Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

You Have To Hit Some People! Measurement And Criminogenic Nature Of Violent Sentiments In Australia, Sally Kelty, Guy Hall, Bruce Watt

Bruce Watt

Criminal sentiments are the highest risk factor for recidivism. Although criminal sentiments have been reliably measured, there are few scales measuring violent sentiments. The aim of this study was to report on three studies exploring the theory and psychometrics of a new Justification for Violence Scale (JFV). The JFV items have high ecological validity in that they were drawn from in-depth interviews with violent men. Psychometric analysis showed that the JFV was unifactorial with high criterion-related validity differentiating three distinct groups (sample N = 530): male offenders, men and women from the community, and university undergraduates. In a further study …