The Relationship Between Status Variables and Criminal Thinking in an Offender Population Jon T. Mandracchia and Robert D. Morgan Texas Tech University The authors examined the relationship between criminal thinking factors of control, cognitive immaturity, and egocentrism, and offender characteristics (i.e., age, educa- tion, sentence length, time served, reception of mental health services) in 435 adult male offenders. Results of a canonical correlation analysis identified 1 significant and meaningful relationship between a criminal thinking set containing all 3 factors and an offender characteristic set containing all characteristics except for age. Higher levels of criminal thinking on all 3 factors were associated with more education, longer sentence length, more time served, and lack of reception of mental health services. Implications for providing treatment with offenders that targets reducing criminal recidivism and future directions for investigation into the relationship between dynamic recidivism risk factors and offender characteristics are discussed. Keywords: criminal thinking, criminal attitudes, MOTS, RNR, canonical correlation Although state and federal prison facilities in the United States are collectively referred to as the “correctional system,” staggering rates of criminal recidivism undermine the ability of the criminal justice system to demonstrate its abil- ity to be correctional in nature. A dramatic example is evident in a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (2007). The DOJ evaluated rates of recidivism over a 3-year period for 272,111 prisoners in 15 states released into so- ciety in 1994. These data accounted for approx- imately two thirds of all prisoners released from U.S. custody in 1994. Within the 3-year period of the investigation, 67.5% of the prisoners re- ceived a new criminal charge, 46.9% were found guilty of the charge, and 25.4% were reincarcerated for the charge (U.S. DOJ Office of Justice Programs, 2007). In addition, several other released inmates were reincarcerated for technical violations, including violations of pa- role conditions. Overall, slightly over half (i.e., 51.8%) of all released prisoners in this study were reincarcerated within the 3-year pe- riod of the investigation (U.S. DOJ Office of Justice Programs, 2007). The alarmingly high rate of criminal recidi- vism suggests that many of the people pro- cessed through the criminal justice system are repeat offenders. Such involvement with the criminal justice system negatively affects both the offenders and members of their social net- works. At the societal level, however, conse- quences are even more drastic. Local, state, and federal governments spent more than $60 bil- lion on corrections in 2005 (U.S. DOJ Office of Justice Programs, 2007). Programs to prevent criminal behavior prior to first-time offending may reduce rates of incarceration. Given such high rates of reoffending, however, reduction in criminal recidivism is important to alleviate the financial, physical, and emotional damage caused by high rates of criminal behavior in the United States. Effectively reducing offenders’ criminal be- havior, however, has proven an arduous pro- cess. In an early review of empirical studies Jon T. Mandracchia and Robert D. Morgan, Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University. The contents of this article reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The researchers used data from a previous study for analyses in the current study. Refer to Mandracchia et al. (2007) for a more complete description of the participants, data collection procedures, and the development of the MOTS. The research contained in this document was coordinated in part by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (Research Agreement 472- RM05). Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Robert D. Morgan, Department of Psychology, PO Box 42051, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-2051. E-mail: robert.morgan@ttu.edu Psychological Services © 2010 American Psychological Association 2010, Vol. 7, No. 1, 27–33 1541-1559/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0016194 27