Beyond Defensible Decision-Making: Towards Reflexive Assessment Of Risk And Dangerousness
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050004700302 |
| Date | 01 September 2000 |
| Published date | 01 September 2000 |
| Author | Robin Tuddenham |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
173
Beyond
Defensible
Decision-Making:
Towards
Reflexive
Assessment
Of
Risk
And
Dangerousness
Robin
Tuddenham
critiques
recent
trends
in
risk
assessment
practice,
arguing
that
the
objective
of
achieving
’defensible’
(as
opposed
to
’defensive’)
decisions
has,
to
all
intents
and
purposes,
failed.
He
proposes
that
probation
practice
must
now
embrace
a
more
dynamic
notion
of
risk
assessment,
which
has
at
its
centre
the
concept
of
’reflexivity’,
and
sets
out
the
components
of
such
an
approach.
ever
predict
anything,
particularly
the
future,
Sam
Goldwyn
reportedly
said.
But
the
prediction
of
dangers
ahead
has
become
an
important
activity
in
the
Probation
Service
in
recent
years,
forming
part
of
an
emerging
risk
industry
which
has
swept
through
the
Criminal
Justice
System,
and
been
well
documented
in
recent
Probation
Journal
articles
(Kemshall,
1998a;
Neary
and
Colombo,
1999;
Bhui,
1999;
Daley
and
Lane, 1999).
The
recognition
of
the
pivotal
place
of
risk
assessment
in
probation
work
was
overdue,
driven
by
the
undeniable
need
to
improve
practice
across
criminal
justice
and
social
work
agencies
following
the
results
of
numerous
homicide and
child
care
inquiries
documented
by
Reith
(1998)
and
in
Parton’s
(1986)
work.
Kemshall’s
work
(1996;
1998a;
1998b)
has
been
influential
in
probation
practice,
particularly
her
use
of
Carson’s
(1996)
notion of
’defensible’
as
opposed
to
’defensive’
decisions.
The
need
to
undertake
careful,
thorough
risk
of
harm
assessments
is
now
even
more
imperative,
given
that
National
Standards
(2000)
require
probation
officers
to
make
even
more
explicit
reference
to
risk
of
harm
in
pre-sentence
reports.
Although
it
has
become
difficult
to
query
the
risk
industry
juggernaut
in
such
a
context,
this
article
argues
both
that
it
must
be
subject
to
more
critical
reflection,
and
that
the
laudable
aim
of
defensible
decisions
(Kemshall,
1998b)
when
assessing
risk
of
harm
has
been
lost in
the
telling.
Current
practice
remains
defensive;
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