The Suitability of Personality Questionnaires to Measure Within-Treatment Change in Offenders

In recent years, interest has increasingly turned to an examination of the mechanisms of change that occur in offender treatment and whether a link can be made between these changes and subsequent rates of recidivism. In Germany, within-treatment change of criminogenic risk factors is regularly measured through the use of common personality questionnaires. The current study explores the suitability of such personality questionnaires in a sample of offenders treated in a German socio-therapeutic facility. Comparing pre-treatment and post-treatment scores, offenders reported significant improvements concerning their mental state and numerous criminogenic factors. These improvements, however, could not be linked to subsequent recidivism. The study concludes that common personality questionnaires are not suitable for assessing change in offender treatment. They are easily distortable, not adapted to specific treatment targets, and lack responsiveness to short and medium term changes. In light of their need in both research and practice, the development of reliable and valid measures to assess treatment targets and within-treatment change remains an important task.