NCJ Number
205950
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2004 Pages: 306-323
Date Published
June 2004
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study administered the Level of Service Inventory Revised (LSI-R), a dynamic risk/need assessment instrument, to a sample of 129 Canadian federally incarcerated offenders who were serving a mean sentence length of 5 years, so as to obtain information on the predictive validity of the instrument for longer term inmates.
Abstract
There are a variety of risk-assessment instruments that integrate to some degree the major personal, environmental, and circumstantial factors most relevant to criminal conduct. The LSI-R is one of the most well-known and researched of these tools. It is an actuarial risk/need instrument used to classify offenders according to their risk for criminal behavior and need for treatment. The LSI-R contains 54 items that denote specific risk variables rationally grouped into 10 subcomponents that represent various risk/need areas. Of the items, 67 percent are dynamic, i.e., they are based on current functioning and subject to change, and 33 percent are static, i.e., based on historical behavior and not subject to change. The LSI-R has been effectively used as a classification/management tool for an array of offender groups. Although considerable research has shown that the LSI-R is valid and reliable, there is a lack of information on the predictive validity of the instrument among longer term incarcerated offenders. The 129 male inmates tested in the current study ranged in age between 19 and 60 years. The first phase of this study explored the psychometric properties of the instrument, and the second phase examined its predictive validity. On the whole, the study added to the literature on the LSI-R and supported the generalizability of the instrument to longer term incarcerated offenders. The results also demonstrate the predictive validity of the LSI-R. The instrument correlated significantly with several relevant outcome criteria during the 15-month follow-up period, notably rearrest, violent rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration, and supervision violations. Recidivists had higher mean LSI-R scores than nonrecidivists on the criminal history, education/employment, financial, family/marital, leisure/recreation, emotional/personal, and attitude/orientation subcomponents. Suggestions are offered for future research and development. 4 tables and 36 references