Ed Latessa
Professor and Director of the School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati
Key Findings
- The Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) effectively differentiated between two levels of offender risk/need.
- Residential facilitates designed to serve youthful offenders could benefit from the implementation of a valid risk/need classification system.
Description
This study examines the predictive validity of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) within an institutional setting. Classifying offenders in either a high or moderate risk category, the author used the composite score rendered from the YLS/CMI to predict institutional misconduct. The study found that high-risk offenders committed misconduct at substantially higher rates than offenders who were classified as moderate risk as well as the days spent in the institution significantly related to institutional misconduct. The YLS/CMI was found to effectively differentiate between two levels of offender risk/need and was significantly related to outcome using several different statistical techniques.