Women's Risk Factors and Their Contributions to Existing Risk/Needs Assessment: The Current Status of a Gender-Responsive Supplement

• NCJ Number: 229777
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2010 Pages: 261-288
• Author(s): Patricia Van Voorhis; Emily M. Wright; Emily Salisbury; Ashley Bauman
• Date Published: March 2010
• Length: 28 pages
• Contract Number(s): NIC-DOJ 99P03GIL0; NIC-DOJ 03C25CIZ2; NIC-DOJ 04C29GJD4; NIC-DOJ 05C38GJF8; NIC-DOJ 06WOI0GJL0
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Cincinnati; National Institute of Corrections
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Test/Measurement
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the existing risk/needs assessment for women offenders.

Abstract

A growing body of scholarship faults existing risk/needs assessment models for neglecting the risk factors most relevant to women offenders. In response, a series of gender-responsive assessment models were tested for their contributions to widely used gender-neutral risk needs assessments. In six of eight samples studied, subsets of the gender-responsive scales achieved statistically significant contributions to gender-neutral models. Promising results were found for the following: (a) parental stress, family support, self-efficacy, educational assets, housing safety, anger/hostility, and current mental health factors in probation samples; (b) child abuse, anger/hostility, relationship dysfunction, family support, and current mental health factors among prisoners; and (c) adult victimization, anger/hostility, educational assets, and family support among released inmates. The predictive validity of gender-neutral assessments was strong in seven of eight samples studied. However, findings for both gender-neutral and gender-responsive domains suggested different treatment priorities for women from those currently put forward in correctional theory and policy. Tables, notes, and references(Published Abstract)