Both desistance research and strengths-based approaches to offender rehabilitation suggest that attempts to reduce sex offender recidivism should attend to an offender's release environment. Recent research has demonstrated that better quality release planning is associated with reduced recidivism; however, whether release planning contributes…

The present study examines the predictive and incremental validity of Violence Risk Appraisal Guide scores in a sample of 328 male and 145 female jail inmates held on felony charges. Significant gender differences were observed in VRAG item and total score means, as well as in correlations between the VRAG and concurrent measures of aggression.…

The Violence Risk Scale (VRS) uses ratings of static and dynamic risk predictors to assess violence risk, identify targets for treatment, and assess changes in risk following treatment. The VRS was rated pre- and posttreatment on a sample of 150 males, mostly high-risk violent offenders many with psychopathic personality traits. These individuals…

Objective: To determine whether pro-social treatment change in sexual offenders would predict reductions in recidivism beyond static and dynamic risk factors measured at pretreatment and whether different methods for assessing change based on self-reports and structured clinical rating systems would show convergent validity. Method: We compared 3…

This prospective study examined the predictive validity of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) in 99 male adolescents who were assessed in custody and followed up 12 months post release. Outcome data on recidivism were based on official Home Office records. The base…

The purpose of the Youth Level of Service Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) is to assess, classify, and assist agencies with developing treatment and service plans according to the offender's criminogenic risk factors. Given the limited research in the predictive validity for this instrument, the current study attempts to examine this issue on a…

The effectiveness of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) in providing estimates for predicting violent and nonviolent recidivism over a 9-year period is examined. The SAQ is a quantitative risk/need instrument consisting of 72 items that compose eight subscales. There were 657 federally sentenced Canadian male offenders who completed the SAQ…

The authors respond to Miley's critique (TM 503 900) of their article on predicting parolee recidivism (TM 502 998). They are pleased that he discovered some computational errors, that he used their method to analyze other data, and that he developed hypotheses concerning the behavior of the parameters. (Author/GDC)

The split-population exponential design suggested by Maltz and McCleary to predict parolee recidivism (TM 502 998) was applied to discharged psychiatric inpatients. Parameter estimates changed systematically as greater and greater observation time was allowed in the computation, thus limiting extrapolability. (Author/GDC)

A growing research base supports the predictive validity of actuarial methods of risk assessment with sexual offenders. These methods use clearly defined variables with demonstrated empirical association with re-offending. The advantages of actuarial measures for screening large numbers of offenders quickly and economically are further enhanced…