This article delves into the critical role of risk assessment in the parole and probation processes within the United States criminal justice system. Beginning with an overview of parole and probation, the article emphasizes the pivotal importance of accurate risk assessment in guiding decision-making and promoting public safety. The theoretical framework explores the historical evolution
Prisoner suicide assessment and prevention is an area of active research and clinical involvement. Indeed, it is an important component of the forensic psychologist’s clinical responsibilities due to the disproportionately high incidence of prison suicide as compared with the general population. This high incidence is a consistent phenomenon across countries. In some countries, this translates
The Suicide Assessment Manual for Inmates (SAMI) is a new instrument designed to assess risk for suicide attempts among individuals admitted to a pretrial remand center or jail. The SAMI is a 20-item clinical checklist of risk factors derived from the suicide research literature. Initial research on the SAMI has focused on its factor structure
Although a center is typically a place where something occurs, an assessment center is not so much a place as it is a method. A key principle of this method is multiple-attribute assessment. That is, assessment focuses on multiple attributes or dimensions relevant to an individual’s overall performance. Another key principle is that assessment is
The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), developed by Randy Borum, Patrick Bartel, and Adelle Forth, is a risk assessment instrument designed to structure appraisals of violence risk and risk management plans for adolescents. Such assessments are routinely required by juvenile and criminal courts and at nearly every juncture of the juvenile justice
The term personality typically refers to one’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving. In addition to the stable, trait-like features often evoked by this construct (e.g., sociability, dominance, modesty), many theories also emphasize the roles of culture, family, and other environmental factors involved in personality expression and development. This predominant individual differences variable has
The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) is a concise clinical guide for the dynamic assessment of short-term (i.e., weeks to months) risk for violence (to self and others) and treatability. START guides the assessor toward an integrated, balanced opinion to evaluate the client’s risk across seven domains: violence to others, suicide, self-harm, self-neglect
Although clinical psychological assessment is generally expected to be specific to particular interventions with demonstrated efficacy, there is insufficient empirical evidence on which to prescribe clinical assessment practice with sex offenders. The best strategy is to examine interventions that target personal and circumstantial characteristics empirically related to commission of sex offenses or to recidivism among
Violence risk assessment is relevant to the field of law and psychology because it occurs at numerous junctures in the legal system, and it is one of the key areas of research and clinical practice in forensic psychology. This entry reviews two primary approaches to risk assessment: unstructured and structured. The former approach, sometimes also
The Environmental Assessment Technique (EAT) was developed by John L. Holland and Alexander W. Astin to quickly and easily capture the dominant beliefs, functioning, and goals of the individuals within an organization, using Holland’s six environmental models. The EAT consists of eight scales: Institutional Size, Aptitude Level, and six Personal Orientation scales. Theoretical Background of