SAGE Journal Articles

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Journal Article 1: Schlager, M. (2009). The organizational politics of implementing risk assessment instruments in community corrections. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 25, 412–423. 

Abstract: Much talk has surrounded the use of risk assessment in community corrections. Community corrections agencies continue to struggle with what risk instrument to adopt and how to implement it in a comprehensive way. One of the most important factors that impedes the successful implementation of risk assessment instruments is organizational politics. This essay evaluates some of the organizational politics that inhibit the successful implementation of risk assessment instruments and highlights several factors that can mitigate this effect.

Journal Article 2: Kelly, C. E., & Welsh, W. N. (2008). The predictive validity of the Level of service inventory-revised for drug-involved offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 819–831.

Abstract: The Level of Service Inventory—Revised (LSI-R) has been validated for a variety of criminal justice populations, although one large segment for which the instrument has not been validated is drug-involved offenders. With the increasing implementation of the LSI-R across correctional jurisdictions in the United States and internationally, and with a significant number of offenders having substance abuse histories, validation of the instrument for this population is overdue. Using bivariate correlations and logistic regression analyses, the LSI-R total score was found to be a stable, significant predictor of reincarceration for a sample of 276 drug-involved offenders. This finding held up in multivariate analyses even when controlling for a variety of other factors including age, criminal history, time-at-risk in the community following release from prison, and treatment-related variables.