ABSTRACT
Systematic assessment is central to work in youth justice. The underpinning model for its main assessment tools – Asset and Onset – is actuarial in that it focuses largely on risk. That is not to say that Yot practitioners are not strongly advised to take protective factors into account when planning an intervention, although how far this always happens is debatable. Opinions vary about the reliability and validity of Asset. This chapter explores some of those issues. It also considers where Asset fits within the plethora of other assessment and planning systems that young people may be subject to. There are some critics who would question the whole actuarial approach to assessment on the basis that it focuses too heavily on the risks posed by a young person to society, i.e. it does little to help practitioners in supporting young people to overcome barriers to social inclusion they may be experiencing. The onus is on short-term planning of structured programmes that focus on the young person rather than on more fundamental change at a social level.
