Kevin Browne

• PhD
• Professor at University of Nottingham

Objective To systematically review the literature on the link between personality disorder and parenting capacity from an attachment theory perspective. Method Four electronic databases were searched systematically. Those studies that met the pre-defined inclusion criteria were quality assessed. Data was then extracted and synthesized from the inc...

Background: The Government in England has recognized the importance of early intervention to promote positive child development and prevent maltreatment. In doing so, efforts have been made to increase the implementation of the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) to target a greater number of families who require intensive secondary intervention. Meth...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to systematically review the effectiveness of risk assessment tools in predicting sexual recidivism of adult male offenders. BACKGROUND: Sex offender risk assessment aids risk management within the criminal justice system. Some tools follow an actuarial approach and some adopt structured professional judgement. There has n...

Child maltreatment remains a major public-health and social-welfare problem in high-income countries. Every year, about 4-16% of children are physically abused and one in ten is neglected or psychologically abused. During childhood, between 5% and 10% of girls and up to 5% of boys are exposed to penetrative sexual abuse, and up to three times this...

This paper examines the Abusive Behaviour Inventory (ABI), which is regarded as an efficient self-report measure with demonstrated high reliability and validity. This examination aims to determine the tool’s effectiveness when screening for victims of domestic violence and present recommendations for how the device may be improved. Within this crit...

The aim of the research was to understand the perceptions and beliefs of police officers who work and support victims of intimate partner domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and evaluate the way it is recorded. A sample was collected from eight police departments in Greece. The head of each police department was approached by the researcher and asked...

Instability in the lives of young people in care is a public health concern. Placement moves and loss of relationships can have serious implications for young people’s overall functioning, as well as their future life outcomes. Despite this, research often lacks the perspective and voice of young people in care. In this qualitative research, Interp...

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00281-6

Domestic violence has severe physical and mental health consequences, yet many women remain in abusive relationships. Domestic violence is generally more prevalent among ethnic minorities than among ethnic majorities. Yet, little is known about reasons to stay and leave within ethnic minority groups. Therefore, we examined reasons for staying in an...

Domestic violence victims frequently visit health care facilities yet rarely disclose, so it is important to understand what factors are barriers and facilitators of disclosure. UK-based qualitative investigations into barriers and facilitators of disclosure in health care settings have suffered from a limited focus on ethnic minority women. Theref...

This study adapts and validates a scale designed to measure Attitudes Toward Mentally Disordered Offenders (ATMDO). It is thought that by monitoring and subsequently improving attitudes, negative potentially damaging milieus within criminal justice, forensic mental health, and society in general can be minimized. Participants (N = 364) were recruit...

Objective: Violence against children is a global public health concern. Researchers are increasingly using self-report measures of physical, psychological, and sexual violence and neglect for population-based surveys. The current gold-standard measure, the 45-item ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool has been used across the world. This study assesses...

Background: There is a growing body of literature identifying a relationship between experiences of child abuse and symptoms of psychosis in adults. However, the impact of this relationship on risk of violence has not been systematically explored. Aims: This meta-analysis aimed to consider the influence of childhood abuse on the risk of violence...

Crimes committed against partners and family members have devastating effects on victims. Unfortunately, recidivism rates for offenders are high, and there is a need to establish risk factors that may be potential treatment targets. This study aimed to investigate childhood maltreatment, symptoms of trauma, and personality disorder (PD) traits in m...

Attitudes regarding gender roles and acceptance of violence, attachment style and need for control have been strongly implicated in IPV perpetration. However, arguments have been raised regarding the weight of these variables in relation to IPV. The present online cross-sectional study aimed at comparing these variables’ strength of association bet...

Background: There were approximately 306,000 reports of missing persons in the UK from 2012 to 2013, 64% involved children. Repeat missing incidents account for approximately 38% of reported missing incidences. Within their research Biehal et al. (2003) identified that 70% of missing children had voluntarily left their home and the majority of thes...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between attachment style, sub-clinical symptoms of psychosis and aggression in a general population sample. Design/methodology/approach Using both convenience and snowball sampling, participants in the community ( n =213) completed an online questionnaire including previously validat...

The aim of this article is to examine the effects of a short-term one-to-one anger management program delivered to community-based offenders in Malta. The program delivered was the Individual Managing Anger Program (I-MAP), a Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based anger management intervention developed as an EU project. A random...

