An assessment of risk is fundamental to almost every decision which is made about an offender in their passage through the criminal justice system. Risk assessment more generally is important to the whole field of human service provision.
There is no doubt that the last two decades have seen huge advances in this area, with computerised databases allowing for much more detailed evaluations of the relationship between people’s characteristics and what they have done in the past, and what they may go on to do in the future. One of the limitations of this work for the local practitioner has always been that much of the research into risk assessment in the human service area relates to people in North America and the United Kingdom.
It is pleasing to note that the balance has been redressed somewhat by the publication of a New Zealand work, edited and written by New Zealanders and specifically referencing the local situation 1.
This work covers a number of areas of relevance to those concerned with providing services, both in mental health and correctional settings. There are two overview chapters which place risk assessment in its historical context, reference its strengths and weaknesses, and provide some general guidelines for the practitioner.
There are then specific chapters dealing with areas relevant to Corrections: assessing and managing risk in the area of domestic violence, psychopathy and the risk of violence, and two chapters dealing with risk of sexual offending.
The book has also useful and informative chapters looking at the balance between risk assessment and the practitioner’s role in supporting families, risk assessment in a mental health context, and the role of risk assessment in youth suicide.
The final chapters deal with the training of practitioners in the area of risk assessment and preparing them for this weighty responsibility.
In addition to being clearly relevant to the New Zealand situation from Corrections viewpoint it is pleasing to note that one of the editors and several of the contributors to this volume are either current or former Corrections staff members.
1 McMaster K., and Bakker L. (Eds), (2006), Will They Do It Again? Assessing and Managing Risk, HMA Books Ltd, Lyttleton, New Zealand.
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ISSN 1178-8453