| dc.description.abstract | Risk and need assessments have become an essential part of managing juvenile
offenders by determining each individual’s likelihood to recidivate. At the present time,
juvenile delinquents in Ontario are assessed by the Ministry of Community and Social
Service’s Risk/Need Assessment. This instrument was developed and normed in
Southern Ontario, yet, applied to Northern Ontario which is unique in its
overrepresentation of Native young offenders. The short-term validity of the Risk/Need
Assessment was previously evaluated through an examination of 250 young offender’s
criminal records to determine if they had re-offended within six months following their
assessment (Jung, 1996). Analysis revealed that the Risk/Need was robust to ethnicity,
gender and criminal status in its prediction of recidivism. This present study examined
195 of these youth to determine if the Risk/Need Assessment could predict recidivism for
a longer term, by evaluating their criminal records two years post assessment. All eight
of the Risk/Need factors were found to predict overall recidivism for the young offenders,
regardless of gender and ethnicity, and certain offence types. Higher rates of recidivism
were found to be associated with high scores on the prior and current offences/disposition
factor, high scores on the education/employment factor and low scores on the substance
abuse scale. Further, all eight Risk/Need factors were able to differentiate between low
risk, moderate risk and high risk offenders. These findings support the contention that the
Risk/Need Assessment can adequately identify the level of risk of recidivism for young offenders. The conclusion can be drawn, therefore, that the Risk/Need Assessment Form
can predict recidivism over a two year period and is robust to gender and ethnicity. The
implications of these findings are elaborated upon. | |