Background: Children's exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood. Methods: A three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school-attending children (response rate: 66.7%) in three gr...

The purpose of this review is to critically evaluate the Conflict Tactics Scales-2, a measure used worldwide for research and clinical practices. The reliability, validity and normative samples of the CTS-2 are considered and compared with similar psychometric measures. The limitations of the original CTS have been discussed alongside the CTS-2. Re...

The Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV) is a short form of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R), an expert-rated assessment that measures psychopathic personality traits in research, clinical, and community settings. The PCL-R is an extensively relied upon tool in psycho-legal contexts. The screening version is also widely used;...

Protective factors against the victimization of children and young people within the school and community environments (extrafamilial victimization) have received less attention than risk factors. To date, there has been no systematic review on protective factors. This systematic review therefore aimed to synthesize the prospective longitudinal res...

Childhood victimization impacts on the well-being of children and young people, particularly those experiencing an extreme amount of different types of victimization (i.e., poly-victims). However, limited attention has been given to the impact of different categories of extrafamilial victimization (experienced outside of the family), particularly i...

Establishing an empirically valid typology of sexual murder is necessary for developing theory, risk assessment, and intervention. Results from all empirical studies conducted between 1970 and 2016, drawing on information pertaining to > 700 sexual murderers, were collated to provide a definitive best evidence synthesis elucidating the overall patt...

This study explores modeling crime-scene characteristics of juvenile homicide in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Multidimensional scaling analysis was carried out on crime-scene characteristics derived from the court files of 67 individuals under 22 years old, who had been charged with murder or attempted murder (1995-2009). Three thematic reg...

Background: There is a growing body of literature identifying a relationship between experiences of child abuse and symptoms of psychosis in adults. However, the impact of this relationship on risk of violence has not been systematically explored. Aims: This meta-analysis aimed to consider the influence of childhood abuse on the risk of violence am...

The purpose of this chapter is to assess the psychological factors within the individual that influence the validity and reliability of the child victim of sexual abuse as a witness. One criteria applied in these cases has been the boundary between fact and 'fantasy' sometimes referred to as 'false memory syndrome'. The debate on child witnesses ha...

Women are more at risk from men who are generally violent or men with personality disorders than men who are only violent in the home. In incidents perpetrated by both generally violent men or men with personality disorders, the violence is more likely to be severe and even escalate to life threatening violence and homicide. Research has establishe...

Purpose This guidance acknowledges that domestic violence and abuse are a significant part of the midwife, health visitor or school nurse role. By nature of their role, these professionals are often one of the first to become aware of such issues within the family. Violence damages physical and emotional health and can have long lasting negative im...

International adoption is seen by some as a solution to the large number of children in institutional care. However, our previous findings did not support the notion that international adoption contributes to the deinstitutionalisation of children (Browne and Chou, ; Chou and Browne, ). As our previous study was cross‐sectional, the aim of this stu...

Some factors, such as age, learning disability and mental health difficulties, have been identified as making police suspects more vulnerable to suggestibility and false confessions during interview. However, there has been no systematic review on the association between self-esteem and suggestibility. Seven electronic bibliographic databases and...

Objectives: Within the literature on sex offending, much attention is paid to the distinction between those sex offenders who offend against adults and those who offend against children. In contrast, there is a paucity of research into sex offenders who offend specifically against elderly or older victims. Method: A detailed interview and psychomet...

This systematic review examined the demographic and offence variables in group sexual offending. Eight bibliographic databases and three thesis portals were searched. The reference lists of five papers and one textbook were hand searched. Nine experts were contacted for ongoing or unpublished studies. The total number of hits was 1853, of which 55...

The author regrets that in the above published paper, a line was missed in the acknowledgement section. The sentence which needs to be added as follows: "The research was partially funded by the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme". Language: en

This meta-analysis sought to investigate the effectiveness of CBT based anger management interventions on reducing recidivism among adult male offenders. Studies were selected after a bibliographic database search, a hand-search of references from similar studies and an electronic search on apposite Correctional websites. The outcome measures of in...

There has been little research carried out in the United Kingdom (UK) aimed at providing a holistic exploration of the victim experiences of young people within the school and community environments (extrafamilial victimization). This study therefore examined the prevalence of 24 different types of extrafamilial victimization experienced by a sampl...

