Women’s Risk and Needs Assessment (WRNA) in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The focus of practitioners and academics alike has been shifting toward gender-responsive treatment of justice-involved women. One instrument that accounts for the realities of justice-involved women is the Women’s Needs and Risks Assessment (WRNA). In order to inquire about its validity outside the United States, this tool was piloted in the Czech Republic in 2016 with 148 women prisoners. The study examined whether the WRNA is a valid tool for use in the Czech Republic, and how well it predicts the disciplinary infractions of incarcerated women with different cultural backgrounds. Results demonstrated a generalizability of women’s criminogenic needs beyond the United States—several of the gender-neutral (e.g., antisocial friends) and gender-responsive factors (e.g., prior victimization/trauma) that are predictive of American women prisoners’ institutional infractions are also predictive of Czech women prisoners’ infractions. To reduce women’s incarceration rates and to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of crime, we must address women’s criminogenic needs, going beyond traditional male-based risk assessment.

Keywords:

• justice-involved women
• risk assessment
• misconduct
• gender-responsivity

Notes

Notes

Notes

1 For more detailed information on the WRNA, please visit www.unlv.edu/ccjp/assessments/wrna.

2 A gambling addiction scale based off the Problem Gambling Severity Index (Turner, Preston, McAvoy, & Gillam, 2013) was added to the WRNA after Czech prison staff indicated this was a serious behavioral problem in the women’s prison.

3 The cutoff points will have to be recalibrated for the Czech women.

1 Women’s Risk and Needs Assessment je oficiální název nástroje, může být ale volně přeložen jako: Nástroj k posouzení rizik a potřeb žen.

2 Pro detailní informace o WRNA navštivte www.unlv.edu/ccjp/assessments/wrna.

3 Měřítko závisloti na gamblingu založené na the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI; Turner, Preston, McAvoy, a Gillam, 2013) bylo přidáno do WRNA poté, co čeští zaměstnanci věznice upozornili na to, že jde v ženské věznici o vážný behaviorální problém.