Exploring How to Measure Criminogenic Needs: 5 Instruments and No Real Answers

• In Event: Validation of Risk Assessments

Abstract

The use of standardized risk and need assessments are becoming commonplace for many criminal justice agencies. While these assessments are frequently used to measure the risk an offender poses, it is equally important to measure the criminogenic needs, or dynamic risk factors, in order to allocate resources and provide treatment to minimize the risk of future offending. While third and fourth generation assessment tools include items or scales to measure an individual’s criminogenic needs, each tool varies in the number of items it includes and how the needs are measured. This raises numerous questions: how accurately do these tools measure needs, are we truly getting at the needs that can impact recidivism, and how are the results of these need scales being used for case management and treatment planning? Few studies have looked specifically at the scales within RNA tools, and there is a need for more clarity and understanding of how criminogenic needs are being measured and the impacts of these measurements on treatment options. In this paper, we explored how different readily available instruments measured various needs in terms of the content of the questions and the various responses.

Authors

• Brittney Via, George Mason University

• Amy Dezember, George Mason University

• Faye S. Taxman, George Mason University