Section 1905.60 Risk Assessment

Section 1905.60  Risk Assessment

Evaluators shall appreciate the

potential weight of general and sexual abuser-specific risk assessments across

various criminal justice-related and civil contests and the associated

implications (not only for community safety, but also for the potential impact

on the client's civil liberties) and the critical need to ensure reliable and

valid findings.

a)         Evaluators clarify the specific purpose for

conducting a risk assessment on a given client and the way in which that

information will be used, and articulate this in communications regarding the

findings.

b)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments on sexual

abusers are well versed in the contemporary research regarding static and

dynamic factors linked to recidivism among sexual abusers.  These variables fall

into the following categories:

1)         Criminal history (e.g., prior arrests, convictions);

2)         Victim-related variables (e.g., age, gender,

relationship);

3)         Sexual

deviancy (e.g., offense-related sexual arousal, interests and/or preferences;

sexual preoccupation);

4)         Antisocial

orientation (e.g., criminal attitudes, values and behaviors; lifestyle

instability);

5)         Intimacy

and relationship deficits (e.g., problems with intimacy, unstable

relationships, conflictual intimate relationships, deficits in social support

and interaction); and

6)         Self-regulation

difficulties (e.g., hostility, substance abuse, impulsivity, access to

victims).

c)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments of sexual

abusers use empirically supported instruments and methods (i.e., validated

actuarial risk assessment tools and structured, empirically guided risk

assessment protocols) over unstructured clinical judgment.

d)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments of sexual

abusers are appropriately trained in scoring, interpreting effectively and

accurately reporting, and applying the findings of the risk assessment

instruments/protocols employed

nd methods (i.e., validated

actuarial risk assessment tools and structured, empirically guided risk

assessment protocols) over unstructured clinical judgment.

d)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments of sexual

abusers are appropriately trained in scoring, interpreting effectively and

accurately reporting, and applying the findings of the risk assessment

instruments/protocols employed.

e)         Evaluators recognize the potential for both

sexual and nonsexual recidivism among sexual abusers and clarify the type of

recidivism risk assessed in the report or other statements of findings.

f)         Evaluators are aware of the relative strengths

and limitations of the risk assessment measures/methods employed, reference

these issues when communicating risk assessment findings, and ensure that

statements about the findings remain within the scope/capability of these

measures (e.g., refraining from making absolute judgements about whether a

given sexual abuser will or will not recidivate).

g)         Evaluators ensure that any communications about

a given client's recidivism risk are based on current and reliable assessment

data about that person.

h)         Evaluators appreciate that recidivism risk is

not static and may change as a result of interventions, client actions or other

circumstances and, therefore, evaluators conducting risk assessments employ

research-supported methods of assessing dynamic risk factors as warranted over

time.