NCJ Number
222102
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 49 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2007 Pages: 439-464
Date Published
October 2007
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This article examines risk assessment and justice processing in the context of the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model of crime prevention and correctional rehabilitation.
Abstract
The results indicate that adhering to the RNR model is associated with reduced recidivism, while nonadherence is associated with either increased recidivism or null effects on reoffending. In the case of research on RNR assessment, however, new research on prevention and correctional treatment will be certain to challenge the RNR model in interesting ways. For example, researchers are very concerned that so few primary researchers and so few meta-analysts seriously test the limits of the principles of risk, need, therapeutic integrity, and effective program implementation. In a broader sphere, RNR and cognitive-social-learning approaches to the analysis of variation in communitywide crime rates have yet to be even minimally explored. The general personality and social psychology that underlies the RNR model of rehabilitation recognizes the importance of personal, interpersonal, and relatively automatic sources of control over human behavior as well as the power of cognitive-social-learning approaches to interpersonal influence in many social studies. In terms of both production and intervention, the RNR model has impressive but limited research support and is widely implemented, albeit with mixed support in routine correctional practice. This article suggests that RNR and the psychology that underlies it may also assist justice agencies and the courts through crime-prevention jurisprudence. The article reviews the general-personality and cognitive-social-learning model in the form of PIC-R; describes the RNR model prevention and rehabilitation; reviews research evidence on the validity of RNR; and finally, discusses applications at the court level and at time of sentencing. Tables, notes, references