MCAA On Demand Training
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Training Description
This presentation will cover the theoretical underpinnings of the development of the Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA), the stages of item development, instrument scoring, interpretation of scales, and applications. Theory suggests that associations and attitudes with will influence our behavior. The theory supporting both of these positions will be reviewed. These frameworks provide the overall basis for the development of the MCAA. Thus, there are two parts to the MCAA. Part A is a quantified self-report measure of criminal associates, and Part B is a four-scale measure of antisocial attitudes.
Next, the research supporting the relationship between attitudes and criminal justice outcomes is reviewed. The rationale for the scale content and the format of the scales are covered. In Part A, respondents are asked to recall the four adults in the community with whom they spend the most free time. Respondents are specifically directed not to report the names of the people to whom they are referring. Part B of the MCAA consists of four scales that were selected for development because of their practical and theoretical relevance to criminal behavior: Violence, Entitlement, Antisocial Intent, and Associates. The published research on the MCAA has been multi-country and multi-sample, ranging from students to sport event participants to those involved in the criminal justice system. How the MCAA can be interpreted and integrated into other risk assessments will covered.
Trainer Biography
Daryl G. Kroner, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Southern Illinois University (SIU). He has more than 20 years of experience in the field as a correctional psychologist. During this time, he worked at maximum, medium, and minimum facilities delivering intervention services to incarcerated men. Dr. Kroner has consulted on prison management and release issues, including with the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the UK’s National Offender Management System. Dr. Kroner is the past-chair of Criminal Justice Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association and past-chair of the Corrections Committee for the American Psychology and Law Society. He is also a fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. In collaboration with Dr. Jeremy Mills, he has developed several instruments, including the Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA), Depression, Hopelessness and Suicide Scale (DHS), Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI), Transition Inventory (TI), and the Measures of Criminal and Antisocial Desistance (MCAD). In 2008, Dr. Kroner joined the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at SlU. Current research interests include risk assessment, measurement of intervention outcomes, interventions among offenders with mentally illness, and criminal desistance.
Learning Objectives
This training is designed to help you:
- Describe the general relationship between attitudes and behavior and the specific relationship between antisocial attitudes and criminal behavior
- Describe the general relationship between associates and behavior and the specific relationship between antisocial associates and criminal behavior
- Explain the theoretical underpinnings of the MCAA and how the scale was developed
- Compute the MCAA Part A and Part B scales
- Apply the MCAA scale scores to various offender populations. This will include specific cases with common and unique MCAA profiles
