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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:43 am
Time: 2:43 am
Results for offender classification (u.s.); parole casework; p
1 results foundAuthor: Morgan, Robert D. Title: Re-Entry: Dynamic Risk Assessment Summary: Much research has gone into the prediction of criminal and violent behavior. The majority of studies in this area of risk assessment have focused on risk factors that are defined through preincarceration behavior and background. With little exception, these historical risk factors are rated by a professional based upon interview and file review. Considerable time can elapse between initial incarceration and release and therefore the risk factors central to the risk assessment process represent old, albeit important information. The focus on historical variables precludes key factors of: (a) current psycho/social functioning, (b) predictors sensitive to measuring community functioning, and (c) details of the offender’s social situation at release. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate recidivism as a process, focusing on the ability of dynamic factors to predict release performance. This project aimed to provide an initial step towards providing supervising staff with the tools to make meaningful assessments of a change in risk and hence change in likelihood to re-offend. Thus, this project emphasized reentry as a dynamic process rather than an event (crime / no crime). For this study we had the overarching goal to investigate the dynamic predictors of post-release performance in a correctional sample entering the community. Three specific goals led the investigation: Goal #1: Replicate a predominantly mental health study that successfully measured dynamic change as it related to release incidents. Goal #2: Expand the dynamic content to areas of psycho/social functioning. Goal #3: Improve the methodology of previous studies, thereby allowing for stronger conclusions. To accomplish these goals data were obtained from 133 male offenders paroled from Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) correctional facilities from June 11, 2008 – January 31, 2011. Although we aimed to recruit 318 inmates, the actual sample size was significantly less largely due to fewer parolees released to Lubbock County, the home county of the researchers, than initially expected. Although some offenders declined to participate (refused participation), these refusals did not account for a significant decrease in the sample size. Participants had a mean age of 34.9 years (SD = 11.09 years) and were predominantly black (33.8%) or white (19.5%) with approximately one-half of participants of Hispanic ethnicity (45.9%). Participants completed, on average, 10.7 years of education and 38% of the sample graduate high school. Offenders that participated in this study were primarily convicted of non-violent offenses (84.3%), and 52% of participants failed a prior sentence of community supervision. Participants were recruited to participate in a 7-wave data collection procedure (upon community re-entry and monthly follow-up for minimum of 6 months) with measures designed to measure criminal risk or that have proven related to criminal outcomes. Results indicated adequate internal consistency reliability and temporal stability; however, interrater reliability and convergent validity for the selected rated measures were unstable. Consequently, the inclusion of dynamic risk factors did not contribute to the predictive power of static variables. Most notably, in this study changes in offenders dynamic functioning was not associated with changes in community outcomes. That is, measuring change in offenders functioning using rated measures did not increase our ability to predict community failure. Importantly however, offenders were able to self-report risk areas that were predictive of community failure suggesting that offenders should be involved in the criminal risk assessment. Finally, the results of this study support previous findings that current measures of risk prediction may not be culturally sensitive. That is, the measures appear to be better at predicting criminal risk for white offenders, but less accurate when predicting criminal behavior for nonwhite offenders (i.e., black and Hispanic offenders in this study). Implications of these findings for clinicians and policy makers are discussed. Details: Final Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2012. 129p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/238075.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/238075.pdf Shelf Number: 125610 Keywords: Offender Classification (U.S.); Parole Casework; P |