Types of Risk & Assessment Protocols for Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems

Juvenile Sex Offender Risk Assessment: The State of the Art Youth sex offender risk assessment is in its early development stages. There are presently no empirically validated, assessment instruments to estimate the risk of adolescent sexual reoffending. Actuarial risk scales (i.e., with items weighted to develop the best statistical cut off scores between offenders and non-offenders) are not yet available. The field is moving from the subjective clinical interview stage to the use of objective structured protocols based on known re-offense risk factors. The purpose of these protocols is to aid in the systematic review of identified risk factors that have been associated with sexual and criminal offending. The documented limits of these assessments allow the “mitigating circumstances” latitude needed for juvenile court judges and human services clinical supervisors to make important decisions balancing the rights of youth to the least restrictive treatment setting and community safety (see Caveat section in the J-SOAP-II manual link on this webpage). In addition, the changing nature of a dolescent development requires periodic re-evaluation using these protocols.