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How important is a risk assessment in the criminal justice system
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Risk Assessment Risk assessments are important for the police, courts, corrections, and the public when determining if an offender is a high or low risk. In the correctional aspect of the justice system, risk assessments are extremely important. This is because they aid in understanding which correctional institution being either minimum, medium, or maximum security. Risk assessments also help to understand the recidivism rates, if they are going to commit new offences, and lastly, if anything can help reduce the likelihood for the offenders. There are many risk assessments correctional staff use. When evaluating an offender, a qualified worker will combine their own discretion, as well as, research and data to back up their choices. …show more content…
Starting at a young age with trespassing and becoming more severe as he continues to get older. With the severity increasing, it can demonstrate that he will continue to commit crimes with the aid of his friend Jessica. When looking at his friends, the only friend he has had consistent in his life is Jessica. This is dangerous, as it mentions in his case study that he will do anything to hold onto that relationship or bond. His low intelligence, communication barriers, and lack of interpersonal skills can make him easily susceptible to committing deviant acts with …show more content…
It takes into consideration past, current, and future behaviours and actions in order to predict the level of recidivism. When examining the reliability and validity of the HCR-20, “the interrater reliability was consistently excellent for the presence of risk factors and for summary risk ratings” (Douglas & Belfrage, 2014). This means a lot of individuals measured this risk assessment and formulated a consensus their ratings. Moreover, this aids in proving the reliability and validity for the HCR-20. A criticism to this assessment however, is when structured professional judgement is integrated. It is suggesting even though an individual may have a high score, individuals cannot simply rely on adding the scores together (Serin, R., et al, 2011). Because Alex scores high on the 20 items within the HCR-20, he would receive high scores for historical, clinical, risk management; therefore, this risk assessment can be
These women have been increasingly going to jail for longer periods of time for minor crimes, the most frequent crimes that are being convicted are mostly related to drug and alcohol related crimes as well as theft (Mental Health Coordinating Council, 2010). A survey conducted in New South Wales of female inmates had concluded that; 80% are current smokers, 78% have used an illicit drug(s), 67% were unemployed in the six months prior to incarceration, and 66% of these women had also been in a violent/abusive relationship (Mental Health Coordinating Council, 2010). It has been argued that the risk factors for offenders are derived from that of genetic theories of crime and that they are an adequate guide for correctional supervision and treatment-planning decisions for females, however others argue that this approach is highly flawed and does not take into account gender differences (Rettinger & Andrews 2010). This is an issue in the CJS and its importance cannot be undervalued, the assessment for the risk and need has implications for the assignment of female offenders to a correction option that is the least restrictive, the assignment to an appropriate intervention dosage, appropriate targeting of criminogenic needs, and an understanding of female offending (Rettinger & Andrews 2010). Due to the increasingly large number
Van der Knaap, L., Alberda, D., Oosterveld, P., & Born, M. (2012). The predictive validity of criminogenic needs for male and female offenders: Comparing the relative impact of needs in predicting recidivism.Law and Human Behavior, 36(5), 413-422. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5dc33823-1541-4e10-9ac6-36b6fbb83bbf@sessionmgr4003&vid=3&hid=4203
This essay begins with the introduction of the Risk-Needs-Responsivitiy Model which was developed to assess offending and offer effective rehabilitation and treatment (Andrews & Bonta, 2007). The R-N-R model “remains the only empirically validated guide for criminal justice interventions that aim to help offenders” (Polashek, 2012, p.1) consisting of three principles which are associated with reductions in recidivism of up to 35% (Andrew & Bonta, 2010); risk, need and responsivity. Firstly, the risk principle predicts the offenders risk level of reoffending based on static and dynamic factors, and then matched to the degree of intervention needed. Secondly, the R-N-R targets individual’s criminogenic needs, in relation to dynamic factors. Lastly, the responsivity principle responds to specific responsivity e.g. individual needs and general responsivity; rehabilitation provided on evidence-based programming (Vitopoulous et al, 2012).
Policing and criminal justice practices can have an affect on people’s health care through many forms. There are a couple of models that Herbert Parker introduces that can have a future impact on criminals health whether they are guilty or innocent as well as outside individuals in the community. Mandatory minimum sentencing, specifically with drugs, can affect those who are involved. The police officers can have their own downside to working in the field relating to their health.
Comparing The Sniper and Ambush There are many similarities and differences between the two short stories The Sniper and Ambush. Both short stories have very interesting settings that take place in different places. Ambush and The Sniper also have very similar characters but with very different outlooks and feelings. The two short stories have very intriguing but very similar themes. The settings in the short stories The Sniper and Ambush are very different but have a few similarities.
Tsai, J., Rosenchedk, R. A., Kasprow, W. J., & McGuire, J. F. (2013). Risk of incarceration and
Description of offender’s psychological history and functioning at the time of the offence is based on statistical approach which involves the analysis of behavioural and other relevant information found at the scene of crime in order to infer ...
