Development and Field Test of a Gender-Informed Security Reclassification Scale for Female Offenders

Abstract

Two samples of Canadian federal female offender case files are used to develop and test a gender-informed security reclassification scale. Study 1 uses 285 consecutive offender security level (OSL) reviews for federally sentenced women to empirically construct the Security Reclassification Scale for Women (SRSW). Study 2 uses all federal female OSL reviews that occurred between July 2000 and June 2003 ( n = 580) to test the validity and reliability of the SRSW. Results suggest that the SRSW is a reliable and valid tool for the security classification of federally sentenced women in Canada. Relative to the current classification method, the SRSW places fewer cases at maximum security and more cases at minimum security. Within a fixed 3-month follow-up, the SRSW is significantly more predictive of minor institutional misconduct than the structured clinical method currently in use. Results are discussed in terms of both theoretical and operational implications.