry of Justice, November 2007
PDF - http://digbig.com/4wbmf

THIRD SECTOR ACTION PLAN: A DRAFT: Securing effective partnerships to reduce re-offending and protect the public 2008 – 2011 / Ministry of Justice, November 2007
PDF - http://digbig.com/4wbme

Strategic Plan for Reducing Re-offending 2008-11: Working in partnership to reduce re-offending and make communities safer: a consultation / NOMS, 27 November 2007
PDF - http://digbig.com/4wbbr
Cynllun Strategol ar gyfer Gostwng Aildroseddu 2008-11: Gweithio mewn partneriaeth i ostwng aildroseddu a gwneud cymunedau’n fwy diogel: Ymgynghoriad / NOMS, 27 November 2007
PDF - http://digbig.com/4wbbs
"Our consultation period starts on 27 November 2007 and ends on 18 February 2008. We would welcome your views. Responses should be submitted electronically, on the response form below, to reducingreoffending@justice.gsi.gov.uk."

Female Recidivists Speak About Their Experience in Drug Court While Engaging in Appreciative Inquiry
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 51, No. 6, 703-722 (2007)
http://ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/51/6/703?rss=1
Michael Fischer ; Brenda Geiger ; Mary Ellen Hughes
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Young people in Gateshead fight crime with fire / Xpress Digest, 31 October 2007
http://digbig.com/4twps
"A group of young people aged 11 to 17 have been taking part in a firefighting course to help tackle the risk factors that may lead a young person to offend. The Phoenix Project, organised jointly by Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade’s Arson Task Force and Gateshead Council, aims to engage with young people to reduce anti-social behaviour in the Gateshead area. Those taking part in the course were referred by the Youth Offending Team after being identified as being at risk of offending, are known offenders or need training or employment support. Over two days, the group visited three fire stations in the area and took part in practical exercises such as using the hose, search and rescue techniques in the training sewer complex at Tynemouth and putting out a fire."

An Examination of behavioral consistency using individual behaviors or groups of behaviors in serial homicide
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 527 - 544. Special Issue: Current Directions . Issue Edited by Charles Patrick Ewing.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114126013/ABSTRACT
Alicia L. Bateman, C. Gabrielle Salfati
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[USA] The Function of punishment in the civil commitment of sexually violent predators
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 437 - 448, Special Issue: Current Directions. Issue Edited by Charles Patrick Ewing.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114229353/ABSTRACT

Kevin M. Carlsmith, John Monahan, Alison Evans
"Two experiments find that support for civil commitment procedures for sexually violent predators is based primarily upon the retributive rather than incapacitative goals of respondents. Respondents were sensitive to likelihood of recidivism only when the initial sentence was sufficiently punitive. When initial sentence was lenient, respondents strongly supported civil commitment without regard to future risk."

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Predicting and understanding risk of re-offending: the Prisoner Cohort Study / Ministry of Justice, October 2007
PDF - http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/prison-cohert-study.pdf
Jeremy Coid, Min Yang, Simone Ullrich, Tianqiang Zhang, Amanda Roberts, Colin Roberts, Robert Rogers, David Far

An Experimental study of a therapeutic boot camp: Impact on impulses, attitudes and recidivism
Journal of Experimental Criminology, Volume 3, Number 3 / September, 2007, Pages
221-246
http://digbig.com/4ttfg
Doris Layton MacKenzie, David Bierie and Ojmarrh Mitchell
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Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research / Australian Institute of Criminology, October 2007
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/80/
Jason Payne
Research and public policy series, no. 80
"There is still a considerable divide between recidivism research and policy. What policy makers would like to measure is often not the same as researchers are able to measure, given the limitations on appropriate data and available information. As a result, research findings are often used out of context and with little regard for limitations imposed on them by the methodological constraints they face. This is driven primarily by a lack of clarity about an appropriate definition of recidivism and clear articulation of research methodologies. This report deals with important questions relating to recidivism research. It provides a conceptual framework through which recidivism can be defined and interpreted and arms researchers and policy makers with a battery of tools useful in critical assessment of the research literature."

Binge drinkers to get counselling / BBC, 16 October 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7047067.stm
"The Home Office's "alcohol-arrest referral projects" will run in Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire and Ealing, west London, until March 2008."