In the book Handbook on Risk and Need Assessment: Theory and Practice, Drs. James Hess and Susan Turner’s chapter compares the predictive power of two instruments and three methods to test improvements in predictions for Felony and Violent Felony recidivism for a release cohort of nearly 100,000 California offenders.  They also hypothecized on some common limitations (with the domains captured) in the accuracy of the current recidivism risk assessments.

More information on the book can be found here: Handbook on Risk and Need Assessment – Theory and Practice

In the book Envisioning Criminology, Edited by Michael D. Maltz and Stephen K. Rice, Dr. Susan Turner’s chapter describes the inside story of her work in developing and testing a risk assessment instrument in California corrections.

If one glanced at the working paper on the Center for Evidence-Based Corrections website entitled “Development of the California Static Risk Assessment, CSRA,” the most likely reaction a reader might have is a yawn.  He or she might think the project was pretty dry and uneventful.  Not so.  What began as a fast turnaround project, done in collaboration with our client, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, morphed into a saga that would try the patience of any researcher.

More information about the book is at: Envisioning Criminology

Development of the California Static Risk Assessment (CSRA): Recidivism Risk Prediction in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Susan Turner, Ph.D., James Hess, Ph.D., Charlotte Bradstreet, Steven Chapman, Ph.D., and Amy Murphy, M.P.P.
Working Paper, September 2013