Ten Things Risk/Needs Assessment Is Not 1

Instruments such as the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (Andrews et al., 2004), Ohio Risk Assessment System (Latessa et al., 2011), Post-Conviction Risk Assessment (Lowenkamp et al., 2013), and many others are designed to identify justice-involved clients (JICs)3 who are most likely to reoffend and the influences that contribute to that risk. By knowing who and what to focus on, probation officers (POs) can achieve the best possible results with their caseloads by working to alter JICs' criminal trajectories and ultimately improving community safety. Because the benefits to JICs and the public are so clear, the value of good risk/needs assessment seems self-evident. In this paper, we first note five misconceptions that we have often observed among officers conducting assessments and offer suggestions for making the assessment process one that yields valid information relevant for supervision and case management. [...]valid assessment requires corroborating information from sources such as official records, as well as interviews with collateral contacts such as a JIC's intimate partner, family members, teachers, work supervisors, treatment providers, and so forth.