Court-Specific Risk and Needs Assessment in Adult Accountability Courts

• In Event: Data Innovations – How Data-Informed Tools, Visualizations, and Data Systems are Changing the Terrain of Criminal Justice

Abstract

Using historical client data, we developed a court-specific risk and needs assessment tool for a large, urban adult felony drug court. Used alongside global assessments of risk, the tool provided an additional level of insight vital to the delivery of critical and time sensitive interventions. Client data used in the creation of the tool included information on client characteristics such as demographics, prior drug abuse severity and history, violence history, medical and mental health needs as well as client program performance and outcomes.

Author

• Ellen Ballard, Georgia State University