Title: The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment: Putting Gender at the Forefront of Actuarial Risk Assessment - Penal Reform International
Headings: The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment: Putting Gender at the Forefront of Actuarial Risk Assessment
The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment: Putting Gender at the Forefront of Actuarial Risk Assessment
Women have distinct pathways to offending to men, often marked by violence, abuse, trauma, mental illness and unhealthy relationships – all factors which translate into needs and risk factors for reoffending. However, traditional risk and need assessments are designed with male offenders in mind. This blog post by criminologists, Breanna Boppre and Emily Salisbury of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, summarises the gender-specific risk assessment that was designed specifically for women in the U.S. to bring gender to the foreground of offender rehabilitation.
The development of the WRNA: Starting from ‘women up’
More information
PRI’s work on gender-sensitive risk and needs asssessments
Footnotes

Content: Starting from ‘women up’
Gender-responsive risk assessment continues to incorporate underlying principles of traditional (gender-neutral) actuarial assessments including the three main principles from the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model developed by Canadian criminologists. [ 1]
In addition to such principles, gender-responsive assessment draws on significant research on the distinct biological, social, and psychological attributes of women. The WRNA takes account of the ‘gendered pathways’ of women into crime which are distinct from their male counterparts. In particular, women offenders have life histories of physical and sexual abuse, trauma, mental illness (e.g., depression, anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), self-medication through substance abuse, unhealthy relationships, parental stress, and low levels of self-esteem and self-confidence (i.e., self-efficacy). The WRNA was also developed with regard to the call for strategies that consider women’s treatment needs through holistic and trauma-informed approaches and techniques. [ 2]
Thus, the WRNA more effectively assesses criminogenic needs and strengths that are more applicable to women offenders than traditional risk assessments are able to do. The gender-responsive factors assessed include relationship support and conflict, parental involvement and stress, self-efficacy, prior physical and sexual trauma, housing safety, mental health (including depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychosis), and anger/hostility. In addition to these gender-responsive factors, the WRNA also measures gender-neutral factors that research has shown are still predictive of women’s recidivism. These consist of past and current substance abuse, criminal history, employment and financial stability, educational strengths and needs, and antisocial attitudes. In sum, the argument for the implementation of gender-responsive strategies emerged from the recognition of differences in male and female criminal behavior.