SOC301H5 Study Guide - Final Guide: Youth Criminal Justice Act, Risk Assessment
Document Summary
Understanding risk in the context of the youth criminal justice act. Youth criminal justice system has undergone a complex set of changes, including the introduction of the 2003 youth criminal justice act. Psrs have typically constructed a narrative profile of offenders, including demographic data on age and gender, evidence of previous contact with the police or the courts, and information about current and previous charges and convictions. Psr information should focus on the circumstances of the specific offence before the court. Risk assessments can refer to a range of different practices, including intuitive judgements of the judiciary, probation officers or clinicians as well as actuarial statistical assessments. Recently, various jurisdictions, specifically ontario and saskatchewan have mandated or encouraged probation officers to adopt a range of risk/need assessment techniques to classify and score offenders. Actuarial tools are now being used to classify prisoners in terms not just of the security risks they represent but also of their criminogenic needs.
