NCJ Number
227203
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 36 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 425-442
Date Published
May 2009
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study compared the utility of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) in predicting recidivism of both females and males who had been convicted of serious violent offenses.
Abstract
The finding that the utility of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) generalizes to serious female offenders did not mean that the LSI-R, as applied in this study, was the best tool for women. The tool may not capture all the dynamic risk factors that may be uniquely predictive of recidivism for women. However, the overall evaluation of the LSI-R indicates that it was useful for predicting general recidivism with women and includes dynamic scales that uniquely relate to recidivism. Given the steady increase of women in the criminal justice system, correctional systems and parole boards are in need of effective risk assessment and risk management techniques for women. Assessment instruments informed by principles of dynamic risks or criminogenic need have the potential to provide specific guidance for risk reduction. This study went beyond an examination of the LSI-R's predictive utility for women's general recidivism to address the more crucial issue of whether gender moderates the measure's predictive utility and whether the LSI-R works less well for women than for men and do so with a relatively rarely studied sample of offenders who have been convicted of serious violent offenses. The study also explored whether the LSI-R scales that maximally predict men's and women's recidivism differed. Tables, figure, and references