The Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) is a 14-item static actuarial risk assessment tool developed to assess risk of general violence (sexual and nonsexual) with adult male sex offenders. After reviewing the development and content of the SORAG, this article discusses its predictive accuracy, strengths, limitations, and applications and concludes with a look at
The Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS) is a statistically derived dynamic risk assessment instrument for adult males who have been convicted of sexually abusive behavior. Mental health clinicians, correctional caseworkers, and probation and parole officers use the SOTIPS to assess an individual’s sexual reoffense risk, treatment and supervision needs, and treatment progress.
The Juvenile Sex Offender Recidivism Risk Assessment Tool-II (JSORRAT-II) was originally developed by Douglas Epperson in collaboration with the Utah Juvenile Justice Services as an actuarial assessment of risk. Actuarial assessments aim to make risk assessments based on well-established statistical relationships (e.g., weather forecasting relies on statistical models to predict storms but cannot predict with
The Juvenile Sex Offender Risk Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II) is a structured risk assessment tool designed to evaluate risk of sexual violence and general offending in adolescent males (12–18 years) with a history of coercive sexual behavior. The J-SOAP-II is relevant to the field of criminal psychology given that it is one of the most commonly
According to the most recent estimates by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there were a total of 1.32 million juvenile arrests in 2012. Of these juveniles, 12,400 were arrested for sex offenses. The largest proportion of perpetrators of juvenile sex offenses reported each year are male (90%) and White (72%) adolescents. Although
The Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised (MnSOST-R) was one of the earliest validated, actuarial risk assessment tool for sexual offenders. This article describes the development and validation of the MnSOST-R in the context of evolving risk assessment strategies and methods, which are essential for effective decisions in the criminal justice system. Risk Assessment With Sexual
The Offender Group Reconviction Scale (OGRS) is the name of a series of actuarial risk assessment instruments for use with convicted criminal offenders. Each version of OGRS has been developed for and used by the adult correctional services of England and Wales, directed since 2004 by the National Offender Management Service, which in 2017 became
The registration of criminal offenders in the United States is not a new approach to crime prevention, but since the 1990s, this effort to create and maintain systematic lists of lawbreakers has focused largely on convicted sex offenders and featured public offender registries (PORs). As repositories of information about convicted criminals, PORs are open to
Among the diverse policies used worldwide to manage offenders convicted of sexual crimes in the community, sexual offender registries (SORs) are a common approach. SORs are databases of information pertaining to persons previously convicted of sexual offenses. The intention of SORs is to protect the public primarily by helping law enforcement monitor the whereabouts of
Sexual assault is a serious social problem of great concern. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that approximately 100,000 cases of child sexual abuse are substantiated each year. In addition, according to the 2005 National Crime Victimization survey, there were nearly 192,000 victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. In an