Browsing by Subject "rikollisuus"

Goals. Small minority of chronic offenders commit disproportional amount of crime in society. However, efficient pre-emptive measures against crime can be seen benefiting everyone in the society. One challenging subgroup is considered to be offenders with high psychopathic traits. Yet psychopathy doesn't seem to be an obstacle for everyone in adjusting and being successful in society – at least when considering socioeconomic status and lack of conflicts with law enforcement. The goal of this study is to explore if parental characteristics and psychopathic traits could jointly be related with different paths to criminal and non-criminal lifestyle. Methods. This thesis employed data drawn from Pathways to Desistance Study. The data was collected between 2000 and 2010 in the United States. Participants were recruited from local court system after they were put on trial for a felony in Pennsylvania and in Arizona. In all 1051 adolescent males participated who were between the ages of 14 and 17 at the time of their crime. 94% of the participants were born in the United States, and together they formed multi-ethnic sample. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationships between psychopathic traits, parental characteristics and re-offending after the trial. Also, the moderator effect of psychopathic traits on the relationship between parental characteristics and re-offending was explored. Used parental variables consisted of parental warmth, hostility, knowledge and monitoring of adolescent's spare time, and parents' socioeconomic status. Both aggressive offending and income offending were used as two separate outcome variables. The used crime rates were based on participants' self-reporting approximately two years after their trial. Results and conclusions. Higher level of parental hostility was found to be related to higher probability of offending. Parents' higher knowledge and monitoring of adolescent's spare time was found to be a related to lower probability of offending. Higher psychopathic traits increased the risk of offending. Psychopathic traits also moderated the relationship between parental hostility and offending. Parental hostility was found to be a risk factor for aggressive offending only among participants with low or moderate psychopathic traits but not among participants with high psychopathic traits. However, more research is needed to gain understanding of causality. Nevertheless, the results seem to highlight that among adolescents with high psychopathic traits effectiveness of interventions targeting delinquency is determined by how well their personality and unique characteristics are integrated into intervention strategies.

Objectives. A relatively small group of people are responsible for disproportionate amount of offenses which cause significant monetary and societal costs. It has been important to recognize different risk and protective factors for chronic offending in youth to develop effective treatment and preventive strategies. One subgroup of offenders who commit many offenses are individuals with high psychopathic traits. However, not all psychopathic individuals commit crimes and some seem well adjusted to society. High intelligence is considered as a protective factor from chronic offending. This study examines the relationship of psychopathic traits and intelligence on juvenile delinquency with seven-year long follow up design. Methods. The data of the study was employed from the Pathways to Desistance longitudinal study which material was collected in between 2000 - 2010. The sample included all male juvenile offenders (n=1170) from the cities of Phoenix and Philadelphia in the United States of America. The participants were 14 - 19 of age at the beginning of the study and 21 - 26 at the end. Psychopathic traits were assessed with PCL:YV and intelligence with WASI. The relationship of psychopathic traits and intelligence on delinquency was examined with binary logistic regression analysis. As well as the moderating effect of intelligence on the relationship between psychopathic traits and delinquency. Delinquency was assessed separately for violent and income related crimes based on the self-report of the participants with SRO method. Results and conclusions. High psychopathic traits were related to a higher risk for both violent and income offending in every measurement year of the seven year follow up. In addition, high psychopathic traits were related to a higher risk for faster rate of recidivism and to the continuity of criminal activity. Intelligence did not have either increasing or decreasing effect on delinquency and it did not have any moderating effect on the relationship between psychopathic traits and delinquency. However, further studies are needed to examine more closely the observed relationships, possible mediating factors and other risk and protective factors for crime. The results indicate that the risk and protective factors for delinquency in youth with high psychopathic traits needs to be intervened as early as possible to achieve effective treatment and preventive results.

Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tutkin desistanssia eli rikollisuudesta irtautumista. Tutkielmassani olen määritellyt desistanssin ajallisesti pitkäkestoiseksi prosessiksi, jonka seurauksena rikollinen ei enää palaa rikolliselle polulle. Tutkimuksessani kävi ilmi, että desistanssi vaatii jonkin käännekohdan, joka laittaa rikollisuudesta irtautumisen liikkeelle. Irtautuminen onnistuakseen vaatii kuitenkin motivaation ja sopivat ympäristön ja sosiaalisen tuen. Yhtenä kysymyksenä nostankin esille sen, päättyykö desistanssi prosessina ikinä vai vaatiiko se jatkuvaa ylläpitoa. Tutkielmani teoriaosuudessa esitelen keskeisimmät rikollisuudesta irtautumista selittävät teoriat. Teoriat ovat pääsääntöisesti kriminologisia teorioita, joista heijastuu monitieteellisyys. Olen kuitenkin jakanut teoriat yksilöllisiä ja sosiaalisia syitä korostaviin teorioihin. Tämä jako korostaa sosiologista näkökulmaa tähän ilmiöön. Lisäksi tutkimuksessani korostuu se, miten sosiaaliset suhteet edesauttavat tai estävät rikollisuudesta irtautumista. Tämä tutkielma on haastattelututkimus, jossa olen haastatellut entisiä rikoksentekijöitä, jotka haastatteluhetkellä ovat jättäneet rikollisen elämän taakseen. Olen analysoinut aineiston sisällönanalyysin ja tapaustutkimuksen menetelmin. Haastatteluissa kävi ilmi, että rikollisuuden syyt liittyvät hyvin paljon lapsuuden huonoihin oloihin, mutta tämä seikka ei varsinaisesti liity siihen, miten rikollisuudesta irtautuminen on onnistunut. Rikollisuuden syihin liittyvä pohdinta on yhteydessä rikollisuuden ennaltaehkäisemiseen. Analyysissäni irtautumisen pääkategoriaksi olen määritellyt käänteentekevän tapahtuman, jonka seurauksena irtautuminen on alkanut. Jotta irtautumisprosessi on jatkunut ja onnistunut on se kuitenkin vaatinut rationaalisen päätöksen, motivaation ja päihteidenkäytön lopettamisen. Lisäksi toimijuus, taloudellinen tilanne ja vankilatuomion aikainen kuntoutus ovat tärkeitä tekijöitä rikollisuudesta irtautumisen onnistumisessa.

Object. Stalking can cause many psychological symptoms and social disadvantage. Abroad the criminal justice response to stalking varies from fine to a prison sentence. Besides the law, also perceptions of stalking can affect sentencing. Stalking was criminalized in Finland in the beginning of 2014, but there have only been a few studies regarding the case law of stalking and the factors affecting compensation. The aims of this study were to clarify the factors affecting the psychological consequences and the compensations of stalking, to examine the differences in convictions and sentencing in relation to demographic features of the defendant and to predict stalking convictions. Methods. Altogether we collected 246 verdicts of stalking cases from district courts in Finland. We analyzed demographic features of and the relationship between the defendant and the complainant, the psychological consequences of stalking and taken countermeasures, the longitude and ways of stalking and the convictions and compensations. The comparisons in compensations, convictions and sentencing were analyzed using t-test and chi square test. Logistic regression was used to examine the factors affecting psychological consequences and the sentencing of stalking. Results and conclusions. In Finland, the sentencing of stalking is based on the features of stalking, and the extra-legal factors did not affect the sentencing nor the convictions. The psychological symptoms caused by stalking affected the compensations, but the countermeasures did not. In the future it would be important to study the perceptions of stalking in policemen and prosecutors because the perceptional biases may affect whether the cases proceed to court. Also, by increasing the knowledge about stalking and its’ consequences one could ensure the sensitive encountering of the victim and the advising of the right kind to stop the stalking and documenting it for criminal investigation and for court.

Objective. The number of children and adolescents placed outside home has almost doubled in last 20 years. It is well known that foster youth, especially boys, have increased risk for violent behavior. Youth with most severe conduct problems are placed in residential schools which are closed institutions where foster care can be organized. Reasons behind the placement decision are usually both child- and parent-related, for instance absences from school, conduct problems, substance use, and maltreatment. Thus, residential school youth have several risk factors which are associated with violence and criminality. The aim of this study was to examine age distribution of violent crimes, how foster care history predicts them, and consider the frequency of violent crimes in adulthood among former residential school youth. Methods. Participants were youth placed in residential school in 1991, 1996, 200, and 2006 (n = 861). Each residential school adolescents had five control youth (n = 3601) matched by background variables. Discrete-time survival analysis was used to examine the age distribution of first violent crime. Logistic and Poisson regressions were used to examine does foster care history predict violent crimes and the number of them. Results and discussion. Residential school youth committed more crimes than control subjects and males more than females. The probability of getting a conviction is highest during adolescence and early twenties among residential school subjects. After that the risk begins to decline reaching the same level with control subjects around age 30. Younger age at the beginning of the residential school placement and shorter duration of that placement were associated with higher risk of getting a conviction. Furthermore, older age at the beginning of the first placement, younger age at the beginning of residential school placement, and shorter duration of that placement were associated with higher risk of having more convictions. The results verify that residential school youth are the most challenging group in foster care and address the need of better interventions for youth at risk for severe problem behavior. When identifying risk development early enough, support of youth’s development is possible before the situation escalates. For instance, intervening in problems in child’s living circumstances and behavior both earlier and more easily improve the prediction of adulthood.