Female offenders: Assessment of risk in forensic settings

Assessment of risk within forensic settings is central to ascertaining suitability for treatment, progress following treatment, and informing decision making regarding progression through the criminal justice system within these settings. Assessment of risk is also vital to address risk towards the public. This applies equally to male and female populations. Therefore, it is crucial that assessments employed to inform conceptualization of risk reflect risk factors within the given population. Violence risk assessments such as the HCR-20 and VRS-2 are increasingly being employed with female offenders. The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) is not a violence risk assessment per se; however it is increasingly being employed with female offenders to inform assessment of risk. The volume of research exploring the application of violence risk assessments to female offender populations has begun to increase but there are still uncertainties regarding application of these assessments with female offenders. In this review, the impact of gender upon pathways into the criminal justice system is outlined. Differing factors relevant to the assessment of male and female offenders are discussed. Research employing the HCR-20 and PCL-R with female populations is also reviewed, and pertinent issues regarding utilizing these assessments with female populations are discussed. Whether more complex assessments are required to wholly capture women's risk of future violence will also be explored.

Research Highlights
► Female pathways into offending behavior.
► Assessing risk of violence in female offenders.
► Assessing psychopathy in female offenders.