Section 1905.60  Risk Assessment

Evaluators shall appreciate the potential weight of general and sexual abuser-specific risk assessments across various criminal justice-related and civil contests and the associated implications (not only for community safety, but also for the potential impact on the client's civil liberties) and the critical need to ensure reliable and valid findings.

a)         Evaluators clarify the specific purpose for conducting a risk assessment on a given client and the way in which that information will be used, and articulate this in communications regarding the findings.

b)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments on sexual abusers are well versed in the contemporary research regarding static and dynamic factors linked to recidivism among sexual abusers.  These variables fall into the following categories:

1)         Criminal history (e.g., prior arrests, convictions);

2)         Victim-related variables (e.g., age, gender, relationship);

3)         Sexual deviancy (e.g., offense-related sexual arousal, interests and/or preferences; sexual preoccupation);

4)         Antisocial orientation (e.g., criminal attitudes, values and behaviors; lifestyle instability);

5)         Intimacy and relationship deficits (e.g., problems with intimacy, unstable relationships, conflictual intimate relationships, deficits in social support and interaction); and

6)         Self-regulation difficulties (e.g., hostility, substance abuse, impulsivity, access to victims).

c)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments of sexual abusers use empirically supported instruments and methods (i.e., validated actuarial risk assessment tools and structured, empirically guided risk assessment protocols) over unstructured clinical judgment.

d)         Evaluators conducting risk assessments of sexual abusers are appropriately trained in scoring, interpreting effectively and accurately reporting, and applying the findings of the risk assessment instruments/protocols employed.

e)         Evaluators recognize the potential for both sexual and nonsexual recidivism among sexual abusers and clarify the type of recidivism risk assessed in the report or other statements of findings.

f)         Evaluators are aware of the relative strengths and limitations of the risk assessment measures/methods employed, reference these issues when communicating risk assessment findings, and ensure that statements about the findings remain within the scope/capability of these measures (e.g., refraining from making absolute judgements about whether a given sexual abuser will or will not recidivate).

g)         Evaluators ensure that any communications about a given client's recidivism risk are based on current and reliable assessment data about that person.

h)         Evaluators appreciate that recidivism risk is not static and may change as a result of interventions, client actions or other circumstances and, therefore, evaluators conducting risk assessments employ research-supported methods of assessing dynamic risk factors as warranted over time.