Does One Size Fit All?: A Meta-Analysis Examining the Predictive Ability of the Level of Service Inventory (LSI) With Aboriginal Offenders

The application of common risk assessment measures, such as the Level of Service Inventories (LSI), to Aboriginal offenders has been a criticized practice. The belief that Aboriginal offenders have distinct needs has informed the argument that existing risk-need assessments cannot adequately capture their risk. To explore this, the present meta-analysis reviewed 16 samples to test the extent to which LSI scores predict recidivism for Aboriginal compared with non-Aboriginal offenders. In addition, one large sample was used to examine the similarities in recidivism rates per LSI score for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders. Results indicated that the LSI predicts recidivism for Aboriginal offenders; however, for five of eight subscales, it predicts with less accuracy compared with non-Aboriginal offenders. In addition, the LSI underclassifies low-scoring Aboriginal offenders, but accurately estimates recidivism rates for higher scoring offenders. Implications for research into culturally-specific risk ...