Handbook on Risk and Need Assessment

Risk and need assessment has been one of academic criminology's biggest achievements and biggest disappointments. Although assessment tools are ubiquitous across correctional systems, they have fundamentally failed, to date, to alter the culture of correctional practice. In this urgent new volume, the most important and influential assessment researchers take stock of the successes, failures and futures of the practice, exploring both the evolving science of risk prediction and the art of implementation. A most promising start to the new DCS Handbook Series. Shadd Maruna, Professor of Criminology, University of Manchester, UK Accurate assessment of offender risks and needs is the bedrock of efforts to improve public safety. This handbook provides a critical foundation for advancing science and policy by illuminating the tremendous progress in assessment that has occurred. It is a must-read for anyone seeking to create a safer and more just society. Daniel P. Mears, Ph.D., Mark C. Stafford Professor of Criminology, Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice At virtually every stage of the justice system, new methods are being employed that enable decision-makers to use risk to the public as a criterion for justice system control. Yet even as these methods diversify, the empirical foundation for risk assessment remains a work-in-progress. Too little is known about the practical significance of risk as a core justice construct and the corresponding operational significance of risk assessment as a technique. This collection brings together superb studies of risk in the correctional system, both as an idea and as a practice. It is a welcome new contribution to our understanding of the most important development in the current generation of tools for the justice professions: risk assessment. Todd R. Clear, University Professor of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University-Newark The major strength ofthe Handbook on Risk and Needs Assessment is that it provides researchers and practitioners with a comprehensive collection of chapters that helps chart the topic from its history to the implications for practice and policy. It is a must have for anyone working or studying in the field of corrections. Edward Latessa, Professor and Director, University of Cincinnati One of the most intense activities by the many agencies responsible for managing accused or convicted offenders these days is assessment of their needs and of their treatment needs, especially for addiction or mental illness, or their risk in the community, whether that be on pre-trial release rather than bail, sentencing, and parole or probation release or recommitment decisions. This volume has pulled together a rich array of chapters from the wide variety of perspectives involved in assessing risk and needs from both methodological and implementation perspectives. Alfred Blumstein, J. Erik Jonsson University Professor Emeritus, Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University

Auteur

Faye S. Taxman, PhD, is a University Professor in the Criminology, Society, and Law program at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and director of its Center for Advancing Corrections Excellence. A well-regarded scholar and researcher, she is Past Chair of the American Society of Criminology's Division on Corrections & Sentencing.

Résumé

The Handbook on Risk and Need Assessment: Theory and Practice covers risk assessments for individuals being considered for parole or probation. Evidence-based approaches to such decisions help take the emotion and politics out of community corrections. As the United States begins to back away from ineffective, expensive policies of mass incarceration, this handbook will provide the resources needed to help ensure both public safety and the effective rehabilitation of offenders.

The ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Handbook Series will publish volumes on topics ranging from violence risk assessment to specialty courts for drug users, veterans, or the mentally ill. Each thematic volume focuses on a single topical issue that intersects with corrections and sentencing research.

Contenu

1. The Value and Importance of Risk and Need Assessment in Corrections & Sentencing: An Overview of the Handbook Faye S. Taxman, George Mason University
   Amy Dezember, George Mason University History of RNA

2. Risk and Needs Assessment in Probation and Parole: The Persistent Gap Between Promise and Practice
   William D. Burrell

3. The Research Director Perspective on the Design, Implementation, and Impact of Risk Assessment and Offender Classification Systems in USA Prisons: A National Survey
   James Byrne, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
   Amy Dezember, George Mason University

   Methodological Issues in Creating and Validating RNA

4. Static Risk Factors and Criminal Recidivism
   Robert Brame, University of South Carolina

5. Accuracy of Risk Assessment in Corrections Population Management: Where's the Value Added?
   James Hess, University of California, Irvine
   Susan Turner, University of California, Irvine

6. Improving the Performance of Risk Assessments: A Case Study on the Prediction of Sexual Offending among Juvenile Offenders
   KiDeuk Kim, The Urban Institute
   Grant Duwe, Minnesota Department of Corrections

7. Using Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning to Improve the Accuracy and Performance of Juvenile Justice Risk Assessment Instruments: The Florida Case Study
   Ira M. Schwartz, Consultant and Advisor to Algorhythm
   Peter York, Founder and CEO of Algorhythm
   Mark Greenwald, Director of Research, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and Doctoral Student at Florida State University
   Ana Ramos-Hernandez, Data Manager, Algorhythm
   Lisa Feeley, Research Analyst, ICF International

8. An Alternative Scientific Paradigm for Criminological Risk Assessment: Closed or Open Systems, or Both?
   Tim Brennan, Northpointe, Inc. Dynamic Risk Factors and Responsivity Toward Different Populations

9. Risk, Need, and Responsivity in a Criminal Lifestyle
   Glenn D. Walters, Kutztown University

10. Gender-Responsive Risk and Need Assessment: Implications for the Treatment of Justice-Involved Women
    Emily J. Salisbury, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
    Breanna Boppre, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
    Bridget Kelly, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

11. Advancing Sexual Offender Risk Assessment: Standardized Risk Levels Based on Psychologically Meaningful Offender Characteristics
    R. Karl Hanson, Public Safety Canada
    Guy Bourgon, Public Safety Canada

12. Incorporating Procedural Justice and Legitimacy into the RNR Model to Improve Risk-Need Assessment
    Katherine Ginsburg-Kempany, Arizona State University
    Kimberly A. Kaiser, Arizona State University

13. Adoption of Risk Tools to Employment Context
    Garima Siwach, University at Albany (SUNY)
    Shawn D. Bushway, University at Albany (SUNY)

14. Exploring How to Measure Criminogenic Needs: Five Instruments and No Real Answers
    Brittney Via, George Mason University
    Amy Dezember, George Mason University
    Faye Taxman, George Mason University
    RNA Implementation and Practice

15. Customizing Criminal Justice Assessments
    Zachary Hamilton, Washington State University
    Elizabeth Thompson Tollefsbol, Washington State University
    Michael Campagna, Washington State University
    Jacqueline van Wormer, Washington State University

16. Risk/Need Assessment Tools and the Criminal Justice Bureaucrat: Reconceptualizing the Frontline Practitioner
    Joel Miller, Rutgers University
    Sarah Trocchio, Rutgers University

17. Risky Needs: Risk Entangled Needs in Probation Supervision
    *Danielle S. Rudes, George Mason University
    Jill Viglione, University of Texas, San Antonio
    Kimberly S. M…