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Aims:
To examine the relationship between types of offence and the attributions offenders make about their criminal acts.
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What did they use to measure offender's attribution of mental element, external factors and guilt?
Gudjonsson and Singh's 42 item 'Blame attribution inventory'.
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Participants:
- 80 criminals serving sentences in Northern Ireland.
- 20 subjects had committed violent offences.
- 40 subjects had committed sexual offences.
- 20
had committed property offences.
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Violent offenders averages were:
- Guilt = 8.1
- Mental element = 5.3
- External factors = 5.8
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Sexual offenders averages were:
- Guilt = 12.7
- Mental element = 5.7
- External factors = 2.4
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Property offenders averages were:
- Guilt = 5.5
- Mental element = 4.0
- External factors = 3.0
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Who had the highest guilt average?
Sexual offenders, 12.7.
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Who had the lowest guilt average?
Property offenders, 5.5.
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Who had the highest mental element?
Sexual offenders, 5.7.
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Who had the lowest mental element?
Property offenders, 4.0.
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Who had the highest external factors?
Violent offenders, 5.8.
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Who had the lowest external factors?
Sexual offenders, 2.4.
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Conclusion:
Offenders attribute blame for their crimes differently according to their type of crime.
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