The Validity of the Level of Service Inventory–Revised at the Intersection of Race and Gender

Abstract

Although the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) has been validated across genders and races, few studies have investigated the validity of the instrument for different combinations of races and genders. Using data from a sample of offenders in New Jersey ( N = 9,454), we measure the LSI-R’s validity in predicting recidivism within 1 year of prison release. Our findings indicate that the LSI-R is a valid predictor of recidivism across different race and gender combinations; however, the instrument performs poorly at distinguishing recidivists from non-recidivists and exhibits the lowest discriminant capacity for Black males. Policy implications are discussed.