LegiStorm

Summary:

The number of people incarcerated in federal prisons increased dramatically over the past three decades. While the number of inmates in the federal prison system has decreased since FY2013, the federal prison population remains substantially larger than it was three decades ago. Concerns about both the economic and social consequences of the country’s reliance on incarceration have led to calls for reforms to the nation’s criminal justice system, including improving the federal prison system’s ability to rehabilitate incarcerated offenders by better assessing their risk for recidivism and addressing their criminogenic needs. “Criminogenic needs,” are factors that contribute to criminal behavior that can be changed and/or addressed through interventions. There have been legislative proposals to implement a risk and needs assessment system in federal prisons. The system would be used to place inmates in appropriate rehabilitative programs. Under the proposed system some inmates would be eligible for earned time credits for completing rehabilitative programs that reduce their risk of recidivism. Such credits would allow inmates to be placed on prerelease custody earlier. The proposed system would exclude inmates convicted of certain offenses from being eligible for earned time credits. Risk and needs assessment instruments typically consist of a series of items used to collect data on offender behaviors and attitudes that research indicates are related to the risk of recidivism. Generally, inmates are classified as being at a high, moderate, or low risk of recidivism. Assessment instruments are comprised of static and dynamic risk factors. Static risk factors do not change (e.g., age at first arrest or gender), while dynamic risk factors can either change on their own or be changed through an intervention (e.g., current age, education level, or employment status). In general, research suggests that the most commonly used assessment instruments can, with a moderate level of accuracy, predict who is at risk for violent recidivism. It also suggests that of the most commonly used risk assessments none distinguishes itself from the others when it comes to predictive validity. The Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model has become the dominant paradigm in risk and needs assessment. The risk principle states that convicted offenders need to be placed in programs that are commensurate with their risk level; in other words, provide more intensive treatment and services to high-risk offenders while low-risk offenders should receive minimal or even no intervention. The need principle states that effective treatment should also focus on addressing the criminogenic needs that contribute to criminal behavior. The responsivity principle states that rehabilitative programming should be delivered in a style and mode that is consistent with the ability and learning style of the offender. There are several issues policymakers might contemplate should Congress choose to consider legislation to implement a risk and needs assessment system in federal prisons, including the following:  Is there the potential for bias in the use of risk and needs assessment?  Should certain inmates be ineligible for earned time credits?  Should prison programming focus on inmates at high risk of recidivism?  Should risk assessment be incorporated into sentencing?  Should there be a decreased focus on long prison sentences?