Risk assessment tool floundering? Let's ask the client to self-predict.

Self-prediction by criminal justice involved clients has not been typically implemented in risk assessment procedures, yet clients have unique self-knowledge that may add to the assessment of risk. The Transition Inventory is an eight scale self-prediction measure that addresses areas that are a precursor to antisocial and criminal activity (e.g.

The predictive validity of the Two-Tiered Violence Risk Estimates Scale (TTV) in a long-term follow-up of violent offenders.

Over the past few decades many structured risk appraisal measures have been created to respond to this need. The Two-Tiered Violence Risk Estimates Scale (TTV) is a measure designed to integrate both an actuarial estimate of violence risk with critical risk management indicators. The current study examined interrater reliability and the predictive validity of the TTV in a sample of violent offenders (n = 120) over an average follow-up period of 17.

Two-Tiered Violence Risk Estimates: a validation study of an integrated-actuarial risk assessment instrument.

This study is an initial validation study of the Two-Tiered Violence Risk Estimates instrument (TTV), a violence risk appraisal instrument designed to support an integrated-actuarial approach to violence risk assessment. The TTV was scored retrospectively from file information on a sample of violent offenders. Construct validity was examined by comparing the TTV with instruments that have shown utility to predict violence that were prospectively scored: The Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20 (HCR-20) and Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form (LCSF).

Intimate partner violence intervention for high-risk offenders.

This study is an evaluation of pre-postprogram change associated with the High Intensity Family Violence Prevention Program (HIFVPP) for incarcerated male offenders who are perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The sample consists of 159 male offenders who participated in the HIFVPP while incarcerated. Participants were assessed pre-, mid-, and postprogram using an assessment battery consisting of self-report questionnaires and facilitator-rated evaluation scales.

Treating offenders with mental illness: a research synthesis.

The purpose of this research synthesis was to examine treatment effects across studies of the service providers to offenders with mental illness. Meta-analytic techniques were applied to 26 empirical studies obtained from a review of 12,154 research documents. Outcomes of interest in this review included measures of both psychiatric and criminal functioning.

An evaluation of intimate partner violence intervention with incarcerated offenders.

The following study is an evaluation of the Moderate Intensity Family Violence Prevention Program (MIFVPP). The sample consisted of 298 male federal offenders who participated in the MIFVPP while incarcerated or on release within the community. Participants were assessed pre-, mid-, and postprogram using an assessment battery consisting of self-report questionnaires and facilitator-rated evaluation scales.

The effect of discordance among violence and general recidivism risk estimates on predictive accuracy.

Introduction: Previous research has shown that the prediction of short-term inpatient violence is negatively affected when clinicians' inter-rater agreement is low and when confidence in the estimate of risk is low. This study examined the effect of discordance between risk assessment instruments used to predict long-term general and violence risk in offenders.

Methods: The Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R), Level of Service Inventory - Revised (LSI-R), Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), and the General Statistical Information on Recidivism (GSIR) were the four risk-prediction instruments used to predict post-release general and violent recidivism within a sample of 209 offenders.

Impression management and self-report among violent offenders.

Offenders are assumed by many to employ socially desirable responding (SDR) response styles when completing self-report measures. Contrary to expectations, prior research has shown that accounting for SDR in self-report measures of antisocial constructs does not improve the relationship with outcome. Despite this, many self-report measures reliably predict future criminal outcome criteria.

A coffee can, factor analysis, and prediction of antisocial behavior: the structure of criminal risk.

The predictive accuracy of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, Level of Service Inventory-Revised, Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, and the General Statistical Information on Recidivism were compared to four instruments randomly generated from the total pool of original items. None of the four original instruments better predicted post-release failure than the four randomly generated instruments. These results suggest two conclusions: (a) the instruments are only measuring criminal risk, and (b) no single instrument has captured sufficient risk assessment theory to result in better prediction than randomly derived instruments measuring criminal risk.

Advances in the assessment and prediction of interpersonal violence.

This article underscores the weakness of clinical judgment as a mechanism for prediction with examples from other areas in the psychological literature. Clinical judgment has as its Achilles'heel the reliance on a person to incorporate multiple pieces of information while overcoming human judgment errors--a feat insurmountable thus far. The actuarial approach to risk assessment has overcome many of the weaknesses of clinical judgment and has been shown to be a much superior method.

The antisocial attitudes and associates of sex offenders.

Introduction: Meta-analyses have demonstrated that attitudes and associates (peer group behaviour) are among the best predictors of antisocial behaviour in offender populations. Research on sex offender attitudes has typically focused on sex-related content and not antisocial attitudes in general. This study investigates the antisocial attitudes of sex offenders by comparing them with non-sex offenders on responses to the Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA).

The generalized instructional set of the Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI): socially desirable responding and faking.

Accurate assessment of criminal attributions can assist in explaining crime and identifying offender treatment targets. The current study examines the relationship between a new method of assessing the cognition of criminal attributes, the Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI) and a measure of socially desirable responding. 300 participants including incarcerated offenders, released offenders, sex offenders, and university students participated in the current study.

Predictive validity despite social desirability: evidence for the robustness of self-report among offenders.

Introduction: Many professionals believe that self-report questionnaires used to predict recidivism have a low validity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the assumption that the validity of self-report is vulnerable to self-presentation biases in offender samples.

Method: The participants consisted of 124 male offenders who volunteered to complete the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ).

Predicting violent behavior through a static-stable variable lens.

This study examines the differential relationship of criminogenic domains to violent and nonviolent recidivism in a sample of predominantly violent offenders. In addition, the criminogenic domains are examined through a static-stable variable dichotomy. The results support previously published retrospective studies that found different domains associated with violent and nonviolent offending.

Antisocial constructs in predicting institutional violence among violent offenders and child molesters.

This study investigated the ability of self-reported antisocial constructs to predict serious institutional infractions among a correctional sample of child molesters (n = 69) and violent offenders (n = 138). Each group had significant predictors, but the predictors differed between the two groups. Interpersonal problems accounted for significant incremental variance after age in the relationship with institutional violence for child molesters.

Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA): development, factor structure, reliability, and validity.

Recent meta-analysis has demonstrated that attitudes and associates are among the best predictors of antisocial behavior. Despite this finding, there are few psychometrically developed and validated measures of criminal and antisocial attitudes and associates. This study reviews the theoretical and empirical development of the Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA), which is composed of two parts.