What Works (or Does Not) in Community Risk Management for Persons Convicted of Sexual Offenses? A Contemporary Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (12) ◽  
pp. 1282-1298
Author(s):  
Robin J. Wilson ◽  
Jeffrey C. Sandler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Safety Issue ◽  
Sexual Offender ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Safety ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Citizen Education ◽  
Actuarial Risk

Contemporary data from the United States show that rates of sexual offending and reoffending have been in steady decline for decades. Nonetheless, nonprofessionals continue to view sexual violence as a community safety issue fraught with risk and uncertainty. The past 30 years have been witness to considerable research and practice in the assessment, treatment, and risk management of persons who have sexually offended. Gains have also been made in regard to prevention and citizen education. Modern day technologies include actuarial risk assessment instruments, measures of criminogenic need and treatment progress, refinements to treatment processes, and the establishment of evidence-based models. Legislative authorities in the United States and elsewhere have also attempted to affect risk in the community with, perhaps, lesser degrees of success. This article reviews current policies and practices, with a specific focus on what happens when offenders are released to the community (e.g., how public policies intended to track offenders and/or restrict their movements can negatively affect community reintegration). Comprehensive approaches to community sexual offender management are examined in addition to suggestions of unique approaches intended to ensure citizen buy-in and engagement.

Sex offender treatment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. W. Bradford ◽  
Giovana V. de Amorim Levin ◽  
Adekunle G. Ahmed ◽  
Sanjiv Gulati
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Sexual Offender ◽  
Offender Treatment ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Sex Offender Treatment ◽  
Sexual Offender Treatment ◽  
Actuarial Risk ◽  
Offending Behaviour

There are many misconceptions about sexual-offender treatment, which are particularly magnified when it comes to understanding and managing the risk of sexual offending in the community. Many of the misconceptions are based on faulty information about the types of treatment, treatment outcomes, and sexual-offence recidivism. Additionally, public misconception of sexual-offending behaviour in sexually deviant individuals creates stigma and fear. This is despite the large number of studies on sexual-offender treatment, recidivism, and treatment outcome available in the scientific literature. In fact, various actuarial risk-assessment instruments can be used to estimate the probability that a sexual offender will recidivate. Risk can be managed through treatment. The aim of this chapter is to review the evidence-based studies on the efficacy of sexual-offender treatment, as well as how the risk management of sexual offenders is currently implemented in sexual-offender treatment programmes.

Evidence-Based Sentencing

Criminology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Oleson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Measures ◽  
Criminal History ◽  
Community Safety ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Criminogenic Needs ◽  
Actuarial Risk ◽  
Using Data

The evidence-based practice (EBP) movement can be traced to a 1992 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, although decision-making with empirical evidence (rather than tradition, anecdote, or intuition) is obviously much older. Neverthless, for the last twenty-five years, EBP has played a pivotal role in criminal justice, particularly within community corrections. While the prediction of recidivism in parole or probation decisions has attracted relatively little attention, the use of risk measures by sentencing judges is controversial. This might be because sentencing typically involves both backward-looking decisions, related to the blameworthiness of the crime, as well as forward-looking decisions, about the offender’s prospective risk of recidivism. Evidence-based sentencing quantifies the predictive aspects of decision-making by incorporating an assessment of risk factors (which increase recidivism risk), protective factors (which reduce recidivism risk), criminogenic needs (impairments that, if addressed, will reduce recidivism risk), the measurement of recidivism risk, and the identification of optimal recidivism-reducing sentencing interventions. Proponents for evidence-based sentencing claim that it can allow judges to “sentence smarter” by using data to distinguish high-risk offenders (who might be imprisoned to mitigate their recidivism risk) from low-risk offenders (who might be released into the community with relatively little danger). This, proponents suggest, can reduce unnecessary incarceration, decrease costs, and enhance community safety. Critics, however, note that risk assessment typically looks beyond criminal conduct, incorporating demographic and socioeconomic variables. Even if a risk factor is facially neutral (e.g., criminal history), it might operate as a proxy for a constitutionally protected category (e.g., race). The same objectionable variables are used widely in presentence reports, but their incorporation into an actuarial risk score has greater potential to obfuscate facts and reify underlying disparities. The evidence-based sentencing literature is dynamic and rapidly evolving, but this bibliography identifies sources that might prove useful. It first outlines the theoretical foundations of traditional (non-evidence-based) sentencing, identifying resources and overviews. It then identifies sources related to decision-making and prediction, risk assessment logic, criminogenic needs, and responsivity. The bibliography then describes and defends evidence-based sentencing, and identifies works on sentencing variables and risk assessment instruments. It then relates evidence-based sentencing to big data and identifies data issues. Several works on constitutional problems are listed, the proxies problem is described, and sources on philosophical issues are described. The bibliography concludes with a description of validation research, the politics of evidence-based sentencing, and the identification of several current initiatives.

