Violence Risk Screening in Community Corrections

• NCJ Number: 216704
• Journal: Criminology & Public Policy Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2006 Pages: 743-770
• Author(s): Garth Davies; Kelly Dedel
• Date Published: November 2006
• Length: 28 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article describes the development and validation of the Violence Risk Screening Instrument for use in community corrections settings.

Abstract

Validation results indicated that three of the items on the Violence Risk Screening Instrument were significantly associated with violent recidivism: Severe Violence, Domestic Violence, and Unstable Lifestyle. Initial implementation results of these three items, along with a non-scoring Early Onset item, were positive and the use of the instrument resulted in probation officers becoming more familiar with juvenile’s case files. On the first three items, the overall accuracy rate of the Violence Risk Screening Instrument was 51 percent. More specifically, 118 of the offenders (33 percent) who later committed a violent offense would have been referred for further action based on the results of the Violence Risk Screening Instrument and 66 offenders (18 percent) who did not violently recidivate would not have been referred for further action. The rate of “false negatives,” in which offenders who later committed a violent offense were not referred for further action by the Violent Risk Screening Instrument, was 0.5 percent whereas the “false positive” rate, in which offenders who did not violently recidivate were referred for further action, was 48 percent. The researchers recommended the Severe Violence, Domestic Violence, and Unstable Lifestyle items be included in the Violent Risk Screening Instrument along with an Early Onset item, which was to be added as a non-scoring item to encourage the review of juvenile histories. The instrument was completed by 385 cases using data drawn from offender case files and various databases such as the Juvenile Justice Information Systems. Data on reconvictions were drawn from Multnomah County’s data warehouse. Multivariate analyses examined the effects of various factors on violent recidivism, including gang membership, minor violence, severe violence, domestic violence, drug problems, and suicidal ideation. Future research should periodically assess the level of inter-rater reliability for the Violence Risk Screening Instrument. Tables, figure, footnotes, references