%0 Journal Article %A Shoba Sreenivasan %A Linda E. Weinberger %A Allen Frances %A Sarah Cusworth-Walker %T Alice In Actuarial-Land: Through the Looking Glass of Changing Static-99 Norms %D 2010 %J Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online %P 400-406 %V 38 %N 3 %X The Static-99, an actuarial rating method, is employed to conduct sexual violence risk assessment in legal contexts. The proponents of the Static-99 dismiss clinical judgment as not empirical. Two elements must be present to apply an actuarial risk model to a specific individual: sample representativeness and uniform measurement of outcome. This review demonstrates that both of these elements are lacking in the normative studies of the Static-99 and its revised version, the Static-99R. Studies conducted since the publication of the Static-99 have not replicated the original norms. Sexual recidivism rates for the same Static-99 score vary widely, from low to high, depending on the sample used. A hypothetical case example is presented to illustrate how the solitary application of the Static-99 or Static-99R recidivism rates to the exclusion of salient clinical factors for identifying sexual dangerousness can have serious consequences for public safety. %U https://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/38/3/400.full.pdf