Adult Offenders' Perceptions of Their Underlying Problems: Findings From the OASys Self-Assessment Questionnaire

• NCJ Number: 218844
• Author(s): Robin Moore
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Great Britain Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Home Office Findings 284, 2007; downloaded on June 13, 2007.

Annotation

This paper presents findings of a self-assessment questionnaire regarding offenders’ perceptions of social and individual problems and offenders’ perceived likelihood of further offending.

Abstract

Highlights of findings from the self-assessment questionnaire include: (1) 17 percent of offenders in the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) sample believed they had no social or individual problems and 47 percent thought they had no problems which were linked to offending; (2) those offenders who claimed that they had many problems were more likely than those with no perceived problems to be female, younger, and White with a greater number of convictions and higher Offender Assessment System (OASys) likelihood of reconviction scores; and (3) of those offenders who thought they were very likely to offend again, over half (56 percent) said that they had a problem with drugs and approximately a quarter (27 percent) referred to drugs when explaining their likelihood of further offending. The OASys is the national risk/needs assessment tool for adult offenders in England and Wales. Of the five main components of OASys, the self-assessment questionnaire or SAQ covers a range of social and individual problems and an offender’s perceived likelihood of continued offending. Findings are summarized from responses of over 100,000 offenders, as recorded in the SAQ between January 2003 and May 2006. The findings illustrate how perceptions vary between different offender groups and between offenders and practitioners. Tables