03 Jan, 2023

Guest Blog: IPV and the OLR: an exploratory study

We’re pleased to welcome the University of Glasgow’s Dr Rachel McPherson and Mr Richard Kjellgren to the RMA blog this month. Alongside our recently published OLR Research, The Offending Behaviour of Those Subject to the Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR), Rachel and Richard have been conducting their own study looking at individuals subject to the OLR with convictions for intimate partner violence (IPV).

Intimate Partner Violence and the Order for Lifelong Restriction: An Exploratory Study

Dr Rachel McPherson and Mr Richard Kjellgren

Separate to the RMA’s own research on the offending behaviour of those sentenced to the order for lifelong restriction (OLR), we embarked on a smaller pilot study, funded by the University of Glasgow’s ‘Ambitious Research Scheme’. Our pilot study looked more closely at the offending histories of those offenders subject to an OLR who have a conviction for intimate partner violence (IPV). We considered how the offending histories of those offenders convicted of IPV compared with offenders with no convictions of this type; the risk factors associated with IPV offending; factors associated with IPV re-offending; the extent to which previous IPV offending is predictive of IPV index offending; and whether IPV offending is primarily driven by sexual or violent offending patterns.

The methodology employed in the pilot study was slightly different to that employed by the larger RMA study: we conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses in order to examine the relationship between various offences and the relationship between IPV offenders and non-IPV offenders. A series of logistic regression models were fitted, with the following five outcome variables: non-IPV sexual and/or violence with a sexual element; IPV sexual and/or violence with a sexual element; non-IPV violence; IPV violence; any IPV. The models controlled for age and previous offending patterns and allowed us to examine how those variables influenced the various outcomes.

The analysis involved a total of 104 individuals consisting of 35 individuals with a history of IPV offending before the OLR sentence (‘IPV offenders’) and 69 individuals with no history of IPV offending (‘non-IPV offenders’). We found that in terms of offending histories, there are primarily three factors that set IPV offenders subject to an OLR apart from non-IPV offenders subject to the order:

  • IPV offenders are significantly more likely than non-IPV offenders to have an assault conviction
  • IPV offenders are significantly more likely than non-IPV offenders to have a previous breach of conditions and/or orders
      • IPV offenders have, on average, significantly fewer non-IPV sexual and VSE convictions

      IPV offenders who primarily used violence against their partners/ex-partners are more likely to also transcend and reinforce their sexual offending patterns throughout time, both in IPV and non-IPV contexts. Having a previous violent IPV conviction was shown to increase the odds of further IPV convictions of any type, whereas having a sexual non-IPV conviction decreased the odds.

      Overall, IPV offenders subject to an OLR have higher rates of violence in terms of IPV and non-IPV. Interestingly, we found that the probability of having any type of IPV index conviction increases with age for IPV offenders and non-IPV offenders alike.

      The patterns identified seem to suggest that IPV offenders subject to the OLR are primarily driven by violence. We are now looking to supplement our existing data and findings through further qualitative analysis of the risk management plans of those offenders subject to an OLR with a history of IPV offending.

      Dr Rachel McPherson and Mr Richard Kjellgren

      Dr Rachel McPherson is a lecturer in Criminal Law at the University of Glasgow and Mr Richard Kjellgren is a doctoral candidate funded, by the ESRC, studying at the University of Stirling.

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