Risky Behaviour?
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| Author | Suzanne McCarthy |
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059604300220 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
performance-related pay attached to
reconviction rates), how do we maintain
a healthy balance between high and low
assessments? To put it another way, how
safe will it be to make a considered low
risk assessment? Is it not likely that more
and more cases will be marked ’high
Risky Behaviour?
risk’, and once this has been done, there
will be little incentive for a return to a
Hazel Kemshall (PJ, April 1996) is
low risk assessment. There will be no
timely in reminding us of the skilled and
benefit for
sometimes unique contribution that
getting ’low risk’ right, only
for getting ’high risk’ right, in the sense
probation officers can bring to the
of risky or dangerous behaviour
process of risk assessment in relation to
re-offending. An ability
occurring. Getting ’high risk’
to connect the
wrong in
the case of no
seemingly unconnected
risky behaviour occurring
can result in
will not be evaluated, or will be judged
understandings that are not easily
as
defined, and
having been a good preventative
may not emerge from even
measure.
the most stringent of ’scientific’ risk
The
assessment indicator checks.
range of separate predictors and
indicators now
Experience in risk assessment breeds
being developed in many
Services continue to expand. Such
a state of informed watchfulness that
assessment ’tools’ require definite
permeates supervision of people who
might be described
judgements to be made, not only of static
as being in a
factors such as
pre-contemplative state to
previous convictions but
more serious
also of those less
offending. Such alertness could be
provable attitudinal
difficult to justify if it
aspects such as ’remorse’, ’compulsive
were needing to be
behaviour’ and so on. Used
judged by completely definable factors,
cumulatively,
assessments based
rather
on these devices could
than the ’hairs on the back of the
result in
neck’ indicator. In such
large numbers of probation
cases, actual...
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