ERIC Number: EJ798109
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0011-1287
EISSN: N/A
Statistical Risk Assessment: Old Problems and New Applications
Gottfredson, Stephen D.; Moriarty, Laura J.
Crime & Delinquency, v52 n1 p178-200 2006
Statistically based risk assessment devices are widely used in criminal justice settings. Their promise remains largely unfulfilled, however, because assumptions and premises requisite to their development and application are routinely ignored and/or violated. This article provides a brief review of the most salient of these assumptions and premises, addressing the base rate and selection ratios, methods of combining predictor variables and the nature of criterion variables chosen, cross-validation, replicability, and generalizability. The article also discusses decision makers' choices to add or delete items from the instruments and suggests recommendations for policy makers to consider when adopting risk assessments. Suggestions for improved practice, practical and methodological, are made. (Contains 6 notes.)
Descriptors: Risk, Justice, Criminals, Crime, Evaluation Methods, Research Methodology, Test Construction, Classification, Prediction, Predictor Variables, Sampling, Test Validity, Test Reliability, Ethics, Delinquency, Juvenile Justice, Recidivism, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A