NCJ Number
133435
Date Published
1989
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Data from 221 Canadian offenders who were on parole or mandatory supervision were used to determine the predictive validity of a traditional procedure for assessing the risk of recidivism and to determine some of the major needs of offenders who succeed or fail while under conditional release.
Abstract
Data were gathered in 12 general areas: demographics, juvenile history, current offense, offense dynamics, socioeconomic and psychological background, institutional adjustment, pre-release performance, release data, community supervision performance, final outcome data, original offenses, and prior criminal history. Results reconfirmed the ability of the Statistical Information on Recidivism Scale to predict outcome on parole, although it did not necessarily predict outcome on mandatory supervision. Findings also indicated a consistent relationship between areas of identified need and both the type of release and the outcome of release. Results indicated that a combination of risk assessment and needs assessment produces better predictions than does either method alone. Further development and refinement of a risk/needs assessment instrument is recommended. Tables, figures, appended definitions and scoring information, and 9 references