Level of Service Inventory-Revised with English Women Prisoners: A Needs and Reconviction Analysis

• NCJ Number: 219826
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 34 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2007 Pages: 971-984
• Author(s): Emma J. Palmer; Clive R. Hollin
• Date Published: August 2007
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Measurement/Evaluation Device
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R), a quantitative measure of risk of reconviction and need, with a sample of English women offenders.

Abstract

The Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) proved to be straightforward to use in practice and psychometrically sound, and had acceptable levels of internal consistency. The findings paralleled those reported with male offenders in England and Wales. As expected, the LSI-R was strongly associated with previous criminal history as measured by number of previous convictions. In regards to female offenders, female offenders had significantly higher scores than did the male offenders on five of the LSI-R subscales relating to accommodation, companions, family and marital relationships, substance misuse, and emotional and personal problems. It is clear from this study that the LSI-R is highly predictive of reconviction. However, no difference in overall level of risk of reconviction was found between female and male offenders. Reconviction and time to reconviction was predicted by the LSI-R total score. The LSI-R is a quantitative measure of risk of reconviction and need for offender populations based on social learning theory and the empirical evidence on factors that are related to offending. The LSI-R has been used with a variety of offender populations in both custodial and community settings, including both male and female offenders. Based on the existing research on the LSI-R with women offenders, this study had two main goals. First to examine the use of the LSI-R with female offenders in England and Wales with a full analysis of its psychometric properties carried out. The analysis compared LSI-R scores from male and female offenders in England and Wales. Second, to examine the predictive validity of the LSI-R with female offenders a reconviction analysis was performed, including examination of the rate of reconviction and time to reconviction. Tables, figure, references