CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR Lowenkamp et al. / ROLE OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE RISK/NEED ASSESSMENT, OFFENDER CLASSIFICATION, AND THE ROLE OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE

Over the last several decades, the use of risk/need assessments has had a great impact on correc-tional classification and treatment decisions. One instrument that is now being used by many correctional agencies in the United States is the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R). Criticisms of the LSI-R include failure to consider physical and sexual abuse as risk factors and failure to modify the instrument for the assessment of female offenders. Using a sample of 442 offenders (317 male and 125 female), this research investigates (a) the validity of the LSI-R for both females and males and (b) the relationship between childhood abuse, the LSI-R, and recidi-vism rates. Analyses indicated that the LSI-R is a valid (predictive) instrument for this sample of female offenders and that a history of prior abuse fails to add to the prediction of reincarceration, once risk is controlled for using the LSI-R. Implications for further research are discussed. Growing populations of offenders in the community have moti-vated correctional administrators and practitioners to allocate resources more effectively. Thus, correctional agencies in addition to their individual members have been consistently required to do more work with fewer resources. The implementation of modern dynamic risk/needs assessment instruments represents one way in which cor-rectional agencies have responded to the apparent need for innovation