Abstract
The Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway was jointly commissioned by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and NHS England in 2011. Representing one of the most significant recent developments in mental health and criminal justice, the pathway provides psychologically-informed and relationally-focused treatment for high risk offenders with personality disorder. Acknowledging the gender differences that exist in terms of the psychosocial and criminogenic needs of offenders, the OPD pathway provides female-specific services, delivering “wraparound” support for eligible women throughout their sentences, in custody and in the community. The OPD pathway for women is seeking to make a valuable contribution to managing this population of female offenders who are among the most vulnerable individuals in the criminal justice system, but who pose a high risk to the public. The pathway constitutes an innovative development in terms of delivering improved outcomes for this challenging and complex offender group, but knowledge about its impact will require close on-going evaluation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 257-260 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 5-6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Jan 2020 |
Keywords
- Offender Personality Disorder pathway
- female offenders
- risk and reoffending
- offender management
- psychological treatment
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (author’s accepted manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Wiley at https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.2127. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.