OFFENDER RISK AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT CONSTRUCTION, VALIDATION AND APPLICATION

Xiaohan Mei

The days considered ‘Nothing Works’ in corrections are over. Today, we have entered a new age of Evidence-based Practices (EBP), focusing on using scientifically validated policies, strategies and tools to inform decision making. The Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) Model/Principles emerged as one of the most effective rehabilitation models. It has driven recent correctional reforms across the United States. The RNR model has enabled correctional agencies to shift the focus from punishment to identifying the most risky individuals and matching offenders with the appropriate interventions and intensity level to promote positive offender changes, reduce recidivism, and enhance public safety. The RNR model is the methodologically improved Risk and Needs Assessment (RNA) Tools. To date, there is sufficient empirical evidence to support the overall performance of the RNA tools to predict offenders’ future offending. However, the utility of the RNA tools have not been fully appreciated, and there are some issues left unresolved. One of the issues is that the construct validation did not keep up with predictive validation studies. As a result, the construct validity for most of the contemporary RNA tools has not been fully established. The lack of construct validity severely limits the ability of the RNAs to accurately and reliably assess offenders’ criminogenic risk and needs factors. This, in turn, limits correctional agencies’ ability to select the appropriate interventional strategies for mitigating offenders’ underlying criminal problems. Therefore, with the intention to optimize the effectiveness of correctional intervention and inform resource allocation, this dissertation attempts to establish the construct validity of a fourth generation of RNA tools, namely the Static Risk Offender Needs Guide – Revised (STRONG-R). By following the well-regarded assessment protocol and using industry-accepted analytical strategies, I have put the construct validity of the STRONG-R into rigorous empirical tests with a large sample of offenders under the supervision of the Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC). As found, the retained items identified an offender Global-Risk-Needs Factor that could be explained and assessed by five criminal metrics. Finally, the implications of the findings of the current research for scholarship and correctional practices are discussed.

OFFENDER RISK AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT CONSTRUCTION, VALIDATION AND APPLICATION

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