Background: Sex offender risk assessment is complex, especially when this concerns intellectually disabled sex offenders (IDSOs). This subgroup of sex offenders require specific attention in relation to risk assessment, yet tools designed for non-IDSOs continue to be applied to them. Method: This review examines the Risk Matrix 2000, a static risk...

This study investigated gender differences regarding young people charged with murder in England and Wales. A sample of 318 cases was collected from the Home Office's Homicide Index and analysed. Of these cases, 93% of the offenders were male and 7% female. The analyses explored gender differences in terms of the offender's race, offender's age, vi...

The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-II (STAXI-II) is a psychometric assessment that measures the experience, expression, and control of anger in research and clinical settings. Although the STAXI-II is extensively used and its psychometric properties supported, no psychometric critique has yet specifically assessed its utility with forensic...

School shootings are a concern due to their impact in the local community. This paper aimed to (a) establish frequent characteristics of the offender and offence, (b) explore the differences between offenders who are over the age of 18 years and those who are younger, and (c) consider the underlying themes of the offence characteristics. Data were...

This presentation will explore the possibility of modelling the crime-scene actions displayed by juvenile homicide offenders in Wallonia and Brussels (Belgium). A sample of 67 individuals aged 21 and under, charged with either murder or attempted murder, was gathered from judicial files. Smallest Space Analysis showed three thematic regions (Social...

A community‐based cross‐sectional study was conducted to explore the relationship between parental personality disorder and child maltreatment. This article reports on the findings of a study focusing on a subsample of 46 maltreating mothers who had all been referred for psychological assessment in the context of care proceedings. Of the 46 mothers...

Introduction: Early prevention and detection of problem parenting, family violence and child maltreatment is traditionally classified into three levels: primary prevention (universal services aimed at the whole population); secondary prevention (targeted services for families identified as in need of further support); and tertiary prevention (servi...

The Structured Assessment of Risk and Need-Treatment Needs Analysis (SARN-TNA) is routinely used by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) in England and Wales to aid assessment of risk of sexual offenders. This structured professional judgment tool’s predictive validity was examined with convicted sexual offenders in this field study. Rec...

Introduction Prevention of child maltreatment is traditionally classified into three levels: primary prevention (universal services aimed at the whole population); secondary prevention (targeted services for families identified as in need of further support); and tertiary prevention (services offered once difficulties have occurred). However, incre...

This critical appraisal explores the reliability and validity of the Risk Matrix 2000 static sex offender risk assessment tool that is widely used in the United Kingdom. The Risk Matrix 2000 has to some extent been empirically validated for use with adult male sex offenders; however, this review highlights that further research into the validity of...

Assessing for potential physical abuse is a fundamental task for those professionals undertaking assessments of parents involved in care proceedings. One tool developed to help assist in this endeavour is the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory (Milner, , ). The CAP Inventory provides an estimate of parental risk of child abuse and is one of the...

The aim of this pilot study was to explore the prevalence and quality of violent thoughts and fantasies of a non-violent community sample. A secondary aim was to identify the extent to which violent thoughts and fantasies were related to anger. Nineteen adults took part in the study which used a repeated measures design. Participants were asked to...

Glenthorne Youth Treatment Centre is involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of behaviourally disturbed young people in a secure environment. The purpose of this study is to describe the therapeutic experiences of the young people in the Centre from both clients’ and staffs’ perspectives in relation to the treatment work they received. Details...

The worst of institutional care was brought to public attention in Romania during the 1990s when pictures of severely deprived and malnourished children were shown around the world. However, many European countries have high rates of young children in institutions, where the physical care of the child predominates, with social/emotional needs a sec...

IntroductionSocial Policy and LegislationThe Extent of Sexual Offences against ChildrenSex Offenders who Abuse Children in the FamilySexual Maltreatment by SiblingsIntimate Partner RapeLinks between Spouse Abuse and Child AbuseLong-Term Effects of Sexual Abuse in the FamilyPreventionWorking with Families to Prevent Sexual AbuseTreatment of Sex Offe...

IntroductionPolicing Sexual AssaultChild Protection UnitsProactive Intelligence GatheringPaedophile UnitsManaging the Risk of Sex Offenders in the CommunityConclusions

Purpose and method . A locus of control (LC) scale was given to a child molester sample before and after treatment for sexual offending. The scale measures the extent to which a person feels that events are contingent on their behaviour or the extent to which they feel events are externally controlled. It was hypothesized that LC would become more...

