NCJ Number
133917
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 406-418
Date Published
1991
Length
13 pages
Annotation
A sample of 516 convicted criminal offenders housed in a maximum security Federal prison was used to develop and provide preliminary validation of a measure of lifestyle criminality. There were two, 25-member validation groups: one hypothesized to be at high risk for lifestyle criminality (maximum security penitentiary inmates) and one hypothesized to be at low risk for lifestyle criminality (minimum security penitentiary inmates).
Abstract
The Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form (LCSF) is divided into four primary sections including irresponsibility, self-indulgence, interpersonal intrusiveness, and social rule breaking; the data are scored on the basis of information obtained from presentence investigation reports. As predicted, the maximum security inmates scored significantly higher than minimum security inmates on individual items, section scores, and the total LCSF score. These results indicate a potential for enhancing the ability to manage various criminal populations and to group offenders in a theoretically meaningful way. Future studies will examine the utility of the instrument in making clinical and management decisions about criminal offenders. 3 tables and 16 references