Criminal attitudes to violence: Development and preliminary validation of a scale for male prisoners

• Published in: Aggressive behavior Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 484 - 503
• Main Authors: Polaschek, Devon L.L., Collie, Rachael M., Walkey, Frank H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.11.2004; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: beliefs; Biological and medical sciences; criminal attitudes; Medical sciences; physical violence; prisoners; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; response biases; Techniques and methods; violent offenders; Human; Test validation; Prisoner; Attitude; Evaluation scale; Violence; Criminality; Male; Psychometrics; Test reliability
• ISSN: 0096-140X; 1098-2337
• DOI: 10.1002/ab.20081

Two studies report on the development and preliminary psychometric properties of a new scale measuring criminal attitudes to violence. In Study 1, the responses of a mixed sample of male prisoners were used to select 20 scale items from a larger pool. The final scale (the Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale; CAVS) was designed so that it had a single‐factor structure and was uncorrelated with a measure of social desirability bias. It demonstrated high internal reliability, and a strong relationship to a self‐report measure of physical aggression. Significant differences were found in CAVS mean scores for various offence history comparisons, such as whether or not the offender was currently on sentence for a violent conviction. In the second study, most results from the first study were replicated with an independent sample of male prisoners. Further, compared to another scale measuring attitudes to aggression [the EXPAGG Instrumental subscale; Archer and Haigh, 1997b], the CAVS was a better predictor of general attitudes to crime. Mean CAVS scores were again significantly higher for current violent offenders than those on sentence for other types of offences. Lastly, the CAVS was moderately predictive of estimated risk of reconviction and re‐imprisonment. Overall these results suggest that this scale measures the construct of attitudes to criminal violence, which partially overlaps two other constructs: attitudes to aggression and attitudes to crime. Aggr. Behav. 30:484–503, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.