An investigation of reliability and validity of the LS/CMI with French offenders

Abstract

IntroductionThe Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) is one of the best-known recidivism risk instruments. In France, this scale is rarely used because no study had yet been carried out to confirm its psychometric properties on samples of French offenders. The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the LS/CMI on samples of violent French prisoners. MethodThe Level of Service/Case Management Inventory, the BARR-2002R, Historical Clinic Risk-Scale 20 and the Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol were administered to 128 violent offenders. Results-DiscussionThe results showed good internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity of the LS/CMI. Assault, robbery and sexual assault were correlated with the LS/CMI. All of these results are discussed and analysed using the international reference literature. ConclusionConfirmation of the psychometric properties of the LS/CMI among French offenders to allow it to be used to assess the risk of recidivism of offenders.