This paper aims to review studies in relation to the association between childhood physical (CPA) and sexual abuse (CSA) and illicit drug use among the male clinical and general community populations using a systematic approach. Primary studies were identified using online databases which were searched comprehensively using a set of pre-determined...

Preventing violence to women and children in the home; a review of the literature/Interventions to support victims of domestic violence: The ‘Safety in numbers’ project/Preventing sexual violence to young women and children/Evidence based policy and interventions to support adult victims of sexual violence/Harmful traditional practices and their im...

It has been estimated that 4 to 16% of children are physically abused and 1 in 10 are neglected or psychologically abused, the vast majority of the time by their parents and caregivers. Disabled children are 3.8 times more likely to be physically abused than non-disabled children. The need for prevention is exemplified by a survey of young people r...

IntroductionStructure of the BookReferences

IntroductionThe Extent of Sexual Abuse of ChildrenSibling Sexual Abuse and IncestAdolescent Sex OffendersAdolescent Sex Offenders with Intellectual DisabilitySibling Abuse and Incest Involving Adolescent Sex Offenders with Intellectual DisabilityInterventionConclusions References

A practical handbook for practitioners that covers the assessment, treatment and management of sexual offenders with intellectual disabilities â" an area of growing interest within clinical forensic psychology. New for the Wiley Series in Forensic Clinical Psychology: a practical handbook that covers the assessment, treatment and management of sexu...

The feasibility and prevalence of reciprocal, hierarchical and paternal patterns of family aggression hypothesised by Dixon and Browne (2003) were explored within a sample of maltreating families. The psychological reports of 67 families referred to services for alleged child maltreatment that evidenced concurrent physical intimate partner violence...

This monograph provides an international summary of the extent and scale of young children living without parents in residential care ‘children’s homes’, and of the reasons they are there. It also gives an overview of the risk of harm to young children’s care and development after being placed in institutional care. The author concludes with core r...

This paper details the adverse childhood experiences of young people resident in secure accommodation, namely Glenthorne Youth Treatment Centre, in Birmingham. Many of the young people referred to secure care had experienced extremely dysfunctional and/or abusive family environments, as well as disruptive, numerous care placements. This, in turn, c...

In this commentary, Kevin Browne and Shihning Chou focus on the issues raised by the critical responses to their article in Adoption & Fostering (Chou and Browne, 2008).

Assessing Risk in Sex Offenders: A Practitioner's Guide is a handy resource for forensic practitioners responsible for assessing an managing sexual offenders at risk of recidivism. It covers the risk factors associated with sexual recidivism, evaluates risk assessment approaches and offers guidance on how to conduct forensic evaluations. Written by...

IntroductionConvictions for Sexual OffencesInternet OffencesPolicing Sexual AssaultProactive ApproachesThe Probation ServiceEffectiveness of Sex Offender Treatment Programme in EnglandMulti-Agency Management of RiskRisk AssessmentDisclosure and Community NotificationConclusions

IntroductionCurrent Concepts in Risk AssessmentRisk Assessment: Where to Now?Theories of Sexual OffendingAn Aetiological Model of RiskConclusions

IntroductionBehavioural AnalysisBehavioural FrameworksConsequencesApproaches to Risk AssessmentConclusions

IntroductionApplying Actuarial MeasuresImproving Actuarial EstimatesThe Multiaxial Risk Appraisal (MARA) ModelConclusions

IntroductionApproaches to Treatment‘What Works’ and TreatmentCurrent Treatment Provision in the UK: Treatment for Sexual Offenders in PrisonTreatment for Sexual Offenders in the CommunityMeasuring Treatment EffectivenessConclusions

IntroductionIdentifying Dynamic Risk FactorsA Stable Dynamic FrameworkOrganising Dynamic Factors into Assessments of Sexual DevianceEvidence for the Usefulness of Assessing Stable Dynamic Risk FactorsIdentifying Acute Dynamic Risk FactorsAssessing Acute Dynamic Risk FactorsConclusions

IntroductionExhibitionistsInternet Offenders and the Use of PornographyRapistsChild MolestersUnderstanding Sex OffendersTreatment ProgrammesConclusions

IntroductionActuarial Risk Assessment MeasuresCriticisms of Actuarial ScalesStructured Clinical Judgement ScalesFactor Structure of Actuarial Risk ScalesConclusions

