Risk and Needs Assessment Predicts Re-Arrest Among Mental Health Court Participants

• In Event: Jail Diversion and Mental Health Court

Abstract

Research has shown that mental health courts reduce recidivism, but at present there is little consensus on how this goal is achieved. Such a court’s success might be linked to its capacity to accurately assess offenders’ levels of risk and need, which is in line with the principles of Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) theory. The Correctional Officer Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) assessment, the focus of the present research, has been shown to predict re-arrest in general offender populations. To date, however, the COMPAS has not been tested in a mental health court sample. We collected COMPAS assessments from 242 participants in three New York City mental health courts, 60% of whom were diagnosed with a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. The COMPAS General Risk score predicted 24-mo. re-arrest and felony re-arrest, OR = 1.26 and 1.22. History of Violence and Socialization Failure were the most robust needs predictors of 24-mo. re-arrest, OR = 1.20 and 1.18. The COMPAS functioned well as an RNR-based assessment tool, supporting its use in a seriously mentally ill offender population. Its risk score can inform decisions about treatment intensity and sanctioning, and its multidimensional profile can identify criminogenic psychosocial needs to target in individual treatment plans.

Authors

• Warren A. Reich, Center for Court Innovation

• Sarah Picard-Fritsche, Center for Court Innovation