Offender interviewing in custodial settings: Understanding validity,value and veracity issues

The purpose of this scoping literature review was to identify trends regarding validity, value and veracity issues when conducting (qualitative) interviews with offenders in custodial settings. We selected for review works from electronic databases in SAGE, Springer, and Taylor and Francis by using e-journals, Google Scholar and the behavioural science database, PsycINFO. The inclusion criteria for our studies were based on whether sources addressed offender interviewing as a wellspring of information, but excluded those that focused solely on the acquisition of clinical information (at the expense of focusing on validity, value and veracity issues). We utilised the content analysis approach to identify themes/ patterns in the research findings. Key findings suggest that offenders with impression management motivations deceive and manipulate in their research interview presentations. When gathering data from inmates in custodial care settings, best practice includes cross-checking offender interview data against other sources of evidence and taking into account the context in which they are serving their sentences.     

professional-paraprofessional Cooperation in career development

Nationwide the “in” term is career development. The task is to develop a delivery system that gets to people where they are. Peterson and his associates describe in detail how a career development “curriculum” is systematically developed by professional counselors for implementation by paraprofessionals and lay church workers. A key feature of this article is the needs assessment procedure, since the curriculum is being constructed on the results of this procedure. Rarely has such an assessment been undertaken, even more rarely with such comprehensiveness. This article describes what may well be the largest professional-paraprofessional cooperative effort in the world.