Cori, In my past life I was a prison psychologist for about 10 years. During that time I learned that the best predictor of future behaviour was past behaviour. I know of no reliable instrument that will "spot a potential killer" or any other sort of criminal activity. There _are_ several good instruments which will predict the re-occurance of criminal activity and they are often used in making parole predictions. Interestingly they generally ignore behaviour in prison and focus on factors that existed pre-incarceration e.g. were you married at the time you committed your crime?, employed? etc. With regard to preventive detention; In Canada the only way we can incarcerate someone in advance of a criminal act is if the person has been declared a Dangerous Offender. To earn this designation you must have committed a series of serious crimes (like sexual assault) and be deemed to still be at risk of committing further offenses by a number of psychiatrists and psychologists. D.O. sentences are rare and, when handed down, still contain the provision of regular parole review. Hope that helps, -Don. ******************************************************************** Don Allen email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dept. of Psychology voice: (604)-323-5871 Langara College fax: (604)-323-5555 100 W. 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. Canada, V5Y 2Z6 ******************************************************************** On Sat, 16 Oct 1999, John W. Nichols, M.A. wrote: > I thought some TIPSters might like to take a shot at this. Note that > the "Reply All" function will send a copy directly to the student, as > well as to the list. > > -- > ----------==========>>>>>>>>>> τΏτ <<<<<<<<<<==========---------- > John W. Nichols, M.A. > Assistant Professor of Psychology & Computer Science > Tulsa Community College > 909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 > (918) 595-7134 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/home.html > MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html
My name is Cori Cummins and I attend Gonzaga University located in Spokane, Washington. I am writing an article on criminal behavior for a journalism class and was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. I happened to stumble across your e-mail address while searching the net. Questions: Is it possible to identify or recognize behavior that may indicate that the person might be a killer? For example, People say that Buford Furrow should not have had the opportunity to murder innocent children because he should have been locked up according to his prior behavior and comments. If it is possible to predict behavior is there ways to imprison people legally, based on assumption? What is your personal take on the prediction of behavior and the imprisoning of people based on "abnormal" behavior? Thank you for your time and I would appreciate any insights that you could offer me. Cori Cummins [EMAIL PROTECTED]
