For psychologists and psychiatrists working with offenders, this book examines the problems of criminal behavior as linked with mental disorder, including psychopathy, mental illness and mental handicap. Clinical assessment and clinical intervention for these three main groups will be explored, looking at details of practice, the programs themselves and their success rates. The volume further deals with conceptual issues and legal classification.

Examining the clinical approaches used by practitioners working with young offenders, this study focuses on the different types of interventions that have been used both in institutions and in the community. These include behavioural interventions, cognitive-behavioural interventions, parent training and family therapy. The book examines work with specific groups of offenders - adolescent sex offenders, fire-setters, and alcohol- and drug-related crime - and ends with a review of prevention programmes that have become popular in this field.