... offenders who were “worse off.” As a result, local criminal justice officials are encouraged to evaluate their current correctional situation in terms of organizational impetus (are key stakeholders behind the initiative?), political culture (will new programs be supported?), and prospective clientele (what type of offenders are being targeted?) to identify the most appropriate program or approach. A common approach being employed by law enforcement agencies around the country to address these questions and identify problems is the utilization of the SARA model. SARA involves:
Mulder, E., Brand, E., Bullens, R., & Van Marle, H. (2010). A classification of risk factors in serious juvenile offenders and the relation between patterns of risk factors and recidivism. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 20(1), 23-38. doi:10.1002/cbm.754
The writer further contends Young’s noting the mathematical models was intentional, and designed to effectively illustrate his point of their ineffectiveness because they are difficult to absorb. Despite such difficulty, the writer contends Young did immediately create some useful insights. Foremost was the ideal of what Young metaphorically termed, the “datasauer also known as Empiricus Abstractus” (Young, 2011). What the writer noted was Young’s critique of modern criminology’s ineffective and improper overuse of empiricism to predict criminal behavior is a flawed concept due to variation fluctuations and data manipulation. The writer noted that Young (2011) used as evidence to demonstrate deficiencies the very thing he argues against in noting the level of explanatory power in multivariate models over-estimates prediction levels (p.
...azerolle &ump; Piquero, 1998; Piquero &ump; Sealock, 2000) as well as non-offending populations, including youths (Agnew and White, 1992; Aseltine et al., 2000; Brezina, 1996; Paternoster and Mazerolle, 1994), college students and adults (Mazerolle and Piquero, 1998; Broidy, 2001). The theory has also been examined across gender (Ganem, 2010; Broidy and Agnew, 1997; Eitle, 2002; Hoffman and Su, 1997; Mazerolle, 1998; Hay, 2003; Piquero and Sealock, 2004) and race (Jang and Johnson, 2003), and for property crimes, and other deviant behaviors.
The data gathered in the Teplin, Abram & McClelland (1994) research was conducted in the Cook county jail in Chicago during a six year period, using interview techniques during the intake process of 728 inmates. They then tracked the participants over the six years by monitoring their rap sheets. What sets this research apart from the others is that they utilized the population of a jail versus a prison. Typically, once in prison, the time spent there is long whereas in jail, the incarceration time is usually much shorter as the inmates are in jail for lesser crimes or are awaiting trial. In any case, there is a larger turnaround and more opportunity to obtain diverse long term data.
The goal of the study was to determine how identifying psychopaths could show a difference in recidivism between offenders who were and who were not psychopaths (Porter, Birt, & Boer, 2001, p.647,649). It was found that psychopath commit crimes from their early teens to late 40s and committed a higher number of violent and nonviolent crimes. This showcases how the factor of age in recidivism varies between those who do and do not have psychopathic tendencies. It was found that recidivism was more likely to remain constant over this period of time for psychopaths while those who scored lower on the test were more likely to have a different pattern of recidivism, if
All over America, crime is on the rise. Every day, every minute, and even every second someone will commit a crime. Now, I invite you to consider that a crime is taking place as you read this paper. "The fraction of the population in the State and Federal prison has increased in every single year for the last 34 years and the rate for imprisonment today is now five times higher than in 1972"(Russell, 2009). Considering that rate along crime is a serious act. These crimes range from robbery, rape, kidnapping, identity theft, abuse, trafficking, assault, and murder. Crime is a major social problem in the United States. While the correctional system was designed to protect society from offenders it also serves two specific functions. First it can serve as a tool for punishing the offender. This involves making the offender pay for his/her crime while serving time in a correctional facility. On the other hand it can serve as a place to rehabilitate the offender as preparation to be successful as they renter society. The U.S correctional system is a quite controversial subject that leads to questions such as how does our correctional system punish offenders? How does our correctional system rehabilitate offenders? Which method is more effective in reducing crime punishment or rehabilitation? Our correctional system has several ways to punish and rehabilitate offenders.
I now know that criminology prefer to highlight the correlations between crimes’ social climates and criminals’ psychological states of mind. While some argues that criminal behavior is a result of individuals’ association with criminal peers, other claims that crime is a reflection of an individual’s genetic disadvantages. I have come to learn that there are no universally agreed formulas on decoding crimes and criminal behaviors. What we have, however, is a manual full of academic opinions and subjective views that have emerged alongside of the development of criminology. At the same time, the volume of conflicting perspectives that I have stumble upon in studying criminology reminded me again that the success of our current assessment models has yet to be determined. Thus, the study of criminology is an appropriate practice that will further prepare me to conduct meaningful research on legal studies and to provide accurate and in-depth findings in the near