IntroductionPersonality Disorder, Psychopathy and Sexual DevianceAge and Sexual RecidivismConclusions

IntroductionMethodological Considerations when Assessing RiskFactors Affecting the Sexual Reconviction RateBase Rates and Actuarial Risk ScalesApplying Group Data to IndividualsConclusions

IntroductionStrengths-Based Approaches and Positive PsychologyThe ‘Good Lives’ Approach to Sex Offender TreatmentAssessing Risk in Young PeopleAssessing Strengths and Resilience Factors in Young People Who Sexually OffendApplying a Strengths Based Approach in Work with Adult OffendersConclusions

The study reported by Shihning Chou and Kevin Browne explored the link between institutional care for young children and international adoption, using a survey of 33 European countries. Official figures were available from 25 countries on the proportions of national versus international adoption within their own countries, together with the number...

This study investigates the continuation and discontinuation of the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment within the first 13 months of the child’s life. Differences in risk factors and parenting styles between families who initiate (Initiators), maintain (Maintainers) or break (Cycle Breakers) the intergenerational cycle of child ma...

Assessing the risk of further offending behavior by adult sexual perpetrators of children is highly relevant and important to professionals involved in child protection. Recent progress in assessing risk in sexual offenders has established the validity of actuarial measures, although there continues to be some debate about the application of these...

The heterogeneity of domestic violent men has long been established. However, research has failed to examine this phenomenon among men committing the most severe form of domestic violence. This study aims to use a multidimensional approach to empirically construct a classification system of men who are incarcerated for the murder of their female pa...

This study considers the characteristics associated with mothers and fathers who maltreat their child and each other in comparison to parents who only maltreat their child. One hundred and sixty-two parents who had allegations of child maltreatment made against them were considered. The sample consisted of 43 fathers (Paternal Family—PF) and 23 mot...

The prediction of risk of sexual recidivism in adult sex offenders has been grounded on research identifying reliable markers or risk factors, the so-called static and dynamic variables. For adolescents such reliable factors in the prediction of risk of sexual recidivism have so far not been unequivocally revealed. The aim of this systematic review...

This study by Shihning Chou , Kevin Browne and Melanie Kirkaldy investigated whether intercountry adoption agencies on the internet upheld the principles of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC 1989) and the Hague Convention (1993). A systematic search on the UK-based Google search engine was carried out. The search yielded 2,383 hit...

This study examines the integration of statistical and psychological risk factors using psychometric markers of psychopathology and psychosexual characteristics from the Static-99 in 119 sexual offenders. Psychological risk markers are combined to approximate four deviancy domains: sexual interests, distorted attitudes, socio-affective functioning,...

Reviews on the causes of aggression in the family have emphasised the extensive overlap between all forms of partner violence and child maltreatment. However, research into family violence has often investigated child and partner maltreatment as separate entities, frequently examining the violent man in order to understand the correlates and potent...

Studies examining the characteristics of sex and violent offenders have found differences in personality and offence characteristics. However, none of these studies has examined differences in personality characteristics between violent, sex and general offenders using the Special Hospitals Assessment of Personality and Socialization (SHAPS). Using...

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI) could be used to predict sexual reconviction. The MSI was administered to 119 convicted male sex offenders. Reconviction data were analysed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) over 2-, 5- and 10-year follow-up periods. The MSI scales Sexual Obsession and...

The predictive accuracy of the newly developed actuarial risk measures Risk Matrix 2000 Sexual/Violence (RMS, RMV) were cross validated and compared with two risk assessment measures (SVR-20 and Static-99) in a sample of sexual (n= 85) and nonsex violent (n= 46) offenders. The sexual offense reconviction rate for the sex offender group was 18% at 1...

The predictive accuracy of the newly developed risk measures Risk Matrix 2000 Sexual/Violence (RMS, RMV) were cross validated and compared with four risk scales (RRASOR, SACJ-Min, SVR-20, and Static-99) in a sample of sexual (n = 85), violent (n = 46), and general (n = 22) offenders. The sexual offense reconviction rate for the sex offender group w...

.BrowneK., Hamilton-GiachritsisC., JohnsonR. & OstergrenM. ( 2006) , 332, 485487.

A recent survey has revealed a large number of young children in institutional care across Europe. Young children placed in institutional care without parents may be at risk of harm. This review considers systematically the research evidence on the impact of institutional care on brain growth, attachment, social behavior, and cognitive development....