This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1541204009334083v1 7/4/313    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Emeka, T. Q. Articles by Sorensen, J. R. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Female Juvenile Risk

Is There a Need for Gendered Assessment Instruments?

University of Houston-Downtown, TX

Jon R. Sorensen

Prairie View A&M University, TX

There are few risk assessment instruments that address the unique risk factors for female juvenile offenders. Typically, female risk factors are embedded within male risk factors. Thus, the true differences between male and female juveniles may not be explored. In this study, a generic risk assessment instrument was constructed from a pooled sample and used to identify the level of risk posed by females in comparison with males. Though the constructed instrument worked quite efficiently for males, the instrument provided only a marginal improvement over chance prediction of recidivism for youthful female probationers. Lower rates of predictive validity among the female subpopulation supports call for the development of gendered risk assessment instruments.

Key Words: delinquency • female offending • gender • juvenile recidivism • risk assessment

This version was published on October 1, 2009

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Vol. 7, No. 4, 313-330 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1541204009334083


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?