Risk assessment disparities for females in the criminal justice system

Abstract

Female adult and juvenile offenders are a forgotten group within the Criminal Justice System. This is one of the primary causes in the lack of research of how females may possibly be assisted to reduce recidivism and avoid future incarcerations. Due to the lack of emphasis on assistance for this particular group of offenders, they have become an expanding group within correctional facilities. Many testing methods used in the criminal justice field do not take into account the difference in gender and therefore analysis should be done into how the questions in these tests can be designed to predict recidivism in females offenders as well as they do in male offenders. Realistic options for female offenders will be defined through qualitative analysis in how females can be helped to adapt after being released from incarceration as well as how to avoid becoming another statistic of future offenders in the female generations.