Empathy versus Offending, Aggression and Bullying

This book advances knowledge about the measurement of empathy, using the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), and how empathy is related to offending, aggression, and bullying in community and incarcerated groups. Empathy is widely accepted as one of the most important individual factors that is related to offending, aggression, and bullying, and it is common in many intervention projects to aim to improve empathy in order to reduce offending, aggression, and bullying. The BES was constructed by Jolliffe and Farrington (2006) and has been widely used in a number of countries.This book presents a collection of papers exploring the application of BES in 10 different countries (England, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Australia, Canada, and the USA). Each chapter reviews the use of the BES in that particular jurisdiction, its psychometric properties, and its importance in relation to offending, aggression, and bullying. The research includes samples from primary schools, secondary schools, and the community, as well as those who are justice-involved and on probation, in prisons and secure psychiatric hospitals. In bringing together this broad range of contributions, the book concludes with wider implications for intervention, policy, and practice. This book will be valuable for students, academics, and practitioners who are interested in developing their understanding of the complex link between empathy and a range of antisocial behaviours.