Book Review: Female Offenders and Risk Assessment: Hidden in Plain Sight

• Author: Christina Policastro
• Published date: 01 September 2011
• Date: 01 September 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016811399720
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

common assessments of psychological injury and child custody arrangement); and (c) researchers’

overemphasis on certain types of questions to the exclusions of others, a point that is well summarized

in the concluding chapter.

In grappling with ‘‘what we know, what we do not know, and what we might want to know’’

(Chap. 17, p. 404), Psychological Science in the Courtroom reminds us that it has become crucial

to address how ‘‘consensus’’ in any arena of psychological science should be determined. Critics

challenge whether there really is consensus about consensus in psychological science. Competing

experts, of course, can characterize an entire literature differently to suit the party that retains their

services, but more publicly reproducible methods support a reading of research consensus than sup-

port a particular, for-hire clinical judgment. Fortunately, psychological science can deploy different

approaches to establish consensus: Surveys of experts, meta-analyses, narrative literature reviews,

adversarial collaborations, amicus briefs, and professional society consensus, or ‘‘white paper’’

reports. In addition, it is also important to recognize that while psychological and other scientists

value an evidence-based approach to establishing what we know and what we do not know, the

admission of scientific evidence is by no means the only basis on which court cases are decided.

Custom and tradition and, above all else, the law often carry the day.

In sum, Psychological Science in the Courtroom is a balanced, well-constructed volume that

can serve as both a cautionary note and a guide for psychological practitioners and researchers of

different professional stripes who are interested in where, as a field, we are, where we need to go, and

some of the major obstacles we face in getting there.

Reference

Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 113 S. Ct. 2786 (1993).

J. T. Davidson

Female Offenders and Risk Assessment: Hidden in Plain Sight El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2009. xi,

200 pp. $62.00. ISBN: 978-1-59332-377-6

Reviewed by: Christina Policastro, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811399720

In Female Offenders and Risk Assessment: Hidden in Plain Sight, Janet Davidson highlights the

overriding propensity of the criminal justice system, specifically community corrections, to neglect

gender differences in offending. After providing a focused literature review that suggests that female

offenders are substantively different from male offenders, Davidson utilizes the pathways perspec-

tive to explain gender differences in offending. The author then turns her attention to the develop-

ment of instruments that are intended to predict and manage risks for recidivism among offenders.

The increased use of actuarial risk-assessment tools in correctional settings and the fact that these

instruments are primarily based upon theories developed to explain male criminality led Davidson

to question whether or not these instruments were appropriate for female offenders. The author’s

central objective is to establish if the instrument commonly utilized for offender risk assessment,

the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R), exhibits both predictive and content validity for

female offenders.

The book is divided into six chapters with clearly delineated headings and subheadings through-

out to alert readers what will be discussed in each section of the chapter. Additionally, the format of

the book allows for the reader to easily reference prior portions of the text. The first chapter of the

368 Criminal Justice Review 36(3)