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Introduction: Occupational exposure to trauma and its potential impacts on legal professionals working in the criminal justice system is an area that has historically been neglected and has only gained traction in recent years. Crown prosecutors, as a subset of practising criminal lawyers in New Zealand, are arguably at heightened risk of vicarious trauma (VT) due to their occupationally distinct exposure to potentially traumatic material (PTM). However, no research to date has explored the experiences of this group of working with PTM. Methods: This qualitative study aimed to explore New Zealand Crown prosecutors’ experiences of working with PTM. Nineteen Crown prosecutors from four Crown Solicitor firms across New Zealand participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were developed that described Crown prosecutors’ experiences of work-related exposure to trauma: trauma is everywhere, enduring effects of PTM exposure, and coping in the moment. These findings add to the growing body of literature on legal professionals’ work-related wellbeing and highlights how they are an at-risk population for VT, which can be significant and enduring. Discussion: Further research is needed to understand the unique etiological pathways for both the consequences of working with PTM and effective ways to reduce this occupational risk for legal professionals working in the criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the Christchurch Health and Development Study (N = 1,265), we examine the prevalence and continuity of firesetting across the life course and explore whether adolescent firesetting is a risk marker for adult internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Life course continuity of firesetting was low. Adolescent firesetting (3%) correlated with antisocial behaviors and adverse family circumstances. Independent of conduct disorder, adolescent firesetting showed limited associations with adulthood internalizing outcomes, but associated with most externalizing outcomes (e.g., cannabis use disorder, OR = 2.08, 95% CI = [1.14, 3.78]). Further adjustment for antisocial tendencies and family circumstances reduced associations; the largest effect to remain was for alcohol use disorder (OR = 2.08, 95% CI = [1.19, 3.63]). Therefore, for most externalizing behaviors, adolescent firesetting is a marker (i.e., indicates future risk), but not an independent risk marker (i.e., does not have independent specificity). For adolescents who set fires, clinical treatment should assess comorbid conduct disorder and family instability and consider a range of problematic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autistic adults who have a history of committing crimes present a major problem for providers of services in terms of legal disposal options and possible interventions, and greater understanding of this group and their associated needs is required. For this reason, we aimed to investigate the face validity of a proposed sub-typology of autistic adults detained in secure psychiatric hospitals in the United Kingdom. Initially, a focus group was completed with psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, healthcare workers, family members and autistic adults who had been detained in hospital, leading to revisions of the sub-typology. Following this, a consensus rating exercise of 10 clinical vignettes based on this sub-typology with three rounds was completed with 15 psychiatrists and clinical psychologists; revisions to the vignettes to improve clarity were made following each round. The findings indicated that these subtypes possess face validity and raters were able to classify all 10 clinical case vignettes into the sub-typology, and percentage of agreement ranged from 96% to 100% for overall subtype classification. This study suggests that the further validity of the sub-typology should be investigated within a larger study, as these subtypes have the potential to directly inform the hospital care pathway such that length of stay can be minimised.

This study examines the prevalence of deliberate firesetting in an un-apprehended New Zealand sample and factors that differentiate firesetting and non-firesetting individuals. An anonymous online survey assessing demographic and background characteristics, history of firesetting and psychological characteristics was advertised on Facebook community groups and pinboards across New Zealand. A total of 626 adults completed the survey. One-hundred and three participants (16.45%) self-reported having deliberately set at least one fire over the age of 14 years. When controlling for all other variables in a logistic regression model, having a high-school qualification as the highest level of educational attainment (odds ratio, OR = 2.24), history of a mental health diagnosis (OR = 1.91), fearful attachment style (OR = 1.16) and fire interest (OR = 1.05) showed the strongest unique association with un-apprehended firesetting. Further research is needed to examine the full range of behavioural and psychological characteristics associated with un-apprehended firesetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deliberate firesetting is a prevalent issue. While a number of psychological treatment needs have been identified for adults who set fires, their association with multiple firesetting has received limited attention. This study examined whether demographics, offence histories, firesetting behaviours and psychometric assessments of psychological vulnerabilities hypothesised to be associated with firesetting discriminate between adults who have set only one fire and those who have set multiple fires. Participants (N =128) were recruited from prisons and categorised according to whether they self-reported having set only a single fire (n = 60) or multiple fires (n = 68) as an adult. Our findings provide evidence that identification with fire, antisocial attitudes and anger-related cognition and arousal are associated with multiple firesetting, and therefore represent key treatment targets for interventions. Furthermore, a history of setting fires within prison was the largest unique predictor of multiple firesetting (odds ratio, OR = 6.83), highlighting the urgent need for research on institutional firesetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-based practice (EBP) advocates that treatments offered to patients should be empirically supported and effective. Group-based treatment is offered in forensic mental health services as a way of assisting forensic patients (FPs) to address their offending behavior. However, little research exists examining how research and practice are integrated in these interventions, consistent with the principles of EBP. This study examined the utilization and evaluation of offense-specific group treatment programs with FPs, with a specific focus on interventions for substance misuse, sexual offending, firesetting, and violent offending. The results highlight that despite frequent use of offense-specific group interventions for FPs in UK forensic mental health services, evaluation is lacking regarding both published evaluations and through routine clinical practice. To ensure consistency with principles of EBP, recommendations are made surrounding the implementation of routine evaluations (e.g., follow-up studies) of offense-specific group treatment programs with FPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals who set deliberate fires are frequently encountered by clinicians working in forensic mental health services. However, little attention has been paid to developing standardised treatment for this behaviour, and few evaluations of treatment have been conducted in forensic mental health services. This study evaluates a new standardised group cognitive behavioural treatment programme for individuals residing in forensic psychiatric hospitals who have engaged in deliberate firesetting (The Firesetting Intervention Programme for Mentally Disordered Offenders; FIP‐MO). Sixty‐three male and female patients with a history of deliberate firesetting commenced FIP‐MO treatment. Patients who met the referral criteria for treatment but who resided at hospitals where FIP‐MO treatment was not available were recruited as a treatment as usual comparison group. The treatment group completed a battery of psychometric assessments pre‐ and post‐treatment, with the comparison group completing these at similar time points. Results showed that patients who completed the FIP‐MO made significant improvements post‐treatment, relative to the comparison group on fire‐related measures (e.g., problematic interest and associations with fire) and anger expression. Further, effect size calculations showed that the treatment group made larger pre‐post treatment shifts on the majority of outcome measures compared to the comparison group. These findings suggest that FIP‐MO treatment is effective for reducing some of the key factors associated with deliberate firesetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]