Item response theory (IRT) methods were applied to items from the 80-item Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS; G. D. Walters, 1995) to determine how well they measure the latent trait of criminal thinking in a group of 2,872 male medium security prison inmates. Preliminary analyses revealed that the 64 PICTS thinking style…

Prisonization (as measured by number of prior incarcerations) and concurrent instrumental offending (as measured by contemporaneous kidnapping, rape, robbery, and burglary offenses) were found to interact in 160 multiple-homicide offenders and 494 single-homicide offenders. Controlling for age, gender, race, criminal history, prior incarcerations,…

The possibility of combining indicators to improve recidivism prediction was evaluated in a sample of released federal prisoners randomly divided into a derivation subsample (n = 550) and a cross-validation subsample (n = 551). Five incrementally valid indicators were selected from five domains: demographic (age), historical (prior convictions),…

The Psychopathy Checklist and Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL/PCL-R) were used to predict institutional aggression and community violence in two groups of forensic patients. Results showed that Facet 4 (Antisocial) of the PCL/PCL-R or one of its parcels consistently achieved incremental validity relative to the first three facets, whereas the…

Research studies have determined that proactive or instrumental aggression correlates with positive outcome expectancies for violence, whereas reactive aggression correlates with hostile attribution biases. It was hypothesized that the Problem Avoidance factor scale of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) would serve as…

The purpose of this study was to construct composite scales for the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) from the PICTS thinking style, factor, and content scales designed to provide general estimates of criminal thinking. The Entitlement thinking style scale, Self-Assertion/Deception factor scale, and Historical content…

Explores response styles and sets capable of altering a person's responses in the thinking portion of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS). Constructs and incorporates into the PICTS validity scales to measure confusion and defensiveness. Results reveal that internal consistency, reliability, and validity of these two…

Postrelease recidivism data were collected on 137 male inmates released 1 to 72 months after completing the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) in follow-ups lasting 6 to 55 months. When a dichotomous measure of recidivism (0, 1+ arrests) was employed, Entitlement (En) was the only PICTS thinking-style scale to achieve…

Examines assessment, intervention, and follow-up phases of treatment process with lifestyle criminals. Recognizes that every therapeutic relationship is unique and should take into account individual characteristics of therapist, criminal, and environment. Subdivides assessment and intervention phases to reflect importance of lifestyle analysis,…

The criminal arrest histories of 262 medium-security male inmates were correlated with the Proactive (P) and Reactive (R) composite scales of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS). As predicted, only scores on the P scale correlated significantly with prior arrests for proactive aggression (robbery, burglary) and only…