Handbook on Risk and Need Assessment Theory and Practice The ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Handbook Series

The Handbook on Risk and Need Assessment: Theory and Practice covers risk assessments for individuals being considered for parole or probation. Evidence-based approaches to such decisions help take the emotion and politics out of community corrections. As the United States begins to back away from ineffective, expensive policies of mass incarceration, this handbook will provide the resources needed to help ensure both public safety and the effective rehabilitation of offenders.

The ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Handbook Series will publish volumes on topics ranging from violence risk assessment to specialty courts for drug users, veterans, or the mentally ill. Each thematic volume focuses on a single topical issue that intersects with corrections and sentencing research.

1. The Value and Importance of Risk and Need Assessment in Corrections & Sentencing: An Overview of the Handbook

Faye S. Taxman, George Mason University
Amy Dezember, George Mason University

History of RNA

2. Risk and Needs Assessment in Probation and Parole: The Persistent Gap Between Promise and Practice
   William D. Burrell
3. The Research Director Perspective on the Design, Implementation, and Impact of Risk Assessment and Offender Classification Systems in USA Prisons: A National Survey
   James Byrne, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
   Amy Dezember, George Mason University

Methodological Issues in Creating and Validating RNA

4. Static Risk Factors and Criminal Recidivism
   Robert Brame, University of South Carolina
5. Accuracy of Risk Assessment in Corrections Population Management: Where's the Value Added?
   James Hess, University of California, Irvine
   Susan Turner, University of California, Irvine
6. Improving the Performance of Risk Assessments: A Case Study on the Prediction of Sexual Offending among Juvenile Offenders
   KiDeuk Kim, The Urban Institute
   Grant Duwe, Minnesota Department of Corrections
7. Using Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning to Improve the Accuracy and Performance of Juvenile Justice Risk Assessment Instruments: The Florida Case Study
   Ira M. Schwartz, Consultant and Advisor to Algorhythm
   Peter York, Founder and CEO of Algorhythm
   Mark Greenwald, Director of Research, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and Doctoral Student at Florida State University
   Ana Ramos-Hernandez, Data Manager, Algorhythm
   Lisa Feeley, Research Analyst, ICF International
8. An Alternative Scientific Paradigm for Criminological Risk Assessment: Closed or Open Systems, or Both?
   Tim Brennan, Northpointe, Inc.

Dynamic Risk Factors and Responsivity Toward Different Populations

9. Risk, Need, and Responsivity in a Criminal Lifestyle
   Glenn D. Walters, Kutztown University
10. Gender-Responsive Risk and Need Assessment: Implications for the Treatment of Justice-Involved Women
    Emily J. Salisbury, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
    Breanna Boppre, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
    Bridget Kelly, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
11. Advancing Sexual Offender Risk Assessment: Standardized Risk Levels Based on Psychologically Meaningful Offender Characteristics
    R. Karl Hanson, Public Safety Canada
    Guy Bourgon, Public Safety Canada
12. Incorporating Procedural Justice and Legitimacy into the RNR Model to Improve Risk-Need Assessment
    Katherine Ginsburg-Kempany, Arizona State University
    Kimberly A. Kaiser, Arizona State University
13. Adoption of Risk Tools to Employment Context
    Garima Siwach, University at Albany (SUNY)
    Shawn D. Bushway, University at Albany (SUNY)
14. Exploring How to Measure Criminogenic Needs: Five Instruments and No Real Answers
    Brittney Via, George Mason University
    Amy Dezember, George Mason University
    Faye Taxman, George Mason University

RNA Implementation and Practice

15. Customizing Criminal Justice Assessments
    Zachary Hamilton, Washington State University
    Elizabeth Thompson Tollefsbol, Washington State University
    Michael Campagna, Washington State University
    Jacqueline van Wormer, Washington State University
16. Risk/Need Assessment Tools and the Criminal Justice Bureaucrat: Reconceptualizing the Frontline Practitioner
    Joel Miller, Rutgers University
    Sarah Trocchio, Rutgers University
17. Risky Needs: Risk Entangled Needs in Probation Supervision
    Danielle S. Rudes, George Mason University
    Jill Viglione, University of Texas, San Antonio
    Kimberly S. Meyer, George Mason University

Special Issues Regarding the Conceptualization for RNA

18. Purpose and Context Matters: Creating a Space for Meaningful Dialogues about Risk and Need
    Kelly Hannah-Moffat, Director Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, Canadiana Gallery
19. Human Rights and High Risk Offenders: The Right to Rehabilitation and the Right to Fairness
    Mary Rogan, Barrister-at-Law, Head of Law and Assistant Head of the School of Languages, Law and Social Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology

Faye S. Taxman, PhD, is a University Professor in the Criminology, Society, and Law program at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and director of its Center for Advancing Corrections Excellence. A well-regarded scholar and researcher, she is Past Chair of the American Society of Criminology's Division on Corrections & Sentencing.