NCJ Number
174804
Date Published
1996
Length
73 pages
Annotation
The Custody Rating Scale introduced by the Correctional Service of Canada in 1988 was analyzed in terms of its reliability, validity, and practical utility, based on a national sample of 6,745 active offender files from 1995.
Abstract
The scale established objective, standardized criteria for the initial classification of Federal offenders. Results indicated that the scale continues to perform well as assessed by a variety of traditional psychometric and operational criteria. The introduction of the automated version ensures that the scale is applied to all offenders at admission and greatly reduces omissions, computational errors, and irregularities in the application of the security classification protocols. The Custody Rating Scale-penitentiary placement decision concordance rate reached 74 percent, a gain of 11 percent over previous reviews. Further analysis revealed some regional differences, possibly due to differences in population profiles, documentation availability, accommodation pressures, penitentiary and classification practices, regional perspectives, or some combination of these factors. Several actions are recommended to ensure the uniform application of the scale and to make explicit the factors involved in overriding scale results. Tables, appended scale instructions and tables, and 33 references