Creation and Validation of the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS)

• NCJ Number: 231584
• Journal: Federal Probation Volume: 74 Issue: 1 Dated: June 2010 Pages: 16-22
• Author(s): Edward J. Latessa; Richard Lemke; Matthew Makarios; Paula Smith; Christopher T. Lowenkamp
• Date Published: June 2010
• Length: 7 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2005-JG-EOR-6269; 2005-JG-C01-T8307
• Sponsoring Agency: Ohio Dept of Rehabilitation and Correction
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study outlines the construction and validation of an assessment tool, the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS).

Abstract

Results show that ORAS provides assessments that: separate Ohio offenders into risk groups based on their likelihood to recidivate; identify dynamic risk factors that can be used to prioritize programmatic needs; identify potential barriers to treatment, and provide an override option. Each assessment instrument can be broken down into domains and the likelihood of recidivism within each domain can be used to flag problematic domains. As a result, the treatment domains provide a means to efficiently allocate treatment resources in a manner that reduces recidivism. ORAS also provides assessments that are constructed based on samples of Ohio offenders and are specific to different stages in the criminal justice system. ORAS increases the consistency in assessment across counties and agencies. Data were collected from a pretrial sample of 452 adults charged with a criminal offense and referred to pretrial services during the period of data collection. Tables, figures, and references