Juvenile Probation Officers’ Use of the YLS/CMI in Routine Practice and Decision-making: Insights from Ethnographic Research

• In Event: The (Mis)Use of Risk Assessments in Juvenile Justice Decision-making

Abstract

Structured risk and risk/needs assessment (RNA) tools represent the cornerstone of decision-making within the Risk-Needs-Responsivity model, yet only a modest body of research examines how RNAs are used in practice. The proposed research examines the use of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) among juvenile probation officers in Pennsylvania counties several years after its implementation. In particular, it focuses on early results from qualitative research conducted in local county sites, making use of qualitative interviews and observations of juvenile probation officer practice. In doing so, it highlights how officers reconcile their daily tasks with the imperatives of YLS/CMI policies, and what this means for the translation of formal policy into routine practice.

Authors

• Carrie Maloney, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

• Joel Miller, Rutgers University