The results demonstrate that the SRSW continues to be a consistent, reliable, and valid scale for use in substantiating security reclassification decisions with Canadian federally sentenced women; security classification recommendations equaled or outperformed correctional case worker recommendations on all indices of validity. Offender classification is a process used to identify the degree of risk posed by individual offenders, both within a correctional institution and on release to the community by informing management of the assessed risk. These finding have important consequences, given that over classification can result in offenders being detained in overly secure environments and/or denied discretionary release. The SRSW is an objective, gender-informed classification instrument developed between 1998 and 2000 for federally sentenced women. Field tested from 2000 to 2003, the SRSW was implemented nationally in September 2005. Using actuarial methods, the instrument provides a recommended security classification for women, which when coupled with the caseworker’s clinical appraisal of the offender’s risk, secures a reclassification decision. The SRSW focuses predominantly on dynamic factors to assess escape risk, risk to the public if an escape were to occur, institutional adjustment and behavior, and changes in the offender’s behavior since the preceding review. The study was limited: the interviewer reliability associated with the two SRSW items that are scored by case-workers was not examined; only institutional behavior was considered in examining predictive validity; other indicators, such as escape incidents and discretionary release decisions also warrant study; and the individual items of the scale should continue to be revalidated periodically to ensure that it remains relevant to the changing Federal offender population. The sample included 448 consecutive security reviews of 298 adult women offenders in Canadian Federal facilities between 2005 and February 2007. Notes, references