The relationship between intellectual ability and the treatment needs of offenders in a therapeutic community prison

This study explores the relationship between intellectual ability (IA) and the treatment needs of male offenders in a therapeutic community prison. A sample of 1627 offenders with varying levels of IA as measured using the Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM; Raven, 1958) were compared on psychometric measures assessing offence-related treatment needs. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that offenders with a lower level of IA had significantly higher scores on particular scales of the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ; Caine, Foulds, & Hope, 1967), the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS; Walters, 1995) and the Blame Attribution Inventory (BAI; Gudjonsson, 1984), and a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) found that these differences persisted even after controlling for social desirability. Findings suggest that offenders with a lower level of IA may require adapted treatment interventions that target differences in treatment need.