Level of Service Inventory-Revised Profiles of Violent and Nonviolent Prisoners

Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) assessments were conducted on 251 male prisoners beginning prison sentences in six English prisons. The prisoners who were classified as violent, on the basis of either current or previous convictions, scored significantly higher than the nonviolent prisoners on the four LSI-R subscales of Criminal History, Companions, Education and Employment, and Alcohol and Drugs. In addition, those prisoners with a record of violent offenses gave higher total LSI-R scores, indicating an overall higher risk of recidivism. Multivariate analysis using the LSI-R subscales to classify the higher risk violent prisoners and minimum-risk nonviolent prisoners basically confirmed the findings of the univariate analysis. The implications of the findings for informing practice with violent offenders are discussed in terms of screening for intensity of service delivery and identification of targets for change. It is suggested that screening for drug and alcohol problems should be a prerequisite to working with violent offenders.