Introduction: A lack of empathy has been associated with violent offending and substance use
disorders. Empathy is a multidimensional construct that encompasses cognitive and affective
empathy components. The study aimed to determine whether the multidimensional components of
empathy differ between violent and nonviolent individuals. Next, we explored whether the different
types of empathy recover as cessation from substances increases. Methods: One hundred and forty-five participants (males = 35.2%, females = 64.1% and, non-binary = .7%) completed the study. All
participants had a history of substance use disorders. Forty-four had a history of violent offending,
and 101 had no history of violent offending. Participants completed the self-report Questionnaire of
Cognitive and Affective Empathy online. A between-subjects design was applied to the data.
Results: A One-Way ANOVA found a significant increase in cognitive empathy in the nonviolent
group; however, the effect size was small. A hierarchical linear regression found that age and
cessation from substances negatively contributed to the prediction of affective empathy, which is
opposite to what we hypothesised. Conclusion: Our study contributes to a gap in the literature when
measuring cognitive and affective empathy as cessation from substances increases. However, future
researchers could explore whether the multidimensional aspects of empathy improve as cessation
from substances increase in violent offenders.

Keywords: Cognitive Empathy, Affective Empathy, Substance Use Disorders, Violent
Offenders, QCAE