Revision and Revalidation of the Targeted Interventions Gaining Enhanced Reentry (TIGER) Needs Assessment

• In Event: Examining Recidivism and Improving Reentry

Abstract

In partnership with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections (LA DPS&C), the LSU Social Research & Evaluation Center sought to refine and expand the Targeted Interventions Gaining Enhanced Reentry (TIGER) Risk-Needs-Responsivity Assessment. Developed through funding by the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (2014), the TIGER RNR Assessment utilizes two core components to inform offender treatment pathways: 1) a series of gender-responsive, population-specific actuarial risk assessments measuring static risk factors; and 2) a self-reported criminogenic needs assessment measuring dynamic risk factors. In contrast to the actuarial risk assessments, the initial TIGER Needs Assessment was developed through a series of pilot studies using considerably smaller sample sizes and analyses were limited to preliminary assessments of factor structure and internal validity.
The current study aims to address such limitations through a series of replication studies using period-specific populations of individuals under the purview of the LA DPS&C. Factor analytic approaches were applied to assess factor structure, goodness-of-fit, and criterion-related validity. Though the initial TIGER Needs Assessment consisted of sixty-nine items comprising seven factors, preliminary analyses indicated the need for dimensional reduction, resulting in the retention of thirty-five items. Furthermore, subsequent analyses consistently demonstrated close fit for an oblique six-factor solution.

Authors

• Timothy T. Reling, Mississippi State University

• Elizabeth Winchester, Louisiana State University

• Robert Vehock, Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections