Citation

Lattimore PK, Richardson NJ, Ferguson PL, Pickelsimer EE. Health Justice 2022; 10(1): e7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1186/s40352-022-00169-7

PMID

35175451

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to determine whether TBI or PTSD is associated with an increase in general or violent criminal recidivism among a representative sample of released prisoners. In-person interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of individuals incarcerated with the South Carolina Department of Corrections approximately 90 days prior to the prisoners' releases. In addition to a variety of items and scales, respondents were screened for TBI and were asked whether they had received a current diagnosis of PTSD. Data were merged with arrest data that provided measures of past criminal involvement and indicators of post-release recidivism (arrest). Arrests were coded as "general" for any arrest charge and "violent" for any violent offense charge.

RESULTS: Survival analyses indicate that neither TBI nor PTSD predicts time to general recidivism. PTSD (p < 0.01) and age at first arrest (p < 0.01) are significant predictors for violent recidivism and TBI is non-significant at p = 0.09.

RESULTS from the negative binomial models indicate that TBI (p < 0.05) and PTSD (p < 0.05) are significantly associated with more post-release violent arrests, but not general arrests.

CONCLUSIONS: TBI and PTSD were found to predict violent offending but not general criminal behavior. These findings demonstrate the need for prison officials to identify individuals with a history of TBI and PTSD and to develop appropriate interventions that could be provided during incarceration to reduce the post-release likelihood of violence.

Language: en

Keywords

Violence; PTSD; Traumatic brain injury; TBI; Criminal recidivism; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Prisoners