Abstract

Previous evidence has shown that homelessness and offending are inextricably linked. A homelessness questionnaire and social problem solving inventory was provided to a volunteer sample of serving prisoners. Results showed that prison participants who were homeless had lower social problem solving ability than those who were not homeless. Psychological attributes were differentially associated with offence type and those convicted of acquisitive offences or arson were more likely to be homeless than other offence types Further more prisoner perceptions showed that offending behaviour tended to be prior to homelessness, rather than vice versa.