Abstract
Assessing an offender's risk level is important given the impact of criminal behavior on victims, the consequences for the offender, and for society more generally. A wide range of assessment tools have been developed to assess risk in offenders. However, the validity of such tools for female offenders has been questioned. We present a systematic literature review of studies examining the accuracy with which risk assessment tools can predict violence and recidivism in female offenders. Five databases were searched, reference lists of relevant publications were hand searched, and an online search engine was used to identify studies. Fifteen studies were subject to review which evaluated nine risk assessment instruments (COMPAS, CAT-SR, HCR-20, LSI, PLC-R, OGRS, RISc, RM2000V, VRAG). The quality of these studies was systematically examined using a detailed quality assessment. The review findings indicate that the most effective tool for assessing both violence and recidivism in women was the LSI. There was variability in the quality scores obtained, with studies limited by measurement issues and standards of reporting results. Future research should aim to improve the quality of studies in this area, assess predictive accuracy across subtypes of female offenders, and compare correctional and psychiatric samples independently.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 25-38 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Aggression and Violent Behavior |
| Volume | 21 |
| Early online date | 14 Jan 2015 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2015 |
Access to Document
- Geraghty_Woodhams_Predictive_validity_risk_assessment_tools_Aggression_Violent_Behaviour_2015
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Aggression and Violent Behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Aggression and Violent Behavior, Vol 21, March-April 2015, DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2015.01.002. Eligibility for repository checked March 2015