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Abstract: 

In the criminal justice system, risk assessment is ubiquitous. It occurs throughout the management of defendants and convicted persons alike—from early bail hearings to sentencing to parole to civil commitment. With sex offenders, in the past decade, risk assessment has taken on a formal, structured quality. Whereas in the past, mental health clinicians would have reviewed a file, interviewed an alleged or convicted sex offender, and reached an unstructured judgment regarding the individual’s risk, now there exist a variety of structured, empirically guided risk assessment instruments that are in common use. Almost all research and authorities (with a few exceptions) indicate that such instruments improve one’s ability to assess risk and, in turn, accurately to predict future sex offenses.

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Affiliations:  1: Associates in Psychological Services, P.A..