Assessing Risk in the Juvenile Justice System

Institutional overcrowding is an issue that affects many prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers throughout the country. Many institutions have turned to risk assessment as a way to combat the problem of overpopulation. This book aims to provide an understanding of the evolution of risk assessment in the criminal justice system, specifically how risk assessment tools came to be used in juvenile justice. It explores the differences between standardized assessments and clinical assessments and it also describes some guidelines to consider when creating and implementing standardized risk assessment tools. This is explained in great detail with an in- depth evaluation of the standardized risk assessment tool used by the juvenile justice system in Humboldt County, CA.