Assessmnet Flashcards
Why do we conduct risk assessments? What are the ethical concerns about risk What are the ethical concerns about risk assessing offenders?assessing offenders? How do we conduct risk assessments?How do we conduct risk assessments? How successful are risk assessments?
Assessment (Brown et al, 2015)
Why the person committed the offence
The nature, level and management of risk the offender presents with
The treatment needs of the person
The persons treatability and treatment readiness
Risk Assessment
Systematic collection of information to determine the degree to which harm (self and others) is likely, at some future point (Douglas & Skeem, 2005).
Risk Vs Dangerousness
Risk
The statistical likelihood of an event occurring
- Which offenders are most likely to reoffend
Risk is dynamic: Assessment is more accurate in short term.
Dangerousness
The seriousness of the consequences of the event occurring.
Which offenders are most dangerous
Which conditions make an offender more dangerous
Ethical Issues
Professional ethics: protect the general public: prison or institutional
Forensic psychologists should always be professionally qualified; always collect data to extend the knowledge in the field.
Forensic Psychologists must be aware of:
Reliability and validity of chosen tools
Base rate and it effects
Own biases (feminist psychology)
Deception/manipulation by an offender
Psychological assessments should:
Involve multiple repeated methods
Use evidence to make decisions
Avoid confirmation bias
Include costs and benefits
Be monitored for accuracy
Defendable
How do we assess? Key principles
Specify the risks
Specify the possible outcomes
Assess the likelihood of these outcomes
Assess the severity of these outcomes
Process
1: Theoretical basis
Preliminary hypothesis
2: Data gathering
Date analysis
3: Formulation
Reformulation
Formulation Definition:
A conceptual model representing an offenders various difficulties, the hypothesized underlying mechanisms and their interrelationships.
Formulation also aims to suggest what individual and systemic factors continue to maintain a person’s difficulties/offending behaviour.
Areas to Assess: Risks (Historical factors)
Family background and family functioning
Offending history
Education and employment
Psychosexual background
Relationship (romantic and peers)
Developmental history
Areas to Assess: Risks Dispositional factors
Personality
Attitudes to offending
Attachment style
Areas to Assess: Risks
Clinical Variables
Mental health & substance misuse history
Medication and attitude towards taking medication
Areas to Assess: Risks
Personality disorders
Psychopathy
Current offence analysis
Areas to Assess: Risks Protective Factors
Personal Resources
Family Supports
Social Supports
Calming: Influences/Negotiation
Evidence of Progress
Clinical Risk Assessment (1st Generation)
Derives from the tradition of one to one casework in medical, social and probation contexts and refers to the practitioners use of experience, interviewing skills, observation and professional judgement to arrive at an assessment (Robinson, 2003)
Clinical Assessment (1st Generation) Adv & Dis
Advantages:
Assessor can explain many different aspects of the client’s situation
Can reflect unique circumstances and case specific influences
Disadvantages:
Subject to personal bias
Over emphasise information
Limited human information processing
Actuarial Risk Assessment (2nd Generation)
Derived from methods used in the insurance industry and is based upon statistical calculations of probability.
Four predictors (Gretenkord 2000) Personality disorder Violent pre-offence Physical aggression while in prison at least twice Age at time of discharge
Actuarial Risk Assessment (2nd Generation) Adv & Dis
Advantages:
Reliance on clearly articulated risk factors
Offers high levels of predictive validity or accuracy.
Disadvantages
Consists of static predictors
Based on and designed for use with groups or populations of offenders
Not good for rare events
Different measures do not correlate with each other.
Structured Clinical Risk Assessment (3rd Generation)
These assessments are based on items which have been shown to be predictive of reconviction, but reliant on the practitioners ability to elict the relevant information through interviewing the offender, and where appropriate consultation with other persons and/or sources
Structured Clinical Risk Assessment (3rd Generation)
Adv & Dis
Advantages:
Recognises that risk assessment is dynamic and continuous process
Sensitive to change as a result of treatment and management
Disadvantages:
Completion fatigue among users may compromise the quality of assessments
Some have expressed the concern about the potential de-skilling and or de-professionalism as a result of the increasing standardisation of assessment practice.
Dynamic, Clinical, Actuarial Treatment (4th generation)
•Combining assessment with readiness to engage in treatment. Allows for calculation pre and post treatment.
•Results of treatment inform level of post treatment risk•
Incorporates the Stages of Change Model (Prochaska, DiClemente & Norcross, 1992)
•Assessing risk:•Evaluating outcomes as probabilities, based on samples, and on clinical experience
Specialist Assessment Techniques
Polygraph
- US
Penile Plethysmograph Phallometry (Gannon et al, 2008)
