Female Offenders and Risk Assessment: Hidden in Plain Sight

Female Offenders and Risk Assessment: Hidden in Plain Sight
Janet T. Davidson
December 2009

ISBN-13:  978-1-59332-377-6 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / xii, 200 pages

Price   $62.00

Description

Davidson draws on both quantitative and qualitative analyses to demonstrate that there are significant contextual differences between the onset and continuation of female and male offending. In turn, this challenges the underlying assumptions of risk and need assessments for female offenders. While her research supports the predictive validity of a commonly used risk/need instrument (the LSI-R), the results of in-depth interviews with male and female offenders challenge the content validity of this instrument. Although this instrument appears to gender-neutral, the veil of objectivity masks the role, especially, of victimization in the lives of female offenders and the manner in which this affects their risks and needs.

About the Author

Janet T. Davidson is an Assistant Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Chaminade University of Honolulu. Her research interests include female offenders and crime, predictors of recidivism for community correctional populations, risk and need assessment instruments, and gender-responsive programs. Davidson received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Hawai`i. She is active in local research in the area of gender and crime and community corrections.