Identifying Youth At-Risk for Failing to Appear or Re-offending Prior to Initial Court Hearing: A Validation and Revision Analysis of Florida's Detention Risk Assessment Instrument (DRAI)

• In Event: Evaluating the State of Juvenile Justice

Abstract

The current evaluation builds upon prior analyses of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice’s Detention Risk Assessment Instrument (DRAI), a tool designed to aid juvenile justice staff in assessing offender risk and determining whether youth should be placed in secure detention following arrest and pending adjudication. Our initial research evaluated the validity of the current DRAI (Early, Blankenship & Hand, 2014). In Phase II of the study, we turned our attention to revision of the instrument to enhance prediction of failure rates, while increasing the parsimony of the instrument. We also examined local concerns over recent rashes of serious, chronic juvenile auto theft offending across the state (Gartner & Sampson, 2018). We will present the results of the multivariate analyses of all DRAI screenings statewide between July 1, 2012 and December 30, 2016 (n=235,832), including examination of the use of overrides, as well as aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The findings offer important insights into the efficacy of the instrument in predicting offender risk and the potential for additional reforms aimed at removing low-risk youth from detention and reducing disproportionate minority confinement.

Authors

• Kristin Winokur Early, Justice Research Center

• Mark A. Greenwald, Florida State University

• Julia L. Blankenship, Justice Research Center