scholarly journals Crop Insurance and the New Deal Roots of Agricultural Financialization in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 648-680
Author(s):  
SHANE HAMILTON
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Crop Insurance ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
American Agriculture

A range of private and public institutions emerged in the United States in the years before and after the Great Depression to help farmers confront the inherent uncertainty of agricultural production and marketing. This included a government-owned and operated insurance enterprise offering “all-risk” coverage to American farmers beginning in 1938. Crop insurance, initially developed as a social insurance program, was beset by pervasive problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. As managers and policy makers responded to those problems from the 1940s on, they reshaped federal crop insurance in ways that increasingly made the scheme a lever of financialization, a means of disciplining individual farmers to think of farming in abstract terms of risk management. Crop insurance became intertwined with important changes in the economic context of agriculture by the 1960s, including the emergence of the “technological treadmill,” permanently embedding financialized risk management into the political economy of American agriculture.

scholarly journals A Comparative Survey Of Capital Investment Decision Practices In The United States And The United Kingdom

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Klammer ◽  
Neil Wilner ◽  
Jan Smolarski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
The United States ◽  
Capital Expenditures ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Management Techniques ◽  
Comparative Survey ◽  
The Uk

Capital expenditures can be crucial to firms long-term success, especially in a complex global environment. As companies increasingly compete in the global market place, it is important to study project evaluation processes from an international perspective. Capital investments involve substantial monetary commitments and risks that affect long-term firm profitability and influence capital allocation decisions in the future. Survey research in the area of capital expenditure analysis has been extensively done in both the United States [US] and the United Kingdom [UK]. This research is the first comparative survey of practices in both countries that we are aware of. A direct comparison of the use of project evaluation, management science, and risk management techniques in the two countries is made. The survey instrument used is an adaptation of the Klammer [1970] instrument that has been used repeatedly in surveys of American firms. This is the first time that it has been applied to British firms. The use of a common instrument allows for more meaningful comparisons. The samples consisted of 127 American and 59 British firms with sales of at least $100 million and capital expenditures of at least $10 million. Preliminary results indicate a continued extensive use of discounted cash flow techniques by US firms. Techniques such as payback or urgency continue to be used, but to a lesser degree than discounting. Firms in the UK also make extensive use of discounting but do so to a lesser degree than their American counterparts. Payback is widely used in the UK. Risk management techniques are widely used in both countries, with sensitivity analysis being the most popular technique in both countries. Extensive use of technical and administrative procedures, such as detailed budgets, standardized forms and post-audits, are evidenced in both countries. The paper offers reasons that have to do with organizational structure and form, as well as market differences, to explain our results.

scholarly journals The drought risk atlas: Enhancing decision support for drought risk management in the United States

2015 ◽  
Vol 526 ◽  
pp. 274-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Svoboda ◽  
Brian A. Fuchs ◽  
Chris C. Poulsen ◽  
Jeff R. Nothwehr
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Drought Risk ◽  
Drought Risk Management

Legal Matters, Risk Management, and Risk Prevention

2021 ◽  
pp. 52-74
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Risk Prevention ◽  
Risk Management Plan ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Current Business

This chapter highlights the importance of risk management and the need for a risk management plan to have in place in case disaster strikes. From opening a foodservice business to operating it with the possibility of expansion, the risks involved are enormous. It discusses the importance of respecting the laws when dealing with business and carefully taking all necessary steps to avoid legal pitfalls, leading to severe negative consequences. The chapter provides useful information and references about obtaining proper licenses, dealing with government agencies, and developing and implementing a “preventive risk management” plan. Finally, the chapter highlights the current business laws of the United States and should not be considered applicable internationally. The reader should refer to the governing laws of the country where the business operates.

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