Criminology Therapy and Comparative International Journal of Offender

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology http://ijo.sagepub.com/

Equifinality, Multifinality, and Immorality in a Life of Crime Matt DeLisi Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol 2014 58: 263 DOI: 10.1177/0306624X13512787 The online version of this article can be found at: http://ijo.sagepub.com/content/58/3/263

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IJO58310.1177/0306624X13512787International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyDeLisi

Editorial

Equifinality, Multifinality, and Immorality in a Life of Crime

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 2014, Vol. 58(3) 263–264 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0306624X13512787 ijo.sagepub.com

Although more commonly used in the developmental psychopathology literature (see Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1996), equifinality and multifinality are also important concepts for criminology and criminal justice. Equifinality captures the notion that various background risk factors can eventuate in the same outcome, such as arrest, conviction, or criminal career. An assortment of initial conditions, processes, and constructs produce the same general end result. Multifinality is a concept that shows how a specific condition, process, construct, or risk factor can have multiple manifestations later in life. Often, a negative construct causes harm in multiple contexts and in multiple ways. This is self-evident in the study of antisocial behavior because criminal behavior is often comorbid with other negative and maladaptive behaviors. The articles in this issue of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology are an eclectic mix of exciting studies that illustrate the concepts of equifinality and multifinality as they relate to the development of various antisocial conditions and aspects of a criminal career. Utilizing data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care, May and Beaver examined the associations between neuropsychological functioning and psychopathic personality traits across four phases of development. They found significant effects whereby children with greater impairments in neuropsychological functioning were more psychopathic in adolescence. Moreover, neuropsychological deficits were also predictive of extreme scores (set at the 95th percentile) in psychopathic personality traits. The neurocognitive problems thus not only cause problems in terms of school functioning but also influence affective, interpersonal, and behavioral displays. Based on data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, Piquero, Theobald, and Farrington investigated the interplay between offending, violence, and the more specific intimate partner violence. They found dramatic differences in use of violence by offender type. By age 50, for example, just 3.4% of nonoffenders were violent. Among high-rate chronic offenders, the prevalence of violence was 87.5%. Intimate partner violence also figures prominently in two other studies in this issue. Relying on data from the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies, Minieri and her colleagues reveal that incarcerated women frequently have domestic histories characterized by violent victimization, low relationship power, and Corresponding Author: Matt DeLisi, Criminal Justice Studies, Center for the Study of Violence, Iowa State University, 203A East Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1070, USA. Email: [email protected]


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comorbid mental health problems. These criminogenic conditions often drive substance use, related criminal offending, and recurrent criminal justice system involvement. Based on data on homicide-suicides in Ghana, Adinkrah shows how domestic turmoil, and attempts by women to escape it, can lead to lethal violence. True to the concepts of equifinality and multifinality—a tangle of risk factors contributes to a range of problems and maladaptive outcomes, and a life of crime is a destination of many paths. Often lost in the criminological study of risk factors and the myriad ways, these risk factors work to produce offending careers is an unvarnished look at the negativity and immorality of a life of crime (for important exceptions, see Welsh & Farrington, 2012, 2013). For instance, Graffam, Shinkfield, and Lavelle showed significant program effects in their evaluation of an Australian employment assistance program for prisoners and community corrections clients. Those who participated in the program had much lower recidivism than those who did not. Those who did not participate in programs simply continued to commit crime. Education, work, and treatment programs are generally effective, but there are limited resources in correctional systems. Unfortunately, many times offenders do not want to participate in programs that would potentially help them or cooperate with sentences that would facilitate their reentry. Drawing on interview data with male parole-eligible inmates, Best, Wodahl, and Holmes identified many reasons why prisoners forego the opportunity for parole. Sadly, central among the reasons is that many offenders not only do not mind being in confinement, they prefer confinement to free society because of the responsibilities of the latter. To them, the “no work, no rent, no worries” existence in prison is superior to freedom, and superior to the chance at being a functioning member of society. In sum, the current issue of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology uses many constructs, including deficits in neurocognitive/ executive functioning, psychopathic personality features, violence and victimization, family dysfunction and abuse, anxiety, depression, substance use, abuse, and dependence, murder, suicide, prison life, and many others. None of these are good. All of these are bad. Yet, these are the constructs that comprise a life of crime. Matt DeLisi, PhD Iowa State University, Ames, USA References Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597-600. Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (2012). Science, politics, and crime prevention: Toward a new crime policy. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40, 128-133. Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (2013). Preventing crime is hard work: Early intervention, developmental criminology, and the enduring legacy of James Q. Wilson. Journal of Criminal Justice, 41, 448-451.
