Risk Assessment in Forensic Mental Health - Coursework Example

Running Head: Risk Assessment in Forensic Mental Health Introduction In relation to the process of criminal justice, risk assessment aims at predicting future crime and managing offender risk. The process of risk assessment deploys numerous key variables that are known to augment the probability of committing some offence. These variables are termed as the risk factors and are further categorized under (1) Static Factors and (2) Dynamic Factors. 1. Static Factors: These are the unalterable historic factors entailed in the static predictions of risk. Examples: Gender, Victim Category, History of Previous Convictions, Motivation Factors, etc. 2. Dynamic Factors: These are the alterable current factors entailed in the dynamic, holistic predictions of risk. Examples: Marital Status, Economic Situation, Faulty Cognitions, Substance Abuse, Employment Status, etc. Moreover, there are certain factors that are mistakenly associated to one’s criminal tendencies. These factors count Depression, Self-Esteem, etc. and cannot be attributed to the typical cold-minded criminal activities. There are several types of decisions, which can be guided by the assessment principles. The court can decide proper correctional treatment for the offender if it is provided with sufficient and reliable assessment data. These decisions entailed in the criminal justice process explicitly define the following: 1. Dosage, targets, and severity of treatment 2. Discharge from residential and correctional settings 3. Disposition, sentencing, and placement 4. Types and levels of supervision 5. Specific legislation requirements including community supervision and notification. Brief Overview of the Australian Criminal Justice System The Criminal Justice System in the Commonwealth of Australia operates in a decentralized manner. The judiciary operates at the state/territory levels in accordance with the basic framework of the Commonwealth Laws. The Australian Government utilizes its institutions, departments, agencies, and personnel to supervise and control the overall crime situation and statistics of the country. The main pillars of the Criminal Justice System are the corrective services, courts, and police authorities. The penalties generally include parole, prison, supervision, service, etc. (Year Book Australia, 2005). The Quest of Reliability The Australian Criminal Justice System further seeks to chalk out more reliable trial and justice processes. This is the basic pursuit of any modern and dynamic criminal justice mechanism that would cater to the complexities of today’s criminology and code of social behaviour. Decision making is a crucial aspect of the justice process, and it is not advisable that only a single data source is utilised to accomplish the assessment process. Rather, using numerous sources of data would enhance the validity, utility, and finally, the reliability of these assessment processes that culminate at complex decision making. The collection of data and observation process would generally involve reports from the victims, psychological testing, treatment encounters, field contacts, etc. The Approaches of Risk Assessment If the degree of correctional interventions is in par with the correctly assessed levels of risk, better outcomes can be obtained and public safety can be enhanced (Andrews & Bonta, 2007). Intense intervention in the case of less risky individuals is not suitable. Likewise, if the offenders are not placed under correct risk categories low intensity interventions will fail to rectify the high risk offenders. Hence, we need to focus on the existing approaches of risk assessment. Unstructured Clinical Judgement The approach focuses on the instincts of the individual under investigation. This approach also depends on the attitude, expertise, and techniques adopted by the assessor. Hence, results in regards of an offender may vary from one professional to another. Thus, the cumulative upshot of the unstructured methods cannot be regarded as sufficiently accurate and particularly reliable (Meehl, 1996). This difficulty of the approach hinders its prospective application in complicated cases. But the dynamic and idiosyncratic methods entailed in this approach are superior. The approach adopted by an experienced clinician can help in finding out several issues related to the mental health of the offender. The human sensitivity involved in the technique can yield productive question answer sessions and there is greater scope of sustained interaction with the offender. Hence, a proficient assessor can differentiate between a cold minded criminal and a mental patient who has done a crime in a mentally-disordered state. The main focus areas being sexual offences and violent activities (which account for highest degree of risk), a psychometric testing system of the individuals under investigation in the presence of reliable human agency can help. Moreover, some clinical practitioners have achieved an effect size greater than .52 and the results of the judgement have been comparatively reliable. Yet, we must keep in mind that in this methodology of assessment, competence of the assessor is more important than the assessing instruments used. And in the more complex crime scenarios of today, we can’t rely on a risk assessment approach that is not immune to human errors. In that case, the crime investigators and clinicians will have to develop improvised assessment tools and novel psychiatric techniques. Structured Professional Judgement The Structured Professional Judgement or the SPJ approach has two important features. First, objective proof-based selection of the predetermined and preset risk factors is applied. Second, subjective expertise-based interpretation of the duration, frequency, and severity of the selected risk factors is used. Under the SPJ framework, the assessor can take individual-specific decisions and adjust the parameters and processes of the judgement in relation to the offender concerned. For example, in case of risk in regards of violence, an individual with a history of frequent violence and irregular lifestyle has to be treated differently than an individual with a history of occasional violence of similar degree along with a healthy, settled lifestyle. Likewise, the case of an unemployed youth is different than that of a highly paid executive even if both of them have committed a similar crime. Let’s focus on some of the critical SPJ tools: 1. Historical, Clinical, Risk Management-20 (HCR-20) (i) Based on three subscales: a) Historical Factors (10 items) b) Clinical Factors (5 items) c) Risk-Management Factors (5 items) (ii) Measures risk of violence mainly in the mentally disordered offenders. However, it also works well with the offenders, who are not mentally disordered. 