Psychological Formulation

Question 1

Psychological Formulation Steps

3

Answer 1

Step 1 - Understanding the offender.
Early experiences, triggers, core beliefs

Step 2 - Understanding the function of reoffending
What could cause reoffence?, what risk are they of recividism?

Step 3 - Application of treatment
What treatment?

Question 2

Case of Mr.C

Answer 2

28-year-old Maori
20 previous convictions, during Psychological analysis he admitted to a series of rapes that began at age 12
Concluded they arose as a result of family violence and sexual abuse during development

Question 3

Strengths of Psychological Formulation

2

Answer 3

Strength
Involves multi-agencies, many different observations from different people gives more accurate and less subjective opinions

Useful in complex cases - We can trace issues back to their cause, rather than just the resulting behaviour

Weaknesses
Relies heavily on clinical evaluation, which involves recall which could be skewed and inaccurate

Can’t properly measure how well it works, we can only measure reoffending convictions. Subject may re-offend without being convicted

A - Reduce offending using a different method to tackle the source