NCJ Number
201527
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 30 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2003 Pages: 422-440
Date Published
August 2003
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study tested the applicability of the Level of Service Inventory (LSI-R) with prisoners serving sentences in English prisons.
Abstract
The Level of Supervision Inventory (LSI) was originally developed to assess the risk and needs of offender populations. Eventually renamed the Level of Service Inventory, the revised version was modified for use in English prisons. This study sought to, first, amplify the extant LSI-R for use in prisons and, second, to test its applicability with an English offender population. Initial LSI-R scores were collected from 294 male prisoners who were serving sentences at 6 penal institutions in England. Re-test data were collected from 151 of the original 294 participants. In comparison with Canadian prison population data, the LSI-R produced similar results for assessing needs in both populations. Findings suggest that the LSI-R may be reliably used with English prison populations. Furthermore, the calculation of test-retest scores on the dynamic risk items of the LSI-R represents a new use for the LSI-R. The authors speculate that the LSI-R may be used to inform parole decisions because the LSI-R is capable of flagging changes in offender risk level. Another study is underway to test the relationship between LSI-R scores and recidivism. Tables, appendix, references