Re-conceptualizing Women’s Risk for Recidivism: A Conjunctive Analysis of the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) to Identify Risk Profiles

• In Event: Gender and Correctional Contexts

Abstract

Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations (CACC) is a relatively new data analysis technique, used compare the relative presence or absence of attributes in relation to an expected outcome. Although the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) has been validated for its predictive validity in assessing women’s risk for recidivism using traditional data analyses, no studies to date have looked at risk factors from a contextual perspective. A strength of using conjunctive analysis to examine risk for recidivism among justice-involved women is the ability to identify how certain factors interact to create high-risk or low-risk profiles. The current study uses CACC to examine risk profiles among 404 incarcerated women within 30-days of release from three states, Ohio (N= 172), Missouri (N = 195) and Kentucky (N = 37), who were administered the WRNA pre-release assessment. Six and twelve-month follow-up recidivism data were also collected. First, we assess how the relative odds of recidivism are affected by risk factors using logistic regression. Second, risk factors were analyzed by configurations in relation to recidivism outcomes, creating risk profiles. It is anticipated that certain configurations of criminogenic needs will be related to increased risk of recidivism. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Breanna Boppre, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Emily Salisbury, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Terance Miethe, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Patricia Van Voorhis, University of Cincinnati