2. Spousal Abuse Risk Assessment (SARA) (i) Based on two subscales: a) General Violence Factors (10 items) b) Spousal Violence Factors (10 items) (ii) Measures risk of spousal abuse with reference to general violence history. 3. Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol (RSVP) (i) Based on the Sexual Violence Risk-20 (SVR-20) checklist (ii) Measures risk in regards of adult sex offenders. 4. Sexual Violence Risk-30 (SVR-30) (i) Improved version of SVR-20 (Webster & Jackson, 1997) (ii) This risk assessment instrumentation evaluates key issues like victim access, substance abuse, recidivism, etc. (iii) Measures risk of sexual offence and recidivism among adult offenders through an extended checklist and instrumentation. Actuarial Assessment This instrumental framework of Risk Assessment is strictly dependent on the available evidences. The risk factors that are selected for consideration in this process must be in strict empirical correlation to the offender’s criminal behaviour and its cause. These factors are further defined as “criminogenic needs”, which usually enumerate poor parenting, substance abuse, impulsivity, criminal peers, tendency to justify violence, etc. By means of meta-analytical studies, these risk factors are identified, assigned weighing factor, and measured through a statistical scale of risk assessment. By Actuarial Assessment, different assessors can usually reach the sane conclusion concerning a given offender through strictly statistical methods. Some of the Actuarial Assessment tools are Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG), STATIC-99, etc. A Comparative Analysis and the Conclusion In the case of Unstructured Clinical Judgement, the advantage is that various dynamic variables are utilised and the clinician can conduct extensive psychological testing. But the limitation is that the results vary from one assessor to another even for the same offender. Actuarial Assessment is a winning option to predict risk accurately, but the methodology is insensitive towards the individual-specific case study and strictly relies on the static variables. However, Structured Professional Judgement (SPJ) aims at achieving a balance between the extremities of dynamic and static techniques. Thus, SPJ appears to be a futuristic model that can facilitate the correctional process and cater to the typical needs of the Australian Criminal Justice System. We must always remember that a methodological approach along with provisions for case-specific suppleness is essential for the modern Forensic Mental Health sciences (Schwartz & Cellini, 2002). However, more in this context, we need to focus on the possible methods adopting which the SPJ tools can be made not only authentic but human friendly too. Creation of a database consisting of several feedbacks from the criminologists, clinicians, and psychiatrists can help in logical modelling of the problems. A database of case studies can help us to find out behaviour patterns of the professional criminals so that we can identify the less risky offenders or the actually mentally disordered lawbreakers. Actuarial Assessment procedures are very much dependent on the static variables, which makes it almost completely devoid of Emotional Quotient. The effect of adopting such analyses in extended crime studies may not be suitable for the existing correctional processes. The correctional systems cannot work well until levels of punishment or treatment are properly determined, monitored, and applied. We need to find out the capable assessors in the realm of Unstructured Clinical Judgement and exploit their experiences and opinions for appropriate statistical treatment with the help of the contemporary SPJ tools. References Bureau of Statistical Analysis. (2005). Flows through the Criminal Justice System. Year book, Australia, Issue 87 (p. 323). Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Bonta, J., & Andrews, D. A. (2007). Risk-Need-Responsivity Model for Offender Assessment and Rehabilitation. Ottawa: Securite Publique Canada. Clinical Judgement In The Health And Welfare Professions - Susan White,John Stancombe - McGraw-Hill Education. (n.d.). McGraw-Hill Education EMEA. Retrieved April 19, 2010, from http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0335208746.html Criminal Psychology from the Crime Library. (n.d.). truTV.com: Not Reality. Actuality.. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/ Frase, R. S., & Weidner, R. R. (n.d.). Criminal Justice System - Structural And Theoretical Components Of Criminal Justice Systems, The Systems In Operation, The Importance Of Viewing Criminal Justice As A System . Law Library - American Law and Legal Information. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/858/Criminal-Justice-System.html Meehl, P. E. (1996). Clinical versus statistical prediction: a theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence. Northvale, N.J : J. Aronson. Risk Assessment, Risk Assessment Scales, PLC-R, HCR-20, LSI-R. (2006, April 1). Inside Prison - inside prison life, prison stories, prison conditions . Retrieved April 19, 2010, from http://www.insideprison.com/risk-assessment.asp Schwartz, B. K., & Cellini, H. R. (2002). Psychometry and Methodology. The Sex Offender: Current Treatment Modalities and Systems Issues (pp. 27-15). Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute Inc. Spousal Abuse Facts. (n.d.). Essortment Articles: Free Online Articles on Health, Science, Education & More... Retrieved April 15, 2010, from http://www.essortment.com/all/spouseabusedom_rnjw.htm The Comprehensive Assessment Protocol: A Systemwide Review of Adult andJuvenile Sex Offender Management Strategies. (n.d.). Welcome to CSOM. Retrieved April 19, 2010, from http://www.csom.org/pubs/cap/2/2_0.htm Webster, C. D., & Jackson, M. A. (1997). PRACTICE: ASSESSMENT. Impulsivity: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment (p. 399). New York: Guilford Press. Read More