Risk and needs assessment

NIJ Director Nancy La Vigne highlights the importance of evidence-based strategies for successful reentry. This strategy emphasizes the need for tailored and holistic support that starts during confinement and continues after release, with a focus on family involvement, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and community supervision.

Most scholars would agree that desistance from crime – the process of ceasing engagement in criminal activities – is normative. However, there is variability in the literature regarding the definition and measurement of desistance, the signals of desistance, the age at which desistance begins, and the underlying mechanisms that lead to desistance. Even with considerable advances in the theoretical understanding of desistance from crime, there remain critical gaps between research and the application of that research to practice.

Dr. Hamilton discusses his research on risk assessment, needs assessment, and responsivity, examining how the interaction between adults' and juveniles' predictors impact their likelihood of recidivism — and the programming and services that are provided for each.

Dr. Sullivan discusses his research to understand implementation procedures and practice in the juvenile justice system that facilitate adoption of these tools and their appropriate use.

Dr. Vincent discusses her research on how risk assessment and risk need responsivity affect change in how we handle individuals in the justice system.

How do you use data and science to measure program success?
John Wetzel, secretary of corrections, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and Grant Duwe, Ph.D., director of research and evaluation, Minnesota Department of Corrections explain how their agencies evaluate programs using data and science. Duwe details how the most effective programs provided by the Minnesota DOC have been those that focus on known risk factors for recidivism. 

New science in brain development is transforming young adult involvement with the justice system. On Tuesday, September 8, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, and experts from NIJ and the Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice who serve on the Executive Session on Community Corrections discussed the future of justice-involved young adults.