2010/02/08 by Patricia Van Voorhis, Emily M. Wright, Emily J. Salisbury +1 · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Child Abuse and Trauma #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
paper · doi:10.1177/0093854809357442
openalex publication_date 2010/02/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/30
A growing body of scholarship faults existing risk/needs assessment models for neglecting the risk factors most relevant to women offenders. In response, a series of gender-responsive assessment models were tested for their contributions to widely used gender-neutral risk needs assessments. In six of eight samples studied, subsets of the gender-responsive scales achieved statistically significant contributions to gender-neutral models. Promising results were found for the following: (a) parental stress, family support, self-efficacy, educational assets, housing safety, anger/hostility, and current mental health factors in probation samples; (b) child abuse, anger/hostility, relationship dysfunction, family support, and current mental health factors among prisoners; and (c) adult victimization, anger/hostility, educational assets, and family support among released inmates. The predictive validity of gender-neutral assessments was strong in seven of eight samples studied. However, findings for both gender-neutral and gender-responsive domains suggested different treatment priorities for women from those currently put forward in correctional theory and policy.