Chapter 4 - Correctional Services Flashcards
why asses risk
identify those likely to commit crimes
determine the aspects of a sentence
create a treatment plan based on the person’s needs
see if risk is lessened
see if someone is ready to be released
keeping someone for public safety
recidivism
comming a new criminal offense following previous detection or release
types of recidivism
violent, non-violent, sexual, and general
violent recidivism
any conviction for a person involved offence (including sexual offences) with the potential for physical or psychological harm
nonviolent recidivism
technical breeches – violating conditions of parole, theft, break and enter
sexual recidivism
committing new sex offences – contact or no contact
general recidivism
any kind of new crime
how is recidivism measured
criminal reports
risk assesment is used for
recidivism prevention - * Purpose of risk assessment is to prevent new crimes from occurring
* Risk assessment to inform risk management
- Recidivism isn’t a foregone conclusion
steps in risk assesment
- use of multiple information sources
- asses multiple domains of functioning
- use of multiple assesment methods
- evaluate the credibility of information sources
- assess static and dynamic risk factors
- assesment of strengths and protective factors
static risk variables
variable that tend not to change and are frequently historical in nature
- age, employment, prior offenses
protective factors
Variables that are linked to positive, healthy, and noncriminal outcomes (e.g., getting a job, desisting from crime, maintaining a residence, having positive friends).
- Positive coping, empathy, etc.
dynamic variables
variables that have the potential to change from treatment, experience, or other change agents
what is used to asses protective factors
17-item protective factors tool developed in The Netherlands
Structured Professional Judgment tool (SPJ)
Rate the items (0, 1, 2) but don’t sum them to generate numeric scores; look at item configuration to generate protection level of low, medium, or high
- People might sum these items for research purposes
challenges in risk assesment
low base rate
low base rate
Rare events are hard to predict
Some forms of recidivism are quite rare (e.g., sexual murder) while others are more frequent (e.g., property crime)
- Base rate of homicide for risk assessment in correctional services is very low
- Since homicide is so rare – you would asses their risk for general recidivism
false positive
prediction of crime but didn’t happen
true positive
prediction of crime and did happen
true negative
no prediction but crime did happen
false negative
no prediction and crime did not happen
point biserial correlation
linear correlaion (-1-1)
standarfdized mean difference
recidivist vs non recidivist (+/- 2.0)
area under the curve
predicitive accuracy
four generations of recidividm risk assesment
unstructured clinical assesment, static variable measures, dynamic + static variable measure, LSI-R risk category