The Role of Offender Risk Assessment: A Policy Maker Guide

Abstract

On individual differences in person perception: Raters' personality traits relate to their psychopathy checklist-revised scoring tendencies.

Evidence-Based Professional Development Considerations Along the School-to-Prison Pipeline

“…Typical assessment methods include informal staff judgments, consensus based, clinical judgment, and actuarial (Latessa & Lovins, 2010). The two former assessments do not reliably collect data.…”

California’s Public Safety Realignment

“…Swiftness and certainty of punishment are prioritized over severity, which typically results in several days in jail for each violation of probation. Risk assessment helps identify those most at risk for reoffending, improves the placement of offenders into appropriate programs and services, improves the utilization of resources, and enhances public safety (Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2006;Latessa, 2004;Latessa & Lovins, 2010). Because of the incredible success of HOPE in Hawaii-a 92% reduction in missed probation appointments and a 96% decline in positive drug tests after 3 and a half years-the Washington State Department of Corrections fully implemented this high-intensity supervision model in 2012.…”

The Empirical Basis for the RNR Model with an Updated RNR Conceptual Framework

“…For example, in the Wisconsin Risk and Needs Instrument and the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (among others), the substance abuse questions generally ask whether the individual has ever had a problem with substance abuse (generally with three response categories: no, some, severe). In the new Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS), Latessa and Lovins ( 2010 ) measure drug use with items that refl ect lifetime use, longest period of abstinence, and employment-related problems stemming from drug use. There is a weak correlation between the substance use subscale of the ORAS and rearrest ( r = 0.14) (Latessa & Lovins, 2010 ).…”

“…In the new Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS), Latessa and Lovins ( 2010 ) measure drug use with items that refl ect lifetime use, longest period of abstinence, and employment-related problems stemming from drug use. There is a weak correlation between the substance use subscale of the ORAS and rearrest ( r = 0.14) (Latessa & Lovins, 2010 ). While offender risk assessment instruments generally include items related to substance use needs, they typically do not provide enough information to adequately facilitate treatment matching strategies.…”

“…There are versions of the ORAS for pretrial, prison, and reentry that have slightly fewer domains; seeLatessa and Lovins ( 2010 ).4 The Empirical Basis for the RNR Model with an Updated RNR Conceptual Framework…”