Citation

Cooke DJ. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 1996; 1(1): 65-82.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.2044-8333.1996.tb00307.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Prison Behaviour Rating Scales were developed to measure three forms of disturbed behaviour, namely, anti-authority, anxious-depressed and dull-confused. Prison officers rated 220 adult male prisoners on these dimensions and offences against prison discipline in the subsequent six months were recorded. The anti-authority scale showed utility as a predictor of those who offended and those who did not offend. The combination of the anti-authority and dull-confused scales improved prediction. The relative value of a range of predictive statistics is discussed, it is concluded that the misuse of the variance explained statistic can lead to undue pessimism regarding the utility of psychometric instruments.

Language: en