Level of risk is proving to be an important characteristic in effectively serving offender populations. A major limitation to the use of risk assessments is agency resources. There are several screening instruments available that could significantly decrease the amount of resources that are needed to assess for risk. This article assesses the effectiveness of the Level of Service Inventory: Screening Version on 483 probationers in a western state resulting in a 2% false-positive rate. Policy implications are explored and suggestions for future research offered.
As Ohio began to address the gaps in delivering effective juvenile justice programming in the state, it recognized that a statewide risk assessment system was needed. The Department of Youth Services (DYS) explored its options and determined that the best course of action was to develop a risk assessment prospectively to address the needs of youth across multiple stages of the juvenile justice system. DYS partnered with the University of Cincinnati Center for Criminal Justice Research (CCJR) to develop the Ohio Youth Assessment System (OYAS). The OYAS contains five tools: a diversion tool, a detention tool, a disposition tool, a residential tool, and a reentry tool. Each tool is used at the appropriate stage to assess the criminogenic needs of the youth at that stage and to help guide decisions for appropriate interventions. Results from receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis ranged from area under the curve (AUC) values of .611 on the diversion tool to .721 on the reentry tool, suggesting that the tools did reasonably well in placing a youth into appropriate risk categories compared to randomly selected cases. This article reviews the steps taken to develop, implement, and adopt a statewide risk assessment with fidelity.
The risk principle states that higher risk offenders should receive more intensive services, whereas lower risk offenders should receive less intensive services. However, the criminal justice system routinely ignores the risk principle for sex offenders and treats them all the same with little regard for level of risk. This article explores the effects of different levels of treatment intensity on 238 sexual offenders who are on parole. The findings suggest that the risk principle does, in fact, apply to sexual offenders.
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