Title
Does Risk Assessment Make a Difference? Results of Implementing the SAVRY in Juvenile Probation
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry
Publication Date
7-2012
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Violence; Juvenile Delinquency; Mental Disorders; Adolescent; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Risk Assessment; Reproducibility of Results
Disciplines
Health Services Research | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Psychiatry | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
An effective approach to reducing recidivism is, first, to identify a youth's risk of reoffending and then to match the intensity of interventions to that risk level. This pre-post quasi-experimental, prospective study compared 247 (pre) with 217 (post) adjudicated youths to examine the implementation of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and its effects on case management practices in Louisiana's Caddo parish probation office. The results indicated that placement rates dropped by 50%, use of maximum levels of supervision dropped by almost 30%, and use of community services decreased except for high-risk youths, but only after the SAVRY was properly implemented. This shift towards more appropriate allocation of resources that are matched to risk level occurred without a significant increase in reoffending. The implications for implementation and for use of risk/needs assessment in juvenile probation are discussed. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Behavioral sciences and the law
Related Resources
Repository Citation
Vincent, Gina M.; Guy, Laura S.; Gershenson, Bernice G.; and McCabe, Patrick J., "Does Risk Assessment Make a Difference? Results of Implementing the SAVRY in Juvenile Probation" (2012). Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center Publications and Presentations. 522.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_cmhsr/522
Comments
Citation: Behav Sci Law. 2012 Jul;30(4):384-405. doi: 10.1002/bsl.2014. Epub 2012 Jun 29. Link to article on publisher's site