If we take these theories further, we can generate items to include in an offender risk scale. Examples of items may be social class and income. Clinical theories place the causes for criminal conduct within the individual rather than with broad societal factors. People commit crimes because they have emotional, psychological or intellectual problems. From a clinical perspective, we may develop risk instruments that assess anxiety, self-esteem and psychotic symptoms.
Clinical theories focus more on dynamic factors and less on static variables.
A theory-based risk instrument still needs to demonstrate empirical validity. It is insufficient to be satisfied with a tool based on theory and encompassing dynamic risk factors without validating it. Gendreau, Little and Goggin 5 conducted a meta-analytic review of the literature on the prediction of recidivism. They reviewed over 100 studies and evaluated how well the various factors predicted recidivism. The table shows some of their results along with the associated theoretical perspective.