Edited by DAVID P. FARRINGTON AND ROGER TARLING

FROM THE PREFACE: Prediction has always been an important topic in criminology. • Prediction instruments have been used extensively to aid criminal justice decisionmakers, most notably in selecting prisoners for parole. Current uses of prediction methods include the identification of offenders for a policy of "selective incapacitation" and the identifiction of dangerous offenders. Prediction methods are also used to evaluate different kinds of penal treatments and to assess the likely effects of penal policy changes on the criminal justice system. As a by-product of this substantive research, a good deal of attention has been paid to the statistical and methodological issues involved in constructing sound prediction instruments.

Albany. SUNY Press. 1985. 284p.