Personality characteristics associated with reconviction in sexual and violent offenders

The purpose of this study was to examine personality characteristics associated with reconviction and to explore the accuracy of the Special Hospitals Assessment of Personality and Socialization (SHAPS) in predicting reconviction. The SHAPS was administered to a group of sexual and violent offenders (n = 121) who were followed up over 2, 5 and 10 year periods. Reconviction data were analysed using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). Of the 10 SHAPS scales, the Impulsivity scale produced the most promising results and consistently obtained the highest accuracy in predicting violent and general reconviction. The predictive accuracy of the SHAPS scales was compared against three actuarial risk measures, Static-99, Risk Matrix-2000 Sexual and Violent scales. The strength of correlations and accuracy of the SHAPS Impulsivity scale in predicting violent and general reconviction is comparable to that of the Risk Matrix 2000/Violent actuarial risk measure. However, the SHAPS scales added little to the actuarial measures in a regression equation. The actuarial scales were better at predicting sexual reconviction compared with the SHAPS scales. The implications of assessment and treatment using the SHAPS are discussed.