NCJ Number
208770
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2001 Pages: 168-177
Date Published
February 2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
In order to determine the reliability of self-reporting in predicting nonviolent and violent criminal recidivism, this Canadian study compared the predictive accuracy of a self-report instrument (Self-Appraisal Questionnaire) with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, General Statistical Information on Recidivism, and the Violent Risk Appraisal Guide.
Abstract
The Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) is a self-report instrument that assesses content areas found to be predictive of recidivism. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) measures the construct of psychopathy and has been shown to predict both nonviolent and violent recidivism. The General Statistical Information on Recidivism (GSIR) is composed of 15 actuarial items, with a lower score indicating a greater likelihood of recidivism. The Violent Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) is a 12-item instrument designed to predict violent recidivism. These instruments were tested with 78 incarcerated male offenders from 5 institutions. Nonviolent and violent recidivism data were obtained from the Canadian Police Information Center, a national criminal database. Both correlations and Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis were used to compare the prediction instruments with the two outcome measures (nonviolent and violent recidivism). The SAQ proved to be statistically equivalent to the other instruments in predicting nonviolent and violent recidivism. Thus, the results suggest that a self-report instrument can predict recidivism. 2 tables, 2 figures, and 40 references