ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on risk assessment, addressing recidivism risk-one of the recurring criteria applicable to both transfer and disposition decisions. It then describes the relevant research on juvenile risk assessment, after identifying important conceptual considerations (e.g. risk of what, over what period). The chapter considers specialized measures of such risk, and makes recommendations for their use in light of the applicable research. Much of the value of risk assessment is drawn from the information that is considered, and the way in which this information is combined and interpreted. Risk assessment begins with questions that provide structure to this effort and make the results more meaningful. The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model is the leading contemporary theory involving the application of behavioral science to correctional classification and rehabilitation. Research on factors associated with general, violent, and sexual offending among youth has yielded much information about the persistence of such offending.
