ABSTRACT
Few have examined the moral and political aspects of categories of risk, or the differential impact of actuarial risk claims on different populations. This analysis is intended to complement the growing body of literature analysing the implementation of actuarial or risk-based assessments of behaviours and situations in a variety of contexts. It examines wider claims of risk theorists in light of recent developments in Canadian women's imprisonment. Based on an analysis of a proposed model of risk assessment for Canadian women prisoners, I argue: that in practical instances of governing the concept of 'risk' is ambiguous, fractured and flexible; that actuarial techniques of assessing women prisoners' risks tend to redefine needs as risk factors; and that subjective disciplinary techniques of governing co-exist and interrelate with actuarial techniques of risk management.
