The Trajectory of Offending Risks: Implications for Rehabilitation and Practice

• DOI: 10.1177/0032885519894659
• Published date: 01 March 2020
• Author: Lay See Yeo,Aston Tan
• Date: 01 March 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519894659

The Prison Journal

2020, Vol. 100(2) 262 –282

© 2019 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0032885519894659

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Article

The Trajectory

of Offending Risks:

Implications for

Rehabilitation

and Practice

Aston Tan1 and Lay See Yeo1

Abstract

Research has demonstrated myriad factors that contribute to one’s

propensity to offend. However, similar research on the Asian, and specifically

Singaporean, correctional population has been limited and extant Western

research may not be culturally generalizable. This study explored the facets

and trajectory of offending risks in Singaporean adult male offenders and

their implications for offender rehabilitation and practice. Results suggest

that offender rehabilitation should focus on interventions that maintain

treatment continuity through the institutional and community phases, and

that alternatives to incarceration may reduce unskilled and poorly adjusted

ex-offenders in the workforce and society.

Keywords

Asian population, Singapore, emotion regulation, incarceration,

psychopathology, reoffending

1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Corresponding Author:

Aston Tan, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang

Walk, Singapore 637616.

Email: aston-tan@e.ntu.edu.sg

894659TPJXXX10.1177/0032885519894659The Prison JournalTan and Yeo

research-article2019

Tan and Yeo 263

Introduction

Major research studies have revealed significant factors that contribute to

general criminality. Gendreau et al. (1996) described multiple predictors of

criminality in their meta-analysis study. They highlighted increased offend-

ing risks in the presence of childhood and adult antisocial history, poor

social achievement, antisocial personality, younger age of offending, and

increased substance abuse. Significant but weaker correlations were found

in domains like dysfunctional family structures and lower intellectual func-

tioning (Gendreau et al., 1996). One method of conceptualizing offending

risks was postulated as the “Central Eight” factors of offending (Andrews

& Bonta, 2010; Andrews et al., 1990). Four major contributing factors of

offending were identified as history of antisocial behavior, antisocial per-

sonality pattern, antisocial cognitions, and antisocial associates. The four

minor factors were contributed by maladaptive and impoverished function-

ing across the domains of family/marital, school/work, leisure/recreation,

and substance use.

Apart from these factors of offending, research has explored other signifi-

cant, albeit less predictive, contributions to offending. Several studies sug-

gest the presence of poor emotion regulation and its forensic implication on

violent offending, antisocial behaviors, and psychopathic traits (Baumeister

& Lobbestael, 2011; Garofalo et al., 2018; Heinzen et al., 2011; Novaco,

2011; Roberton et al., 2015), but few have examined its implication on

offending patterns. Furthermore, other studies have highlighted the presence

of psychopathology as a feature in offending, with incarcerated offenders

consistently demonstrating symptoms of psychopathology (Fazel & Danesh,

2002; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 2006).

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the inter-

play of certain offending risk factors on incarcerated male offenders in

Singapore. Research examining emotion regulation and psychopathology has

largely focused on college students. Aldao et al.’s (2010) meta-analytic

review highlighted more than half of the 114 reviewed studies employing

undergraduates as participants. Similar research also employed undergradu-

ates as the main sample participants (Aldao & Dixon-Gordon, 2014; Aldao &

Nolen-Hoeksema, 2010). Hence, this article sought to extend the offending

risk research to a sample of Singaporean incarcerated adult males.

Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation has been defined by Gross (1998b) as the “processes by

which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them,