NCJ Number
183229
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 27 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2000 Pages: 356-374
Date Published
June 2000
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article evaluates the reliability, construct and concurrent validities of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ).
Abstract
The SAQ is a self-report questionnaire designed to predict violent and nonviolent offender recidivism. The 67-item, six-subscale tool measures quantitative criminogenic risk-need areas. The SAQ was administered to 303 federally sentenced Canadian male offenders. The total scale test-retest reliability coefficient was .95 and ranged from .69 to .93 for the subscales. Coefficient alphas ranged from .42 to .87. All the subscales but one had a one-factor solution. The SAQ subscales correlated with other instruments assessing similar constructs and with other measures of recidivism. Offenders with high SAQ totals and subscale scores committed significantly more offenses than did those with low SAQ scores. Similarly, offenders with a history of violence had higher SAQ total scores than the offenders with no history of violence. These preliminary results support further study of the SAQ as an instrument for predicting violent and nonviolent recidivism. Tables, references